How to make tanks more fun to play (devs please read)

[Tiggy]

I stopped reading when you said warriors aren't fun and only 5% of the community plays tanks. According to census data players have scrapped from the lodestone it's closer to 20%-25% with some variability server to server. Also, personally, I find warrior very fun. Every single person in my FC that went warrior loved warrior, and several have both pld and war leveled so they know the difference. So based on my personal experiences in terms of warriors, and in terms of factual numbers on your 5%, you're flat wrong and based this entire essay on false assumptions.

[ChaozK]

OP really got me thinking there about some pillars of tanking in FFXIV. Maybe giving tanks more dps wouldnt unbalance the game. All it would take is revolving that dps around tanking, meaning tanks would get access to powerful counter strikes.

I think what would go a long way for tanking would be adding more tank specific mechanics to the encounters. I find myself enjoying stuff like ultima HM 10 times more then everything before. When you look at the game for dps'ers they get a lot of little stuff thrown at them that makes every battle a little different. Kill add here, dodge there, stack over there aso.

Tanking bosses is usually stand there and get hit and when there is a tank specific mechanic its usually you either do it right or we wipe - thats just not very enjoyable. Tanks need to get a more active role when it comes to bosses and it should be stuff that has more room for mistakes. I am thinking maybe changing how stuns work in this game. Get rid of the stupid diminishing returns and give a ton of stuff that tanks can interrupt and let every successful stun trigger a nice counter attack to reward the tank. Something like that.

[Ehayte]

Also, since no one else seems to be saying it - not to be a jerk or anything but your experience of needing to spam RoHalone on a boss in an 8 man to keep enmity is NOT typical for the tanking community. First, that's a really really inefficient way to generate enmity, and second, you are i58, so if you are trying to do anything beyond Ifrit HM with that gear I could definitely imagine you are struggling to hold enmity against people who are i80-i90.

If you are going up against other people with comparable gear, then you should not be having any issues holding enmity.

[ErikMynhier]

Crazy big wall of text OP

Some of those changes are crazy man. Change Cover to a toggle? Give up Shield Oath? So cover the whole party all the time, taking every drop of damage from idiots that stand in AoEs? Why not just lobotomize the Healer at the start, ahead of the insanity they will meet trying to keep up with that. Also my madness from trying to hold hate off of well equipped DPS without Shield Oath.

You have no idea what you are talking about. You're not trying to make tanking fun, you're trying to make tanking fun for you. You have to go DPS for fun man, tanking is responsibility but if done right gives you respect. If you like R&R, then you'll like tanking. But most people don't like that and that's why we tanks are rare.

I read the whole wall, and the only thing I saw that I liked was Esuna on Pally.

[Lumiin]

I would play my tank more if I didn't have to argue with the OT half the time and dealing with extremely under geared tanks trying to have aggro wars because they don't want to pick up adds. Then if I say to hell with it, let them tank and pick up adds I have the healers screaming at me for not being MT ._.

[Tiggy]

I would play my tank more if I didn't have to argue with the OT half the time and dealing with extremely under geared tanks trying to have aggro wars because they don't want to pick up adds. Then if I say to hell with it, let them tank and pick up adds I have the healers screaming at me for not being MT ._.

This sounds like a CT problem. CT isn't normal tanking at all.

[Lumiin]

This sounds like a CT problem. CT isn't normal tanking at all.

Actually the only problem I have in CT is other tanks taunting the skeletons off me when I have them on the proper last platform then the skeles end up dying on the first platform and it becomes my fault somehow v.v SO yeah I just retired my tank.

[ElenaKirei]

Tanks are fine. Yes, some tanking skills are next to useless (Foresight, Cover, Awareness) and there are general TP issues with tanking, but that doesn't make tank not fun to play.

The things that drove general public away from playing tank are:
1. Tank can be too easy to play
2. Tank can be too hard to play (Alot of endgame tanking can be MUCH harder compared to be just sitting there and mash DPS buttons)
3. The assumed responsibility of leading a party can be stressful to many.
4. Usually the first thing to blame when things screw up. (Although some tanks can be assholes too)
5. Usually under-appreciated. (Yes, really)

Those things are the causes for tank shortage in general.

However, do tanks need changes? No. Perhaps tweaks to above issues I mentioned are welcomed, but not necessarily a big change needed.

Let tanks be scarce. Perhaps people will appreciate tanks more.

[Reiryuu]

5. Usually under-appreciated. (Yes, really)

Those things are the causes for tank shortage in general.
However, do tanks need changes? No. Perhaps tweaks to above issues I mentioned are welcomed, but not necessarily a big change needed.
Let tanks be scarce. Perhaps people will appreciate tanks more.

This and just the community in general really being nasty and not wanting to change their way of playing to accommodate a tank that popped in DF and happens to be less geared than they are. EX: a non-relic'd tank vs. an i90 black mage.

Healers are actually fairly under-appreciated too. When I do some of my daily roulettes, I find some dps and healers that really do a good job and I try to give them compliments. The healers are usually shocked at receiving them, but I remember leveling myself as a healer, never getting any comments on my healing. People are usually quick to gripe when things go bad, but never say anything when things go well.

[Stigmar]

Iconic moves well Spirits Within was in ffxi does the same thing its does here but with add silence... a plus by me Shield Bash was in ffxi too and rampart, flash and sentinel tho sentinel could be better I could go on, as for the job being more fun I find it fun I think the problem lies here with people do not want to be tanks as they receive a lot of the blame when stuff goes wrong like losing hate to the idiot dps starting up with a massive attack before the pld hits it or going down because the stun is on a GCD there is a shit load going on and until you actually play as a tank you cannot say the job is boring.