PLD using Trust System only

Hello - I’m a fairly new player who only has a Red Mage, currently level 70. I love the concept of the Paladin tank, but I’m not very good and don’t really want to deal with people rushing me and complaining. How viable is it to use the Square service to buy a 70 PLD job, then practice only by tanking with the trust system to level 80?

I have not yet unlocked Stormbringers expansion, still a few quests to unlock it, so I’m not really sure if tanking with the trust system would be good or not. Thanks.

Viable sure, you can easily do it.
You might not learn as much as with people though. The dungeons would ultimately be slower as well, but if you don't mind that then you can single player it up.

Using the Trust system will teach you a fair bit, though a lot of the difficulty in tanking can be dealing with other players and adjusting accordingly. I think it's certainly fine to start out using the Trust system, getting used to how the job plays, figuring out when to use what CD, etc. but the way I'd personally tackle it is running the dungeon once or twice with Trusts and then running it with actual players. If you're in an FC (LS works too), I'd try and find some buddies to come along and help out for the "real" run.

As the others have said, with tanking having been simplified in the way that it has, there is only so much you can learn through Trusts I imagine. Absolutely go ahead and use it to establish a bit of experience and familiarise yourself with a particular dungeon and the damage you take at certain points. But with Trusts, you don't really need to be conscious of the convenience of other players, such as allowing them enough room to comfortably use their positional attacks in the case of AoEs nor with giving them appropriate space by repositioning the boss for upcoming mechanics and the like.

Also, if you plan on tanking with randoms at some point in the future then you need to be prepared for the likelihood of eventually coming across rude, impatient or outright obnoxious teammates, especially if you don't see yourself doing large pulls in later dungeons. I have honestly experienced very little of this myself in all the time I have been tanking but it does happen, to some more than others, so if you're okay with dealing with that after you have found your comfort zone then I'm sure you'll do just fine and get a good grasp of the fundamentals from Trusts.


On a side note, if you don't have a FC or friends with whom you can practice when you decide to give dungeons a try with actual people then I could maybe tag along for any of those if you think it would help you feel a bit more at ease. I'm pretty quiet and keep to myself in-game for the most part but if I happen to be around then it should be no trouble.

I think it's a great way to learn. Wet your feet. If you're worried about this, you're a conscientious person. So, when you're ready to tank for real players, you shouldn't have trouble adapting.

Please don't. The way trusts(and squadrons) work, you will likely learn bad habits. The NPCs don't AoE or use positionals, you also don't really need to worry about them taking AoE damage.
Just learn normally by running low level dungeons and moving up to the later ones as you level - you will learn to tank much better with real people and you might even get some good tips from more experienced players as you go. You shouldn't be afraid of complaints - most people either won't speak or will be nice even if you mess up, especially if you apologize.