Tank mentality.

[DesuGenesis]

You learn as you go, and if you're doing something wrong (this will happen to all of us), hopefully someone will constructively correct you. For instance, I had no idea how the enmity on Regen worked until maybe five levels after I had gotten it... once it was explained to me, everything became clear and things became much smoother for everyone. For people willing to listen and learn, all it takes is a nudge in the right direction.

Will most people be pretty nice about corrections, or will it mostly be filled with rage?

[Mickadin]

Things change tremendously once you reach endgame. Healing isn't lazy and if you think it is, your party will wipe. Also if DPS are spamming 2-3 casts, their DPS will be horrible and will wipe. Just some thoughts

Simple tasks can be rather. Challenging for some.

[fancybandage]

You have power tripping tanks that treat everyone else like crap, you have ignorant healers that think every time a DPS takes damage they did something wrong, and then you have DPS that clearly believe because they are DPS they can just stroll into anything and are super defensive when they find out knowledge is sometimes expected of them.

But the short fuse has memory, so when you are playing on your ________, and you get 3 groups in a row that don't know what's going on, play an ignorant blame game with anything other than a mirror in hand, or just don't listen to your otherwise kind advice like "this will be a really hard fight to heal in Cleric Stance", that 4th group you get? Poor them, because you're HUMAN (American?) and you are now predicting that they are going to do what the last 3 groups did, and you give them less of a chance to be human themselves!

... now to go find this Japanese Utopian community

[fancybandage]

I'm on a PS3 and I have a laptop next to me, everytime I'm about to run something new, I google it. I read up on the fights. This by no means makes me a pro, but I have some rough idea of what to expect and willingly share this information with other people. I don't say anything, but it's starting to become a needed MMO social norm, sort of like saying "please" and "thank you", that you take 5 minutes out of your day to skim the info on the dungeon/fight your about to do as a courtesy to other people.

The dungeons are timed, and I'm sick of failing Duty Finder pugs because we ran out of time explaining shit to people who clearly have access to the internet. We're not the dicks for getting frustrated, you're the dick for expecting a detailed explanation every time you run something. "Well you were that person, too, once". YEAH. TIL I REALIZED WHAT A DICK I WAS BEING AND STARTED USING GOOGLE

[HaplessHermit]

Will most people be pretty nice about corrections, or will it mostly be filled with rage?

It's really a mixed bag, though I hope you don't get discouraged!

I play with a single Paladin, myself, and have grown used to working exclusively with him. We've worked together since Sastashahoweveritsspelled and I've learned to do what I can to ease the burden for him (Reposing, Fluid Aura if he isn't nearby for whatever reason and someone is getting beat on, etc), since tanking is pretty stressful. He's very knowledgeable and is the reason I've learned the things I have, since I really came into this game blind. When I'm not doing something correctly, he helps me out, and it creates a stronger group overall. I think communication between healer and tank is really important, is what I'm getting at.

Don't pay attention to the people who immediately flip into a rage, unless they made some sort of valid point in the process. Probably a kid.

[Tigercub]

There really is a flip side to this. Truth is that tanking is a game of co-operation with your party. A fairly simple one in most cases, but it still requires some understanding on everyone's part. Unfortunately it sometimes falls on me to have to explain to some people how certain mechanics work, just out of inherently being in the best position to do so. Most people are cool about it, but reactions vary. Some people take friendly advice, filter it through some kind of insane thought process, and somehow arrive at "this guy is a major asshole". I don't really care to think too hard about the psychology behind it. To quote a very wise woman: "Ain't nobody got time for that".

TBH though, I really don't have many issues along these lines. I don't see it as a real issue in the FFXIV community.

[YunieAura]

It's really easy to see why the tank seems to be the most bitter/most dbaggy of us all and the least popular role. (︶ω︶)

1) Spotlight - stress, responsibility, the "god-complex"

2) Everything starts with tank - the fight and pivotal mechanics (interrupts), the blame, the congratulations

3) Perfection and Dealing with the rude majority of players - walking on eggshells to not seem like a dbag or a bad tank, but one crack and you're the worst player ever. Leads to tank snapping or rerolling. There is the Endgame rush to progress. Even if you're a nice guy, nobody "ain't got no time" to be teaching or waiting on a tank to learn to be better.

Wrote a whole wall of text but accidentally hit back on browser, but that is what my messaged boiled down to. (︶ω︶)

[Tigercub]

Hmm, I think this is a very black and white view of what people are saying in this thread. As a rule I personally don't get into arguments with other players ever, but I've seen aggression and bad play start on all sides in groups.

As someone who does try to give helpful advice in a respectful way, one thing I can say for certain is that some people just don't want it, and they will take great offense at you giving it to them no matter how tactful you try to be. I am quite sure that some of the tanks in this thread justifying their actions are doing nothing more than defending themselves from accusations thrown at them for the crime of being helpful.

I'm also quite sure there's tanks out there who really are dbags, as with any other class. But I wouldn't judge people here too harshly by jumping to that conclusion. It's usually not that simple.

[StarMarmot]

Give away with the "you pull aggro off me, you tank it" attitude. If someone gives you a hard time, just work harder to compensate. It's perfectly possible to keep enmity even with DPS all over the shop, and if you don't make it, at least you tried. Nobody will think the less of you. If the group is moving forward, there's no reason to start yelling.

What if a DPS that pulled enmity on the "1" target off you threw a tantrum and said he'd just stop DPSing until it died from tank damage? It's just as reasonable, but you never see that happening, because pulling enmity on the "1" doesn't hurt the DPSers ego.

If the group is coming to a halt because someone is messing up, take a moment to give some pointers. If someone isn't playing the way you want them to, or if you feel someone makes you look bad - ask yourself if it really matters before you go bananas.

[baopee]

I do get mad when dps pulls the mobs off me while i am still doing the rotations to lock them down, but i have never bad month any of my party members ....so far, I always try to give them the proper instruction instead of lashing them out with my anger.....on top of that most of time they would not understand me anyways (I am in JP server).


but seriously, people please learn how to read the aggro/ enmity gauge.

I know playing MMo is serious business but after all this is just a GAME.