Tank Balance - Thordan EX 7-WAR 1-WHM Clear (Really SE?)

[HyperiusUltima]

PLDs are vastly better than DRKs in Thordan EX. I guess PLDs are perfectly fine as tanks by the same reasoning? It doesn't work that way.

Well, while this is true, SE is to blame for creating fights that aren't fit for the class, forcing overgearing(i.e. Alexander Savage vs. PLD). It's all depending on the damage going out that can decide which tank to bring. Physical Damage? Bring a PLD to block and mitigate that damage more easily with things like Sheltron and Bulwark. Magic Damage? Bring the DRK to use DA Dark Mind to mitigate it even more. It comes down to how SE creates the fights and deciding which tank has the limelight.

As for design decisions, I can understand PLD being extremely clunky due to their Heavensward abilities(and some of their abilities in ARR) not synergizing very well(the only exception being SS due to the oGCD buff it recently received).

For WARs, the community believes them to be the 'top tier tank' mainly due to the shift in the end-game raid meta. Equilibrium does so much to alleviate their TP concerns when abusing OP, but what about Flash+OP? WARs weren't really designed to use MP in the first place, but they were given a reason to use it with PLD Flash due to it reducing the amount of TP they had to use from before(which was 1/4th or more of their TP Gauge). This leaves Equilibrium to be used freely for a free 200 TP a minute that the other tanks have to ask for(DRK can use Unmend for such when required), or in PLD's case have to suffer until either Goad or the Spire are used.

[Reynhart]

Well, while this is true, SE is to blame for creating fights that aren't fit for the class, forcing overgearing(i.e. Alexander Savage vs. PLD). It's all depending on the damage going out that can decide which tank to bring. Physical Damage? Bring a WAR. Magic Damage? Bring a WAR

Oh, and the community doesn't believe WAR is the top tier tank due to the shift in the meta...WAR is the top tier tank due to the shift in the meta.

[Jpec07]

Oh, and the community doesn't believe WAR is the top tier tank due to the shift in the meta...WAR is the top tier tank due to the shift in the meta.

Has been since they were buffed in 2.x, iirc. I keep hearing that they did the maths to prove that WAR mitigates more than PLD while also dealing more damage. This is exacerbated by abilities in HW that allow Warrior OT DPS to top pure DPS job numbers in certain periods of combat, while PLD is still mediocre at best. DRK is doing okay, though, by my understanding, because they have the highest MT DPS.

[Reynhart]

Has been since they were buffed in 2.x, iirc.

Not exactly.

WAR had "enough" mitigation since 2.1, even though the gap between PLD and WAR was higher than now (thanks to Raw Intuition and the parry buff) and was the highest MT DPS.
BUT, without a DPS stance and no skill out of Defiance, it actually did less damage than a PLD in SwOath, as long as Storm's Eye was applied.
So, wether you wanted to play safe or go full damage, tanks just had to switch places.

Now, Deliverance and Fell Cleave are a much higher boost than Goring Blade and Royal Authority, so PLD fell back under WAR in both MT DPS and OT DPS...without anything significant to compensate.
The other reason is that stacking is bad. So, it was always better to go PLD+WAR than WAR+WAR or PLD+PLD. Now that DRK is here, "not stacking" is not enough to ensure a place for each tank.