New Tank, Frustrated

[VTgamer]

Hey all,

New guy here... Not new to MMORPG's or FF14, but new to tanking. I wanted to tank because there just don't seem to be enough of them. Right now I am seriously reconsidering this decision. I don't mind a learning curve, but I don't really have a chance to learn anything because of the way dungeon finder works. I seem to always get max level players who face roll the entire dungeon while I pretty much run along and do my best not to be completely useless.

Don't get me wrong, an easy run is great, but how am I going to learn to be a good tank if I don't ever get a chance to be a tank?

Can anyone tell me when I might actually start having to tank? Tips and pointers on tanking also appreciated.

[Legion88]

At Level 30 with Tankstance you should be able to properly tank. Before it is mostly just fighting for hate and hoping you win...

[Drudwyn]

Good morning fellow facer-of-foes! So, learning by doing is of course the best route. As you go through the early dungeons, and you start making your way to the story mode primals, you should start to get a feel of how your CDs, your skills, and especially your enmity combos work. You won't get a full glimpse until 50, then 60, then 70, of what your class can do, but you can begin to understand the nuances, even if you're being carried by speed running rouletters.

Now, to learn your class properly as you go, or the fun of learning dungeons, you're going to have to go towards Party Finder, or have the fortune to find a suitable Free Company who can assist with challenges such as a min. ilvl. run, which is always a fun way to do things.

Don't give up! While there's some heated tempers right now, tanking is fun, and you get to see fights from a very different angle to anyone else. Being the meat shield, while pushing your DPS as far as it'll go, learning the timings, and getting that extra hit in, all while preventing your healer from tearing their hair out, and allowing your DPS to push as far as they'll go, is an art form, and most of us are yet to get it right, especially in this new world.

So, FC, or PF, is your best bet, or just ask people in DF for assistance, to slow down, to explain, to help, and to allow you to learn. You'll be surprised how nice the majority of people are!

[Toothie-Cat]

its a actually a good thing that you have OP party, it means that you are doing great keeping the aggro despite the fact that they have overpowering damage.
as long the dungeon is scaled, you and your party will have similar item value, nothing wrong with it...

the thing that it feel easy because of your party member experience they already know it, how to make it fast, when to hit hard, when to avoid, its not the item or the level, its the experience.

[BluexBird]

Early dungeons are easy to make sure tanks and healers who are just starting are able to cope with it.

For example, as someone who had only ever played a tank, I always wondered how hard it was to heal. So I made an Astrologian to see. They start at level 30. I went to do some level 30 dungeons with that, and was appalled at how I BARELY EVER had to heal my tank. It seemed to easy. But I know later on how tough things get for healers.

So don't worry. Things will start to get more challenging and you'll feel a lot more useful to your party later on.

[VTgamer]

Thank you everyone for you responses. I feel a bit better about things. Is there a good tanking resource I can look into? I know when I was big into WoW there were tons of places you could go to refine your skills. I know a lot of stuff is self explanatory but learning the ins and outs is always a thing I look to do.

[eagledorf]

FYI they basically doubled hate just now so you should find that much easier.

First of all, do the GLD and MRD job quests as they teach many of the basics of tanking in FFXIV.

Second, it's counter-intuitive, but Flash/Overpower is your max hate/GCD until you get Halone/Butcher's Block, not your actual hate combo. Spam it at low levels if you're falling behind on hate. It's ok to mark kill orders if you are running dry and need to switch to single target.

Also, don't panic if a DPS rips hate, just Provoke and move on. They won't die in the low level dungeons even if they get hit a few times.

The main other trick new tanks often miss is that you should bring melee mobs to the ranged mob or the healer will rip the ranged mob off of you. By bringing everything together you can make sure your AoE hate skill hits everything. If you can't do this, you can also run behind a wall or something and the ranged mob will come to you to attack. Later on doing this will let your DPS AoE more efficiently.

[ShariusTC]

you are new tank, so you may feel overhelm abit especially run dungeon with high level player, but keep it up, once you play tank long enough you will find 1 or 2 trick to keep enemy aggro, so even if you go back and play a new tank you will have no problem to keep enemy aggro from other high level player

[Oxino]

As a tank you must impose the rhythm. Even if you don't know the dungeon, you must dive and pull first. It's a way to tell other players that you are confident. Many jokers want to test you, use sprint and pull big. Most of the time, the party will calm down and stop the pressure (it backfire on them if you keep speeding up like Flash Gordon)

A sign on your first target (even if you don't know wich order is right) is a good way to indicate where your enmity is focused. Mistakes doesn't matter when your objective is clearly visible by all party members. Doubt bring confusion and wipe.

[RyuujinZERO]

You might also consider asking them to slow down and let you set your own pace to begin with, let them know you're new to it. Most people are surprisingly reasonable if you communicate with them