Quote Originally Posted by HyperiusUltima View Post
Utilities matter. The amount of damage mitigation a tank's utility brings matters A LOT to a raid setting. If you think utility is completely worthless, then tell me how you mitigate raid-wides without utilities to shore up your defense and take the stress off healers.

It's also a matter of how that utility is best used, as well as the fight where it is used. You can try to match up comparable abilities against each other (Shake vs. Veil, HoL vs. DM) but when it comes to comparing a Shield to a % mitigation, it goes out the window when Magic is involved. If Physical Damage was more of a focus, then Shields would win out - so there is a balance to be struck in terms of design because this now reminds me of the whole PLD vs. DRK controversy when WAR was in a 100% Guaranteed spot similar to how DRK is now.

We had "Flavor of the Month" PLD or DRK back in Heavensward, namely when the raid boss for the patch was either Physical or Magical. In our current case we are never going to give up DRK because they are top damage, provide excellent self-mitigation, and have raid utilities to provide in terms of raw mitigation, both single and raid-wide. This then leaves it to a question: Does the fight involve Magical Raid-wide Damage? If it does, bring GNB for an extra raid-wide mitigation and more damage. If not, then either still pick GNB because damage or pick PLD/WAR for more survivability through shields. That's basically where we're at right now.
If utility mattered people would bring PLD for everything because it still has the best raid wide defensive with Passage of Arms and veil, while DRK and GNB have clones of the same skill that only do 10% to magic specifically.

But they don't matter, every tank HAS to be able to clear it so its not like they're going to make mechanics only PLD can do, as a result damage wins, and as a result to that Utility is worthless compared to damage, because every tank more or less needs to fill the exact same role in every fight.

And honestly nothing about Endwalker's homogenized slog of fight design will allow things to be any different.