5.0 WAR is a disappointment

[Khimer]

WAR was never the most complex tank in any expansion. It had its 'complexity peek' during HW due to the stack mechanic and you had to know when you have to spend them, but that's pretty much it.
DRK was the most complex during HW and SB. Not only due to its fast-paced playstyle, but also because of the effects of BW and blood price. From BW you gained mana (and blood) with GCD, oGCD and AAs, and BP was quite the gain if used correctly in dungeons, you could become the 'undying tank'. It was the most difficult, yet most rewarding tank. It had many gimmicks, was way more difficult than the other 2 tanks, and thus was pretty exiting. Unfortunately, DRK was never able to beat WAR in terms of DPS, not in HW nor in SB, and onto this day it's still the lowest in DPS of all tanks (not by a big margin, but still..).

The WAR burst stayed pretty much the same during HW and SB 4.1, it was easy to figure out, and easy to optimize... then SE took that away in 4.2, and since then the skill ceiling curve just went downhill.
Yes, it was awesome at first when you saw all your attacks critDH, and yes, they 'fixed' the 60s dmg buff 'problem', they 'fixed' the burst problem... but for the cost of complexity, flexibility and optimization options. It's so straight forward, it has become mind-numbing. Since ShB they even removed the stance dance, and the gauge crit rate gain, the last bit of complexity and gimmick mechanics left on the job - gone. Now our only concern is how many 'big hits' you get into a 6s window... such intuitive decision-making.

The point of my post was not the competition of which tank was the most complex in the past(which is still pretty subjective topic as i found hw drk much easier to optimize than war), but to point out how war got severely dumbed down in with its current iteration compared to before. And from your post it seems that you mostly agree with it. Updooted for making good points too. At this point the topic has been drained completely, there's nothing more to add.

I am not surprised in the slightest. GNB has gotten all the 'fun' elements from previous tanks - stacks, it's fast-paced, has a strong 20s buff window, a strong dot, highest dps... you could even say it has the most diverse combos. GNB might not be as complex as HW DRK used to be, yet I can imagine that this job is played by old HW DRK mains the most because they resemble each other so much.

And by surprised at GNB i meant it was unexpected that dev team somehow managed to create a good tank from scratch as if they still got it in them, but at the same time continue to screw over existing tanks in playstyle.

[Danelo]

And by surprised at GNB i meant it was unexpected that dev team somehow managed to create a good tank from scratch as if they still got it in them, but at the same time continue to screw over existing tanks in playstyle.

I think some are giving SE too much in props here. Aside from the new weapon itself, which is only new to ffxiv, and the continuation mechanic, devs still ripped from other tanks overall concepts for gnb. Fast playstyle from DRK. Higher/est damage zerker idea from WAR. Maybe that’s why some feel like tanks are boring and themeless versions of their former selves.

[ArianeEwah]

to point out how war got severely dumbed down in with its current iteration compared to before. And from your post it seems that you mostly agree with it. Updooted for making good points too.

In that case I completely agree indeed, thanks.

I still want to add to one point - flexibility, with the focus on rotation/gear. Currently, WAR's rotation requires a GCD of 2.38-2.35s. During HW and SB we could go slower. With the changes to Infuriate (got an extra charge) and the overall gauge generation (e.g. no butcher's block) the 'perfect' rotation is fixed, and there is no room for any variation. Should we go slower, we have to spend gauge on Onslaught, thus losing the Infuriate train gain, and desync on IC which results in a major damage loss (correct me if I am wrong here, and we would overcap on Infuriate anyway). And personally, I dislike the clipping/desync of Upheaval.
On GNB I can use different, legit playstyles - slow (2.42), fast (2.4-2.38), really slow (Heavy Hitter - 2.47-2.45) - DRK could also go from fast to slow, and vice versa (if there weren't any BW issues), PLD mostly doesn't care about SkS.
Only Warrior is the least flexible here... also doesn't accept DH melds... despite DRK being a WAR rip-off, it doesn't have those issues.

No, it isn't, especially not when you look at aDPS.

Warrior is above Dark Knight in rDPS - or was, most stopped playing savage months ago. As I said, the difference ain't big - mostly less than 100 DPS.
I agree, WAR loses in aDPS once you get party buffs. Tho, this is no surprise, WAR doesn't benefit from almost half the party buffs available in this game, and unfortunately those are also the most common, too (chain, litany, voice).