Lack of tanks in the game

[Zourin]

There's not a shortage of tanks. There are tons of people with level 50 paladins and warriors bumming around. They don't play because:

a) Other classes are more fun. PLD's are three button wonders when it comes to combat. While 'tanking mechanics' are an art, the class itself is as well flavored as elmers glue. Fast -> Circle -> Rage -> Repeat is not engaging, and Sword Oath is a paltry offering for a DPS option when there's no need for an OT'ing or solo PLD.

b) It's a pile of responsibility. Tanks are responsible for being fast learners or knowing a dungeon and boss fights inside and out while simultaneously maintaining overwatch in case adds happen or something peels off. The entire group hinges entirely on the tank, as they are not easily replaced and progress can come to a screetching halt if you're missing one.

c) There's no incentive to re-queue in the roulettes. The payouts are paltry, even for an 'in-need' class. You can get people rolling for tanks once a day for low level roulette and Main Quest roulette, maybe even high level roulette, but once those tokens are awarded, there's VERY little incentive to rerun to help the other 9 groups that are in queue waiting for a tank.

d) You're weighed VERY heavily by your gear by the public, and very few value a talented paladin that can hold their own next to an inexperienced someone 5-10 iLvl's higher. People would rather wait until they greed-roll a high level PLD set before ever actually tanking and shortcut their way through relic quests as another, less gear and responsibility heavy class.

e) Warriors are often seen as 'risky' main tanks because of their lack of damage mitigation options compared to the paladin, who are more efficient to heal per MP.

[SpookyGhost]

e) Warriors are often seen as 'risky' main tanks because of their lack of damage mitigation options compared to the paladin, who are more efficient to heal per MP.

Assuming you haven't played since 2.0 or something, but:

WAR vs PLD is roughly a 2% heal difference now. WAR also has a 6s Rampart every 23s maximum, a 15s Sentinel (with some added damage and small healing from +Bloodbath), Thrill of Battle, and a constant 10% mitigation from Storm's Path. While it takes more to play WAR effectively, the two tanks are pretty much on par with eachother - the main difference being Hallowed Ground which WAR only has Holmgang to match (and Holmgang sucks).

[Pooky_Pasha]

Assuming you haven't played since 2.0 or something, but:

WAR vs PLD is roughly a 2% heal difference now. WAR also has a 6s Rampart every 23s maximum, a 15s Sentinel (with some added damage and small healing from +Bloodbath), Thrill of Battle, and a constant 10% mitigation from Storm's Path. While it takes more to play WAR effectively, the two tanks are pretty much on par with eachother - the main difference being Hallowed Ground which WAR only has Holmgang to match (and Holmgang sucks).

To build on this, there are many fights (ones with heavy, predictable spike damage), in which I believe a well played WAR is less "risky" than a PLD. At the end of the day, however, if a PLD can tank it, a WAR can tank it just as effectively. If a WAR can tank it, a PLD can tank it just as effectively.

[Anatole]

I would agree with SpookyGhost here. even in the endgame content the warrrior is a good viable option.

f.ex. in my static i have become main tank in 2,1 for Twin fight since the warrior has a high HP pool and inner beast with its 20% mitigation that fits well with the huge damage that comes during the fight. i will also agree with spooky that both tanks are different but closely matched in most fights.

[lxSch]

There's not a shortage of tanks. There are tons of people with level 50 paladins and warriors bumming around.

This is true about me and my friend - we both have tank classes, but we never step into the low level duty finder due to newbie's attitude. I am leveling pld now, as soon as i finish it i will get out of duty finder asap and never step there again.
What does a common newbie think about tanks in ffxiv? My guess based on received attitude:
- tanker's role is to hold hate, tanker has skills to do so;
- if tanker is not holding hate - he must be bad, not using skills to hold hate, being lazy on attacking every mob, so i will either troll him or give some advices from my tanking exp in other games;
- if tanker does not take these brilliant advices - he is wrong and hopeless...
- anyway, good tanks are VERY rare (i was told this yesterday in brayflox)...