Tales from Duty Finder: Some make you laugh, some make you cry. Let's vent.

[Nestama]

Sometimes I wonder how some tanks ever get to level 80 not knowing the most important tanking basics: face boss away from party/outer edge of the arena.

Get The Burn in roulette and on the first pull I notice the tank is using a Novus weapon, so I quickly mention that and they swap after the pull. Did single pulls, which was annoying, but whatever. He wasn't squishy any more so that made me a happy healer. First boss I notice they just run up to the boss and then just stand there (even in AoE's). Didn't say anything because the boss jumps around anyway. Second boss they do the same and then keep the boss' rear in the fire pool, which meant that NIN couldn't do their rear positional. Easy fix, I run to the opposite side of the arena and Rescue tank. Problem solved.

Then there's the final boss... this boss has a breath attack that's a cleave AND a tank buster. This tank kept to their playstyle of having the boss face the party, so wanting to not wipe, I Rescue them to the outer edge of the arena. Things go well for a bit, but at some point the tank suddenly had 4 vuln stacks and were now squishier than a stress ball. They also stood in the puddles and were taking unnecessary damage and then at some point the other DPS died and I just... I manage to try and salvage the run, we get past the divebomb phase and then the tank is facing the dragon inside of the arena again and the cleave is coming so I Rescue them but I was too late and end up getting myself and the NIN killed. If I did nothing, then I think only the SMN would have died (and maybe 3/4 of the arena covered in puddles, which the tank definitely would have stood in). So on second try I, again, Rescue the tank to the outer edge of the arena, but then they run back into the middle and the tank buster cleave wipes us.

Final try and we clear, but we made sure to explain to this tank that they have to face the boss to the outer edge. They do this, but in the worst way possible: they constantly ran (during the fight I asked "why are you running?"). They were a level 80 PLD, had some level 80 gear... I just don't understand how they don't know the one most important tanking rule.

[Rilifane]

Running through the boss to face him away from the group because he may have a nasty cleave or two is one of the most basic things you learn in pretty much every MMO when you're playing tank. I remember doing trial roulette and getting ARR Titan and BOTH tanks didn't manage to turn him away, resulting in 4 wipes because our healers got cleaved. You couldn't even simply run to his back because they would provoke from time to time (classic aggro dick fight), turning him around again and he cleaved through your sweet safe spot.
They both had tanks at 80, they should've definitely known better.

I recently did my expert/ 80 roulettes on Astro for faster queue times and for several days in a row I got tanks who only used rampart and nothing else. And not even at the start of the pull, sometimes when only 3 of 12 mobs were still standing.
I mean... you tried. But when the last three mobs are about to die any second you really don't need to use it. You've already missed the boat, mate.
One of them was really nice and when I asked him to use more defensives (because yes, even as an overgeard AST in Twinning, big pulls hurt when you take them raw and are a pain to heal) he was kind of surprised and said he thought everything was fine since he wasn't dying. Apparently he thought of them as something like panic buttons you press only when shit hits the fan. And he oblidged and cycled through his cds nicely from then on, including Arm's Lengths which most tanks forget.
But the others either ignored it or replied with "you're a healer, just heal it". Commence Benefic II spam.
Time to queue as dps again I guess. Or maybe tank, Gunbreaker is close to 80 and I'm itching to do some max level stuff with him.

[Avatre]

Running through the boss to face him away from the group because he may have a nasty cleave or two is one of the most basic things you learn in pretty much every MMO when you're playing tank. I remember doing trial roulette and getting ARR Titan and BOTH tanks didn't manage to turn him away, resulting in 4 wipes because our healers got cleaved. You couldn't even simply run to his back because they would provoke from time to time (classic aggro dick fight), turning him around again and he cleaved through your sweet safe spot.
They both had tanks at 80, they should've definitely known better.

I have a feeling a lot of the newer tanks believe that Provoke is part of their regular rotation. I run into them all the time doing alliance roulette. I just don't even bother putting on tank stance until said tank(s) die, and I need to take over. But if they decide to provoke it, because apparently WAR(working on the 500 duties achievement for it now, but saw it as PLD and DRK, and will likely see it as GNB as well when I get to it) isn't a tank, right away when they get back up, I will drop tank stance and watch them die all over again. I don't have the patience to deal with aggro wars, so I will let whoever wants to take it take it, and when they die, hope they have enough brain cells to not provoke it when they get back up.

[gumas]

got into Il meg dungeon and by some luck we got one "very serious" dps.

nothing bad or aggressive but throughout the dungeon he keep blabbering tips and advice and "how to" to everyone. said to keep my rotation up, healer keep up dot, tank face anemey other way, that kind of stuff.

what baffle me and the others is when we ask "why so serious" question, his answer is "dont you want to become the top 1% group doing high end dungeon?", all of us answer more or less the same "dont really care for the 1% stuff"

and the guy is like outright shocked (he literally stop for a seconds to think and type lol) and ask "then? why do you play this game? why play mmorpg then?"

. . . i mean. . . for fun? for story? its final fantasy? for social and friends?

after finishing the dungeon, the tank ask simple question, "do you know the name of the last boss in shb?"

"yeah the guy with 2 color hair and he transform into this large black monster thing right? i finish it long time ago"

that answer pretty much all we need to know lol

[AduroT]

Top 1%? No thanks. I settle for a meager goal of being in the top 50% of whatever I do.

[gumas]

^i know right? i mean i dont even rank my own player, i dont really care about 50% or even 1%, i play ff14 is for the story first and foremost.

hell iam sitting with 4 class at max level and none of them has materia slotted in their gear lol

[Rannie]

I have a feeling a lot of the newer tanks believe that Provoke is part of their regular rotation. I run into them all the time doing alliance roulette. I just don't even bother putting on tank stance until said tank(s) die, and I need to take over. But if they decide to provoke it, because apparently WAR(working on the 500 duties achievement for it now, but saw it as PLD and DRK, and will likely see it as GNB as well when I get to it) isn't a tank, right away when they get back up, I will drop tank stance and watch them die all over again. I don't have the patience to deal with aggro wars, so I will let whoever wants to take it take it, and when they die, hope they have enough brain cells to not provoke it when they get back up.

They really do think it's a part of their hate rotation I see it constantly with tanks using provoke after they already have hate or they even pull with provoke. *face palm*

[Pepsi_Plunge]

When I was new I also thought that I need to keep using provoke so I won't lose aggro. I knew better after a while, but back then - when aggro management actually still was a thing - it was indeed possible for a good DPS to rip aggro from the tank's hands. Pulling with provoke (or using it short after) was a thing back then. So I could understand why people are still doing it, if they perhaps came back from a longer break or from other MMOs where you still may need to do such stuff.

I also don't really remember how deep the game in detail actually teachs you about aggro management itself.

[Rasikko]

I pull (4 man only) with provoke because it's longer range than lightening shot and it's oGCD, so provoke + demon slice without hardly any delay.

[Enla]

They really do think it's a part of their hate rotation I see it constantly with tanks using provoke after they already have hate or they even pull with provoke. *face palm*

Had more than a few instances over the years where tanks have been pretty upfront with this misconception as well. When it happens they're generally flabbergasted that provoke isn't meant to be used in such a fashion if they're the designated off tank. Usually cleaving the party one too many times and getting called out for it tends to set them straight however.