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

[Sqwall]

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.

This is the best advice anyone can give you honestly. Tanking isn't something you can just pick up. You have to start it from level 1 and move upwards, learning every single fight isn't something you can just read about, you have to just do it. Going directly into 60 GNB literally skips 40-50 dungeons from ARR and HW (normal and hardmodes combined). So you might be missing some key tanking tips and tricks. Like if the boss does a large aoe, you run out, and knowing that "right moment" to run back in. That's something you just get a feel for from tanking a LONG time.

[ckq53]

This is the best advice anyone can give you honestly. Tanking isn't something you can just pick up. You have to start it from level 1 and move upwards, learning every single fight isn't something you can just read about, you have to just do it. Going directly into 60 GNB literally skips 40-50 dungeons from ARR and HW (normal and hardmodes combined). So you might be missing some key tanking tips and tricks. Like if the boss does a large aoe, you run out, and knowing that "right moment" to run back in. That's something you just get a feel for from tanking a LONG time.

What also helps me is I watch a video or two on You Tube. Like a Tank POV of whatever dungeon I'm about to get into. (I'm the type of person that OVER researches everything i do) so I can see where I can pull multiple packs and things to look out for. Even though I've done these dungeons a hundred times DPS I never really paid attention to the tank perspective. It helps IMMENSELY!

[Sqwall]

What also helps me is I watch a video or two on You Tube. Like a Tank POV of whatever dungeon I'm about to get into. (I'm the type of person that OVER researches everything i do) so I can see where I can pull multiple packs and things to look out for. Even though I've done these dungeons a hundred times DPS I never really paid attention to the tank perspective. It helps IMMENSELY!

Yes this too. I wouldn't really get anxiety from dungeons, hard modes or trials. The real anxiety comes from Savage, Extreme, Ultimate. I always get this horrible pit in my stomach when it's savage or extreme when I'm main tank. Even in practice or prog. I have lately been getting into a static and that helps IMMENSELY as nobody wants you to fail. Usually they give you great tips and advice, but they will boot you if you don't take that advice if you just don't learn. Repetition, repetition, repetition. Like stripping a weapon.

Also, if you really want to get serious about tanking you need to take your UI and strip it down to the bare minimum. Only have essential information, I didn't know until Stormblood that I could separate the target bar down to HP, progress bar, debuffs, buffs! moving all that stuff around to help you tank better. Especially the progress bar for aoe, tank busters, jumps, phases, etc,.

Also I write down all the progress bar actions from a boss that i'm working on with little cliff notes. I.E. Ruby Weapon - Stamp = Sentinel, Rampart, Sheltron. Tank buster. Ruby Dynamics - follow the boss and wait for AOE then run away from party.

Simple stuff like that can really help when your going into a fight, and maybe a video can confuse you. The devil is in the details, and I like to print out the progress bar skills so I know what to expect, or help explain to others learning. Keep it simple though.

Ruby Ray - Get behind boss. That's simple and easy

[OdysseusGR]

i understand that you have to rant somewhere. many people gave you legit advice here and you should follow it. you don’t sound like a new MMO player so i don’t understand how you are surprised by online behaviors. The subreddit is full of stories from angry people. I know premade groups that if you are slow they will kick you and finish the dungeon without a tank. so, use your chat to communicate, start learning a tank role from scratch, and if you don’t feel like speed running a dungeon (which is the high level norm), have a premade group, change roles or use the chat to let people know. if people harass you, report them and move on. I am actually offended that you even thought of comparing us with crappy WoW.

[Gula]

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.

"New player"

:thonk:

[Gula]

Mm, i'm a little suspicious about the way things went down here. People don't really whip out the "are you a bot?" just cause a tank is single pulling. Something else was going wrong here.

It's always a one sided story until the other party members show up to clarify.

I'm not a pro player, despite having played this game since Heavensward. Because I can't wall to wall pull, and am terrible at mass healing. So if someone wants to go slow, I more than welcome it. And if I can't go fast, I'll speak up. Never been called a bot or insulted for it.

In these one sided stories, the OP often whips out the Platinum Victim Card and there's no reciepts.

[DWolfwood]

A lot of the FFXIV community is coming from WoW, so... yeah.

Sorry about that. Not everyone is terrible, but there's a lot of elitists for sure.

[Sqwall]

I am actually offended that you even thought of comparing us with crappy WoW.

I would go as far to say that FFXIV community PRIDES itself on not being that toxic. I don't want to dog on WoW since I lived there for a while, but it has just gotten the horrible stereotype of it's community. A lot of that comes straight from the top though, and completely Blizzards fault for not taking care of it. FFXIV does the complete opposite and stamps that toxic crap right out of existence. Sure there are times it happens, but SE takes it very seriously. They don't want there crown jewel (money maker) becoming a toxic cesspool of elitist jerks min maxing your every thought or move.

Does anyone remember FFXI community? It was a mixed bag of both, and it was kind of daunting when you found a group that were elite, but they never made you feel like crap. They razed you a little bit, but then they helped you out. Which built really strong friendships and good linkshell community. WoW did the COMPLETE opposite of this, and I blame the 2 faction split mostly. Horde vs. Alliance. I think people would role play a little when it came to PVP and would say some nasty things to the other side. They would take that mentality and just use it like normal language outside of PVP. I know this...because I did this lol. FFXIV just asks that you leave that at the door before entering.

[MicahZerrshia]

but there's a lot of elitists for sure.

I think I'm still entitled to play the game the way I want.

I was under the impression that me, as a player, can play the WAY I WANT

they can create pre-mades with their friends and faceroll the whole thing. I don't buy at all what you're saying.

Just squint really hard, maybe you will see it.

[Sqwall]

Just squint really hard, maybe you will see it.

LoL this is great!