Scoping out a dungeon

Hey all

As you can see, I'm a tank in development. Also, xiv is the first mmporg I have played but I was a happy vii / viii / ix etc player.

I have already encountered the flack that tanks get but I am a big boy! However, I wonder if I am missing out on something when it comes to doing a dungeon for the first time?

I am on a ps4, It feels like the experience of playing xiv would be better on a pc (eg keyboard, mouse style) but am I missing some kind of text or brief beyond the intro screen that helps prep me for a dungeon? Or does it just come down to experience?

I assumed up until now it was just the usual aggro that tanks get when it doesn't quite go right...

Outside of Class quests and the recently introduced Hall of the Novice, you shouldn't be missing out on anything. People might be able to advise you if you mention that it is your first time running a particular dungeon should there be anything they deem noteworthy, but otherwise it's really just down to experience.

Have you any idea why your party members were unsatisfied with your performance? And where and when specifically did the incident occur(assuming you think it's relevant)?

It's no biggy... Was down to experience when doing a dungeon for the first time.
I didnt know some of the mechanics and inbound sight it was obvious I was getting it wrong.
There were a few grumbles and finally someone piped up and told me where I was going wrong in a near coherent set of words ;)
Once I knew where I was going wrong, all went well and I got a commendation at the end!

I think the take away is to declare up front its my first time, and have a keyboard connected to the ps4 as typing on the joy pad is a nightmare!

In fact, Square Enix does a terrible job preparing tanks to tank.
As a tank, you need to keep aggro / hate of all mobs on you, but Square never do tell you how to do that properly.

Eg. did you notice when you target a mob, there are little bars in the team list, underneath each teammember's class/job icon ?
These are the aggro levels of the targetted mob for each player in your team, from 0 (most aggro) to 4 (least aggro) or more later.

Your job as tank is to have aggro level 0 on all mobs.
So you have to cycle through all ennemies to watch these little bars-tards ^^
It'll help you determine on which mob you need to place your next aggro hit, or maybe just Flash them all.

Carefully read your actions effects, and use and abuse of Flash at low levels (but I suppose they told you precisely that already).


In general it's a good start to tell it's your first time in any trial, people can help you and give pointers about particular tank strats, if they're nice.
They can't votekick you out until 5min so don't wait and show 'em what you're made of ^^

Good luck !

When tanking a dungeon for the first time, it helps to do a bit of research first to understand the boss mechanics. http://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com has pretty decent text overviews. Videos aren't really necessary but can also be used.

Announce to the party that it is your first time and they should be tolerant (if not, don't take it personally - there are ass hats everywhere). On PS if typing is painful, you might make a macro with /P "First time for me. I'll be conservative on my pulls. Thanks for your understanding!"

For the trash mobs leading up to the bosses, take it slow the first time around and tank it group by group. After 1 or 2 times through, you will figure out where you can pull bigger. When nearing the last boss, most of the newer dungeons have adds join the last group of trash part way through - be ready for it.

People already answered your main questions but I do think it would also be good to know that you definitely should have a keyboard at least for the in game chat. As for whether kb+m vs controller it is all up to preference. The only time kb+m really has an advantage is verminion which is a minigame anyways

Thanks for all the tips.

Managed to bluetooth my iMac keyboard so all sorted on that front!

Before level 40, when you get sword oath, aggro can be rough on new Paladins. Flash is your best friend for holding aggo on multiple mobs as well. But a PLD guide is better than what I can say here. Tanks will always get flak, if they are at fault or not, it comes with the territory.

Try to keep your gear up to date as well, esspecially your weapon. Even if you have to wear whites thats fine, so long as its the best you can get at that time. Dungeon gear would be even better as it can last for quite a bit longer.

Also don't worry about some people, there are always gonna be those out there who are like "you're new but don't know the dungeon back and forth???? you suck"
but that obviously isn't true.

First time I tanked a dungeon by myself I actually put up a Party Finder asking for help tanking Sastasha (lolyea); I HAD done the dungeon before (as DPS and healing) but I was so nervous I just rather would have a party with me who KNEW I was new at tanking(all my friends were asleep...so). If you're still finding yourself nervous going into DF, try putting up a PF like I did; you'll have room to explore and mess up that way. Eventually I got a bit more confident in tanking, but the first few times, that's what I did.

At nearly 37 years old and having kids, I can take it and give it pretty well ;)