Please Do NOT Introduce Another Melee Tank

[Kitsu]

There are a lot of threads where people really want Samurai to be the next tank... Which leads me to this post.

Well, for one, it seems like the development team is already having issues balancing Paladins and Warriors, so I don't think it's wise to introduce another no-shield large-weapon tank into the same melee based system. I do think Paladins are in a really good place right now (since the dmg buff to Paladins). But.... It goes back and forth. Well, this thread explains it more clearly:

http://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/commen...ps_what_gives/

[Removed incorrect statement about Paladin Buff.] Warriors are better than they were at Launch, but what to do with them? Their heals aren't very strong. Warrior Off-Tank DPS isn't great in comparison to Paladin's unless the Warrior is tanking multiple mobs. They have less useful defensive cooldowns than a Paladin and Holmgang just kinna ... yeah. It seems like Warriors are almost there just to buff the Paladins on a single-enemy fight (which occurs a lot).

Why not just balance the two primarily physical ability tanks that are already there, and then introduce something like a heavy magic ability tank that isn't going to deal with the same physical ability system that Warriors and Paladins fight within? My main point is that I think that the idea of a Samurai tank would be crazy close to what Warrior already is unless something completely outside the box is utilized. While I think this could happen, I am not sure that it will be. Hence, I'd like to see something utilizing magic abilities instead like debuffs, buffs, perhaps the occasional instant spell, wards, perhaps increased stoneskin (w/ longer duration if the tank has cloth armor?), etc. I don't think that the tank has to be 100% magic... but a little bit of sugar and spice that is far more potent than Paladin's current set of spells would be nice. ;D

P.S. Please also revamp Paladin and Warrior before another tank is added so people don't abandon ship.

Edit: Should have said Melee-Only. Did not say ranged. Did not say it has to be ENTIRELY magic. I just think it would add more variety to have a tank based on magic-usage for defensive cooldowns, debuffs, etc.

[Riepah]

Sounds like you think everything would be fine if Samurai dealt magic instead of physical damage?

[Caraway]

I'd like to hear your suggestions on how a non-melee tank would work and not be horribly, horribly broken.

An evasion tank would be nice to have (when I say evasion tank I mean like the Monk/Bruiser of EQ2 and not the Ninja of FFXI) as would a mage (damaging soaking barriers?) tank but I think they'd all still end up being melee range.

[Exstal]

"no-shield large-weapon"

Katana is only 60~73cm, I don't think that constitutes large weapon.

I do believe Warrior axe is 110cm+, which is what I believe Dark Knight's 2H (if it gets) will be.

[LygerZero]

swtor has a ranged tank in the bounty hunter/trooper and actually works damn well. A ranged tank in this game isn't that far off base imho

[Eye_Gore]

How would a ranged tank actually work though? I mean tanks are there to take the damage, ranged classes usually do not have heavy armor hence why they are ranged as they are not in the heat of battle. Then wouldn't a ranged tank shortly after engaging an enemy become somewhat of a melee player as the target would just charge them down and be right up on them, defeating the purpose of a ranged attack? Or are they just supposed to keep running around having the target chase them so then a melee DPS could never land a hit?

[TouchandFeel]

Pretty much what Eye_Gore said. Most mobs move into melee range of what they have agro on so you may start at ranged and then everything will close on you and will be in melee range.

Ranged tanking may work in other games, but I don't really see a purely ranged tank working in this game. I would of course love to have SE prove me wrong on this.

As for a tank that was not your typical tank archetype of wearing heavy armor and carrying a big weapon or shield, there have been many ideas and suggestions for more finesse or magical based tanks such as some of the ideas for Mystic/ Rune Knight where defense was based off of the use age of magical ward, shields, sigils, etc.

[Deusteele]

There is no such thing as a true ranged tank. Some mobs can be tanked at range, but that's on the mob abilities, not the players. You can use ranged abilities while tanking a mob, but once it's in melee it's just being tanked as normal.

WoW as an example; has two light armor tanks, both use evasion as a primary survival method. But have a buffer for bad RNG, druids have a massive health pool and monks have a buffer that transfers some direct damage to a DoT. Both these systems have their own advantages and disadvantages.

As for the physical vs. magical problems commented on in the OP. That's purely tuning. It doesn't matter how the damage is dealt. What matters is potency and scaling. There will always be dps discrepancies unless you make two jobs carbon copies of each other.

[Rbstr]

The only way to do a "ranged" tank in the game would be to use a pet-like thing that the mob wails away on while the tank is someplace else.
I can't imagine that'd work too well...but it sounds kinda cool in concept.

I think SAM can make a pretty interesting an unique melee tank with counters and perhaps some form of partial evasion.
I also think it'd be cool to have a melee-magic tank. Shield and wand!

[Brannigan]

Am I high or did they never buff paladin damage? I don't think paladins have gotten any major buffs since the game's launch except like cover's range and the indicator. Also PVP stuff.

Anyway, I do want Samurai as a tank.








and Red Mage tank.