Just wanted to say I'm glad to be here.

Hello everyone. Let me start of by saying I haven't played a MMO since Everquest almost 20 years ago. I just happen to see a friend of mine playing FF online and said

"Hell....why not."

So far I'm loving it. I'm at lvl 45 with my warrior now and I realize the raids are not to far off in my future. So I wanted to reach out to my fellow tanks for any advice them are willing to share about the late game content. I would like to hear some of you guys stories and the lessons you learned during your play time. The best one Ive had so far was beating Titan with only seconds left on the timer, on my first attempt. I like to go in blind and experience the encounters first before using the internet. I had no idea what to expect. It was very intense and a very rewarding experience. The whole party stood around talking for maybe 15min after the fight just basking in the moment.

So fellow tanks, please honor me with some of your tales.

tank as much content as time allows, you will need the experience for the harder raids and ex primals.

you probs know this already but gear is a big thing for tanks, you need the best which doesn't always mean tank gear.


if you think titan nm was fun wait til you see hm or ex mode,

the downside to starting late is that a lot of people aren't looking to learn those encounters now so you may find that the group doesn't pay you much attention as a fresh 50 so maybe try and find some friends to run with and use pf for people in the same position as you.

also tanking endgame dungeons may suck badly for you at first due to gear level difference, persevere though and ignore the mean people

yeah, you're gonna have a tough time holding hate in 50 content with sub 90 gear
it's quite a gap, but fortunately, 2.5 is like the best patch ever for gearing up
so many tomes
(also buy/get your left side gear before right side, accessories are cheaper, but armor makes way more of a difference, both on damage [and thus enmity] and survivability [vit and defense])

I am currently 43 with my paladin. I have a 50 BRD and WHM though. Tanking is insanely fun. I would like to echo what the two above me said and also add something. Do not be afraid to tell your party you're new. This game more than any I've ever played has a very friendly and understanding community. This will change I'm sure at end game content, but the fresh 50 stuff it makes a world of difference letting them know. Healers pay more attention to you, DPS will usually hold back a bit and focus on you marks more. Also, since they may have played the tank role before, they will probably give you advice. I always say I'm open to pointers as well.

Enjoy the game and the tank!

Thank you all for the advice. I just recently joined a Free Company and told them I was a new player. They seemed pretty cool with and are willing to show me the ropes. Right side gear before left side gear and tank as much as possible.

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Originally Posted by DorianKezek

Right side gear before left side gear and tank as much as possible.

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Glad you found a friendly FC, though I doubt that sentence of yours. Right side is accessories only they give you stats. If you gear left side first you general defence will be increased and you tanking will get easier.
Though considering you are new level 50 the rule for upgearing imo to be able to access higher tier content asap is replace lowest pieces first if it is accessories make up your mind if you want to go for a tankish vitality build or a dpsish strenght build. Loot respectless and also feel free to ask better geared party members to pass certain pieces that might improve your gear for you.
Easiest way to get to a higher ilvl for raidcontent is certainly the Crystal Tower Questline starting in Mor Dhona (Quest: Legacy of Allag). First Tower gives i80 left side gear second tower i100 left side last Tower has a weekly lootpiece for you with i120.

A nice spammy summon up is here
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/221318-All-unlocks-from-50-to-raiding

Have fun in future :cool:

PS: In case you didnt do yet make sure to bring your gladiator to level 22 for Provoke youll need it

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Originally Posted by Werhusky

PS: In case you didnt do yet make sure to bring your gladiator to level 22 for Provoke youll need it

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That's huge - its absolutely mandatory for most things starting in Binding Coil T2.

My only advice is that you are in a fun part of the game right now. You are going to have some rough waters coming as you go to hold enmity over i125+ players with i50 gear. Its probably going to suck and some people are probably going to be mean. Just keep pushing through and getting more gear and it will get just as, if not more, fun.

Don't even bother tanking higher level dungeons as a fresh 50. Instead, spam run main scenario roulettes for soldierly tomes, like I did. There's always someone new. It's boring, but it pays off handsomely, and lets you hit those higher level dungeons hard when you're ready for them.

As Galgarion stated, doing the main scenario roulette once you hit lvl 50 is a great way to gear up your character quickly. Using this method, you will have very fast (i mean 2 weeks or less) access to all ilvl 100 gear. With this set, you will be ready for almost all of the content that the game has to offer.

While you're gearing up you should focus on the mastering the fundamentals of your job, regardless of what it is. In Warrior's case, how you manage Wrath and your Storm's Path and Eye of the Storm, but also how you spike hate. This will pay off in dividends when you're leading the charge later.

Also, if you're going to get involved with your Relic Weapon Quest, you need to make peace with how much time you'll potentially sink on it. I've found that if you need to quickly get an i90 weapon though, Relic is a good way to get there, past that everything else can take an exceedingly long time.

If FATE Grinding isn't your thing, you may want to hold off and work on getting drops from EX Primals and Binding Coils for your weapons.

Otherwise, welcome to the wide world of tanking, we're not an exclusive club but so many people are afraid of such a fun and rewarding experience. Learn your job well and there's no door in Eorzea closed to you.

ha I actually wrote that backwards. I meant Left side gear first. Thanks for the additional info

I would like to thank everyone for their advice. I just hit lvl50 and I have one more story mission left. After that I will bring my gladiator up to 22 for provoke and grind those story raids for a little more experience in tanking. Again, thanks for taking the time to help a Warrior out.

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Originally Posted by chidarake

ignore the mean people

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This, because there will be a lot of them.

It's gonna be tough man. As a tank, your one mistake will cost the raid.
1. Research on the raid before coming in. There are lots of youtube videos
2. Keep an open mind and learn from people. There are alot of people who thinks they are so good in this game when they are not
3. Read and memories all of your skills and what they do
4. Ignore assholes and have selective hearing. Like eg. "You SUCK man" you can replace the suck with THE becoming "You THE man"
hahaha Good luck in this game. Hope you have fun.
Warriors man club FTW!

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Originally Posted by DorianKezek

I would like to thank everyone for their advice. I just hit lvl50 and I have one more story mission left. After that I will bring my gladiator up to 22 for provoke and grind those story raids for a little more experience in tanking. Again, thanks for taking the time to help a Warrior out.

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If you can, take Gladiator up to lv34. This gives you access to the Awareness skill. Whilst not useful for most content, there are certain encounters where having this is very handy. It basically prevents you from being able to take critical hit damage for a short time, which helps to normalize incoming damage as you won't be hit for random spikes. Whilst all of the big tank-buster attacks cannot crit (instead they simply deal large damage that needs to be mitigated and a random crit chance on this would kill you which wouldn't make for fun content), but with the exception of a few certain bosses their auto attacks can crit. There are also some encounters (like Shiva EX) where the boss gets a high crit chance during certain periods and Awareness can help to make this phase more manageable.

Basically, a good tank has all the tools available to them and learns where those tools are best used.

And because PLD shares most of its gear with WAR, it can be worth also leveling PLD to 50 and having an idea on how to use it. It's not that WAR isn't capable in all fights, it just might be more beneficial to run as a PLD. Or you might need/want to step in for someone who normally plays it. But the biggest advantage is that you get to understand how a PLD works. It's more likely that your co-tank will be a PLD. Whilst you can learn how they work just from reading up on their skills and observing them, that personal experience can make a different.

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Originally Posted by Blueskyy

It's gonna be tough man. As a tank, your one mistake will cost the raid.
1. Research on the raid before coming in. There are lots of youtube videos

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The OP mentions that he likes to go into new content blind. And that's absolutely fine. But it should be noted that, if you do want to do content blind, you should use the Party Finder and make it clear that this is the plan. Things go badly when people are on a different page and have different expectations.

I'm fortunate in that my static likes to go in blind to content then use guides and information to supplement the experience and learn how to refine strategies and that's how I prefer to play too. So it's worth looking to find people who enjoy playing the same way if you want to have the best experience with the game.