I wish Gunbreaker would be a DPS class.

[GrumbleBeard]

I have to agree with some others in this thread, I think a lot of the issues people are having can really be boiled down to tank anxiety. My only issue with tanking is that currently, you have one whole combo (aggro combo) that is functionally useless and it makes tanks a little more dull to play compared to more fleshed out dps. One big hope for this expansion is that they add something to make that combo worth using sometimes, but that's another issue.

I'm sure being a GUNChad will be fun, try it!

[Jonnycbad]

The problem is Gunbreaker works better as a DPS and it looks rather weak as a Tank, why!?...


The weapon, Gunblades are probably the smallest arms amongst tanks and it doesn't look like it could protect the person wielding it from taking much damage, there's no defense for it, I'm sure SE won't change their plans at this point but at least they could make Gunbreakers have the strongest DPS of all tanks, that way it would make more sense sacrificing defense for offense!...

Rather than parrying or blocking, they probably rely on magitek or aetherochemistry via ceruleum manipulation to bolster their resistance to damage.

Or perhaps they maintain debuffs on the target to reduce damage they take but doesn't affect damage others take. Think like Blue Mage's Offguard but for reducing damage taken instead of damage dealt.

[InkstainedGwyn]

I don't know. Maybe my limited brain just can connect the dots. I only see a need for one Tank in the game and that's PLD. Maybe that's because that's the only one that FEELS like a tank to me. WAR and DRK just feel like nerfed DPS with enmity on a few of their moves. But! I love FF8 (baring a few of the mechanics in that game) and Squall and his Gunblade so... I'm going to try and main Gunbreaker in ShB. If I get to bored I'll go back to SAM for a while.

I dunno, I always thought it was pointless to have DPS that did more than just stab the boss 100 times. That's all it really takes.

But, you know. As long as you have options, that's all that really matters, right?

[Higashikata]

Gunblade has always been a tank. Everybody in ff8 who had a gunblade was a protector of a sorceress.

[Flatopia]

The problem is Gunbreaker works better as a DPS and it looks rather weak as a Tank, why!?...


The weapon, Gunblades are probably the smallest arms amongst tanks and it doesn't look like it could protect the person wielding it from taking much damage, there's no defense for it, I'm sure SE won't change their plans at this point but at least they could make Gunbreakers have the strongest DPS of all tanks, that way it would make more sense sacrificing defense for offense!...

Both Warrior and Dark Knight discuss this exact thing in their quests. Warrior is all about being such a ferocious target and sturdy meat wall that they can't ignore you, thus protecting your teammates by ensuring that you're the focus of the enemy.
Dark Knight was more of a "protect the weak by killing the bullies" and thus was all about using scary/powerful magic and unique sword techniques to basically blow up the bad man before it even touches your friends.

Obviously in-game it's just their skills give enmity but the flavor doesn't have to be overtly protecting your friends in a very direct fashion, it can be a lot of things from holding the enemies attention, blowing them up so they don't hit your friends, maybe using weapons and techniques so flashy enemies are 'entranced' by you? There's a lot of wiggle room there.

And in terms of protecting the user, we saw the trailer, using technology to bolster your defensive capabilities. AKA: bullets can have any kind of magic in them, they don't have to be filled with exploding goodness. Honestly Gunbreaker fits just as much, if not a little bit more than Warriors do as tanks.

[Hazama999]

As someone who likes to tank, I'm glad we're getting a new tank.

[Flatopia]

Tanks and Healers don't really add anything to the party complexity. Tanks are just, "let me keep aggro off the dps / healers." Healers are just, "let me keep the tank / party alive." While the DPS need to synergize with one another. Granted that in this game DPS synergy doesn't go beyond lowering slashing, blunt and piercing resistance and trick attack half the time. But still if you have a DRG in your party you want a BRD and MCH. Or one or the other. Got a lot of mages in your party? Use your Trabodur on Mages Balled instead of Army's Peon.

"Don't really add anything to the party complexity?"
Well then, guys, go home. We only need one of every role. Don't like Black Mage? Tough, anything else doesn't really add much to the complexity of being a caster.
What do you mean you like Samurai? It's basically just a Dragoon with some Asian sprinkles! Just play Dragoon you goof!
Huh? Machinist? You mean not bard?
You like the concept of preventative healing over reactionary healing? Sounds like loser talk to me, Buster. Get that variety out of my face and go play White Mage.
Wait, so you mean to tell me that you don't like the flavor, playstyle, and general mechanics of Paladin and prefer the Warrior? Just play a DPS if you want mechanics, you silly bozo!

It turns out, people who play tanks actually want variety? I'm sure you'd be a bit upset if you weren't allowed to play Samurai and just told to play Dragoon or Monk instead because it didn't 'add anything to party complexity.'

[kikix12]

(...)but I'll also be frank and say that I don't believe the development team "fixed" the issues with tanking and healing in 4.x as they promised they would(...)

Of course they didn't. That was a stupid argument anyway. Tanks and healers are more balanced than DPS in the first place. They're just a bit more important in higher tier content (their death is more likely to cause a wipe fast even outside of DPS checks, hence why Red Mage and Summoner even have revival and Vercure to permit ANY recovery) so healer and tank players that suck are going to bet booted a lot faster. And certain classes (hint, Dark Knights) are harder to play well and more popular among the "Wow, it's so cool!" players. So you're just more likely to come across an unskilled player from those jobs.

As for the whole concept of balancing a role for two years until next expansion...it's just plain foolish. "Yay, we balanced these classes in these last two years to nigh perfection! Just in time to release the next level cap in a week, cut the skills out and pretty much redo ALL of the classes from scratch!". So yeah. It's working two years towards something that is made completely obsolete at the end of that two-year duration. Sisyphean labours anyone?! That's exactly what "focusing on balancing the role" is in a game that needs to redo its classes every expansion due to level cap change.

[RitsukoSonoda]

First they make DRK a tank, a job that should for all intents and purposes be a DPS

Then they make SAM a DPS, a job that should have been a tank.

And now we repeat the same mistake as DRK with GUN, a job that should be DPS turned in to a tank.

3/3 disappointments for me so far. All i want to do is kill things very effectively with a real sword.

DRK was perfectly viable as a tank the only thing really missing from its kit from previous games were self destructive skills that boosted their offensive output. Baseline stat wise their vitality and available armor were comparable to a tank. Even in FFXI DRK was quite tanky before using skills to destroy their own defense rating or consume their own HP for damage output. A majority of DRK deaths in FFXI were caused by players making poor decisions on when to use the self destructive skills in their kit.

SAM however I really don't get where you think it should have been a tank. Maybe you could explain it because that statement sounds absolutely ludicrous to me.

Gunbreaker shouldn't be tank. Maybe elaborate on reasoning for this as well as the characters in FF-8 where the weapon design originated that use it weren't glass cannon DPS. The lead character in the game essentially served as the meat shield taking a majority of the hits for the party.

[DamianTenbe]

I'm glad it's tank. Great decision!