Hybrid classes - SAM & RD MAGE.

[Reynhart]

It's not multiple "role" for BRD, but multiple type of DPS. And I seriously doubt that BRD will be able to match BLM in all DPS situations, just because they'll still be able to switch their type.

Again, "short-term" sacrifice is too "easy". If a SAM can be a short-term full tank or a short-term full DPS, just bring 3 SAM with your healer. When things get sour, they'll just all switch to tank mode to help the party survives, then all switch to DPS mode during lesser hits. Exactly like actual tanks switch stances, but with real DPS potential. (Hello ! Paradigm Shift ! )

An acceptable hybrid should be locked for the whole instance, like Anubis said.

[Shurrikhan]

Again, "short-term" sacrifice is too "easy". If a SAM can be a short-term full tank or a short-term full DPS, just bring 3 SAM with your healer. When things get sour, they'll just all switch to tank mode to help the party survives, then all switch to DPS mode during lesser hits. Exactly like actual tanks switch stances, but with real DPS potential. (Hello ! Paradigm Shift ! )

An acceptable hybrid should be locked for the whole instance, like Anubis said.

Somehow it seems I'm not being as disturbed by this 'paradigm shift' idea as I should be...

I think SE's answer to the possibility of hybrid-stacking would largely their increase to the unique utility each job provides, with tanks as no exception. In other words, why take 3 lesser dps-tanks who have little other (simultaneous) utility when you could take 2 real tanks who have additional utility and will likely allow the healers to dps more to make up for the compositional difference gap, all while building more LB by not stacking a single job???

As long the true tank choice has even a faintly better total, optimal will be optimal and SAM-stacking would be for fun-runs only (which... I'd probably greatly enjoy participating in, but only in that capacity).

:: Also, I don't know how long your idea of short-term is, exactly. If we're talking 'long enough to build up five Wrath stacks, w/o Infuriate, to have a prayer of surviving something on swap-in', or blowing a crucial would-be DPS cooldown to prep for a hit, for example, I don't honestly think that's all that short-term, especially if DPS-loss is ramping up that whole time too. Though, at that point SAM may just be the inverse of a typical tank, its tanking about as limited as a tank's dps, unless, after swapping in, it has a way to generate dps from the tanking process itself.