Completely new and learning

Hi there everyone!

I'm totally new to FFXIV. I bought the game years ago- and just recently came back to it a week ago. I'm actually playing a class I've never even touched in my whole life of MMOs. Generally I'm a DPS class but for this, I decided to go do Paladin.

Any big tips? In the game and as a Tank in general. I feel like I'm such a mess sometimes as a Tank since I'm not used to making sure hate is on me and such. I'm watching Videos and reading guides though since I don't want to be the world's worst tank, but what can you do there- just gotta learn and try not to let people die in the process.

Anyways! I'm always up for making friends.

My discord is - jisoo#6348

Learn by tanking.

First, read your tooltips. Second, stay out of the fire. You've made a solid start and seem to have the right mindset going into this, with plenty of self-criticism and study.

Don't get sidetracked by what some might consider "easy" leveling systems, like POTD or HOH-- save those for your alts, if you absolutely must.

Get at least one solid clear on each dungeon and (non-extreme) trial, required and optional, on your way to 70. If you aren't happy with how you did in a run, then just rerun that one dungeon again. You don't need perfection, but you do need to have confidence with the mechanics.

Get through the main storyline as your second priority, but your class quests are you highest priority. Avoid sidequests, unless they unlock a dungeon. You don't need to do sidequests for experience, since you can just run a dungeon if you need to level to unlock more of the main storyline. An exception can be made for sidequests that unlock flying in expansion areas.

If you hit level 70 and haven't completed the main storyline, that 70 just doesn't count-- keep pushing that main storyline so you see everything you can unlock, and as a result have an opportunity to learn the basic mechanics the dungeons and trials will teach you.

Listen to your parties, and if you ever don't know what to do just ask them. By and large people are more than willing to share strategies and give you hints, they just need to know you're fresh. The flipside is if you ask for advice, follow it-- there's no point asking if you won't follow through.

Your ultimate goal is to clear the storyline to the point where you're ready for Shadowbringers, have a set of 380-390 gear, and have the confidence to handle the mechanics of every dungeon and trial (non-extreme/savage) on the way. That will put you ahead of a solid half of the playerbase.

If you do all of this, it's trivial to double back and level alts through a method of your choice. You'll have enough experience with the game and mechanics to be able to handle just about anything, on any role you decide to play next. Alternatively, you could progress to extreme/savage.

*the above applies for content past level 28 or so. Below that, the dungeons are so weak the healer can tank them, so there's not too much to learn as a tank. Just be a facsimile of a tank until then. Shield Oath is your "I'm an actual tank" signal.

First off, welcome to FFXIV! <3

Before you start getting into dungeons, I highly, HIGHLY suggest you do Hall of the Novice.
https://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/w..._of_the_Novice

and https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes...3d2c4227dfdc2e

It starts at level 15, and shows you the basics of your current role: Tank, DPS, or Healer. You'll be rewarded with some good gear that should get you to about level 20-25 and an exp boost ring that lasts until level 30.
You can find Hall of the Novice npcs at all the main city Adventure Guilds (The places where you start your first quests in the game. Usually situated at the inn or tavern in these cities). Its headquarters is just outside the first dungeon in the game. a big green symbol with a golden budding plant will be hovering over the head of the npc in question.

There are also things called Guildhests. https://finalfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Guildhest

These are basically really really tiny dungeons with certain goals in mind. The first few are "Kill all the things and don't die", and you'll be paired with other people. I highly suggest doing the first few before you dive into the first dungeon so you can get a handle of aggroing enemies and keeping them all in check. That said, don't be disheartened if you see your dpses (or sometimes even healers) running off on their own. They're new to the game and will eventually have to learn the hard way to stay with their tank.

When you do finally get to the first dungeon, make sure to tell your team that you're new. The way FFXIV keeps older dungeon content alive is by giving higher level players the incentive to do them by way of the Roulette system (which you'll learn about later). Some times these higher levels forget that lower level players are still a thing. And don't expect higher level players to carry you either damage output-wise, as everyone's gear and abilities are nerfed down to the level of the dungeon/instance in question.

Other than all that, practice! With Paladin, don't hesitate to use your Flash ability whenever needed. Keep it in your ability rotation. Make sure you're attacking the enemy your team is attacking, and then add a Flash once in awhile to make sure all enemies nearby are focused on you, because eventually your Healer will aggro the other enemies you're not attacking due to their healing.

Not much else to say I don't think. Do your best, and above all - have fun. That's what it's all about.

Try to get into the habit of Marking targets, it's a dying art, but people will love you long time when they see it. ♥

Welcome to Eorzea! :)

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Originally Posted by Neoyoshi

Try to get into the habit of Marking targets, it's a dying art, but people will love you long time when they see it. ♥

Welcome to Eorzea! :)

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You really only need to do this if you want the DPS to prioritize a target. Some examples would be the bees in Qarn and also the Golem's Soulstone in the same dungeon, the Voracious Maw of the first boss in the Lost City of Amdapor when he devours a player, or which ever part of the Damaged Adjudicator that glows red before it disappears in Qarn HM. However, the [1], [2], [3] markers on trash mobs in the days of old is unnecessary in most cases.

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Originally Posted by Neoyoshi

Try to get into the habit of Marking targets, it's a dying art, but people will love you long time when they see it. ♥

Welcome to Eorzea! :)

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It's a dying art because it's generally unnecessary. There are specific mechanically important enemies that need to be marked in specific situations. Other than that, Flash/Overpower/Unleash three or four times and cycle your targets to maintain enmity on everything. AoE and DoTs are a thing, so often DDs will be switching to targets with more health rather than killing off things that are going to die to AoE/DoT anyway.

Thank you for watching videos, reading guides and trying to play well.

From a healers perspective.
In a dungeon you are my one true partner. When I am with a tank who knows how to properly mitigate and place mobs, everything is so much cleaner, simpler and I can trust you will not drop dead the second I decide to holy bomb the group you are tanking (Which by the way gives you extra time since for a few seconds they will be unable to hit you).

When you are experienced enough and confident enough to pull all the mobs in a dungeon you possibly can, people will really appreciate your efficiency.
Keep learning regardless of your level, you are the leader of the dungeon and people will follow you even if you run the wrong way (Which is hilarious).
If you hit a wall with a duty, swap to a DPS and run it while watching the other tanks work.

In dutys with 2 tanks, there will be a main tank and an off tank. Ask them if you can be your preferred choice (MT or OT), you can communicate this by putting on the respective ability that signals DPS or Mitigation stances as well in the event there is a language barrier.

Don't ever be afraid to say 'Hey its my first time here so ill take it slow' or 'Other tank, do you have any tips for this duty?' or 'Healer, i'm going to practice doing multiple pulls, is that ok with you?'
If you run into a jerk... you are a tank. They need you more then you need them. So just smile and shield bash/fell cleave/wrist something.

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Originally Posted by Neoyoshi

Try to get into the habit of Marking targets, it's a dying art, but people will love you long time when they see it. ♥

Welcome to Eorzea! :)

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Generally its not needed as people will kill whatever has the lowest health OR is the largest known threat. Sometimes people don't know what the priority target is, so the tank using macros to mark targets will benefit everyone in this case. ^_^

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Originally Posted by jisoo

Hi there everyone!

I'm totally new to FFXIV. I bought the game years ago- and just recently came back to it a week ago. I'm actually playing a class I've never even touched in my whole life of MMOs. Generally I'm a DPS class but for this, I decided to go do Paladin.

Any big tips? In the game and as a Tank in general. I feel like I'm such a mess sometimes as a Tank since I'm not used to making sure hate is on me and such. I'm watching Videos and reading guides though since I don't want to be the world's worst tank, but what can you do there- just gotta learn and try not to let people die in the process.

Anyways! I'm always up for making friends.

My discord is - jisoo#6348

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Not sure if anyone mentioned, but if you want to know if you have hate on you (you may figured this out already) is when you're targeting something, check your party bar - underneath the job icon for each party is a bar. If yours is red, you have hate. Tab to next target. Cycling your hate moves this way means you won't waste threat moves on targets you have hate for days on. It also means you'll be able to predict when you don't even need to hit that mob anymore since it's about to die from dots and in-progress casts even though it's still half-health - it'll be dead before you lose threat, so move on to the next. That means your dps can be placed more efficiently as well (since you won't bring as much dps, you wanna spend it wisely).

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Originally Posted by Vadrythen

Not sure if anyone mentioned, but if you want to know if you have hate on you (you may figured this out already) is when you're targeting something, check your party bar - underneath the job icon for each party is a bar. If yours is red, you have hate. Tab to next target.

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If one have problems with color vision - as I've seen some on the forum have mentioned they have, enmity also have stages shown in the enemy list:

- Green (circle): None or little enmity from this enemy. This what the other party members want, but not the tank.
- Yellow (upward triangle): Close to having enmity priority from enemy. As a tank you're losing enmity to a party member.
- Red (downward triangle): "Tied" enmity with another party member, but should have its attention still if you previously had top enmity.
- Red (square): Top enmity, with a good margin. This is what a tank wants.

Checking the symbols/colors in the enemy list make it easier to know what enemies to prioritize for enmity management.

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Originally Posted by manamoppet

If one have problems with color vision - as I've seen some on the forum have mentioned they have, enmity also have stages shown in the enemy list:

- Green (circle): None or little enmity from this enemy. This what the other party members want, but not the tank.
- Yellow (upward triangle): Close to having enmity priority from enemy. As a tank you're losing enmity to a party member. About half as much enmity as the person with the highest enmity.
- Red orange (downward triangle): "Tied" enmity with another party member, but should have its attention still if you previously had top enmity. Near top enmity, but someone is higher than you.
- Red (square): Top enmity, with a good margin. even if it's only by 1 point. This is what a tank wants.

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All the tank's enmity gems should be red squares. Always. If they are anything but a red square, you've lost a mob and it has already hit someone else. This actually means that the party list is not a good indicator of how you are doing compared to the rest of the party. Tab around and check the meters in the party list.

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Originally Posted by Rongway

All the tank's enmity gems should be red squares. Always. If they are anything but a red square, you've lost a mob and it has already hit someone else. This actually means that the party list is not a good indicator of how you are doing compared to the rest of the party. Tab around and check the meters in the party list.

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You're right about the corrections. Sorry about the mistakes.

Welcome to the game!

So when I picked up tank jobs for the first time, I learned how to play them through doing FATEs. A lot of people might discredit them nowadays, but it's still a better means of learning about your job, your skills and abilities, and also how long you can last on your own all in a safer practice environment compared to picking it up and going straight into a dungeon only to wind up in tears like one friend did.

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Originally Posted by manamoppet

You're right about the corrections. Sorry about the mistakes.

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Though to be honest, the way you described them is closer to how it should work, so that it would actually be useful for making sure you maintain a strong lead.

First off welcome to FFXIV. I have done tanking but it is just as easy to link a thread someone had made :)
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...mblood-Edition
Hopefully it helps some
Also if you have friends or FC team mates, it is always far less stressful if you are just beginning as tank to go with friends.

Pro tip:

Scold the DPS if they don't use enmity tools.

Hall of the Novice is a good thing to go through for any new class, if you don't know the basics of the role and how dungeons work in FFXIV. Speak to "The Smith" in New Gridania or next to any dungeon to get into it.

Your goal as a tank is to make all of the enemies attack you. For a single enemy, use Shield Lob followed by your enmity combo (Fast Blade -> Savage Blade -> Rage of Halone). For multiple enemies, use Flash.

Enmity, aggro or hate mean "how much the enemy hates you". You need more enmity on a given enemy than the rest of the party, in order for it to attack you.

You can see if all enemies are on you by looking at the Enmity List. If an enemy is red, it is on you. If it is turning orange or has become Yellow, you've lost aggro of it. Click it and regain aggro (Shield Lob, Flash, etc).

You can see how much enmity you have on an enemy versus another party member by clicking the enemy and looking at the party list. A full-red meter means you have aggro. Ideally you want other party members' meter to be white, but later into the fight that might slowly build up into yellow or orange territory. This is fine as long as they won't take aggro from you before the enemy dies.

A lot of new tank guides teach you to mark targets as <1>, <2>, <3> to get the party to attack <1> first, so you can focus on holding aggro of <1>. This is useless because some players will use AoEs and rip aggro of <2> and <3>. Instead, focus on holding aggro of ALL the enemies. If there are only 3, spread your enmity combo over the 3 enemies, prioritising the one with the least health (or they may rip aggro). If there are more than 3 enemies, just use Flash whenever one of them turns yellow.

When you get to L30 you can use Shield Oath (aka tank stance). This increases enmity from all attacks, so when you use damage combos or the Total Eclipse AoE later on, it can still hold aggro of the enemies despite not having Added Effect: Increased Enmity. It also decreases incoming damage.

The purpose of tank stance is to increase enmity and reduce incoming damage. If you do not need to generate more enmity, and are not taking heavy damage, there is no point in being in tank stance and should switch to Sword Oath (often, bosses don't do heavy damage).

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Originally Posted by Maero

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...mblood-Edition

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That's a good guide, so seconded.

Welcome to the community!

Lots of great tips already and I'm sure people would love to help on a specific issue if you had one. So here are just some random thoughts:

• I see provoke used awkwardly quite a bit and I think it's due to the fact in other MMOs it tends to work differently. Here you are put to the top of the emnity (aggro/hate) list by 1 point. This means if you do nothing afterwards that your healer breathing towards the monsters will cause them to change targets again. So provoke is not a great pulling tool when you want to actually keep the monster on you :) (you have a ranged aggro move (shield toss) and aoe aggro move like (flash / circle of scorn)). Provoke is your amazing gap closer (since it puts you above the top by 1 point), just make sure to broaden the gap after closing it by using some more aggro tools~
  
• Shirk is pretty nice when you get into duo tank moments, don't forget to use it :). It gives your target (hopefully a tank lol) 25% of your aggro. This tool can help when both tanks might be new and possibly lose aggro (you're helping their experience be smoother) and can really help when the other tank is comfortable and wants to sit in damage mode all day and not use aggro tools often. You can also provoke to gain your co-tank's aggro and then give them 25% of that back to them (making it basically impossible either one of you will ever lose aggro lol), just make sure to keep in mind the boss can rotate to you so you should do this while they're casting spells or in a mechanic where they don't move (you don't want a spell to shy your way and mess everyone up). Also if you're going to use provoke like that it is good to know if you're going to have to tank swap or not (shirk is really helpful for tank swapping too) but you don't want to give them an enmity boost and then find out you're not ready to swap smoothly lol.
  
• Tanking gear can get exceptionally important, especially when item power level creep happens. For example you could be in shire gear and get into some of the later stormblood dungeons (meets ilvl req.), but you will melt faster than your damage dealer as the defense on gear grows very quickly during that heavensward to stormblood period. You don't always have to be in the tip top gear, but just be mindful of this as you can suddenly go from smooth sailing to WOW WHAT IS HAPPENING EVERY SO STRONK.
  
• Paladin is by far the easiest to start out with but will get more complicated later, and I think becomes one of the more difficult to "master" but is still fairly generous throughout it's leveling experience. Warrior I think is actually easier later once you understand the core mechanics, something just really nice with their adaptability and oGCD tank stance lol. Dark Knight is getting a lot of changes (every job to some level but they said Drk will be changed quite a bit) so.. who knows, but right now I hope you like Dark Arts if you want to give them a go lol. There will be a new tank soon too :).
  
• Abilities are not just for bosses, you can use defensive cooldowns to help the healer go into damage mode while pulling trash mobs (non-boss monsters in dungeons). Of course you don't (and shouldn't) use them all at once because you want have any for the next wave without waiting but.. definitely do use them lol.

Here are a few neat websites you might use:
http://www.ffxivgardening.com/planner.php
http://ffxiv.ariyala.com/HuntTracker/
https://apkallufalls.com/
https://xivstyle.com/
https://ffxiv.gamerescape.com/wiki/Main_Page
https://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/wiki/Text_commands
http://www.ffxivhuntspath.com/home/
https://www.ffxivtriad.com/
http://ffxiverminion.com/

(lots more websites to share)

Also once you complete the level 50 quest The Ultimate Weapon don't forget to nab your free four person mount as it is a limited time event:
https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/special/ffxv/

Here is an image with some nice easy ways to make MGP to buy the item (you need 200k to get the car, as soon as you can get into the golden saucer I'd recommend you do the weekly challenge log for easy points). Unlock quest: https://ffxiv.gamerescape.com/wiki/I..._Happen_to_You

https://i.imgur.com/fROGJlT.jpg
(click to enlarge)

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Originally Posted by jisoo

Hi there everyone!

I'm totally new to FFXIV. I bought the game years ago- and just recently came back to it a week ago. I'm actually playing a class I've never even touched in my whole life of MMOs. Generally I'm a DPS class but for this, I decided to go do Paladin.

Any big tips? In the game and as a Tank in general. I feel like I'm such a mess sometimes as a Tank since I'm not used to making sure hate is on me and such. I'm watching Videos and reading guides though since I don't want to be the world's worst tank, but what can you do there- just gotta learn and try not to let people die in the process.

Anyways! I'm always up for making friends.

My discord is - jisoo#6348

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Gonna save you sometime.

Go to discord and join "The Balance" discord. Agree to their rules, join the PLD discussions and what not, read the guides, ask questions, and youll be set. Most of the people there are pretty frieindly and knowledgeable. Dont be afraid to ask questions and just give careful consideration to the answers, even if it may not make sense at first.

Gonna post a bit of clarification here:

While you can get a lot of basic information from teh forums here, take some of it with a grain of salt (myself included.) There is a lot of misinformation due to lack of nuance or misunderstanding and that can hamstring you long term if you learn things wrong or get set in a particular mindset about how skills are to be used. As an example (and Im not trying to pick on Shougun, as he is 99% right here), provoke can be used to pull on certain occasions. Shield lob has a shorter range than provoke, and if you have an enemy that is in a place you want to pull but dont want to pull other mobs (POTD or HoH are examples of where this might apply; also some savage fights where you might want to preposition before the boss pull), you can use Provoke to get the mob to start coming your way, then follow up with a shield lob soon as it is in range. This gives you the ability to pull a monster from a safer position without risking pulling others. Granted, some mobs will pull when one of their pack gets attacked, but thats not always the case.

Nuance like this is important because at higher levels, you may want to know this so you can do your role better. This is why nuance and asking questions is semi important, because if you have the mindset of "I only pull with Shield lob and Never Provoke," then you hamstring your ability to deal with certain content easier.

Thats why I do recommend the Balance discord cause theyll give you pretty much the meat and potatoes of everything with fairly good explainations why, and then if you have questions, there are people who can answer it for you pretty consistently.

Beyond that, only other advice is dont 'not try' content. If its hard, watch the guides on youtube, and then try it out. Youll suck at first, but youll get better with practice. There was another thread a week or two ago I think with a guy telling his tale about that : They sucked, still tried the hard stuff, worked on it, got better, and now theyre clearing UwU and what not. If youre willing to put the work in and hold yourself accountable, you can play anything the game offers. Might be difficult but it is rewarding IMO. Just dont be afraid to try stuff just cause it looks hard. Give it a whirl, and if you decide after a bit its not for you, thats ok. But if you think you can do it, practice and learn to master whatever class your playing and push yourself to do it.

oh gosh, all of you are so kind! thank you so much for all of the guides and tips. I'm definitely going to read through all of them and make sure i get a lot better cause reading through a few already, i noticed a few things i've done wrong- which is good to know.

But gosh! Definitely love the community already : ) ! All of you are really kind/wonderful. I honestly didn't expect so many replies either - so this is a really great surprise. Unluckily for me, my work is having crazy events going on next weekend so I won't be able to try out everything just yet due to prepping for it, but I will definitely try out everything and see what works best for me and such.

Again, thank you so much for all the advice!

I'm also always open for more advice or even conversations about the game. so far its been really fun/great. I quite enjoy it and I honestly can't wait to get awesome gear that I can glamour.

The most common mistake I see new tanks make is that they try to kill enemy A and when it's dead they switch to enemy B and after that one is dead to enemy C. But chances are high enemy C is already running to the healer or some DD.

As a tank you are not killing stuff in order, you are tanking all the enemys at once. You have to switch targets often to establish enmity on all of them. When enemy A is at 30~25% life you should already switch to enemy B. This way you can establish some enmity lead before the DDs switch their target too.

Also Flash is the skill wich generates the most enmity with only one button. Whenever you are really in trouble with getting enmity, use Flash. Even on single target (but only for emergencys).

Second big mistake are tanks who pull with their enmity combo. The first attack of the enmity combo has no enmity bonus, wich means the DDs will take the enmity. Especially when it is a ranged DD you can now chase the enemy around the arena. Always pull with a skill wich has an enmity bonus, normally you will use Shield Lob. After you have established some enmity with the first attack you use the enmity combo.

My Advice is keep on reading guides and watching those vids. Avoid the forums a simple question can erupt into a 150 page thread ranging from legitimate answers to a treatise on Marxism. :P

Welcome to FFXIV have fun, I know I have!

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Originally Posted by Nyvara

Avoid the forums a simple question can erupt into a 150 page thread ranging from legitimate answers to a treatise on Marxism. :P

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It's suprising how often something like the latter ends up being the discussion....