Why aren't there more tanks in FFXIV?

[Sarynth]

Thank you for putting this up, was definitely an interesting read. My advice ( which might have been said already) is to level a healer, dd and tank so that you have a better appreciation of each role. Also even though I have both tanks at i90, I don't ffind myself tanking often simply because the lack of runefencer and how boring the savage blade combo is. < admittingly I'm also addicted to 1.0s warrior playsyle, which is no longer a thing :3 As for the high stress of tanking: I just fall back on my army training push on. When the room is full of spinning mobs, aoe circles and ring o' thorns happy drg theres an odd rhythm that is to me peaceful.

[Zantitrach]

And of course the daily rewards for being tank are ok as well

Am I the only one who thinks the rewards for tanking are a joke?

[Myrhn]

I main healer but have all jobs at 50. I dont like tanking in dungueons with PUG simply because I dont trust other people healing, I judge them so fast not by the gear they have but their ability to heal.

[Uielyave]

Leveling a healer has been easier for me than tanking, but I leveled warrior on an alt. And honestly.. No, physically tanking is Not difficult. For me, its the emotional and mental aspect of it. You're running the party, and people expect you to everything their way. Go faster, pull more, more more, and if you don't do it right, some people are not above being complete jerks about it. I only leveled warrior to help my FC. I trust them. i know them. They know I don't do well under pressure, and I feel safe with them.
Pugs?
Heck no.
I'd rather swallow a fist full of molten hot nickels than deal with pugs at max level content as a tank.

[SummonerSenah]

I actually enjoy tanking but I detest speedruns, so I only tank for my FC or linkshell. My tanks aren't super geared (i77 pld, i80 war) and my FC is understanding, but I feel like PUGs wouldn't be. Heck, I have that issue with DPS. I feel bad taking my under i90 monk or dragoon into things because people run everything as though they think everyone is above i100.

[Mishini_Dracoto]

So, I really appreciate that this thread exists. Originally, I found myself agreeing with most, if not all of what they sated. FYI, I was DPS(THF) in FFXI. in that game, it was up o THF's to set the pace and pull appropriately, and that was my only MMO before coming to FFXIV (1.0) and I only started tanking in 2.0+. I started 2.0 as a Sea Wolf MRD, and I currently still main class Warrior.

But the more I thought about reasons why I don't use he DF . . . the more I realized it has nothing to do with the reasons posted.

I have limited times to do stuff. Sure, everybody blames the tanks for stuff, but I have all of the current content on Farm (Except Savage mode, my group doesn't want to attempt it/waste of time) but I don't want to go into a Duty Finder, end up with DPS who don't know what they are doing, don't listen, have the bare minimum equipment to enter the instance, and take an hour and a half to clear a dungeon. With FC members, I can clear any of the Extreme dungeons in 20 minutes. Plus, we don't need to talk or type out in chat to enjoy ourselves, we use a VOIP (Teamspeak).

I ran Moogle (HM) a dozen or so times last night, and I think I actually caused a bunch of wipes from being overgeared. Second phase, I could easily get King Mog down passed 50% HP before the rest of the part had killed the rest of the moogles, and then he would use his LB and kill us. All because the other tank calls "Shotgun OT" (Tanking WAR & PLD, I kill the WAR before party members come to help me with them)

IDK, Sometimes I just wish we had a built in VOIP we could use. Except that I don't want to VOIP with 13 yr olds, or listen to "MOM! NEED MOAR CHEESYPOOFS!"

With respect to everything you said - I know as an endgame tank, I simply don't do DF's b/c it's a waste of my time. SE incentivizing the DF had me doing it more often for a while . . . then I found alternate methods to make the same amount of gil a reasonably the same rate, by myself. So I make the cash solo. If they up the rewards anymore for playing tank it'll get silly and disrupt the economy I think . . . so IDK.

[Snugglebutt]

Most of the tanks in my FC claim it is the easier role out of the tanks/healers and DPS. I actually felt like the OP mentioned from a DPS theorizing about the role and that put me off trying to make a tank but it was the tanks in the FC themselves who said it's not true about the sort of things mentioned here and that being a tank is not hard work or stressful. They said it was an easy and enjoyable job so it has me thinking I might give it a try in future based on what they said. Though they did say you have to have a certain mindset to enjoy it as much as they do.

One thing to keep in mind is if push the angle of something being hard, frustrating and stressful then your contributing to the decline of people who want to fill that role by putting them off it. Maybe my FC tanks are playing mind games with me or maybe they are being honest and right about it but one thing I know for sure is their way is the best way to get more tanks and not making it sound worse than it might be.

[OldGeezer]

Tanking in FFXIV isn't the hardest thing in FFXIV to do. Its also not the hardest game with tanking. But that makes it no less stressful and no easier to do. It can still be quite intimidating.... *snips excellent post*
.

The stress level for tanking is a little more nuanced I believe. Single target pulls are pretty easy to maintain as a tank, It's the group pulls that cause anxiety because you have 10 seconds to establish hate on the pull, and if something goes wrong it deteriorates quickly. I play a paladin so I'll use that as an example. I mark targets to mitigate stupidity but it doesn't always work. There is always one moron who thinks 3 needs to die before 1. Then I pop at least 2 flash bombs and then do a three sword combo on 1, just in time for the AOE attack of target 1. Do I evade it, forcing the lancer to move around so it can keep poking it in the ass or do I try to shield slam it and maintain position while risking losing hate on the target? However, I have to immediately break off 1 to do a three combo on 2 because healer aggro rises on all 3 targets at the same time. Then I go to 3 for the same reason as 2. Now somewhere between 2 and 3 you need another flash bomb because the DPS are already on your ass for hate on target 1 by this point, if they haven't puled it off you already. Of course, there is always the BLM who thinks nuking Fire II is the only way to fly since they seem to enjoy watching you run around like a chicken with your head cut off. So if you comeback to 1 and you still have aggro, congratulations, you did a successful pull. Just 30 more just like it until the end of the dungeon assuming patrols don't come by to say hello, and they usually do.

This is the most stressful part for tanking. Primals and raids have their own issues but it's dungeons where tanks go through their trials by fire. My solution is buffing Flash Bomb's and Sunder's(?) AOE enmity. That initial hate is crucial to establishing hate for the entire battle. Once that is lost, for whatever reason, it causes most of the anxiety for tanks. You remove that problem and tanking will become more appealing to the masses.

[ispano]

-snip-

Telegraphed aoes can be dodged without moving the mob at all. Since you only have to stay out of the telegraph, once that's gone the mob will do the animation. You can move back during that time and not have the mob move at all.

For conal, yes. For circular you will have to reposition (or eat it) and if the DPS is going all out, transitioning to target 2 can be hectic and that leads to anxiety.

No, even circular you can dodge and not have the mob move. Unless the circle is huge and animation is very short.

[MageBlack]

I had never tanked before in an MMO until this one. I picked up the Marauder as my new character for 2.0 and I've been loving it. I grew with it through all the issues at start and was even able to take effectively back when the Warrior was broken. Things have gotten less stressful than they used to be, I can generate threat much better and hold it easier, and it is really fun to play. The thing I like most about Tank is its always a needed and valued class landing me very quick queues. With the way tomestones are acquired, I can gear up other classes while playing this one. Tanking is pretty awesome!