A Tankless Job

[Solrak]

I completely disagree. I've been tanking since beta and it's really just not that fun after a while....

Tanking in this game is just unrewarding, not fun, and all of the "challenge" comes from bad design.

Yes, you like them blondes, I like em brunettes... Then get a blonde gf...

If you don't like it, don't play it... I've been tanking since beta too and after trying all jobs this is by far the most challenging (war) if find pld boring but that's just me, I don't like having just one combo.

Anyway... I repeat, there are few tanks an healers because ppl is afraid of trying, and you know this game, if you fail... You get in a cloud of bullying the rest of the fight

[Enyeto]

If you don't like it, don't play it... Anyway... I repeat, there are few tanks an healers because ppl is afraid of trying, and you know this game, if you fail... You get in a cloud of bullying the rest of the fight

Just want to share my experience here. I have had this game since Saturday 7/5/2014. I have a 26 Lancer, then a Thaumaturge and became fed up with impossible queues, just to complete quest advancement. I gave up on DPS classes and it's been years since I've been able to play a damage, directly caused by the above comments by Solrak. However I've got the balls to play a tank, yet again, despite wanting to enjoy a game for once, from a different perspective.

[Alatarian]

I think they are slowly getting it but not much. I say this because I did all the new dungeons yesterday and one of them actually had a tanking-is-optional fight! I said "yay" because usually the drone of mindlessly pulling trash and or just standing about watching stuff spank you does get old quick. Other content of course has you jumping through hoops but by and large they get old fast too.

Like most tanks I have stopped doing it unless I need a fast que for some tomes. This was a trend that started back when I played on JP servers as well. Not sure what SE can do to make it better and not break their "intended" play design.

[Marcu18]

Dc Universe doesn’t have this problem. That’d why i say ask them. They know how to do it right. I don’t tank. Healer has been the thing i wanted to do..

[joeakrazo]

I enjoy tanking in FFXI and now in FFXIV (PLD and MRD). I am still a mid-level tank so I will see if my tune changes in time over more content. I've done a lot of PUG and for the most part all have been fairly understanding.

[Enyeto]

The facts are straight forward: Playing DPS requires 0 skill and less awareness. I have played many games with lackluster players pushing decent numbers by following someones DPS guide and gear list. The majority of these players are dumb as rocks and really lost their edge when new content was released; because no one was spoon-feeding how to adapt. The sheer exertion it takes to memorize the information, positioning, timing, timers, etc. as a Tank (and occasionally healers) is so high, that it does limit interest. It's a responsibility role at it's core, and I have found myself spending my time online queuing for randoms as I level up to start gearing out and have nearly instant commencements because of it.

In the end, I chose Tank because I wish to drive my game play; and not wait for someone else to consider, possibly somewhere down the line, standing up and taking the same action. You should thank your Tank and Healers because they are sacrificing fun play, so you can enjoy it.

[Ashkendor]

The facts are straight forward: Playing DPS requires 0 skill and less awareness. I have played many games with lackluster players pushing decent numbers by following someones DPS guide and gear list. The majority of these players are dumb as rocks and really lost their edge when new content was released; because no one was spoon-feeding how to adapt. The sheer exertion it takes to memorize the information, positioning, timing, timers, etc. as a Tank (and occasionally healers) is so high, that it does limit interest. It's a responsibility role at it's core, and I have found myself spending my time online queuing for randoms as I level up to start gearing out and have nearly instant commencements because of it.

In the end, I chose Tank because I wish to drive my game play; and not wait for someone else to consider, possibly somewhere down the line, standing up and taking the same action. You should thank your Tank and Healers because they are sacrificing fun play, so you can enjoy it.

The things you listed there don't apply to all DPS. A DPS with zero awareness of his positioning and what's going on around him is simply a bad player. It gimps his damage, it makes him take hits that he could easily dodge, and it makes him a burden to the rest of the party. The thing is, there's bad players in every role. I'm a tank main myself (i99 PLD) but I do have reasonably well geared WHM/SCH and DRG. I've seen it from all sides and no, DPS is not just about hitting stuff mindlessly till it's dead. Hard DPS checks mean that you have to know your rotation; you have to know what to hit and when. If an add gets on the healer, I try to pull it off of them with my DRG, or at least stun and kill it so that they don't die. I try to stun annoying AoE abilities. There's many ways to be a good DPS.

Honestly, in a lot of the endgame content the tank (specifically the main tank) has it very easy. You stand there, you keep aggro, and you play punching bag. Titan HM is a great example of this. There's an "In Depth Tanking Guide" to Titan HM floating around on somewhere that consists of "Just stand there" as a response for basically every one of his actions. On the whole, that isn't entirely inaccurate. A lot of the time you DO just stand there. I don't think tank is any more difficult to play well than any other role; it simply has a lot of responsibility attached to it like healer does. Most of my problems that I have as a tank come from dealing with idiots (I'm looking at you, CT tank wars...), but you get that no matter what class you play; it's hardly specific to the tanking role.

Personally, I enjoy tanking and I don't see it as sacrificing my fun. I see it as a chance to work together with people that enjoy the other roles in the game so that we can explore and clear content in a cooperative way.

[Solrak]

Honestly, in a lot of the endgame content the tank (specifically the main tank) has it very easy. You stand there, you keep aggro, and you play punching bag. Titan HM is a great example of this. There's an "In Depth Tanking Guide" to Titan HM floating around on somewhere that consists of "Just stand there" as a response for ....

I'm not going to be that dramatic to say that dps requires 0 skill... No... There are good dps and bad dps too, as you can find good tanks and bad tanks... The thing for me is that if a dps fails... Party has a very high chance of survival. If a tank or a healer fails, that chance is reduced to almost 0%. That my friend, it's a big responsibility that many ppl is afraid of taking.

And what are you telling about the tank just stands there is very far from the truth!! Yeah... Titan hard mode is like that... But any other primal, coil and endgame thing depends on tank position and adaptation to survivability...

[Ashkendor]

And what are you telling about the tank just stands there is very far from the truth!! Yeah... Titan hard mode is like that... But any other primal, coil and endgame thing depends on tank position and adaptation to survivability...

I'm talking specifically about your MT. Typically most of the burden falls on your OT for things like picking up adds and stunning annoying abilities. Ifrit HM - just stand there. Ramuh HM - Just stand there. Bone Dragon - just stand there. King Behemoth - just stand there. Caduceus - just stand there. There's a lot of things that simply require you to keep the mob still, avoid floor candy of various flavors, and pop the occasional cooldown while the OT (if you have one), DPS and healers do their thing. We all have our roles. :3

Am I saying tanking takes zero skill? Of course not. It's just not as hard as most people think, and to say that DPS requires no skill by comparison (as the person I was replying to did) is dead wrong.

[Lasha]

The thing for me is that if a dps fails... Party has a very high chance of survival. If a tank or a healer fails, that chance is reduced to almost 0%. That my friend, it's a big responsibility that many ppl is afraid of taking.

That's not because tanking requires any special skill. Its because of the trinity mechanic where tanks have a button that says "ignore the guy killing me and bash my skull in for no reason". I'm still learning to tank but its about the same as playing my DPS properly; just easier in some fights by nature of doing nothing but standing around instead of running rotations while avoiding AOE.