Learning to Tank

[vp_cmc]

If you have problems with archers, try.. level archer:
a) You'll see, if you pull aggro from tank yourself, and what can you do to make it not happen
b) You'll see what other tanks do to hold aggro.

Playing some role in party helps you to better understand how other roles play. (You never notice how hard mobs hit until you play healer. After that you start pop cooldowns as tank, for example)

[MurakumoMillennium]

You're trying to tank against level synced archer/Bards who unload all their cooldowns at the beginning of the fight because they don't care.

By "unload all their cooldowns" did you actually mean "GLD threat is so bad, right clicking and autoattacking pulls hate"? Because that's how it is. Those "evil" BRDs and ARCs don't have cooldowns for every single pull anyways, and can quite easily pull stuff simply by autoattacking the thing.

[LalaRu]

... "evil" BRDs and ARCs don't have cooldowns for every single pull anyways, and can quite easily pull stuff simply by autoattacking the thing.

Sorry cannot agree. I main my Bard in its i90 and if I pull a mob when synced in low dungeons, is because I want pull a mob.
If BRD attack same mob as tank (hello, assist!) and stops when aggro goes danger zone, he will never pull a mob in all dungeon.

BRD who pulls mobs all the time from Tank, specially in lower instances and with Tanks that are gearing up, are BRD that either want have fun of the tank or doesn't know what hate is and don't care to learn how to manage it.

[Moirear]

Stoneskin also receives a boost from CNJ traits, and it is sub-optimal to use if there is a WHM in the party. By all means, Stoneskin away otherwise, but it's like protect, if there's a WHM present, let them cover it.

This is true, but Stoneskin still has its use even with a WHM in the party. Usually mid-combat, if you're the off-tank and have the time and MP to spare, you can stoneskin the main tank.

[Foo01]

I know I've only made it to level 20 on my GLA, but that cure, protect, and stoneskin from my CNJ has been so helpful. There has been so many times, where I had to cure myself to stay alive. And it looks like cure keeps aggro too, so I am spamming cure and getting the mobs to stay on me, and that is like all I can do to stay alive sometimes. Is this what people mean by heal tanks?

[LineageRazor]

I know I've only made it to level 20 on my GLA, but that cure, protect, and stoneskin from my CNJ has been so helpful. There has been so many times, where I had to cure myself to stay alive. And it looks like cure keeps aggro too, so I am spamming cure and getting the mobs to stay on me, and that is like all I can do to stay alive sometimes. Is this what people mean by heal tanks?

Cure has some utility at low levels, but as you get higher and start to stack points into VIT while the healers around you are dropping theirs into MND, more and more you'll see your Cures becoming more and more pointless. The amount of damage restored no longer counts as worthwhile mitigation; You're much more likely to stay alive by using weaponskills and auto-attacks to speed the death of the foe than you are by slowing your death through cures.

You'll find that the abilities you get from MRD are too good to sacrifice a slot to Cure, especially when you graduate to PLD and lose most of your cross-class slots.

In theory, you could generate some decent cures by stacking MND over VIT, but that will outright cripple you endgame. Having power cures won't help much when you're on the ground after Titan one-shot you from full HP with Mountain Buster!

[Nyxilin]

Really as long as you dont assume "Oh its a bard pulling hate not my fault" every single time there isnt a problem, and really dps around your gear level shouldnt be pulling aggro off you unless they are just bad dps shooting whatever they please (marking can help with this) but as a lot of people have said Level sync'd players just have better stats than you so dont feel bad if an Ilevel 90+ bard pulls

PS Cure is good at low levels but not as helpful as flash weaving so keep that in mind too, Also remember even WHM wont have stoneskin till mid 30s so go ahead and cross class it in!

[Moirear]

I know I've only made it to level 20 on my GLA, but that cure, protect, and stoneskin from my CNJ has been so helpful. There has been so many times, where I had to cure myself to stay alive. And it looks like cure keeps aggro too, so I am spamming cure and getting the mobs to stay on me, and that is like all I can do to stay alive sometimes. Is this what people mean by heal tanks?

For now, go with what works for you. Though, Cure will quickly outlive its usefulness at higher levels. It's not just not putting your bonus points into Mind, your base Mind even with full bonus will never be high enough to justify Cure's potency. Unlike an actual healer, your cures have no Spell Speed bonus and are slow to cast and can be interrupted because you're the center of attention for the enemies, and your Cure can't even heal enough to negate damage because most mobs and bosses will hit harder than what you can heal. At some point, Stoneskin is more effective, because it effectively absorbs 10% of your maximum HP, which outranges your Cure's effective healing power in terms of how much HP-loss it can mitigate from incoming damage.

[Marael]

As a Bard main who frequently does low level roulettes for some variety in my myth tome farming I can say that in many low level dungeons a DPS can easily take a few hits while a mob is being finished off, especially if the healer is on the ball, and usually, in low level dungeons, it's extremely easy for the healer to be on the ball. I also play WHM, and I can tell you from experience that healing low level dungeons is abysmally boring, I always enjoy a DPS that gets hit every now and then to spice things up, it helps a healer to prepare for lvl 50 content when they will have to be healing everyone frequently. I usually like to gauge a party in a low level dungeon, see how well the tank holds up to me, and how well the healer can keep up with the extra healing, if it's good on both, I just shoot away to my heart's content. If the healer has trouble keeping up, or the tank has freak out issues, I pull it back a bit. I'm currently working on my Warrior, and I know how frustrating it can be to have a DPS pull a mob off of you with that heart-stopping OMGISUCKWHATAMIDOINGWRONG feeling, but then I remember my time as a bard in low level dungeons and know that they can handle it for the last 30% or so of it's HP and move on to the next mob. Most DPS generally know that a boss is going to eat their face, but trash mobs are only mildly inconvenient when one is beating on you, and act accordingly, so trust them to know what they can handle and what they can't. Of course you do get some people who just never learn.

[Foo01]

Well, I guess this was going to happen sooner or later. This was Halatali, and I got a level synced THM. All the flash and shield lob there was no way to keep aggro on me vs. THM. Towards the end of the first boss, I was healing the THM as well as the healer. No one dies, but after that the healer cusses at me and leaves. Sure I lost an imp or two here and there and I try to shield lob and flash to get them back from the healer, but with the THM, anything he got, I was not getting back. Bottom line, no one died, does the healer really have to be total jerk about it? It is like the 5th dungeon I ever tanked, since I am normally a DPS or healer. I didn't just forget the healer or the THM. It is not like people speedrun Halatali right?