A lot of people dont like to play Tank -

[RopeDrink]

Swerving back on-topic, I'm wary of tanking and don't find it nearly as engaging as Healing, despite almost everyone I know (who actively main-tanks) claiming it is probably the least stressful of the roles. DPS is what I go for when I want to comfort-play, given our responsibility is so clear-cut and little (outside of dealing damage) can be held within our control. Healing, however, requires you to be equally mindful of both yourself and everyone in the team, mechanically and positionally. It is very reactive as well as proactive, hence requiring quite a bit of attention on things that don't always include your own character. I don't buy this 'it makes sense from a story-PoV that the WarOfLight is a Tank' drivel given you cannot have a functioning trinity without all three roles present. You need damage to kill the target. You need classes to keep enemy attention. You need classes to keep people alive.

They are all as important as each-other, given the removal of any of those factors pretty much renders the team-effectiveness down considerably (typically to impossible), so no, it doesn't make sense that the WarOfLight is a specific class, especially not when enforced by the fact said character(s) can play whatever they want.

Anyone who thinks one role is more important than the rest are looking at a particularly small picture. You could debate small aspects of that point, but let's not pretend like Tanks are uber-special and everyone else is a less-important pleb hoping to live in their shadow.

[Zojha]

Anyone who thinks one role is more important than the rest are looking at a particularly small picture.

Mhm... I'd argue otherwise. The fact that the trinity is not in fact built on three equal pillars shows in the fact that both more healing and more tanking than necessary is useless, whereas more damage isn't. Moreover, healing/tanking tools are largely limited to healers/tanks, whereas DPS tools are given away to everyone - Literally because they need them to function solo. Furthermore, neither tanks nor healers can function without enemy damage dealers, whereas damage dealers can work fine without enemy tanks/healers.

Personally, I think it is very obvious that damage is of supreme importance. Tanking and healing are derived from damage dealers - They are mitigating/undoing the damage enemy damage dealers do and would lose their purpose without damage dealers. Damage dealers on the other hand can exist without tanks/healers, they only rely on health as a mechanic to function. Most bosses actually are just hyper cranked up damage dealers with no mitigation or healing, they simply got a lot of health.

And that leads to one common tanking gripe: Since tanking is a secondary role, tanking demands are artificial, which means they are only useful in a limited quantity and since that quantity is low in order to make the role accessible, you end up playing a lot like a DPS anyway. Your entire optimization process is revolving around how to minimize your core role in favor of more DPS without dying in the process. Why not just play a real DPS right away?

My own reasons for not playing tank are somewhat different, though. For one, I simply don't like going in first and getting bashed on. For another, in solo games, tanks are usually the most disposable units you have under your control and I never felt that to be a very appealing fantasy. If possible, it's either mindless undead slaves or the least liked character that's given the role. So for me, the fact that I am half a DPS actually makes tanks rather more bearable to me in this game and the more DPS, the merrier, but I naturally still prefer full DPS.

[Gemina]

Mhm... I'd argue otherwise. The fact that the trinity is not in fact built on three equal pillars shows in the fact that both more healing and more tanking than necessary is useless, whereas more damage isn't. Moreover, healing/tanking tools are largely limited to healers/tanks, whereas DPS tools are given away to everyone - Literally because they need them to function solo. Furthermore, neither tanks nor healers can function without enemy damage dealers, whereas damage dealers can work fine without enemy tanks/healers.

I don't believe this poster was suggesting that all roles are created equal. However, they are quite balanced as far as importance in a group setting, and that is what he's referring to.

Whatever resources a job uses, whether it is HP, MP, or TP, most of them have ways to regenerate it. This along with offensive capability helps them solo. So the healing/tanking tools being limited to them is mostly not true. The exception is enmity generation, but you don't need this while you solo since you tank by default. However, like tanks, many DPS and healer jobs have ways to mitigate incoming damage to them.

I could argue with you about duo setups and their functionality, or lack thereof, but this is getting away from the point. What matters is that when Tank/Healer/DPS have synergy, they wreck content. As a DPS, the maximization of the damage you put out requires the tank and healer to do their respective roles. Likewise, their sustainability is limited and they need damage dealers to kill stuff before they kill them. We should be fist-bumping, not trying to one-up the other.