My first experience as a tank - I thought I was playing WoW for a second

[RopeDrink]

I was also under the impression that this "community" was... different, but old as I am, I should know by now that EVERY ONLINE GAME IS THE SAME.

If you're going to bring age into it, or former MMORPG experience, then you should know not to wave a paintbrush by projecting on 'everyone' via one example.

Every online game has its bad eggs - and every game is also choc-full of people who want different things. The prerequisite of a game living up to the 'decent community' moniker doth not include being immune to differing goals. Do bear in mind that while there are plenty of new players joining the mix, the majority are typically those who have seen and done X content extensively and don't desire revisiting it and having it drawn out more than it needs to be. That's the sad reality, here.

I prefer large pulls compared to small when dealing with content I've done 9 bazillion times - but I'm not going to rag on someone who can't, won't, or doesn't want to do the same. Others might, sure, and some might get pissy over it, but don't assume that because these people exists, everyone is exactly the same. People who claim that is the case really shouldn't be waving the age card while projecting in such a manner.

For example, I'm levelling Scholar right now, and when I get really low level dungeons in roulette, my pet does all the healing, yet you'll get some new tanks who continue to do single-pack pulls despite this, even after I politely suggest that they are free to grab more packs. Let's just say that Tam-Tara Deepcroft taking 30-40 minutes isn't a lot of fun when you've seen it more times than you have years in your life. The important part, however, is that if you get this via a roulette, there is every chance that you'll land with people who want to do it a different way than you do. The best you can do is openly say as much, eg. "New to tanking". If a band of plebs deem this worth kicking you over, then rejoice in not having to stick with them. Using the "get a premade" point goes both ways - that applies to you just as much as it does them.

[Kolsykol]

And now you're treating me like a noob. No, didn't skip anything, but I think I'm still entitled to play the game the way I want.

I mean...
Maybe you are.

If this is a consistent problem that you have then the common denominator is you.
I tank, heal and dps and as much as I should I don't always look up the tactics on a new fight.
And I've never had any negative experience like this.

Edit: Also, this is a MMO and not a singleplayer game.
Your attitude is really bad for a MMO tbh.
You're not entitled to that the way that you are in a singleplayer game because the way that you play affect other people. So don't act surprised when people disapprove of that.
If I mess up badly and waste everyones time on really obvious things because I didn't bother looking up the tactics for a boss then I am not going to complain and act all entitled about it when people blame me for it and get annoyed.

Even more so if you're deliberately playing a job that affects the group even more like a tank.
You do have a responsibility.
But even if you play BLM for example don't act surprised if you get kicked because you're spamming ice spells because you want to play a frost mage.
It doesn't matter if it's '' your sub '', people are still within their right to kick you.

Personally I let the tank and healer set the pace no matter what I play, but at the same time the way that you're typing makes me think that it was you who were the problem and not the other way around and that you're not telling the whole truth.
You don't seem like a pleasant person to play with tbh...

[Goji1639]

Yea, just report them. This does seem to be one of the more toxic MMO communities, but SE is actually pretty strict when it comes to dealing with insults and harassment. So, reporting it actually does make a difference.

[ShariusTC]

Tbh, i dont even waste my time to talk with slow tank, just straightly kick them out of the party and ask for a fill in from my novce network, much better than waiting them to move their ass over dungeon

[Tlamila]

So let's see, as a new player who's only levelled one job and dps before, you picked right away a lvl 60 tank, and went right away not into a levelling dungeon but into an old-endgame one. I assume you got there through 50/60/70 roulette. Those dungeons, exactly because they were meant for endgame, have special mechanics compared to levelling ones, WP in particular requires you to be very fast and always look behind you, hide and all. It's certainly not a dungeon you should be learning to tank into. Sure, now the tonberries are not as dangerous as they used to be but still.

And as others said, your attitude is terrible for a mmo, "I play the way I want" is something you're welcome to do with the squadron or Trust, not in a group. Ironically, you complain about the toxicity of others but you should understand you are the one being toxic to others.

[Rivinhal]

I was under the impression that me, as a player, can play the WAY I WANT and I couldn't even explain that this was my first time tanking because the moment I pull the first pack the insults came down.

Did you ever consider informing them you were a new tank before the pull?
People aren't willing to subject themselves to slow dungeon runs because of a selfish/bad tank's whims. But most groups are willing to adjust and even help players who are new to a role. Sure, you'll still run into jerks (that's life), but the majority of people are accepting and even helpful, because they want players to improve...

If you're going to "play your way" in group content, then you also can't be selfish. You have to take your party into consideration. Being uncommunicative and self-righteous isn't helpful. A single message of "Bear with me team! I'm new to tanking, so I apologize for any mistakes. Any advice would be appreciated as well! Thanks!" probably could've prevented this.

[RokkuEkkusu]

Tbh, i dont even waste my time to talk with slow tank, just straightly kick them out of the party and ask for a fill in from my novce network, much better than waiting them to move their ass over dungeon

I'll communicate with the slow tank first. Sometimes, even with proper cooldowns, some tanks not too geared to the teeth where they can do huge pulls (points to many Bardam's Mettle, Doma Castle, and Holminster Switch dungeon runs that have reckless tanks that aren't geared to initiate big pulls).

That's fine if your server's novice network has tanks that come to your beck and call. But Novice Network chats tend to be toxic and/or beyond the scope of it intended game scope (points to self seeing such things happen on several servers I was on).

[ckq53]

I started playing this on PS4 when it came out and chose PLD. Had a horrible experience as it was my first MMO. I stopped playing about the middle of HW cause I just wasn't very good as a tank. I picked it back up on PC during last years Winter Steam sale and figured I start playing again. I've got about 500 or so hours logged so far. This time I stayed away from tanking because I had severe Tankxiety from the last time. I chose DRG, leveled to 80 and I leveled DNC , MCH, SMN, and BRD. I watched a Work to Game video a while back about Tankxiety and one thing he said that spurred me to level one was "Stop being a p***y!!" I said screw it and chose DRK I leveled it to 80 but wasn't satisfied. I still felt like I was doing stuff wrong a
I then decided to try GNB. Same thing... something just wasn't right, I was honestly scared to play with the two. that Tankxiety was still there. Was I pulling enough? Using cool downs properly?

My usual start to a dungeon while leveling them was to say in party chat "Leveling tank here so bear with me as I may make a mistake or three". Never once did I get any grief or harassment from ANYONE the whole way through! Everyone was extremely generous (even the ones doing roulettes) They'd always say "take it at your own pace", "no worries" or healers would say "Go for it, I got you". But they still didn't feel right. Like I wasn't good and I still had that pit in my stomach.

Fast forward to last week. I started leveling a GLD/PLD from scratch. THAT'S what I was missing!! DRK and GNB already came with half or almost all their kit when you start them. What I needed was one ability at a time! It made all the difference in the world! I've gained so much confidence in my tanking ability with PLD that I don't get that pit in my stomach when I queue up for a dungeon. Also I dungeon grind, I don't do Deep Dungeons because I want to learn every square inch of every dungeon. If that means having to run Quarn 7 times to unlock the next one then so be it! Its much needed practice and it pays dividends in rotation/CD practice for me. As well as the confidence to start pulling wall to wall if I need to. I can't count how many times I've gotten everyone's comms at the end of a dungeon while I've been leveling PLD. Granted I'm only 56 at the moment but leveling from scratch truly is the way to go for me. It's also made my DRK and GNB playstyle better as a result.

Saying you want to "play it the way you want to" doesn't really work. And in one of your posts you summed it up in one phrase "...I'm entitled...". No, you're really not. You're working as a team, and I've found that communicating up front before you even start that you're leveling or it's your first run of the dungeon WILL make ALL the difference in the world as to your enjoyment of the game. I promise! This games community really IS awesome as far as I've found.

TL;DR

Start from scratch! PLD or WAR.

[Sqwall]

By playing slower, I don't think I'm endangering the group as a whole. If people want to speed run, they can create pre-mades with their friends and faceroll the whole thing.
I don't buy at all what you're saying.

I have been tanking from the very beginning, and I can say this. Tanking then is VERY different then tanking now. Back then it was all about holding agro and heals keeping up. DPS peeled hate in large pulls it could go bad very quickly. Enter Stormblood and ShB the tanking pulls REALLY started to get crazy. Wall to wall pulls and oddly enough you really didn't die and you still held hate fairly well if the DPS used diversion. Shadowbringers has really just adopted this way of pulling in dungeons and ran with it.

I for one actually like it more then the way that it was back in ARR and HW days where you really had to tip toe through dungeons and not pull to much or risk wiping.

I have also tanked in WoW for 6-7 years (Vanilla, BC, WotLK, and Cata) so I understand where your coming from. Cata in particular had a HUGE change in dungeon mechanics, in where you had to do EACH and EVERY single encounter just the right way. And it got ANNOYING as time went on. Which burnt me out....and now I live in FFXIV.

I would say just humor the group your with and ask them what you should do. Nobody should harass anyone, but I would think the exact same thing if your a GNB as you should know already how dungeons are pretty much expected to be pulled now. I wouldn't harass you, but if I was on my astro healer...I would say pull the world please

[Sqwall]

If you dont like tanking well its your own choice, try out healers or other dps, jumping into tanking so early is not going to make it easy for you. :f
Also you should expect to see "wow behaviour" more often the more players from that game come over to this game, you are a wow player yourself and complain about others being wow players? How does that work lol.
Be nice to others so others could be nice to you and communicate with them, thats all.

I was hesitant to start FFXIV with tanking, but then I was there since the beginning. Now coming from WoW tanking was incredibly thankless role. If you messed up the backlash was instant, and generally very toxic. I always made it a point to run with guildies. That dungeon finder can be a cruel equalizer form some jumping into the tanking scene.

Thankfully this is MUCH less toxic in FFXIV, but every once in a while you do get raked over the coals for being a floor tank. I just use shirk on those people that annoy me, I smile and enjoy myself. Then they start to understand what i'm doing to them, and let them know it's for being rude. It's not harassment per say, but it does get the point across to be nice and not such a jerk. I used to do this to BADDDD people in FFXI with Warp II, lol we would be in the crawlers nest and I would send there asses packing back to Jeuno or Whitegate. LOL! I even had a macro set up while I would cast to send a /tell to them about not being a troll and that they were being banished from the party. Miss FFXI days