Is anyone switching mains from dps to tank because of gunbreaker?

[Dralonis]

So lets look at the 3 tank classes you listed there...

DRK. Main character of FF4 started as a dark knight. Effectively the tank of the group. In other games Dark Knight has had defensive stats and armor selections comparable to tanks and sometimes had self destructive skills that provided high burst damage at their own expense. A majority of DRK deaths in FFXI were a result of players using low defense gear for a few extra points in offensive stats and then making poor decisions on when to use their damage boosting skills.

I agree with warrior and kinda gunbreaker because they were the only sorta tanky ones in the games and at least there's semi hints of it in the games even if they weren't always exactly a tank IE beserker /fighter.They sorta threw a few together to make warrior. Squall had story hints at it with his dialog. At least, I guess they kinda work and I can see where they may want to base it from. A lot of the base classes in XIV were tanks in other games anyways.

Dark knights were pretty much like dragoons. They had weaker defense stats than dragoons and less health. No tank type utility either. They have to had gear since they are considered a Melee class in general and not evasive so they would wear heavier gear besides asian themed classes like ninja/blackbelt/monk etc since they were more speed focused and less heavy attacks. Also Cecil had low magical resistance as a dark. For stat weights, Cecil as a DRK at level 20, he had 520 HP, 21 STR, 15 speed, 16 stamina. At 30, 920 HP, 29 STR, 20 Speed 21 stamina.
kaine at 20 had 523 health, 24 STR, 18 speed, 17 Stamina. At 30 he had 963 health, 33 STR, 25 speed 25 stamina.

In FF3 darks had over all the worst defenses of the melees but had over all comparable stats to DRG for damage and they both had no tank utility. Also, DRK's often have dealt the most damage in general in a lot of situations . Knight and vikings had utility and defensives Vikings had a provoke.They also had White magic in famicom version and souleater in the the 3ds verison cleaving AoE damage that took health. Drks were mostly used for the massive AoE and katana's being strong against enemies that divide.

In FF5 DRK's weren't a thing but they also had similar stats to DRG's and wore Heavy armor like DRK's in other games and DRG. These classes wearing heavy armor instead of medium is just mostly for aesthetic reasons and balancing and for it to not be a speed type dps for dps diversity.


They are really cutting into a lot of the melee classes with very few left. The next tank I could see is viking. Unless they merge Viking and something else like an elemental Hammer wielder melee DPS. Mystic knight could be a tank too but it was more melee dps like dragoon and dark due to its lower defensive stats and health like dragoon but it has more agility and magic stats. Sadly classes could also somehow be considered tanks too. Since it had a defensive buff and was rune fencer which was a weird one. Ffta2 used spellblade and steiner was like a mystic knight but he was also tankish.

I'd LOVE it if mystic knight was some sorta dual wield class though and merged with another melee dps class and used Dragoon gear though and given a new name. Mystic Blade or something. Or maybe more generic since they may not use a blade.

Kind've a shame since I like melee dps but not a fan of Asian themed classes so it's either dragoon or tanking. I personally don't like tanking all that much however.

Really, they will put pretty much any class into that position if it's:

1) Hyped up soon enough that they can start developing for it.

2) It's a role they currently need.

So, if people were hyping up a gunbreaker class during sb/shb xpac instead of in HW and into SB, we probably could've seen it as a mDPS in 6.0. Same with them wanting a tank in 3.0 and DRK was the most hyped class at the time since ninja came out besides SAM and RDM and SAM felt more like a DPS to them as well as wanted to wait for 4.0 since it fit better. The only potential melee dps classes I've seen hyped up a lot are ones that are mostly able to fit in the limited job category to them. there's a high chance beast master and puppet master will be limited jobs (I don't really care for the jobs anyways) since he's mentioned that they'd fit better in that aspect.



To answer the topic, Probably not. I really can't say since it's play style has to be fun for me and it depends on where they want to take tanks in 5.0 with all the changes. Can't main a class based on aesthetics alone or just from a few animations we saw.

[Burningskull]

Warrior in most games was the generic basic heavy melee job class. Often a pre-requisite for other heavy melee jobs if it used a system based on it and normally serves as the first "tanking" job you get. Just because you only look at your damage numbers and choose to use it that way in your single player game doesn't make it not a tank.

Compared to everyone else you had access to during the time Cecil was a Dark Knight he had them beat soundly in the vitality and durability department unless you chose to spam dark wave non stop and burn off all his HP. This theme is seen in other FF games as well. In terms of base stats and available gear DRK was comparable to PLD. Where the 2 normally differed is while PLD often gained defensive skills and holy magic DRK would get risk/reward skills that could provide large bursts of damage while cutting their own HP or temporarily nullifying their own defense. It was basically like temporarily shedding all your armor for a few moments of high damage while hoping you didn't get hit during that time because attacks you'd normally shrug off like they were nothing could do considerable damage.

To be fair FF8's system as a game was kind of broken since everything scaled off your level. As a result everything outside of maybe Omega was extremely easy. However Squall felt like he was the closest thing to a tank you got in that game. But then if we follow your logic on gunblade then I suppose no one that uses a weapon without a shield is a tank because weapons do damage and are meant to kill enemies. Not Protect people. Therefore the only proper tank would have 2 shields and just walk around as a wall. And so if the tank poses no physical threat of harm then why bother attacking them? We'd just ignore or find a way around them to kill off the healer and the squishy people with weapons.

It has been a very long time since I played FF4 so I may be remembering wrong but Cecil seemed to take more damage than Kain at that early point in the game. And no I didn't spam his darkness ability as I don't like moves that sacrifice HP. The only time I've used Dark Knight's is in FFTWotL and that's only because they had a magical attack that dealt damage and healed them. I love Health Steal builds in games.

As for Squall I recently started a new playthrough of FF8 and Squall took just as much damage as Quistis. You could make anyone in that game a tank tho if you junction the right spells to their vitality and absorbtion stats.

As for your two shield idea there is an Enemy in Dark Souls 2 that uses two shields rather dangerously. Also there is a character in FF14 that uses two shields that have guns on them. The Cape Westwind boss. So a job using two shields could be a thing in FF14, and would have been a better fit for tank than someone using a gunblade.

[Ryaz]

No. My Samurai will still be my main. I may switch my Warrior to Gunbreaker.

[Ameela]

It feels like people tend to forgot about how when Dark Knight first showed up in FF3 its gimmick was that it was the only job that could tank certain kinds of attacks

[Dualgunner]

I think the main issue with this argument of whether GNB should be tank or melee dps really just devolves to how similar the two roles are, thematically speaking. In attempt to word that a bit better with some examples...

With the exception of Paladin and Ninja (and even then there are things like NIN being a tank accidentally in FFXI, so YMMV there lol), you could reasonably make arguments as to why every tank currently could have been a melee DPS and vice versa. DRG? The lance itself is generally a defensive weapon; with it you have a wider range of attack that enemies cannot carelessly meander into, for example, and thus they'd have to mind you over other swordier foes. MNK? Fistfighters generally don't punch people in the butt; I see Jackie Chan end up face-to-facing people way more than him grabbing positionals, MNK should be tank. SAM? Well there's a can of worms, since two years ago the tank community was acting very much like the melee DPS community is acting today when SAM was announced as a DPS. But in XIV's own terms, the one facing down Zenos in the trailer for Shadowbringers is a Samurai.

Warrior? Enough people pretend it's a DPS already. Cleave straight through your foes in a bloody display of dominance--of course it's a DPS! DRK? The job whose big claim to fame is hurting himself to hurt others? That's clearly melee DPS right there. Gunbreaker? ITS A GUN. AND A SWORD. I CAN SHOOT YOU AND STAB YOU WITH ONE MOTION. DPS.

So the arguments "It doesn't seem like it should be a tank" and "It was tanky in previous games so it should be a tank" both feel weak to me, because the fantasy of these roles are very, very close to the same so of course any job that could be considered for one can probably also be considered for the other.

To answer the thread's topic: No, my main will probably stay Red Mage. However, I have made an alt character with the specific purpose of maining either Dark Knight or Gunbreaker for 5.0.

So...yes? And no.

[CarnivalNights]

Going into 4.0, I wanted to be a healer, but a lot of real life stuff happened and I missed almost the entirety of Stormblood, so I guess I'm not going to try any new classes since AST, WHM and SCH are basically still brand new to me.

[Aster_E]

I won't be. For one thing I already alternate readily between a few jobs and roles depending on a combination of mood and whatever's needed for content. On top of that I loathe FFVIII and don't particularly care for the idea of Gunbreaker, so if anything I might level it to 80 and organize some unsync runs of O2n with other high level tanks so we can finish up Stormblood Tank mounts; then never touch Gnb (Gbk?) again until 6.0.

[Bonbori]

I feel like a lot of the "should GUN be a tank or dips?" discussion keeps making detours to other FF games and other jobs, but everyone seems to be ignoring the closest thing FF14 already has to a Gunbreaker - Regula van Hydrus. I mean, sure, he predates Gunbreaker by 2 expansions, but...

Regula's Solo Fight

...he does use the fighting style and the weapon (his gunblade is more a blade than a gun so it fits Yoshi's preference and the type of gunblade we are getting), he even strikes the "Gunbreaker pose" (well technically Dark Knight but... details) a few times aaaand...

The Last Pillar To Fall

...you cannot in a million years tell me THAT was not a Crowning Moment of Tanksome.

I don't think Gunbreaker will be 1:1 "the Regula van Hydrus job", but I do have a strong impression that he at least contributed some inspiration to the Gunbreaker fantasy designers were going for. This in-your-face, magitek-clad piece of absolute ham who shows zero hesitation before throwing himself in between a tankbuster and someone who's about to get squished like "NO! - I - am your opponent!"

Really, can you see this guy spanking Zurvan in the butt while Unukalhai takes the hit instead?

...

...I don't have a crush, you have a crush! >//<

[Laerune]

Too soon for me to make this choice. I will level the Gunbreaker to level 80, but I am not sure yet, if this class will become my main. I will wait untill they reveal the other class and show off the skills and mechanic first.

[Nyvara]

I'm hyped for both Gunbreaker and Dancer. Cautiously so. I was excited to play MCH and took it to max level but the animations and mechanics just never clicked with me They felt clumsy, wooden and overly complex. So like Many others If I play it or not is up in the air.

But no RDM will stay my main no matter what. It's a class that resonates with me, while the mechanics are comfortable enough for my old brain to wrap around.