Brand New Gladiator here, tips....go!

[TheodoreMcIntyre]

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1. Sort of, yes. As a tank, you have your main 1 2 3 combo, but then there's other combo skills you can use. If you use those, you can break the combo. I also believe Shield Bash breaks the combo but I'm not 100% on that because I never actually paid close attention to it. Now, buffs and off GCD skills, such as Rampart, or Circle of Scorn/Spirits Within, and I believe Flash do not break combo.
Of course, you can always try it out on the dummies right outside Ul Dah in West Thanalan.

2. While you're leveling your tank, try to just invest in gear that is only equippable by GLA/PLD MRD/WAR. This is assuming you feel like you need more VIT and Defense. It'll be labeled as such, and there is new tank gear sets available to you every fifth level. I personally upgraded every fifth level while leveling my tanks because I was able to craft my gear which made it very cheap. To get these sets, you can either purchase them off the marketboard, or ask for an Armorer to craft it for you and bring them the materials and then tip them. The latter is usually much cheaper and it makes getting HQ gear much easier.

[Alistaire]

Yes, shield bash breaks combo. Shield Swipe does not. Abilities that are not on GCD do not break combos. Flash also does not break combos. Overpower does.

And for #2 gear that says gld/pld/mrd/war/lnc/drg is great as well as long as its defense and magic defense are equal. Basically, they gave DRG some of the tank-caliber gear. When you see the magic defense lower than defense, that's not tank gear, both those defenses will be under tank gear in those cases.

[zthebadger]

Use provoke and then spam your enmity moves on the enemies those dps tank wannabees are attacking.
But mostly, play your way as a tank, it's nice to take advice but if you base your entire play style on the common tank tactics and stats, it's not particularly fun or rewarding, tank your way, still take in advice but tank the way you want to tank, which is my advice.

[Thistledown]

Your combo will be interrupted by anything on gcd pretty much. Flash is an exception but I hear Sword/Shield Oath will.

So do your 1-2-3, but if you feel your healer will draw extra hate then feel free to Flash in between witbout interruption. You can also always switch target mid-combo and hit a mob with, say, your 2 and then go back to 3 your main target.

Remember you don't have to stick with your first target to its death; once you feel confident that next gcd will finish it off, switch to your next target.

[Ninster]

Hey guys, just saw this and thought I'd ask some questions of my own. I just today (before the game went down) got WAR and PAL. Both are lvl 32 right now, and I feel like these jobs just got confusing with my more recent abilities. And I get nervous in dungeons playing tank as it is.

On Paladin, I tried out a few FATEs and just messed around with hunting log targets and noticed that there was times where Shield Swipe was up A LOT. If this is will be the case for dungeons, when do I use it and when do I keep my combo going instead?

On Warrior, I think I understand the Wrath system, but if I understand right I have no way to use it until the level 35 job quest. Is this right or not?

For both: I have all my other jobs capped. What cross-class abilities do I need to start with, and then add at 40 and 50? I never could figure this out on MRD and GLA and I'm still not sure.

[Alistaire]

Use provoke and then spam your enmity moves on the enemies those dps tank wannabees are attacking.
But mostly, play your way as a tank, it's nice to take advice but if you base your entire play style on the common tank tactics and stats, it's not particularly fun or rewarding, tank your way, still take in advice but tank the way you want to tank, which is my advice.

No. No no no no no. "Use provoke" should almost never be the first thing a tank does. Provoke does not generate threat. Provoke leapfrog's everyone else's. It's to be saved for when someone pulls hate.

And when you're finally comfortable that nobody will pull hate off you, then you can start using it for its higher range to pull, the few times that's even beneficial.

[GeekMatt]

No. No no no no no. "Use provoke" should almost never be the first thing a tank does. Provoke does not generate threat. Provoke leapfrog's everyone else's. It's to be saved for when someone pulls hate.

And when you're finally comfortable that nobody will pull hate off you, then you can start using it for its higher range to pull, the few times that's even beneficial.

The OP talked about getting hate back from someone that pulled it. So when badger said to provoke and build aggro on the mob that the DPS-tank was on, he'd need that aggro leapfrog.

[PWilson]

Hey guys, just saw this and thought I'd ask some questions of my own. I just today (before the game went down) got WAR and PAL. Both are lvl 32 right now, and I feel like these jobs just got confusing with my more recent abilities. And I get nervous in dungeons playing tank as it is...

Can't speak to the Warrior. As PLD, I don't use Shield Swipe much. It doesn't generate aggro and I usually don't have too much of a cushion to spend on moves that don't generate emnity, at the moment. Before ninjas were in the game, I'd use it now and then. The Pacification is a nice effect, but the real value of it is the super low TP cost and high damage. 210 potency is your second most damaging skill, and it's just on GCD instead of the looong CD of Spirits Within. You shouldn't really rely on it in order to use the Pacification, because of course the randomness of when its up often means it isn't up when you'd need it - stick to Shield Bash instead.
It's super great for your solo content though, and you should use it whenever it is up.

The Cross-Class abilities you want as PLD is Stoneskin and Foresight. You shouldn't need Protect. Raise sounds super useful, right? No can do, you won't be able to use it during combat. Cure can be useful, but be aware it doesn't actually heal much, ever, because your mind stat is super low. But beneficially, it will help you keep aggro. There's honestly not really a point to taking Skull Sunder or Fracture. Mercy Stroke and Bloodbath can be useful, though.
As a WAR, you want Flash and Provoke, and three of: Featherfoot, Convalescence, Second Wind, or Mantra. You may also want to consider Awareness or Internal Release in certain instances.

[Danbo05]

Flash and number your kill order til you get Shield Oath. And only use Riot Blade combo when you're out of flash. When you're down to 1-2 enemies, you may proceed to using your Rage of Halone combo. Congratz, you're a Gladiator. Oh, and you can pop cooldowns (Rampart for example) every now and then too.

[zthebadger]

I didn't say use provoke FIRST, I said use provoke. That's why I specifically said "on the enemies those dps tank wannabees are attacking", I know fully well what provoke does, and that's why I said when your allies have pulled enmity from you, I did certainly NOT say, it should be the first thing a tank does, nor did I even imply it.