My take on Samurai as a tank

[Kazrah]

You sure do like shooting down SAM without actually providing any of these "interesting" options in exchange.

Well....

Red Mage as any role (which is more demanded the Samurai)
Dancer as any role using either a bo staff or dual-wielding swords
Morpher from FFTA or anything with a transformation-type skillset
Chemist, either standalone or merged with some sort of artillery-based job
Viking or anything that would use at least one hammer
Beastmaster, dual-wielding clubs and thematically less "Tamer" and more Tarzan
Anything based off of Charioteer from Bravely Second (QUAD-WIELD BABY!!)
Merchant as a caster or ranged DPS that relies on indirect attacks and a "wealth" themed secondary resource
Puppetmaster remade as a ranged DPS and having the majority of its skills being nothing but pet commands
Any other sort of true caster tank (as opposed to Dark Knight, the tin can with magic tricks)
Any other sort of STR- or DEX-based healer (as opposed to standard INT-based healer)
Any job that fights while on some sort of vehicle or mount treated as a pet

Need I go on?

Also the main reason why I find Samurai uninteresting is that the main reason why people seem to want it is either because of this whole notion that we need a sword-based DPS job (which I don't necessarily disagree with, but don't believe it should be Samurai) or because of people who want Samurai just like how it was in XI, which won't work on a practical level due to systems working completely different between those two games (otherwise there'd be less people going on about how bad Summoner is in this game because summons are nowhere near as impressive or valuable in XIV).

There's also the question of how would it be distinguished from Ninja if Samurai would be a DPS or Dark Knight if Samurai would be a tank. "I want a tank in heavy armor with a big sword that relies on parry". Uh, yeah, we have that, it's called Dark Knight, and it's one of the main reasons why we know that parry is almost a negative stat in terms of itemization. "I want this Japanese-theme job as a DPS". Like Ninja, which already kinda works? There needs to be something more that sets it apart from jobs like Ninja or Dark Knight, something to make it stand out and feel both special and unique compared to the other jobs in its given role and grant it a reason to exist in the game. So far, I have yet to see such a reason. I would admit that some have gotten close, including the OP of this thread, but still not there yet.

[Shippuu]

Well for starters, all you did was list a bunch of jobs. You included zero reasons why any of those jobs listed are more "interesting" options. It's entirely subjective, and to prove that point, personally I find all of those jobs you listed to be uninterested as hell or just jobs that have an incredible amount of overlap with existing jobs.

Red Mage may well be more demanded than Samurai, but I still lean towards SAM being the most requested job. It's been mentioned far more from players and the devs than RDM has and not a live letter goes by where people aren't screaming for SAM in the chats.
Most of these jobs you're asking for have no where near the appeal or popularity that SAM/RDM etc. have. Why, from a business perspective, would a company spend time to make such a gamble that maybe people would like something so obscure? Especially when they have options that they know for a fact have a lot of pull.

Also the main reason why I find Samurai uninteresting is that the main reason why people seem to want it is either because of this whole notion that we need a sword-based DPS job (which I don't necessarily disagree with, but don't believe it should be Samurai) or because of people who want Samurai just like how it was in XI, which won't work on a practical level due to systems working completely different between those two games (otherwise there'd be less people going on about how bad Summoner is in this game because summons are nowhere near as impressive or valuable in XIV).

And yet you say this in a thread where the OP posted a tank version of Samurai (Not a sword DPS) that also had mechanics unlike those from FFXI. So you're just in denial that it's possible to take the job and make it something unique because of reasons proven wrong in this very thread? Ok.

There's also the question of how would it be distinguished from Ninja if Samurai would be a DPS or Dark Knight if Samurai would be a tank. "I want a tank in heavy armor with a big sword that relies on parry". Uh, yeah, we have that, it's called Dark Knight, and it's one of the main reasons why we know that parry is almost a negative stat in terms of itemization. "I want this Japanese-theme job as a DPS". Like Ninja, which already kinda works? There needs to be something more that sets it apart from jobs like Ninja or Dark Knight, something to make it stand out and feel both special and unique compared to the other jobs in its given role and grant it a reason to exist in the game. So far, I have yet to see such a reason. I would admit that some have gotten close, including the OP of this thread, but still not there yet.

Funny cause Warrior uses a two handed weapon and has an even better Parry cooldown than DRK. I'm tired of seeing people say DRK is some be-all-end-all to parrying as a mechanic. That's like saying they shouldn't add another tank if it has cooldowns that flat reduce the damage they take (Of which all tanks have some variant of).

Again, this thread is about Samurai as a tank so your yammering about SAM dps overlapping with Ninja is pretty moot. SAM would have little overlap with DRK, thematically and animation-wise anyways, even if it had emphasis on parrying (Or more likely, counter-attacking.) There's precedence from past FF games to have Samurai create barriers on themselves to mitigate damage, as well as the ability to parry/counter magical attacks. There's also the option to make the job dual wield, which would eliminate even more of any kind of potential overlap from DRK. (Not that there needs to be, by having DRK use their sword in an Ox stance gives it a very distinct silhouette that is unlike what we'd get with a Samurai holding their sword. On top of DRK's animations being very weighty and slow, again unlike how a Samurai would likely swing and attack with their weapon.)

If you can't seem to think of how vastly different a Samurai could be then that's on your lack of imagination.

[Kazrah]

If you can't seem to think of how vastly different a Samurai could be then that's on your lack of imagination.

I can think of a few ways:

1) Lose the dumb armored look by making it tank in monk-level STR armor while giving it half the buffs it needs to tank as passives and the other half as something they'd have to juggle in their rotation along with a threat rotation.
2) Give it means to have some other stat increase how much damage is reduced by Parry.
3) If it's going to counterattack, set it to a cooldown that would also parry all attacks (spells and melee, including AoE), increase it's Parry amount by some bonkers number and have that as their panic button.
4) A spell reflect with a cooldown along the lines of Sheltron.
5) Have them use the Iaido style with most of the attacks using just the katana and have attack combos end with dual-wielding.
6) Lastly, make the overall goal of Samurai as a tank being a "high risk, high reward" tank instead of just another tin can with a fresh coat of paint.

Have to remember it's not about just imagination. It's about practicality in understanding what SE can do with the systems it has in place as well.

Again, this thread is about Samurai as a tank so your yammering about SAM dps overlapping with Ninja is pretty moot.

This just seems to me like an excuse for not knowing. Sure, you could put it in that stereotypical heavy armor or have it in something lighter, have it just using a katana or have it dual-wield and give it a saboteur style of attacks with a series of small debuffing strikes followed by one massive hit. In the end though, no matter how much you dress it up, it's still just another fast Japanese-themed job darting around with curved blades.

Oh right, and devs mentioned Samurai will likely be DPS. The end.