If NIN was given a change of role...!

[Ryans]

Blink tanks make all other tanks obsolete. Why bring a tank that requires healers when you can bring a tank that will take no damage?

[ChazNatlo]

I assume the Blink Tank should have either no chance of being hit or so slim a chance that it may as well be no chance, yes? I get that it worked in XI, but doesn't that mean a lucky computer getting good "rolls" in kills the tank faster than you can say "Holy blasphemy, That tank shouldn't be getting hit! Where is it's health?"?

Or is there some damage mitigation mechanic thrown in for the best of both worlds?

[Mahri]

Ninja became a tank in FFXI because FFXI was designed by idiots.

[Shurrikhan]

How does a Nin hold threat? --> ...by not having a tank present and slightly outgearing the other dps...

On topic, as much as I wouldn't mind a rogue tank variant, I just don't see why it would be necessary nor why SE would want to develop any leather-armor tank type at this point in job development. I'd like a primarily-evasion tank, sure, but they still have the somewhat-evasive plate and magey-plate and whatnot tanks to go through first, no?

That said, it'd still have to be a far cry from the blink tank of XI... which brings us back to the fundamental conflicts of evasion tanks in general.

[Chiramu]

How does a Nin hold threat? --> ...by not having a tank present and slightly outgearing the other dps...

BLM would like a word.

[Mahri]

I'd be down for Ninja healer if we could heal by stabbing.

Healing shivs for everyone!

[silentwindfr]

we don't need that ninja is the most played dps, since actually who really care? the point is people can play what they want. personally i did switch from monk to ninja and even if i admit that the mudra lag is a pain, i will not drop like this. i even plan to main it into heavenward.

Ninja is not means to be tank, it's an assassin, and a sneaky one, it's the total opposite of the tank.

[Ashkendor]

I know a few people went back to their old DPS job after getting tired of NIN's Mudra lag. If Utsusemi: Ichi and Utsusemi: Ni were added at Lv55 and Lv60 respectively, as well as Provoke, can we see the return of blink tanking, and would this bring folks back to playing NIN?

1) Bring folks back to playing ninjas? What? I see ninjas everywhere. I queued in a 3 man premade for 4 dungeons tonight with tank/healer/dps. In every single one, the random dps that we got was a ninja. You can't throw a rock anywhere in Eorzea without it bouncing off of at least half a dozen ninjas.

2) How are you gonna hold hate with just provoke? Or are you looking to have the devs completely overhaul the class to make it into something that it was never meant to be on FFXI in the first place?

[Arielyanna]

One thing most (if not all) blink tanks in FFXI feared... AoE attacks/spells. We have those in abundance in XIV (Just look at World Of Darkness for example... all of the bosses in that spam AoE attacks/spells), which would make Utsusemi useless. NIN was never meant to be a tank in the first place in XI, only some found a way to use it to their advantage and the only way they could hold hate in XI, was due to their subjob being WAR. Without Provoke or any other hate generating capability, NIN didn't work well as a tank. Utsusemi was merely a 'get out of jail free' card, allowing them to survive til the tank got hate back.

To make NIN into a Tank for XIV, the whole class would need to be taken apart and recoded for a tank role... and with another tank coming in Heavensward, I don't think SE has the time to do such a overhaul (nor intent to do so).

[Chihaya]

This is not FFXI, tanks in FFXIV needs enmity boost combos to hold hate and for trash pulls, flash/overpower for aoe hate generation which NIN don't either.

With DRK coming, we probably don't need another tank for the time being.