Conquering my fear of tanking!

Hi all!

New player here. Like a lot of folks I have a ton of MMO experience but have some good friends established in FFXIV and am looking to make it my new home.

I'm primarily a healer and just unlocked my first job (SCH). However in every game I've played, I've never been able to get to grips with tanking. I know it's not necessarily a big deal but having played MMO's for the past 12 or so years, it's a source of personal shame. With FFXIV's flexible class system I'd like to finally conquer that.

So my questions are: how difficult is tanking in FFXIV, in the grand scheme of things? I've run quite a few low level dungeons and tanks seem to be a mixed bag in terms of ability. Also; what class should I aim for? From what I see, Warriors are deemed 'pretty OP' but Paladins are easier to get to grips with. At low levels, would I be able to run as a Marauder with cross-class Flash as a general 'oh sugar' button for big pulls?

Thanks for your help!

Flash for scrubs, use overpower. XD
Well, the only problem with low level tanking is enmity control but it stops being a problem at lvl 30 for warrior (depends on dps though, sometimes you dont have problem at all) and at lvl 40 for paladin.

Best thing to do is to Just Do It.
Get it over with. Dive headfirst into it. Lower levels are hard for all tanks. PomPom covered the base differences when it'll get easier.
Play whichever tank you like more. You can try them all so...just stick with the playstyle you enjoy the most.

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Originally Posted by PomPomFlare

but it stops being a problem at lvl 30 for warrior

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You're not using enough <Overpower> sister.

In my personal preference Warrior is much easier to tank with in lower levels than Paladin, (I'll leave Drk out for the sake of OP being a new player) because of their Overpower ability. 2-3 of those at the start of every pull and you shouldn't be having any problems at all. Just make certain to follow up with your enmity combo, as you rotate through your targets. Cross-classing Flash isn't mandatory, but there's nothing wrong with keeping it around if it makes you feel more comfortable tanking. Paladin can seem a little tighter to start with perhaps, but it's really only a matter of spamming flash until your MP goes out, then replenish it with your Riot Blade combo. You should totally try both of them out, as they both share cross-classable skills anyway you can pick up on the way.

Don't be afraid to try. Communicate with your party, and everything should be fine. Good luck!

Best advice I can give to you: read the tooltips. That will cover most, if not all, of what you need to know to tank dungeons.

Thanks all, I really appreciate the input all round! I think I may be overthinking it - I'll definitely give Marauder a go and hope for the best.

Tanking isn't hard, ignore people on the forums or in-game who make you think it. Before you start playing Marauder, get these skills from Paladin first: Flash, Convalesence and Provoke. The last two are considered mandatory whilst Flash is very useful in the early levels because of the small amount of TP you have. Once you have those three skills, you're ready to rock and roll in Sastasha. Time to learn how to pull. Firstly, never face pull a pack of monsters, when you get into range of the mobs use tomahawk so they charge you, as you run through the group hit flash to secure some basic emnity and make sure to face them away from your party members, this is so your team doesn't need to worry about dodging every AoE. Once you have the mob facing you, hit overpower two to three times, this allows you to keep a decemt amount of hate on each monster. After you spam overpower, use your emnity combo on each mob whilst keeping maim up at the same time and rotate your defensive cool downs.

Tanking isn't hard by default, but you will probably get a lot of s*** from other people.
Everyone expects tanks to lead the party, but at the same time complains when the tank decides the speed.
So you'll get people who run off and expect you to follow them because they consider you too slow, then die on their own and blame you.
You'll get those healers who forgot to turn off Cleric Stance and then blame you for not using enough cooldowns when you die.
People will expect you to know the perfect pull size and mob placement of every dungeon even if you run it for the very first time,
and you will also probably meet many people who simply drop party the moment they see that this is your first time tanking the instance.

BUT.
Just ignore them :D
As a long time MMO healer, you are probably already used to getting blamed for EVERYTHING, even if it had nothing to do with you.
Keep in mind that if you hold aggro on the monsters YOU pulled, you are basically doing your job already. Everything else is just a bonus :)

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So my questions are: how difficult is tanking in FFXIV, in the grand scheme of things?

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Coming from playing WoW for 4.5 years I'd say tanking is actually easier in this game, due to level sync. You'll never have to worry about those raid/heirloom-geared thanks-for-the-free-ride-but-your-services-are-no-longer-required players overstepping the boundaries. Here you'll actually get a chance to learn how to tank. Always good.

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Also; what class should I aim for?

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Depends on personal preference. From what I've played of them so far gladiators/paladins are the defensive and healer tanks, marauders are the offensive and self-healing tanks. Dark knight I'm not sure of (newbie myself), a hybrid of the 2 maybe?

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At low levels, would I be able to run as a Marauder with cross-class Flash as a general 'oh sugar' button for big pulls?

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I do this. In fact I use Flash almost as often as I use Overpower, since A, it saves TP. And B, some classes use AoE a lot. Players don't always attack your target, so there's that as well.

Depends if you like straight up cooldown usage vs managing stacks vs eventually managing 2 resources(MP and TP).
Straight up pop a cd and keep going is gladiator/paladin. You will get a spell for healing a party member/yourself post 50 but that's about it for healing besides bloodbath from marauder.
Marauders/warriors have a few cooldowns but also need to manage their wrath stacks later to use either as damage cd, aoe enmity+damage, defense cd. It's a fun job and has a very easy time of holding aggro(overpower once, maybe twice and you tend to be good). A lot of self-heals.
Dark knight - you have to manage MP use with mp regain and mp use skills, at the same time you are also using TP. From what I understand has some intersting comboed moves later on.
For low levels if marauder overpower is better at aggro than flash generally - but flash works as well - just need to use it a bit more.
Also overpower - frontal cone vs flash 360 aoe centered on you. Use the best tool when you need to.

Honestly I'm preferring Dark Knight, but that is Heavensward stuff.

The short form..
Paladin:

1. Main aoe aggro generator does no damage but is circular
2. Cool downs used to reduce damage
3. Struggles a bit until 40 and getting shield oath
4. Stun attack is on the global cooldown timer
5. Edit: Only tank class with a silence attack

Warrior:

1. Main aoe aggro generator does damage but is cone shaped
2. Takes more damage but has more hit points
3. Aggro generation is always decent
4. Stun attack is off the gcd but has a long cooldown
5. Edit: Has to worry about wrath stacks (assuming defiance)

Dark Knight:

1. Main aoe aggro generator does damage and is circular
2. Cool downs used to reduce damage and has attack to regain hp
3. Starts at 30 because HW class :P
4. Stun attack is off the gcd but has a long cooldown (Edit: but can be reset by procs)
5. Has to manage mp as well as tp for abilities

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Originally Posted by Bubblebeard

Hi all!
..
Thanks for your help!

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Fake it, 'til you make it.

As far as what tank job to start with, I'd personally go Gladiator. You'll need to level it to 22 for provoke anyways. Plus Gladiator/Paladin gives you a solid foundation when you explore the other tank jobs. A great PLD often evolves into an even greater WAR or DRK.

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Originally Posted by Sagittarian

Honestly I'm preferring Dark Knight, but that is Heavensward stuff.

Dark Knight:

1. Stun attack is off the gcd but has a long cooldown

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In all honesty Low Blow is only 5 seconds longer recast than Brutal swing, lets also not forget :

Additional Effect: 30% chance that next parry will reset the recast timer.

That additional effect procs fairly often especially with Dark Dance active.

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Originally Posted by Lan_Mantear

In all honesty Low Blow is only 5 seconds longer recast than Brutal swing, lets also not forget :

Additional Effect: 30% chance that next parry will reset the recast timer.

That additional effect procs fairly often especially with Dark Dance active.

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I wasn't saying the Dark Knight stun is any worse than Warrior. Both are just in comparison to Paladin who can stun multiple targets in rapid succession .. but can't mix any other attacks among the stuns.
And I forgot to say that Paladin is also the only one with a silence ability .. so editing for that.