Lack of tanks in the game

[Zirael_Foxfire]

As an Ilvl 90 WAR, you're really playing the tank martyrdom card a bit hard.

You got me there :P

I know I've seen more junk geared tanks I had to carry on my WHM than junk geared healers on my WAR. Also, if a DPS has a weapon 15 levels under them, a tank's being 5 under them won't make them unable to hold hate at all. lol

I just want my BLMs and SMNs to Fire II and Bane all the things when I'm there for them. Is that too much for little kitteh to ask for?

That being said, I do agree that Lob/Tomahawk should be 25y, and the hate jump as a fresh 50 tank is rough, I know. But triple hate on Overpower and Flash? No thanks. I do think Shield Oath should be their lvl 30 ability, and sword oath should be their lvl 40, though.

Triple hate won't change a thing for good tanks. But it will make easier for junk tanks. My point is, until end game you can be junk DD or healer and do just fine. Being junk tank? You get the short end of the stick. And let's be honest, you don't always get the luxury of good tank in your party. Bad DD can be carried, bad healer to an extent too. You just start dodging, stunning, using cooldowns and kill things before they kill you. Bad tank? Again, when you're exping, you don't get the luxury of good tanks all the time. Given the shortage, often times you don't get the luxury of tank at all.

If tank drops your dungeon you might as well exit, unless you're 3/4 progress. If a DD drops 0/4 progress? New one joins within 5 seconds and is happy to be there even if he expects party to suck due to someone dropping before first boss. Playing tank is not fun for general populace and I'm saying extra xp and gil won't change that. I'm giving ideas for average Joe to jump in his good old rusty chainmail, grab that cracked goblin dagger and go defend folks in peril without getting grief for trying to help out.
That's the ethos of being a tank - being a shield that shelters the weak. But when you go in to save the day and eat sh!t from either the mobs or people that depend on you when you fail them, you stop enjoying tanking. Hell, maybe you even stop playing the game. We need changes for our Don Quixotes to gain the fame and glory they seek. Otherwise all the Sancho Panzas out there will keep enjoying their 30+ min queues. (Yesterday I had 80min+ queue for Thornmarch, sitting there for 40+ min at 6/8 with two tanks missing).

Again, good tanks are fine as they are. But bad tanks fare off worse than bad healers or bad DDs. And this game tries to cater not only for good players, but also for the sloooow progress ones and super casual ones. Maybe you'll be surprised, but someone somewhere out there is running their first Coil T1 training party today. There are people out there waiting for echo buff to finally get T4 win (last week I was helping a LS friend get his first T4 clear, he won it as WAR, but before that I saw him perform very very well as MNK and BRD - there's more in this game to succeed than only your sole performance).

Only thing I could see changing this is adding some of the, uh, let's say "popular" jobs like Dark Knight and Samurai to the tank role. People would complain, but some people have such hard ons for those two jobs they'd play it regardless.

Adding other jobs with better abilities etc doesn't make it easier to enjoy playing WAR or PLD. Might not be enough to start enjoying tanking due to some game systems being in place that trip your feet more than necessary. Might help with tank shortage tho, yes.

But I'm asking developers to sit down and ask themselves what makes tanking in their game unpopular. What makes tanking not fun? Is it lack of xp bonuses and 5k gil? Why it's either you are a tank with iron spine who shrugs off grief or you have to drop?

[Bigpurpleharness]

Stuff

I still disagree. Having a junk healer is more detrimental to the group than a junk tank. Many healers would flat tell you that they'd prefer 3 DPS over 2 and one tank since a good healer can make anyone a tank pre-endgame.

That being said, I'm honestly not sure what the problem is for people with current tanks, so I can't suggest a fix. I find my PLD and WAR both fun (WAR moreso), and the instant queues are amazing to quickly pound out myth cap. That's why I only suggested a fix for the shortage, since that's the only thing I really know about. lol