Basic Tank Etiquette

[Enkidoh]

Cross-class abilities have long been scrapped and are no longer part of the game (since the second expansion in fact), so that guide is indeed out of date. Instead we have what are called 'role abilities' which are learned automatically based on the role of your class/Job (tank, healer, magic ranged DPS, melee ranged DPS and melee DPS) and once you've learned them they can be used on any other class or Job of that role. This official page gives more information about the role ability system and the abilities you can use for the tank role.

As for Gladiator (GLA), it is a very good class to start as when learning to be a tank as it has a well balanced set of abilities that are easy to use with no real complicated gimmicks needed to function. GLA upgrades to Paladin (PLD) at level 30 which eventually gives you some 'holy' DPS spell casting and even a potent healing spell at higher levels, so it's a very good class and Job to have (it's been my main since I first started FFXIV back in the original 1.0 version ).

The only advice I can give is early on, when you learn Iron Will (what was formerly called 'Shield Oath') when in a party make sure that is up at all times as it boosts your hate enormously and thus keeps the enemy focused on you. Then it's just using your weaponskill combos, pulling enemies with Shield Lob, using your defensive buffs when they become available at later levels and just making sure the enemy is distracted with focusing on you instead of that squishy lalafell healer keeping you alive. At higher levels you get extra abilites and spells to play with like Requiscat and Divine Veil but you needn't concern yourself with that right at the start.

Another point that does need to be made though about gaining hate. Your weaponskills are your main source of keeping the enemy focused on you, but GLA does get an ability also called 'Provoke' (or did, it's now a tank role ability so all other tank classes and Jobs can learn and use it too) which works a little differently - this ability is situational and only useful when someone else pulls more hate than you (determined by the party list no longer having an 'A' next to your name but a number), so what Provoke does, is it basically matches your hate with the person who has stolen hate from you, and then adds an extra point of hate to you, meaning it is vital to follow it up immediately with one of your weaponskill combos (Total Eclipse is a good one for this) otherwise the other person could steal agro from you again and thus making the whole thing moot. So just be aware of this and use this skill to your advantage.

Also, and this should go without saying, make sure your armour, sword and shield are up to date as they can make all the difference between success and failure (early on vendor gear is all you can really get as the first dungeon gear doesn't drop until level 15ish).

Either way, good luck soon-to-be-knight, you can do it!