nice article about tanks

[Galan]

As it is right now it's easier to tank then dps which is usually not the norm for mmo's. And as Paladin it's outright boring most of time. Drag boss in one corner and mindless press 1,2,3 over and over, pop and few cool downs here and there, maybe dodge. Same old same old cleave mechanic which you prevent group from getting hit with. Spam flash for multiple mob aggro yawn. Boss tank switching not very innovative neither.

Bad dps means a very bad time in this game. Can live with a so-so tank if the dps is good.

[Ringabell]

As it is right now it's easier to tank then dps
Bad dps means a very bad time in this game. Can live with a so-so tank if the dps is good.

Disagree.

As a tank you must be aware of everything.

Lead the group, make sure all the mobs you grabbed are hating on you despite BLMs dropping bombs on them, protect the casters, deal with DPS who refuse to attack what you're attacking, relying on healers (some of whom aren't very good), Etc

As a BLM my surviveability is considerably lower, but with a good tank I can essentially sit back and burn **** down. They do massive pulls and keep hate on them ALL while I drop Flares like it's nobody's business. They make my job easy as pie. Just go through my rotation and try not to get hit with AoEs.

It's only in the Coils & Extreme Primals, where DPS checks abound, that you REQUIRE high-level production from the DPS.

[ariaandkia]

Disagree.

As a tank you must be aware of everything.

Lead the group, make sure all the mobs you grabbed are hating on you despite BLMs dropping bombs on them, protect the casters, deal with DPS who refuse to attack what you're attacking, relying on healers (some of whom aren't very good), Etc

As a BLM my surviveability is considerably lower, but with a good tank I can essentially sit back and burn **** down. They do massive pulls and keep hate on them ALL while I drop Flares like it's nobody's business. They make my job easy as pie. Just go through my rotation and try not to get hit with AoEs.

It's only in the Coils & Extreme Primals, where DPS checks abound, that you REQUIRE high-level production from the DPS.

I disagree... DPS have a much harder job than tanks. Not only do you have to watch your DPS so that you don't out-enmity the tank, you have to be ready to tank one or two mobs, sometimes even entire groups of mobs.

When I play a tank, I just have fun. I'll ask my party to stay out of boss rooms and solo the bosses for fun. Tell them to go take a bio break, make food, w/e. Just jiggle their character every like 5 minutes.

I'll do speed run level of pulls in lower dungeons telling my healer to not heal me. I'll even sometimes solo some trash mobs for fun.

Healer is potentially harder with the way I play a healer, but aside from the extra duties I get by parties in addition to DPSing and healing during speedruns, since I enjoy healing and it is my nature to heal, it ends up being easier.

Granted, generally I treat my DPS as an off-tank. I try to keep my enmity on my target just below the tank's and above the healer's so that when the tank dies (because it happens quite often), I can instantly go all out on all the other mob sand pick up the aggro without having to worry about that one mob or boss.

And yes, I've tanked the entire Haukke Manor (NM) as a THM, DRG, BRD, WHM, and even SCH. (Not that I ever want to).

There are a few situations that I can't tank as another tank class, but usually that is because my gear at the time was severely low. (Was still leveling those classes).

[Ashkendor]

I disagree... DPS have a much harder job than tanks. Not only do you have to watch your DPS so that you don't out-enmity the tank, you have to be ready to tank one or two mobs, sometimes even entire groups of mobs.

It sounds like you're just running with bad tanks. It should go without saying that you should be comparing a DPS/healer job played correctly with a tank being played correctly. Making DPS tank mobs isn't tanking correctly. When a mob breaks away from me and hits healer/dps, I try everything in my power to get it back.