WAR or PLD?

[PapaSteel]

I'm 100% with Velvet Velour on this one. As someone who has tanked savage coil on both jobs, I also believe them to take (roughly) the same amount of skill - just in different ways. Paladin requires you to be calculating and know the timing of every mechanic in a fight. Warrior requires you to be able to adapt on the fly.

However, yes - paladin is by far the more forgiving of the two and is far easier at first glance, which has in turn created a faulty perception within the community. A terrible player can still be successful on paladin just by pushing 1-2-3 and never know it. A player who is pushing themselves to be exceptional, however, will find both jobs to be more or less equally difficult to master.

[SummonerSenah]

I disagree that gladiator is better for new tanks than marauder. Paladin may be easier than warrior, but at low levels I think marauder is the way to go. Gladiator at low levels has a harder time keeping aggro even if you're doing everything you're supposed to, so if you start with gld it can be discouraging. I think if you start out as marauder and learn the dungeons and pulls, it will make it easier to do on gladiator.

[nugglets]

Purely anecdotal opinion incoming:

WAR is just more fun to play in my opinion. Both are totally viable, so I stuck with the fun one.

[Lemuria]

I disagree that gladiator is better for new tanks than marauder. Paladin may be easier than warrior, but at low levels I think marauder is the way to go. Gladiator at low levels has a harder time keeping aggro even if you're doing everything you're supposed to, so if you start with gld it can be discouraging. I think if you start out as marauder and learn the dungeons and pulls, it will make it easier to do on gladiator.

Sure, it's easier to keep aggro. No one can fault Marauder for that, but at the same time you have ZERO defense buffs. You might as well be a squishy Dragoon for all the help you're giving to the poor WHM. This makes it much harder to do larger pulls and survive. At low levels you don't have the bonus to HP restoration, nor any skills which regen HP aside from Second Wind from monk and a weak HP gain from Bloodbath.

Furthermore, to actually keep aggro at those low levels you'll be using Overpower a lot. This eats up TP like crazy. Until I played Marauder I *never* ran out out of TP in lower levels dungeons, but when I was tanking I found it happened consistently.

I found tanking on Marauder much harder than on PLD for that reason alone. A good player won't have many issues keeping aggro using Flash at low levels anyway, so it's rarely as much of an issue compared to survivability.

[nugglets]

I found tanking on Marauder much harder than on PLD for that reason alone. A good player won't have many issues keeping aggro using Flash at low levels anyway, so it's rarely as much of an issue compared to survivability.

This is why you cross class Flash at low levels. And if you're abusing OP, either your DPS are targeting different enemies(which happens way too often in low level dungeons) or you're doing something wrong. One OP and changing targets during the enmity combo worked just fine for me, with the occasional Flash just to be certain.

[Melinabean0]

Oh, thanks for the replies, everyone! It still seems like most people agree that WAR is more fun with a bit more to pay attention to while PLD is your more straight forward 'sword and shield' tank. Which is really helpful! I'm going to level PLD for bit until I'm more proficient in tanking and then give WAR a try. Still thinking WAR is going to be my favorite of the two in the end. Lots of helpful points here too!

[Sparktacus]

Warrior for life. More than 1 combo, great defense, fun cd's when managed properly, and they look badass.

[Mahri]

Paladin is steady and reliable. I found it pretty boring, though. About the only thing you get to spice up your moveset is Spirits Within. Low risk, low reward.

Warrior is way easier to mess up at, but I find the extra options and slightly increased emphasis on careful TP management a lot more fun. High risk, high reward.

[Lakuma]

I've got to admit that this thread makes me want to reroll warrior, just for trying out.

Out of curiosity, would PLD gears be compatible with WAR's attributes requirement - - Are they both able to share the same set of gears? Exclude weapon, of cause.

[TheMax1087]

I've got to admit that this thread makes me want to reroll warrior, just for trying out.

Out of curiosity, would PLD gears be compatible with WAR's attributes requirement - - Are they both able to share the same set of gears? Exclude weapon, of cause.

Except for their af and i90 armors they share all the same equipment.