Turning DRK into a tank was a huge mistake.

[Zyrusticae]

It was a major oversight by a development team to make a traditional DPS class as a tank. We have all seen these warning topics but now it's time to see the real results of this decision. Because people who waited and wanted it as a DPS role are playing it as such regardless of what SE thinks about the job now.
I heal DRKs every day and they are by far the most squishiest tanks I've ever seen. Why, most of them put all attribute points in Strength, use full set of Strength accessories and never use any defensive cooldowns. Often their HP drops low faster than I can heal through damage and they never help we with Living Dead and such to catch up, neglecting their tank and damage mitigation responsobilities. I have to babysit them every second or they will die, leaving me no time to help with DPS as is the case with properly geared and played tanks.

For the record, VIT does not help your heals become any more effective. If you're having trouble healing them when they're in STR builds you're going to have trouble healing them when they're in VIT builds. The only difference is the window of opportunity you have before they drop dead.

Not using any defensive cooldowns, on the other hand, is certainly a red flag. But bad players are bad, etc., etc.

Frankly, the fact that the tank role is STILL understaffed despite the popularity of DRK is a sign that they made the right decision. Bad players can eventually become good. But if no one plays tank at all, queues just become a bloody nightmare and it affects everyone involved.

[Arkanethered]

As for DRKs using STR stuff, I don't know how they survive dungeons like that, I use all VIT gear and sometimes feel kinda squishy. D:

and HP bloat makes you look even squishier if you can't manage your CDs....

Vit has nothing to do with how much damage you take.

[AlphaFox]

Your complaint seems to be that people, not the class, are using it wrong. However when you are healing them take a quick peak at the classes they have leveled, do they even own a tank past level 30 that is not Dark? Are they using CDs?

[Dualblade]

The only place where Dark Knight was a DPS was XI, and from everything I've heard that was more because of players rather then what it was actually created to be by the devs (Same with Ninja which WAS a DPS class...at the start.) Pretty much every other Dark Knight in the FF games could be considered Tanky, its just not nearly as noticable since they are single-player games, where pretty much everything devolves to DPS/DPS who can take hits/Healer.

[VarinaVashai]

and HP bloat makes you look even squishier if you can't manage your CDs....

Vit has nothing to do with how much damage you take.

Stoneskin
Creates a barrier around target that absorbs damage totaling 10% of target's maximum hp.

Strenght is a great stat for tanking, but lets not ignore that hp used well does reduce damage taken.

[Sylve]

-

Friend of mine loves the current DRK as a Tank, also uses two sets during dungeon runs. Full VIT setup for trash, full STR for bosses.
He does that because he knows exactly what to expect from each boss and learned the timings for the best use of his cooldowns. He doesn't need the 4k safety net the VIT gear gives him on bosses.

@The OP, Its not SEs fault there are bad DRKs, Its the players fault for not using the tools provided.

Stoneskin
Creates a barrier around target that absorbs damage totaling 10% of target's maximum hp.

Strenght is a great stat for tanking, but lets not ignore that hp used well does reduce damage taken.

Yeaaaah no. Stoneskin lasts for exactly 1 second. Its handy for reducing damage while moving trash and bosses into place, but not useful for much else.
A bigger Stoneskin is nice, but for the MP cost in battle, its almost never worth casting on the Tank over a Cure II or Adloq or whatever the AST equivalent of those are.

[Ayrie]

Stoneskin
Creates a barrier around target that absorbs damage totaling 10% of target's maximum hp.

Strenght is a great stat for tanking, but lets not ignore that hp used well does reduce damage taken.

Errr... I guess? I stop frequently to cast stoneskin so much in a fight... wait, can't even make a snippy joke at this.

HP thresholds have more to do with your healer than the tank. I've healed a ton of strength accessory tanks while leveling, and a ton of vit. Bad tanks are bad regardless of accessories.

In the end: str tanks yield more aggro allowing DPS to dig in harder. Vit tanks give healers breathing room on big pulls or big hitters.

Good tanks know which set is appropriate for the pull.

[Isius]

Yep, players that traditionally dps moved over to play drk, since it is the new "hip", and "cool" class. No offense I have tanked in ffxiv since 2.0, and I can't say after seeing half of the dps over 2 years trust them with a tanking job. Most people that play the game should know why. But yeah, had one drk that speed run a dungeon without grit on, and here I asked, "Why no grit?" Answer I got was "What is the point, I turned it off to do more dps." Was in a high roulette. I was there just thinking we'll thanks....now I can't dot all the mobs where it would do more dps then a tank, but instead the mobs are all running around crazy....yeah...nothing more to say.

[Isius]

^ I was lvling my smn from the roulette daily exp.

[Sylve]

-

Part of the reason DPS queues are so long as because its a more popular Role.
Dark Knight did a good job peeling some of those DPS players away into the Tank Role. That's good for the game.
They'll either learn to Tank properly or quit and go back to their old mains.
But we'll still have improved the number of Tanks in the wilds of the Duty Finder. DPS queues are no-where near as bad now as they were during ARR, So it clearly had a positive effect on the Tanking populations.