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

[Sigred]

I'm starting to think that maybe tank as a dedicated class roll should go away, and that all classes should get some stances and skills that would allow anyone to pick up the tank spot. Something like super-powered self-stoneskin and healing enmity for WHM, or a BLM that uses Manaward/Manawall in a sustained way and instead of the Fire spells doing more damage they cause more enmity, but you still have to swap with Blizzard to refill your MP because it's being used to absorb damage.

No... just... no. If you honestly believe there shouldn't be dedicated roles, then this is not the genre of games you should be playing.

[File2ish]

I'm not sure how to make tanking more fun. More skills with increased level caps in the future, perhaps? Likely adding another tank job with a different type of play style (like an evasion, blink, or parry tank) might get people to try tanking if only for the novelty of the job.

But as it is now tanks are as responsible as healers to keeping the party alive (by holding hate, a straggler can mean death), sometimes need to know a duty like the back of their hands, can seem like de facto leaders of parties, and are generally the targets of blame when anything goes wrong (at least in my experience, and I have 50 PLD, WHM, BRD, [and DRG + another WHM including my alt]). The responsibility of the role is a turn off for a lot of people. I'm really not sure what can remedy that.

FF12 had a Class-based System. You could decide that for each Character. You even had Aggro producing Spells/Skills. Though thats the only (offline) FF Title who has a Tank-Class i think.

Definitely not the only, but there aren't many I can think of. Allyrion already said XIII. Xenoblade Chronicles has two tank characters (they keep enmity, one's a meat shield and the other is a parry/evasion). I think the Dragon Age games have tanks (it's been a while, could be wrong). Having trouble thinking of more... Pokemon does. Case and point: Chansey and Blissey =p

[Limecat]

Oh sure there should be, DPS and healing. Maybe the easier solution would be to remove the need for tanks entirely? Let everyone get beat on a little and have various flavors of one-shot high mitigation abilities so whoever's the current pinata can soak the big damage attack that's charging?

[Saccharin]

Oh sure there should be, DPS and healing. Maybe the easier solution would be to remove the need for tanks entirely? Let everyone get beat on a little and have various flavors of one-shot high mitigation abilities so whoever's the current pinata can soak the big damage attack that's charging?

No trinity spoiled GW2 for me. You have to balance every fight so there's no dedicated healer or tank.

[Sigred]

No trinity spoiled GW2 for me. You have to balance every fight so there's no dedicated healer or tank.

Exactly. GW2 exemplifies why there must be, at the very least, the three basic roles. I will say again to those who cannot see why this is a core concept; this is not the genre of games you should be playing.

[Limecat]

Actually, we should probably all level PLD and sit in Sword Oath to auto-attack while spamming subbed Cure. Run full pts with everyone doing that.

[Sigred]

Actually, we should probably all level PLD and sit in Sword Oath to auto-attack while spamming subbed Cure. Run full pts with everyone doing that.

You should really learn to quit while you're not a complete laughing stock. If not, by all means please continue, and I can save some money by cancelling my netflix subscription.

[Limecat]

Or make a shield any class can equip, and while you're using it you take 10% damage and deal extra enmity from your actions, but can't move. To move again, you have to hit Z and leave combat stance, but while like that you take full damage.

[ZeroRains]

Idk, I main warrior and Love it. Plenty to do, flashy, and lore wise makes sense. Paladin I could see, seeing as it has one enmity combo and half of a off combo, while war gets 1 enmity and 2 off combos. But different strokes for different folks I suppose.

[eagledorf]

Can easy outperform as DPS or Healer, but there is like no option to outperform as a Tank job which make them "AVERAGE" at best.

Eh, basically if you squeeze the best performance possible out of your job you're good. If a WAR pops IB and/or another cooldown for every Death Sentence, has Storm's Path up constantly, manages Wrath well, and uses/combines his other cooldowns and skills wisely, I would say that's "good". If a WAR pops IB for DS, but once in a blue moon is stuck in GCD or something or pops IB for every one, but loses Storms Path because he didn't watch its duration and was waiting for DS that's probably still fairly good to average.

Similarly for PLD, if he's managing and timing his cooldowns well, using Convalesce early for his Scholar, uses Hallowed Ground or cover at just the right moment, uses Stoneskin and Flash to mitigate things (especially Stoneskin requires like perfect timing) as both MT and OT, and always has Halone up, I would call that a good Paladin. If all he's doing is managing his cooldowns well, that's probably already a fairly good to average PLD.

The same is true for every class. If a DPS is putting out reasonable DPS and doesn't screw up their class mechanics (MP management, DoT uptime, GL, Rotation), that's pretty average. If a DPS is really working to maximize their DPS (timing their cooldowns, being intelligent with their buffs/stances/procs/Aetherflow), that's a good DPS. If a SCH keeps the tank alive that's an average SCH. If they apply a shield, Virus, Sacred Soil, or Eye4Eye just when the party or tank needs it and manage their pet well that's a good SCH. WHM, I don't know the class, but hate management, Regen, Stoneskin, cooldowns, and procs seem to set a good WHM apart.

I do agree with you that both tank classes have a simpler/more scripted set of skills than the DPS or healers, but that doesn't mean that there's not plenty a tank can do to set themselves apart from others.

PLD, despite being simple compared to WAR, can be damn fun. Oop, the MT died...healers don't have swiftcast...Provoke->Hallowed Ground! You may feel free to hard-cast Raise or dick around as you like, healers. Hell, you can actually cycle cooldowns while they heal the off tank and all the way until the other tank recovers from weakness. Of course you're probably screwed at this point, but maybe not.