A (bad ?) way of tanking...

[Clavaat]

If it's a WAR in question, Overpower is Conal as opposed to Circular, so they need to group the mobs up to be in the right spot (all in front of them). Also, I think it's easier on melee to have them all facing generally the same direction as opposed to all over the place. Not to mention being more grouped up is important for AoE's. To a SMN, most of this seems trivial as you mostly have strong, single-target attacks, except Shadow Flare which has a pretty big room for error. To a melee, however, having the mobs lined up a pattern helps a lot especially on MNK who's AoE hit in a straight line.

[YuiSasaki]

If it's a WAR in question, Overpower is Conal as opposed to Circular, so they need to group the mobs up to be in the right spot (all in front of them). Also, I think it's easier on melee to have them all facing generally the same direction as opposed to all over the place. Not to mention being more grouped up is important for AoE's.

And because OP is conal you need to kite the mobs into the group?
The things you mention dont really rectify kiting mobgroups into the group. Of course positioning is important and necessary, but well as i said earlier, there is no reason for kiting mobs into the group.

[Clavaat]

And because OP is conal you need to kite the mobs into the group?
The things you mention dont really rectify kiting mobgroups into the group. Of course positioning is important and necessary, but well as i said earlier, there is no reason for kiting mobs into the group.

I suppose I don't understand what he means by "into the group". I move mobs back, particularly caster enemies a further distance to get adequate positioning sometimes. Normally the casters and healers just back up a bit, and if they didn't I guess it could be "into the group". If that is really what they are doing, it may not necessarily be fair to put the blame on the tank who is just trying to reach a safe spot with proper coverage for melee and himself. Now, if the tank is purposefully bringing the mobs to the caster, then I don't really know beyond they may have been in groups where the BLM/SMN wants to do Blizzard 2 from earlier dungeons?

[Degaulace]

I only do this when there's a tactical advantage. In Aurum Vale, for instance, there are rooms where you can either pull groups back into a "hallway", or risk aggroing more than the group can handle. Also, in Pharo Sirius, near the end, there are two slimes on the top landing right in front of the Aether valve. I'll tell groups to stay at the landing below and pull one down at a time. The reason for this is two fold. First, it prevents damaging everyone from the Aether cloud and also prevents pulling both slimes at once and missing a stun on divide.

So again, if your tank is more comfortable with controlled pulls, let them do it. A lot of times, they do it for a good reason. If you're a DPS player, wait until the tank parks and gets off one AOE threat move before nuking.

Is there always and everywhere a tactical advantage in doing this, even against one single isolated mob ?
I don't think so.
I agree for AV, where the floor is poisonous in earlier areas.
But in others dungeons, nothing justifies this useless time-wasting dangerous run back technique.

If it's a WAR in question, Overpower is Conal as opposed to Circular, so they need to group the mobs up to be in the right spot (all in front of them). Also, I think it's easier on melee to have them all facing generally the same direction as opposed to all over the place. Not to mention being more grouped up is important for AoE's. To a SMN, most of this seems trivial as you mostly have strong, single-target attacks, except Shadow Flare which has a pretty big room for error. To a melee, however, having the mobs lined up a pattern helps a lot especially on MNK who's AoE hit in a straight line.

Even if it's a WAR, no difference.
The melee dps is a MNK or a DRG. In both cases, he must attack from behind and the sides. So the best thing, for a WAR, would be to pack mobs so they show their backs to the group. And absolutely not to run back mobs in middle of the group, which is one of the stupid things to do, imho.

Like I said on the FR section, no need to know the class nor its gameplay here : it's just logical.

I suppose I don't understand what he means by "into the group".

Means "where the healer and the range dps are waiting for the tank to pack the mobs in front of him before attacking, and where the melee dps are waiting for the tank to build his hate before joining the bout".