What other tank jobs could come to XIV?

[Lyein]

Mostly I just want some variable tanks added in; ones that fill difference niches.

Samurai could be the evasion tank for sure. It was all about getting the hell out of the way, not bashing the other guy's head in with your club- I mean dented sword. Evasion tanks really are an interesting thing, and with the existing RNG it could make things even more interesting. I would think it would logically be a single-target oriented role but if they brought in the sword-spirit aspect of FF Tactics it would lend itself to multi-target (MP-heavy tank??)

GLD/PLD fills the defense tank (damage mitigation) and single-target role while MAR/WAR fills HP tank and multi-target role.

A Dark Knight tank, I would think, would be oriented toward heavier armor and health-drains. It could be interesting to have them use up their own HP for some defensive skills while offensive (TP) skills tended toward draining it back.

A magical tank sounds great but I'm not sure what you would use for it (I just don't feel like Red Mage should be a tank... but eh).

As Kitru points out- converting an existing DD class to Tank using just five skills and no traits is a recipe for disaster. Though a damage-heavy off-tank is certainly a valid class and it could probably be done in that way.

[Kitru]

A Dark Knight tank, I would think, would be oriented toward heavier armor and health-drains. It could be interesting to have them use up their own HP for some defensive skills while offensive (TP) skills tended toward draining it back.

HP drain tanking is already something that WAR has effectively called "dibs" on with Storm's Path, Inner Beast, and Bloodbath. If anything, I expect Dark Knight, if it is implemented as a tank (it's what I *expect* and would prefer, but I wouldn't say it's a sure thing), to focus on playing around with its max hp. Consuming hp to fuel abilities as a tank means next to nothing, since its so simple for a healer to just top you off again. Playing around with max hp as a resource (likely by messing around with a buff that increases it), on the other hand, accomplishes the intended purpose while preventing healing from rendering the cost from simply being a token attribute.

A magical tank sounds great but I'm not sure what you would use for it (I just don't feel like Red Mage should be a tank... but eh).

Check out the Red Mage/Mystic Knight in my sig. You might be interested. Check the Dark Knight, as well, for an example of that "max hp as resource" set up I referenced.

As Kitru points out- converting an existing DD class to Tank using just five skills and no traits is a recipe for disaster. Though a damage-heavy off-tank is certainly a valid class and it could probably be done in that way.

It's less that converting an existing DD into a tank is problematic; it's that converting any base class designed for a single role into a separate role without that class being based around shifting into another role (ARC accomplishes this with the summon-transfer and coming pre-loaded with a heal and rez) with only 5 abilities becomes incredibly onerous: there is just so much that a base class does that a job can't replace. You'd have some *major* problems turning a WAR or GLD into a healer, just like you'd have problems turning BLM into a tank (THM into Time Mage as healer could be interesting, using the idea of "rewinding" damage and "accelerating" healing) not because of the 5 ability limitations but because it's 5 abilities to completely alter what 15+ abilities and 10+ traits accomplish.