Next tank

[TouchandFeel]

That's true, when WoW heralded the swap from 6 MMORPG roles to just 3 (the thereafter-called "trinity" of roles) ...

The concept of the tank, healer, damage dealer trinity was primarily established in MMOs by the first Everquest, which was obviously way before WoW.
The roots of the trinity system comes from even before that, going back to archetypes that evolved in fantasy pen & paper RPGs like DnD. It's simply a reflection of the most common fantasy party setups of a big heavily armored fighter/knight character, a healer/priest/cleric and a long range but physically weaker damage dealer like a wizard.

WoW may have popularized MMOs in the West, but it certainly didn't invent anywhere near as many things for the genre as people seem to believe it did.

Here is an article from Game Developer magazine that talks some about the history and evolution of the trinity system as well the general pros/cons of it from a game development viewpoint as well as potential design alternatives or variants.
The pros/cons and general musings on how or how not to implement such a system are of course the opinions of the writer and I agree with some points while disagreeing with others, but the history part is accurate to my recollection.
https://www.gamedeveloper.com/design...-of-mmo-design

[Azurarok]

I'm a broken record on this subject at this point but always gonna push for Green Mage. It's got a heavy focus on defensive buffs/debuffs and wields hammers. It's also an Ivalice job so it's got some lore potential for the parts of Othard we have yet to visit too. Also it'll mean all roles would have a color mage (not counting BLU)

[Tunda]

I'm a broken record on this subject at this point but always gonna push for Green Mage. It's got a heavy focus on defensive buffs/debuffs and wields hammers. It's also an Ivalice job so it's got some lore potential for the parts of Othard we have yet to visit too. Also it'll mean all roles would have a color mage (not counting BLU)

it seems not interesting to play TBH.. but time will tell us

[MrKusabi]

I'm a broken record on this subject at this point but always gonna push for Green Mage. It's got a heavy focus on defensive buffs/debuffs and wields hammers. ...

Honestly, a tank focusing on buffs/debuffs would be really neat. Do something with that over DOTs. Could even throw some buffs at other party members (though it'd need to be worked with pretty carefully to avoid encroaching too much on AST). And we could really use a hammer/mace job (and no, the couple WAR gets don't count). We already have a ton of jobs relying on sword variations, so why not some blunt weapons?

[CKNovel]

I'm a broken record on this subject at this point but always gonna push for Green Mage. It's got a heavy focus on defensive buffs/debuffs and wields hammers. It's also an Ivalice job so it's got some lore potential for the parts of Othard we have yet to visit too. Also it'll mean all roles would have a color mage (not counting BLU)

I believe it could work depending on how it's done and would be a neat way to make a tank that plays differently.
We don't have a tank that plays with buffs&debuff.

[Nilsandres]

Rune Knight
- Weapon: Arcane Blade (Claymore)
- Description: The Rune Knight is a magic-infused tank that blends spellcraft with melee combat. They imbue their weapon with elemental magic to deal with threats while enhancing their defense through arcane wards and shields.
- Skill Set:
- Elemental Ward: Grants an elemental shield that reduces damage from a specific element (Fire, Ice, Lightning, Wind, Light, Dark) for a short time.
- Arcane Slash: A magic-enhanced cleave that deals damage and reduces the target’s magical attack power.
- Mana Shield: Converts a portion of the Spellblade’s MP into a shield that absorbs incoming damage.
- Enspell: Temporarily enhances the Arcane Blade with elemental magic, dealing additional fire, ice, lightning, wind, light or dark damage with each strike.
- Mystic Strike: Unleashes a devastating melee attack empowered by all stored elemental energies, dealing AoE damage and restoring MP based on damage dealt.

Warden
- Weapon: Poleaxe (Axe + Polearm hybrid)
- Description: The Warden is a tank that controls the battlefield with crowd control and positioning. They utilize a poleaxe, which allows for both sweeping strikes and precise jabs, keeping enemies at bay while protecting their allies.
- Skill Set:
- Sweeping Cleave: Spins the poleaxe in a wide arc, damaging and knocking back all nearby enemies.
- Imposing Stance: Forces all enemies in a large radius to attack the Warden for a short duration, while increasing the Warden’s parry rate.
- Battlefield Command: Temporarily reduces damage taken by the Warden and increases damage dealt by all allies within a certain radius.
- Anchor Strike: Throws the poleaxe at an enemy, tethering them to the Warden and preventing them from moving more than a certain distance away.
- Defensive Pivot: A quick spin that parries an incoming attack, reducing damage by 50% and countering with an instant attack.

Ironclad
- Weapon: Siege Hammer (Pole Hammer)
- Description: The Ironclad is a slow-moving but hard-hitting tank that specializes in fortifying their defenses and dealing massive area damage. They use a large siege hammer to crush enemies while creating defensive zones that protect allies.
- Skill Set:
- Iron Fortress: Temporarily increases the Ironclad’s defense and grants damage reduction to all nearby allies.
- Hammerfall: Smashes the ground with the siege hammer, dealing AoE damage and stunning all enemies in the area.
- Reinforced Armor: Reduces all damage taken by 30% for a short duration and increases movement speed to compensate for their normally slow movement.
- Groundbreaker: Cracks the earth, creating a defensive zone where enemies take increased damage and allies take reduced damage while standing within it.
- Titan’s Wrath: A powerful single-target blow that leaves a crater, reducing the target’s physical attack power and briefly increasing the Ironclad’s threat level.

[Mikey_R]

I don't know how long you have been paying for, but I'm going to give brief reasons why a few of these things are bad:

Rune Knight
- Elemental Ward: Grants an elemental shield that reduces damage from a specific element (Fire, Ice, Lightning, Wind, Light, Dark) for a short time.
You want to use up 8 precious action slots to mitigate a specific element? Elements that, as far as I am aware, are not tied to attacks anymore? Way too much bloat.
- Arcane Slash: A magic-enhanced cleave that deals damage and reduces the target’s magical attack power.
If this is up all the time, it is broken, if it is a DPS loss, it won't be used, if it is a DPS gain, it will be used for that and not for the mitigation effects that might or might not be useful at the time.
- Mana Shield: Converts a portion of the Spellblade’s MP into a shield that absorbs incoming damage.
Just to point it out, this is TBN. Not a bad thing, just expect someone to comment that 'It's Just TBN and homogenised'.
- Mystic Strike: Unleashes a devastating melee attack empowered by all stored elemental energies, dealing AoE damage and restoring MP based on damage dealt.
There is a reason no sources of MP generation ever gave MP based on damage, it wouldn't work at all levels.

Warden
- Sweeping Cleave: Spins the poleaxe in a wide arc, damaging and knocking back all nearby enemies.
Knockbacks are bad for DPS, it was bad enough when it was on a single target back in the day, everything? PLease no.
- Imposing Stance: Forces all enemies in a large radius to attack the Warden for a short duration, while increasing the Warden’s parry rate.
Action that increases parry rate, that is all that is.
- Battlefield Command: Temporarily reduces damage taken by the Warden and increases damage dealt by all allies within a certain radius.
Tanks providing raidwide damage up is not good design and forced you to use them. Either every tank gets one, or none )I would prefer none.)
- Anchor Strike: Throws the poleaxe at an enemy, tethering them to the Warden and preventing them from moving more than a certain distance away.
Old Holmgang, just worse. Everything should be on you anyway and a quick ranged attack/provoke will bring them to you.
- Defensive Pivot: A quick spin that parries an incoming attack, reducing damage by 50% and countering with an instant attack.
Old Shield Swipe/pseudo Vengeance/Damnation. Either, you make the damage not matter, or, you are encouraging getting hit by cleaves just to proc it, much to the healers dismay.

Ironclad
- Hammerfall: Smashes the ground with the siege hammer, dealing AoE damage and stunning all enemies in the area.
Probably one of the few things I like from this whole list. A more unique take on tank AoE damage/mitigation. Just be careful of WHM's Holy.
- Reinforced Armor: Reduces all damage taken by 30% for a short duration and increases movement speed to compensate for their normally slow movement.
Having a tank naturally have slower movement speed is a bad idea, as you have to design mechanics to be dodgable with that in mind, which means they are easier to dodge for everyone else, so why would you bring this tank?
- Groundbreaker: Cracks the earth, creating a defensive zone where enemies take increased damage and allies take reduced damage while standing within it.
See tank raidwide damage gains.
- Titan’s Wrath: A powerful single-target blow that leaves a crater, reducing the target’s physical attack power and briefly increasing the Ironclad’s threat level.
See Arcane Slash.

Alot of these things, the game has already tried and it didn't work. I could go into more detail on some points if you want, but I didn't want to make a massive post detailing everything.

[mallleable]

Thinking a hammer tank could go down the route of being a techy engineer type tank. The hammer could transform into different weapon forms like a hammer for heavy burst damage, a kind of halberd like form for faster sustained damage, and a cannon for ranged options while providing barricades, and other magitek options to protect their allies. Could be xiv's take on the artificer class -- they could incorporate a gauntlet with the weapon as well. The achievement mounts could be gorillas.

[Carighan]

The concept of the tank, healer, damage dealer trinity was primarily established in MMOs by the first Everquest, which was obviously way before WoW.
The roots of the trinity system comes from even before that, going back to archetypes that evolved in fantasy pen & paper RPGs like DnD. It's simply a reflection of the most common fantasy party setups of a big heavily armored fighter/knight character, a healer/priest/cleric and a long range but physically weaker damage dealer like a wizard.

WoW may have popularized MMOs in the West, but it certainly didn't invent anywhere near as many things for the genre as people seem to believe it did.

Interesting.

So, let me ask you this, then. If EQ1 was so "trinity", how come the following:

- The label was unknown, as was the concept of a "trinity" of RPG jobs? In faaaact, there was a "trinity", but it meant something else, namely that you needed a Warrior, a Cleric and an Enchanter (which, if you were to reduce it to jobs, would be Tank + Healer + CC, DPS/Buffer/Debuffer came after that, though Enchanter also had some debuffing elements of course, and one of the most important buffs in the entire game to do dungeon farming at all).
- EQ1 itself described its classes in the concepts of six archetypes?
- WoW in beta still described its classes as six archetypes? (for example Priest was the dedicated CC class)

I mean, I get that most here are too young to actively remember their forays into these old games, but genuinely, WoW cemented the reduction from 6 to 3 archetypes. This was not without reason. It was difficult to have "pure" debuffer jobs for example. Usually these were mixed with DPS, see EQ1's Necromancer that then inspired WoW's "Debuff"-focused job (see beta 4), the Warlock. Which then got turned into DPS first and foremost, with their debuffs mostly just being 2 kinds of DoTs though they had some options back in the days. Likewise in EQ1, the dedicated buffer, the Shaman, also had some healing inspiration, and this wasn't uncommon either for buff-centric classes, though other combinations existed like debuffers also dipping into healing or tanking. Other games tried some other setups, like DAoC's CC-centric specs on Hibernia's and Albion's primary healer to contrast with Midgard's buff-centric spec.

It's also telling the way the article you link deals with the whole history in just two ultra-short sentences, quite clearly the author doesn't have any personal experience of really old D&D or EQ or M59 or so. :') Just saying, it's okay. By now Tank/Heal/Damage is established, we don't need to abolish the other three primary roles from the history books just because they have become secondary roles in modern design. And for good reason. Your old D&D Bard would be mighty pissed if you called him a healer or damage, however.

[Carighan]

it seems not interesting to play TBH.. but time will tell us

I mean none of the current tanks are interesting to play, so at least nothing gets worse? :P