Are Tanks an impairment to fun?

[Rhaja]

I think your seeing more of the fun that comes from breaking the trinity. When you go in without the standard make up of a party the dungeons generally are more enjoyable. I've done many 3 DPS 1 healer, or 4 tanks, and every time is both slower and yet far more enjoyable. I don't think I'd want it to be the norm because it would lose its novelty and we'd just do the trinity anyway, but its fun to do every now and again.

[Shurrikhan]

If you have a full arsenal of CC, and people who know exactly how much enmity they're putting out in order to play catch with melee enemies while your melee dps holds the enemy ranged and stuns key specials... a tank might well seem that way. But it's hard to beat the setup opportunities of a really good tank, especially when things were out of the normal, but can still (albeit with team effort) all be drawn perfectly into place.

I've enjoyed almost every party of irregular composition with good players. But, I also enjoy regular compositions with good players, especially if still seeking to challenge ourselves (even if in more conventional ways, such as speed-running).

I guess the real factor is the quality of the party, and their ability to think on their feet and coordinate accordingly, and then how well the mobs and the shape of an instance or encounter can be acted upon to increase that skill ceiling. Irregular compositions might generally take a bit more, but really getting the most out of a regular composition can be pretty great too.

[Seku]

It's fun but nothing new. Think every dungeon, including new ones, can be done 3 man as long as one of them is a healer. SE needs to put in more fight mechanics like Alexander where they separate the group and leave the party members on their own for a short time or basically put more emphasis on the other members.

[Kabooa]

The biggest let down about the combat system in FF14 is how little utility abilities get used.

Roots, slows, attack speed reductions, sleeps and other disables, pacify.

Every encounter boils down into 'tank tanks it, dps aoe it'. Boss encounters are strictly more about WASD movement.

Much as I hate comparing it as anyone else, Vanilla and Burning Crusade World of Warcraft dungeons had both the capability for chaos to break out, and the ability to reign it in not by 'PROVOKE EVERYTHING AND AOE" but by each class dividing up a piece of the chaos and neutralizing it while still taking out a priority target.

Scarlet Monastary, Heroic Shattered Halls, Heroic Steam Vault, and many other examples from WoW 2.0 and previous stick out as dungeons that allowed every class to participate (Which is why we have simple dungeons in FF14) while letting every class have its ability to shine (Which we don't in FF14. You hit things, and that's it.)

[Ahrniel]

The biggest let down about the combat system in FF14 is how little utility abilities get used.

That's probably the reason why I enjoy it more without tanks. I can use everything (and have to). With tanks, at least as a DPS, I become a robot focused on the perfect damage rotation, and repeat it until the dungeon is over. As an off-tank I have to face a more diverse situation than that, and do different things based on the situation.

[SpookyGhost]

That's probably the reason why I enjoy it more without tanks. I can use everything (and have to). With tanks, at least as a DPS, I become a robot focused on the perfect damage rotation, and repeat it until the dungeon is over. As an off-tank I have to face a more diverse situation than that, and do different things based on the situation.

Actually becomes more important without a healer rather than without a tank. With a healer you can get through most things w/o CC just b/c the healer will be able to keep you alive through anything. Soloing unsynced dungeons can also lead to more use of CC, depending on the situation. I'd recommend trying your hand at soloing Palace of the Dead since it can be done as early as lvl 17 (though it's better to unlock a job first as I'm pretty sure you won't get job actions unless you enter as a job).

[ADVSS]

yes even way before potd my friends and i would sometimes enter as all tanks, all healers, all dps. sometimes by accident, others on purpose. And then from that also comes from the DF tanks leaving, on a few occaisions levelling a dps or healer this happened in dungeons and id have a group that would truck along, often tanking as a mnk, nin,drg, healer when i was levelling. Without a tank, its still doable, post 30 though i am certain it more of a pain without a healer than anything else. Well we did do level 50 dungeons with all bards so i guess that with enough group coordination, anything is possible. More degrading is the tank role itself, i mean the cds and armor and hp are great but really its just designed to hold aggro,and without a healer you might as well just have all dps and pull small

This is my gripe with how I see the holy trinity from a "balance" perspective:

My biggest frustrations from 2.x tanking trials for instance:
If both tanks die and the healers are good, its not necessarily a wipe
If every dps dies and theres no dps check and the healers are good, it will probably not be a wipe
If everyones alive but both healers and theres no smn, its definitely a wipe.

This games trinity system may seem balanced, but its more in the favor of healers weighing in much much more than the other 2 roles. Nerfing tanks attack power just made the power of healers even more shifted as tanks arent able to manage very long without one due to less survivability from lifetaps. It is what it is though

[Fluffernuff]

I could probably write a paragraph or 10 about how throwing 25% of the playable options in this game in some vague pool of negativity is short-sighted and petty. Instead I'll offer an alternative. A scapegoat of sorts.

Assholes are impairments to fun. Some of them play tanks. others play DPS and insist they know more than you. Some of them are healers with a god complex. All of them impair fun.

Honestly though, if the core foundation of the Trinity is a personal hang-up for you, FF14 or the likes of WoW probably shouldn't be your choice of spending your free time. They all have this same sort of hang-up on dependency and limiting the options of others due to roles or experience with the system itself.

As a Tank, I can't imagine having very much fun when the DRG is spamming stuns on cooldown so I cant interrupt boss mechanics. As a DPS, I can't imagine having fun using my super duper handy CC only to have my sleep wiped from AoE or my DoTs not applying on that damn raid boss!

It's honestly the draw and drawback of the trinity system. Any part of that can be chipped off. Except healers. They can get away with murder. And highway robbery. Of a cop. In broad daylight. On camera. With witnesses.

[Tint]

Share me your stories about how that Tank DCing made your day.

Not actual an DC, it was in Ultima HM and one of tanks didn't had provoke. Somehow the tank wich HAD provoke thought it was a good idea to let the tank without provoke die - wich reduced is aggro to 0 and he had no chance to get it back this late in the fight. our tank with provoke of course died at 5 stacks and suddenly i was main-tanking Ultima Weapon with my white mage. that was a BLAST, tanking this massive... thing :O i was turning him away from the group and i felt like a little tanking-god xD healing myself, stoneskin, revive on the tank... i survived long enough so he could grab Ultima back and we killed it ^^/

[ArdorGrey]

What you're experiencing is the thrill of something that can actually kill you but isn't a ball bustingly hard raid. It's a rarity in FFXIV since they make every dungeon for that dude who stopped playing last year and just came back 80 ilvls below current and with a messed up hotbar but he wants to jump right back into the fray.

hey bro they have just as much of a right to have fun as you do. more apparently according to the dev team.