First time tanking fears

[Lord_Zlatan]

You are not superman (unfortunately).
You cannot save everyone, especially from themselves. You won't always be able to get a monster off a healer or DPS that just went over the top nuts. Remind them you are the tank, and if they want to let you do the tanking, they need to do their role conservatively yet effectively so that you can do your job well. If other players do not know how to manage aggro, especially if they know you are a new tank, perhaps they should lay face up for a while to learn.

Stay still if you can.
A lot of times tanks feel the need to run around in circles, or run away from the mob, or run anywhere just for the sake of it. If you don't need to move (apart from dodging and aoe), don't. Let players know this. Tell them if they pull hate from a mob to RUN TO YOU and not AWAY from you. Staying still will make it easier for people to get to you, and then get back to where they need to be. This isn't always applicable, but useful nonetheless.

[Lord_Zlatan]

Face the mob.
stupid, i know, but some people don't. You can't block if your not facing the enemy, so do your best to always face up and take it like a man! (or woman).

Remember your role.
Your are the shield, the protector, and often times the savior. That is your role. Perhaps when you get to the late game you can experiment but in FFXIV the roles are very clear. Do not try to out damage a DPS, or anything of that nature. Adding more DPS or what have you is fine, but never at the expense of defense. Bolster your defense, and bring justice unto your foes.

Its not for everyone.
In FFXI there was a lot more freedom via subclasses to put your own spin on each class. This game does not offer that. If you are not having fun as a tank, don't do it. Play whatever is fun for you and you will naturally excel at that role.

[Garnatian]

Tanking in this game is pretty easy, so don't worry about being good at it or not. You should learn pretty fast.

[Ethelion]

I just want to thank everyone for all their posts so far. The support and information has been amazing and overwhelming. I will work my best to better myself as a tank and learn from mistakes I will surely make. Thanks a lot for all your responses.

[baopee]

as a new tank, 1. make sure you know how to read your aggro gauge and make sure your teammates know how to read it too.
2. know your enmity combo and always save one or two moves just in case of one of the mobs peels away from you.
3. if someone is focusing more on bitoching about you because you are not doing your job correctly, instead of giving you advises to help you, ......."LET HIM DIE"

[kasei]

The hardest part about tanking isn't dealing with the monsters, it's working with the other players in your party. You can be the best tank in the world, but if your teammates aren't paying attention you will fail as well. So when you see someone not doing their role well, kindly give them advice. Saying please and thank you can go a long way.

[Ehayte]

Hey there - I am playing a tank for the first time after playing melee dps as my main in many many MMOs. I had a feel for tanking as I have had tank alts throughout my years. I would agree that tanking is not super difficult in this game, especially if you are a playing a GLD.

People will probably be mean to you at some point, just don't let them get to you - there are a lot of unstable and rude people that play this game. Do what you love, forget the rest : D

[Zoomie]

The hardest part about tanking isn't dealing with the monsters, it's working with the other players in your party.

This is a solid bit of advice and something you will encounter ESPECIALLY at lower levels. Even if you mark and apply emnity properly you may have a hard time tanking if all your dps is doing something other than following the marks.

Tanking #1 do so your lancer doesn't pull aggro, tanking #3 because your archer broke the CC and is now dpsing it, and tanking #2 so your healer doesn't take aggro... can be challenging.

These things are the things that will teach you how to be an effective tank though. As the fights and mechanics get harder your comrades in arms "should" get better.

[SpookyGhost]

Honestly, one thing I find amazing about tanking is that (if you keep an open mind) you learn a lot about all the other roles as you go through dungeons. You learn how enmity works and how it feels when someone decides to unload everything right as the tank touches the monster. You learn a lot about positioning and how to move freely in each dungeon without too much risk. You learn just how important it is to have a good healer. You learn that communicating with other party members can lead to a much smoother experience.

Playing a tank lends itself to all other roles and it's a good way to get to know how each fight/dungeon in the game works. That way, if you tackle the same dungeon as DPS or healer, you can optimize your performance to make it all the more enjoyable for everyone. Basically, when playing a tank, think of it as a learning experience - if people yell at you you'll learn why sometimes it's best that the tank ignores those people. Obviously sometimes you do make mistakes, but so does everyone (I've seen many a DPS die in Titan HM due to the most amazing things they could've easily avoided) and that's why it's best to learn from those mistakes so that they don't happen again.

[Resolute]

I have tanked for years in other MMOs and I still get a little nervous before doing a new dungeon. Once I know the fights, that feeling tends to go away. The problem is that, especially as you get towards max level, people will tend to be unforgiving of someone who doesn't know exactly what to do. I have had people call me a noob tank because I messed something up on my first run, but then another group I get, after I have learned the fight, says I am great tank.

Unfortunately, there will be people that make a snap judgment of you and, if it is a DF group, you likely will never have the chance to redeem yourself in their eyes. As the default leader of a group (meaning more blame will fall on you), you have to shrug these frustrations off and move on to the next one with the knowledge you gained from the previous attempt.

I always try to research a dungeon before I do it, but I understand totally that this takes the fun out of it for some. But I would rather spoil it for myself than have people get upset. But reading about it or watching a video will teach you much less than actually trying it yourself.