Tanking looks Intimidating.

[Nalou]

Don't feel intimidated. Tanking isn't that hard, especially if you know the dungeons in advance, which you do.
Holding hate with Flash/Overpower and combos isn't really complicated. Running out of red AoEs isn't either.
The most complicated part is to understand which mobs will follow you and which mobs won't. Basically the ranged mobs won't, so you bring other mobs to ranged mobs and pack them there.
Mark your targets. Even if you don't know a proper order, mark anything, and you'll learn after time.
Keep you armor up to date, that's more important than on other classes.

Be humble, say it's your first time, say you are sorry when you know you screw up, and don't hesistate to criticize people doing shit... cause there are a lot of people doing shit.
Did they follow order ? Did the pay attention to the situation ? Did they open a pack with a big damage proc ? Are they wearing underlevelled gear ? Are they taking all AoE ?

Remember this game is all about teamplay, so others could be faulty too.


Oh, and level only through dungeons, and do fights like Ifrit/Titan etc in order to train. You'll see how you get better and you'll be more confident.

Also, tank gets instant dungeon pop. Don't hesistate to leave a group full of idiots when you meet one.

[Ooshima]

Oh, and level only through dungeons, and do fights like Ifrit/Titan etc in order to train. You'll see how you get better and you'll be more confident.

If referring to HM primals.. I think Titan is the easiest of all based on my experience. And I literally followed this guide with the exception of dodging those bombs that I can dodge

http://i.imgur.com/KP8wXYZ.png

[xagarelic]

- Always marks target, even when you're unsure what they do
- Ask everything about the boss or the encounter if it's your first time
- Have courage, it's like being asked to talk in front of public for the first time, it'll eventually grow on you

Basically a summary of the guy above's post =)) =))

[Seif]

I tank usually pretty OK (I'm not amazing) but you have a point there. If you mess up as a tank EVERYONE will notice (and probably die) but if you're a dps sleeping next to your spear won't cause an uproar of insults.

I sometimes DPS because it's less stressful but tanking is amazing. There just seems to be so many more things you have to do to tank properly.

I'm a war but I have no clue whatsoever how to tank as a gladiator. I tried once which led to everyone dying, calling me names and eventually kicking me out of the group! I'm kinda afraid to even try again! Lol oh god how can I get social pressure from sucking at a game?!

[SpookyGhost]

Something to remember is that everybody has started where you are at one point. We all ran this gauntlet, whether here or in another MMO. Just don't forget that being a good tank has the same responsibility as a good DPS or being a good Healer. DPSing is a bit more intuitive, but Nalou has noted the main responsibilities of a tank that differ between the roles. Mark your targets, remember that ranged don't like moving (you'll learn this early on with the archers in Sastasha), and keep AOE threat while doing what you can to maintain survivability. Early on tanking is a bit annoying because DPS have all their tools to Hit The Thing from the start but tanks have very limited abilities to hold threat - it's a bit easier with MRD since Overpower exists but it's still difficult when everyone is hitting a single target regardless. Eventually this becomes a lot easier, especially once you get access to your tanking stance, but at the start you'll suffer from aggro problems - if anyone blames you for losing threat before you get the third hit of your enmity combo then they are a dumb and don't listen to them.

Obviously tanking isn't for everyone (not that it's hard, just not everyone likes having the responsibility of not dying while relying on your healer to keep you afloat) but it's worth trying to see if you enjoy it, at least. Give MRD or GLD a shot and see what you think yourself.

[JeTaisNoobie]

If you feel you aren't up to it after having experienced tanking, just quit. You had your fun and it's time to try something else. Don't feel like you've wasted your time.

If you're good, you're good. That's my stand.

[AlrikRouge]

In retrospect, not sure I would have taken a tank job as my first ever MMO role. Maybe I would have. But in the end, so far I'm really happy about it.

It can be intimidating. However, I always made it known I hadn't done the dungeon before, or if there was a way I had been running the dungeon, did they want it run another way. Etc. Rarely did I ever run into a bunch of criticism at the outset. And when I did, I really did ignore it, and continued to ask questions. Either the hotheads jumped from the run, or shut up, while the helpfuls continued to help.

I think in all the times I was new at a dungeon, I bailed twice - each time was with a group of pre-mades that were just selohssa and were relentless in showing it. I think it was good to run with both fresh DPS and healers, and pros. I learned a lot more, faster that way. AND THEN I came to the forum and started reading up. Because I could understand the strategies everyone was talking about, using the skills they mentioned.

And when in doubt.....blame the tank.

[Freyt]

It's easy to feel overwhelmed before doing something like going into a dungeon. When you haven't done it before, you feel this sensation of not knowing what you're doing, and you worry that you're going to bring your whole team down and be outcasted. Which by the way that has never happened to me, and I raised up PLD before any other class, meaning I went through duties on it before anything else. I went into most dungeons not knowing anything, and at the start of the dungeon I'd say something like "I'm new, anything to keep in mind?" and "What's the strategy for this boss?". Sometimes that's all you need to do.

The most complicated things I've done so far is Garuda HM and Titan HM. Once I knew what to do though, both of them were easy. However in Titan, when the other players do poorly it's going to impact you hard, when the healers heal the DPS instead of you. This might lead to you starting to think it's your fault. It isn't.

[Ed_N_Ants]

You honestly need to learn the role... I personally as a dps and healer pull mobs in lower dungeons to see how the tank handles agro... If they can get it back from me I know they know what there doing and say nothing... If they don't get it back from me I educate them on what needs to be done... Ask your dps if they can pull the mobs cause you want to test your skills... This game and its jobs are learning experiences only... As long as you can hold agro thats 95% of your job the other 5% is dodging aoe's and knowing where to tank the enemy at, which can easily be achieved by telling a group your a new tank to the trial/dungeon... Most people will help you out...

[Ed_N_Ants]

And when in doubt.....blame the tank.

This is the best statement ever because it's totally true... If there not blaming the tank there blaming the healer... What they don't realize is dps needs to down things quickly tanks need to hold agro and healer needs to keep all of them alive... It's a group effort and when you fail you failed as a group...