Level 36 PLD looking for advice

[KingOfAbyss]

Sorry, i should have mentioned i am on PS4 in my OP. It was longer but the 1000 character limit is really... um.. limiting. Anyway, thank you all for the advice so far. I see what i am doing wrong with provoke. The <tt> is on my provoke macro to use when a stray add gets away from me, but i still get the <tt> is not a valid target. I see <mo> used a lot but how well does that work on the PS4? The touchpad mouse is really clunky so i havent tried to use it in battle.

I will try manually marking stuff before i enter the area. The only issue i have is what to do while in combat when adds spawn? Stand there and mark stuff? I will just have to practice and see what works for me.

As for my gear, truth be told it was not up to par for that dungeon. Avg ilvl was 28, 1500ish HP and 268 def. Got it up to ilvl 31, 1700ish HP and 312 def. I see the dungeon syncs from 37 and i have seen people around in level 37 tank gear so i might just wait another level and then regear and try again.

Heya fellow Tanky! ^^

Good job so far on making it this far.. you are almost done to get to lvl 50, and there will still be lots of fun awaiting you!

*I type a few words on a post, then click the EDIT: you will have unlimited character (don't ask why SE did that, please don't)

Before the fight: you mark your targets (now you can go up to 5 with the standard symbols) usually its 3.. I will mark 1 and 2, the last one is obvious.

I don't macro Skills with markers: since you will use them often, it could change the target's numbers, mkaing it a bit difficult.. but that's me.

DPS and Healers as well.. need to let you build aggro.. a bit before engaging and blasting everything to smithereens.. That's their part of the battle.

As others mentionned, your job is not DPS, but making sure all enmity, enemies are on you, at all time, until depleted of their HP. When you know the mechanics of some mobs, you will be able to turn around so they face you and not the rest of the party. When they do their AoE skills, you move out, and then back into the last position (will help melee DPS and their combos )

For Provoke, i prefer the approach of clicking on the mob that escaped your grasp, or was never into play, but suddenly appears. so for me it's <t> and not <tt>

if you marked 1-2 on 3 mobs, and then 2 other joined.. Make sure you will flash and aggro them, your hate on 1-2-3 should be already decent. By the time 1 and 2 are down, you can mark the 3rd one with the 3, and then once he's about to die, you can reuse 1 and 2 to mark the remaining ones, or as I said, now you can use 4 and 5.

DPS can easily catch upon their own meter and checking the lowest one with HP to kill. Then since 2 other joined, they will check which one you are targeting, and should hit them, if you didnt mark any. (lots of Tanks don't mark, so you have to use other methods )

I would say keep on marking, in case you encounter rude party members. If you wipe, and it was marked down, you stated the order in which they should have focused. So no blame on your part.

If your gear is lower, state it when beginning, so they will wait until a few shots on your own before as well. (it's pretty much always the same patterns..)

If you are with BLM, BRD (and you will) they should be able to use their AoE skills.. like the super Flare!

Making sure you build enough aggro, being properly geared for your lvl (including the next best weapon that you unlock) and THEM letting you get aggro a bit first: no wipes, no issues.

It's a TEAM effort: you carry some pressure on your shoulders, but not all. Very big difference here.

Don't let a rude comment get to you, unless it's very bad. State that you are new to Tanking, new to the particular dungeon, open to any tips, and you will see more people willing to give you advice, than the rest..

Good luck, you are doing this game a great service ^^

[Darrt]

I took marking out of my macro and just do it manually before we pull the next wave. Having shield oath now is also helpful with maintaining enmity. I've gotten better at holding aggro on a group of things now though sometimes things do slip away from me, though usually when they are almost dead so meh. Also, i have been holding off on doing dungeons at level and instead doing them at the level sync level with appropriate gear so its easier on the healer.

Sadly i now have a new issue. When does this get fun? Call me crazy but tanking in FFXI was way more fun that this. IDK why but this game just doesn't have the same charm FFXI did.

My free trial ends tomorrow and i haven't decided if i want to sub o not but thank you for the advice. I wish i could find helpful players like you in game so i would stop feeling like im playing a single player game.

[Elvie]

...My free trial ends tomorrow and i haven't decided if i want to sub o not...

I already replied to you in the other thread, and I stand by what I said, but having read your posts here I think I understand better why you are disenchanted with the game. Maybe you are not having fun because you are focusing so much on dungeons and dealing with toxic players whilst learning your class, in which case it will likely get better as you progress. And maybe being on a new server doesn't help. I haven't joined an FC yet because I'm wary of joining one when things are still settling on the server, a good FC now could have fallen apart in a months time, so I'm waiting until I've had a chance to form some relationships in game - but that takes time, in the meantime it is a bit isolating, and although I tend to join in and help out players when I'm out and about, it does sometimes feel a bit single player-ish, so I understand where you are coming from with that.

I do think if you aren't having fun now, that is unlikely to change, even with more interesting and challenging content than leveling dungeons, but if you do decide to stick around, then feel free to throw me a friend request - I play a lot and am usually up for most things.

[Artemiz]

Well the first thing to understand about tanking is that gear is vital, if the tank is a little undergeared then he'll generate less hate and take more damage which will make the healer work harder, generating more healer hate in the process. It will also set a lower hate threshold for the DPS which means they'll either slow down and lengthen the fight (putting further strain in tank and healer) or pull hate and the fight gets messy. Having up to date gear will make your tanking runs exactly 78% more enjoyable, that's a fact and everything

You seem to have the basics understood which leads me to believe you're capable of tweaking your tactics and improving naturally as you level and learn. Shield Oath at level 40 is a game changer by the way, one of the main reasons I enjoyed spamming Stone Vigil so much when leveling PLD I'd suspect. If you're struggling with hate you could try the flash +1 rule, basically you start off the fight by flashing once more than the number of mobs engaged i.e. on a 3 mob pull flash 4 times. That should give you a decent starting point before you start your normal rotations and give the healer a bit of breathing space to heal you during the max healing phase of the fight. Just remember hate is the responsibility of the group not just the tank, sometimes you need cooperation like people following marks or waiting longer than 2 seconds before dropping swiftcast flare. That's not being unreasonable and if they want to argue it is they're probably not very good at their own role so shouldn't be judging anyone.

Most importantly though just try to remember that people will criticize you in game no matter how well you do and most will completely miss it when you perform well. Only this morning I got a commendation for tanking a Titan HM, that fight really couldn't be easier for PLD if it tried. The thing is was one of our healers deserved all commendations, one healer died to the first landslide so the second healer had to solo heal the whole fight and it can be a tough fight for healers anyway, the guy worked his ass off but I doubt half the group even noticed.

[Darrt]

Wish i would have read this sooner so i could have befriended you Elvie. I actually am in a FC but i have yet to have a conversation with any of them because even though i say hi, whats up, when i log in no one says anything back. I didnt know Zodiark was a new server but thats my own fault for not researching. I figured since i am living in Germany i should just make a character on a EU server so i dont have any connection issues. Today was my last free day and i think im just going to hold off and wait to see if they add any interesting content or game mechanics. In the meantime i still need to play MGS V and finish BF4.

Thanks again to everyone who gave advice. It was very helpful and improved my gameplay. Have fun in Eorzea for me.