SAMURAI SHOWDOWN

[DWolfwood]

Not to sound rude but...

You should provide a long term reason why SAM may affect queues in the long term for Max Level/Endgame which is where the Tank Job will be truely tested.

In regards to long term, I don't think there needs to be more beyond the realization that there will be people who start this game and look at the jobs, and they will be drawn to certain jobs without giving thought to "roles." Tanking is not as bad as some think, and it certainly is not boring. There's the chance to change the misconceptions about it with brand new players, and we will certainly see numerous, "SAM(SHO) New to Tanking, Need Tips" threads.

There is also the question of what will deem SAM a successful Tank Job because what I deem a successful Tank Job is not simply by attracting new players into the Tank Job role but also if a decent amount of players actually stay and play as SAM.

Currently, Warrior tanks make up the majority of tank players. A little more than 50% I would wager, and I think a Samurai tank would cut into these numbers. What defines a successful tank in my opinion is similar, and I have faith in the development team to make a very fluid and solid samurai tank that is fun to play.

Looking at how you'd define DRK's success, I'll put it this way: I loved PLD in XI, it was actually my favorite tank ever, but as the game evolved, I was forced out of it. I switched over to a WAR main for end game tanking because all that was needed was an initial aggro before we just zerged everything down in a matter of minutes/seconds. In 1.x, I was a WAR main once again (actually thought it would be a heavy DPS based on the MRD description, but seems fate had something else in mind for me) and was one of the few that saw no need in going PLD, proving to many that WAR was actually an amazing tank contrary to what they'd believed. Going into 2.x, again, I was stuck on WAR, showing how amazing it was. 2.1 onward it was not even a question and took me awhile to dispel the myths of WAR that many had on my server.

The reason I bring all this up is because I had grown pretty tired of WAR, but I'm a tank at heart. DRK gave me something new and I finally found a new main. I've been a main since it came out and hope to see more positive changes for the job. There is no doubt in my mind that a SAM tank would be a success in these regards. Rest assured that if RDM or BLU had come out as tanks, I would still be a WAR main right now and be pretty disgruntled.

Would it be so bad to get Samurai as a tank, Red Mage as a DPS, and Geomancer as Healer (melee style with a double voulge, think WoW shaman), this next expansion (or two)?

I just don't see many people demanding that we get Geomancer. I think it could definitely be a healer and should probably be because healer options are limited, but I imagine it'll happen in 5.0 at the earliest. I personally see RDM as a great healer option considering the limited ones available, contrary to what some may think. While I don't think a healer in melee range will ever happen when you consider fights like A7S and Ifrit EX, I think RDM has the versatility to have a melee DPS stance, which I think a lot of players would love as well. The ability to DPS w/o purely relying on spells would probably be appreciated and all the melee-RDM ideas could be applied there. I can also see it as a support melee, but I think DNC should have that role in the future. DNC fails at being a healer/tank for the same reason I refute a RDM/BLU tank and why we can't have a pure melee healer. A chakram DNC doesn't sound very interesting to me either if you have them dancing constantly for heals. I think Dancing should inspire us to fight harder and better, not mend our wounds.

Having a RDM as a healer in duty would not interfere with its solo-ability, which I think would be its obvious strength as a "jack-of-all-trades, master of none."