Newbie doubt: PLD or WAR? How did you choose your main tank?

[DSaint]

Hey FF community!

Although I'm still a LV 27 GLD and 25 MRD, I'm having a hard time deciding what class to main.
I know I can play both, but like a casual gamer, I don't intend to play more than 3 classes (planning on going 1 tank, 1 dps and 1 healer). And since tank will be my main role, I want to choose THE ONE.
-About plot, I think GLD > WAR. I don't like pirates and I like to protect stuffs and peoples.
- Flash is more cool to use than Overpower.
- Gladiator is more simple to play, but I found Warrior capacity to deal powerful blows (maim buff and berserker, woow ) VERY attractive.
-Sword + shield > axe lol

I would choose paladin over warrior, but warrior being a power house made me stand in doubt.

Anyway, title speaks for itself:
How did you choose your main tank?
Want to hear that from newbies like me and more experienced end game players

[LukeyP666]

This is my first MMO, and I had no idea about what a Tank even was.

When I was choosing which class to play, I picked the one that I thought would do most damage, so picked the one with the massive Battleaxe.

How wrong I was...

But in all fairness, I definitely made the right choice. I play both Paladin and Warrior at end game and Warrior just feels more dynamic with a bit more thought to it than Paladin. Just my thoughts but each to their own

[SpookyGhost]

- Warriors aren't pirates. Marauders can be pirates, but most Marauders in Limsa are pirates no more. The Yellowjackets (which you can see in the Marauder's guild) are the guards of Limsa (formerly the Knights of the Barracuda) and are under the order of Admiral Merlwyb Bloefhiswyn, former pirate turned leader of the Maelstrom and Limsa Lominsa as a whole. Warriors are actually an entirely different beast all together - I'll let Curious Gorge summarize it in a much better way than I can: "The warrior summons forth the dormant power of the beast within, channeling this untamed strength to perform martial techniques beyond the grasp of your run-of-the-mill Disciple of War. Where I hail from up in the mountains of flame to the north, there's barely enough food to go around. Smoldering rock doesn't make good farmland, you see. In the old days, the warriors of our clan traveled far and wide, earning coin for their esteemed services. In recent years, however, we find ourselves shunned by those selfsame peoples we once protected." Paladin, meanwhile, are the sultanswords of Ul'dah's royal family... and that's pretty much the whole schtick.

- I personally prefer Overpower, but preferences aside, WAR/MRD can crossclass Flash.

- GLD/PLD doesn't really change that much as you level up. You'll gain 2 off the GCD abilities to weave in between your Rage of Halone combo and then a bunch of cooldowns. MRD/WAR gains different combo paths, and a system called "Wrath" that needs to be managed and handled with care throughout the battle. GLD/PLD is pretty much the easiest class in the game BUT that doesn't mean it isn't fun to play, it's especially good if you haven't tanked in other MMOs.

- Can't really argue this, sword and board is something most people love and it's the reason a lot of them started as GLD in XIV. I personally loved the idea of a two handed axe wielder that tanked hits without a shield, but I leveled GLD/PLD as well so I'm pretty impartial.

All that said, it sounds like you personally prefer your Gladiator. I'd say stick with what you like best, and if you're ever inclined to level Marauder further, give it a go as well.

[DSaint]

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Haha, had not known anyone who entered "tank world" unintentionally. Cool you enjoyed it!

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Wow bro, thanks for ur feedback! It seems WAR plot is better than I thought.
I hope someone else can add more feedback to both sides ^^

[Rbstr]

The neat thing is that nearly all of the high-level gear is shared between the classes. If you want to level up the one you left behind you'll step right into decent gear.

Gladiator/Paladin is about popping a rotating series of CDs for bit hits while mostly just doing your 1-2-3 hate combo. Add a little off-cooldown flair and also a block-related proc. Your stun is on the global-cooldown which can make you the "stun-locker" in a few fights, like Turn5 of the First Coil and Leviathan. Some people are still biased against Wars as main tank so you don't have that issue.

Marauder/Warrior is about building wrath and using it on Inner Beast to mitigate the big hits, with a couple cooldowns in there for good measure. This works great against predictable spike damage. Then you've got maim and the storms debuffs and unchained to get spooled up to deal out the damage.

[Altijacek]

To me, the synergy and chemistry between the two styles is amazing. I see them as pals, one of them using honor and faith to protect, while another uses immense bravery and confidence to get the same job done. Whereas a paladin is so much better at mitigation, a warrior can flip the tables by " not giving up." A paladin takes to heart his teachings and applies them to withstand battles, whereas a warrior experiences a unique thrill being in the heat of battle and thrives off of this energy.

In the end, do you prefer the legendary "YOU SHALL NOT PASS!" (Hallowed Ground which negates all damage taken for a small window) style of tanking that is gladiator, or the legendary take-a-million-arrows/bullets-to-the-face-and-still-refuse-to-go-down (Holmgang, in which you bind yourself and enemy, but your HP cannot be reduced below 1) badassery?

To clarify about warrior's strength, I decided to add this to my initial post. A paladin is a mitigation pro (cooldowns, shield oath tanking stance (flat out 20% damage reduction but damage dealt is decreased), and a shield). On the other hand, the warrior is meat tank, with more HP and HP recovery abilities (bloodbath/storm's path/thrill of battle/inner beast, Defiance tanking stance (25% more hp and 20% more healing received but damage dealt is decreased). A warrior can mitigate some abilities too with vengeance/foresight/inner beast, but they are better at recovering. And if you are pro enough to mitigate damage AND help your healers to heal you then you are totally awesome.

[SirTaint]

The answer is to lvl and gear them both. They both can be refreshing to play and they share all their gear except AF and weapons.

[VargasVermillion]

I started out with pally because I like the aesthetic of the knight and with sword and board being my preferred playstyle in most RPGs I naturally went along with GLD.

I leveled warrior much later and found it quite refreshing, in the end I just main both generally, basing my choice on what the other tank is as I think the best combo is WAR and PLD. The advantage is you can share most gear between them, the downside is you can only pick one to glamor but that's a rather small complaint.

[Enkidoh]

Well, I started as GLA in version 1.0 (before Jobs were even added), and thoroughly enjoyed playing as the class (despite traditionally preferring healing classes, especially WHM, in previous FF games). Although I started ARR as a CNJ, that was simply to start the game in Gridania, which was my home in version 1.0 (in 1.0 you could start as any class in any city - there was no restriction) and I wanted it to be the same post Calamity as well. Luckily for me though due to 1.0 players being able to access the Armoury System right at the start I simply switched to GLA upon beginning the game.

And despite levelling every class in the game to 50, GLA/PLD is still main - I just enjoy playing as it too much to change.

[LionKing]

Ask yourself these questions:

1/ Do you want an easy mode Tank or an advanced mode Tank? Easy Mode: Pal, Advanced Mode: War.
2/ Do you want a straight up Tank or a hybrid Tank and DPS? Straight up Tank: Pal, Tank/DPS: Warrior.
3/ Do you want to have a Shield as your weapon based on the same common definition of Tank or you want to wield around big axe like a bad-ass guy? Shield : Pal. Axe: Warrior.
4/ Do you want to have an easy time tanking in end game contents or a slightly more challenge? Easy time: Pal, more challenge: Warrior.
5/ How many combo do you want to execute when you play? 2 combo: Paladin, 3 Combos: Warrior.
6/ Do you want to be a Meat shield or you want to be a Berserker? Meat shield : Paladin, Berserker : Warrior.

And many many more questions but I will leave it for later.

In short:

Paladin is easy to pick up tank, anyone can play well as Paladin whether one has experience tanking or not. A very durable tank. And normally being used as Mtking due to high defensive tools set.

Warrior is a bit more advanced tank, need a bit more awareness of what is going on around you. A high Hp tank but not as durable as Paladin. Can DPS, and normally being used as OTking due to mix Offensive/Defensive Tools set.