Viability of Lancer as a Tank?

[Belial]

Lancers are DD and crowd control/saboteurs. They simply aren't made to tank even if you use the argument that you can use GLD/PUG/MAR/SEN skills. This takes up too much time to build and ends up leaving you with a sub par Lancer who cant fulfill his intended role because he is too busy trying to tank on a level that pales in comparison to classes that are actually good at tanking. Almost all Lancer based defensive skills are useless due to ridiculously long cool downs also so there really isn't any point in trying to integrate them into your build. It's essentially like trying to turn your Lancer into a CON... is it doable? Yes. Should you do it? Absolutely not. Stick to what Lancers are good at and don't try to play them in a way that gimps them.

The argument isn't the use of off-class skills. The argument is that the content is too easy, there is too little challenge, and because of that, LNC can tank most of the existing content without sacrificing any playstyle. I don't have one defensive ability on my LNC, but for the most part can solo most things in the game, minus some NMs & Faction Leves. That's a problem. That's not a good class system. That doesn't allow people to fill niche roles, it makes everyone one big mash-up of the same thing. Problem is, if you've got all other classes ~10 and a 50 LNC, your 50 LNC sucks compared to the dude with a 50 LNC, 50 ARC, 50 THM, etc. If you play "what lancers are good at" in a party of 2 THMs & 3 ARCs, you are useless. They can drop you, get better SP, and take no longer time to down mobs. The system sucks, and until the fixes, everyone is everything in the game.