Most interesting tank?

[Assirra]

Greetings.

I just came back to the game after leaving around Shiva patch (dunno the exact number) and want to try something different compared to healing all the time.

I have decided to make myself a tank and i was curious what is the most interesting tank.
I don't care if my class has bugs, is bad or in general frowned upon, those things can be fixed while interesting mechanics usually stay the same for at least a whole expansion. What i want is an interesting class with lots of stuff to do and interesting mechanics.
My first idea as tank instantly went to Paladin but at least before HW it was 1.2.3 which sounds about as interesting as watching paint dry.

So throw the suggestions my way and please explain yourself on why you think it is. Just yelling x class is honestly useless.

[Ditto]

All of the tanks are interesting in some way now.

Choose whichever you like the most.

[ZhycranaDranix]

DRK is most interesting tank.
WAR most fun to play
PLD safest to play

But def DRK, because not everyone has ''maxed'' it out and optimized it , still a lot of wonders left with this job.
skilled players already use it effectively while the vast majority are still figuring it out

[PerihVashai]

DRK is most interesting tank.
WAR most fun to play
PLD safest to play

But def DRK, because not everyone has ''maxed'' it out and optimized it , still a lot of wonders left with this job.
skilled players already use it effectively while the vast majority are still figuring it out

As someone who has leveled up all three classes, this. Although keep in mind that DRK is going to be hitting a lot of buttons for a lower return than the other two classes, but it will keep you more engaged with all the off gcds and has a more complicated flow chart for priorities.

WAR imo is probably the most in demand tank class simply because slashing, path, and the DPS it brings is insane.

[GeekMatt]

WAR has always had variety in it's skills and a more fun play style. Moreso now at 60. With PLD most people quit over 1 of 2 reasons
1) it's too simple/easy
2) it's too hard
It's a job that really is straight forward if you understand tanking and aggro management, and if you don't it's a real challenge to learn (and rewarding). There's a lot of intricasies that you learn over the long term, but that's probably true of all classes. It's less straight-forward and more interesting at 60.
DRK is a lot of fun right off the hop.

If you like support go PLD. If you like more DPS-style of gameplay then WAR or DRK. DRK if you don't mind the current bugs and won't be easily deterred by some haters, because it's a really fun class and rest assured, if there are issues SE will work on them. WAR is a better choice if you appreciate more reliability.

But of course none of the tanks are reliable if they think they're a DPS.

[TouchandFeel]

Which one is the most interesting to you will depend on your own personal preferences and mindset. Each one has a different playstyle and different weaknesses and strengths.
In my experience, they sort of work as follows.
Please keep in mind that I am describing them in terms of concept and feel, not what tank is flavor of the month or what tank is considered the min/max best.

PLD - Dependable Defender
Their basic mechanics are simple and they have excellent defense and are very reliable. What they give up in mechanics complexity they make up in support options such as Cover, Clemency and Divine Veil. Some see the simplicity as boring compared to other tanks, other see it as freeing them up to focus on support and strategy.
Play a PLD if you want to be the unwavering protector of your group that uses themselves as a shield against danger.

WAR - Unbreakable Fury
Warriors are all about the idea that the best defense is a good offense. They are very rotation heavy and require doing your melee combos to build Wrath which is used for many of their abilities. Essentially you have to attack to defend. This gives them a very aggressive feel. Many players find this more aggressive and faster paced flow to combat more fun, but it may be more difficult to get a grasp of for a new tank player.
Play a WAR if you want to protect others by smashing things into submission.

DRK - Burning Vengeance

As a DRK you burn yourself down (MP usage) to attack and defend and then have to use abilities and combos to keep from burning yourself out (of MP). If you go too far and burn out you severely limit your capabilities and can cause some pretty nasty situations. This job has good flexibility but requires a lot of micro management and split second decisions on what you want to do. It feels aggressive but I would say a bit faster paced than WAR due to weaving so many abilities between combo attacks, which can be fun but also a bit hectic and difficult at times. While it currently has bugs and issues, it will get tweaks and fixes so that it is equitable to the other tanks. I feel to play effectively you must be fast to act but are constantly exercising caution and restraint to not push yourself too far.
Play DRK if you like fast button presses, flexibility at the cost of difficulty, and trying to dance the razer's edge of pumping out abilities while maintaining your resources (MP/TP) and keeping yourself from burning too much too fast.

As far as my own personal preference.
1) DRK - I love the fast pace and weaving stuff between gcd's. Feels the closest to playing an action game to me. The ability animations look awesome too.
2) PLD - while the polar opposite tank-wise of my #1, I really enjoy the strategic usage of support abilities with this class. with PLD I am always trying to figure out where I can fit in a Stoneskin or Cover or what-have-you to best effect. This class really feels like a selfless defender to me.
3) WAR - While many people like the rotations and feel of this class, to me it was ... alright. Sort of felt like busy work having to build stacks up if that makes sense.

[Nabian]

A lot of players have misconceptions about DRK much in the same way that people feel about DRG. There are a lot of bad DRK out there which negatively effects people opinion of the classes. I will say that having played all three classes DRK to me is by far the most fun/challenging.

Paladins have the greatest mitigation from physical damage but the least interesting rotation.

Dark Knights have the greatest mitigation from magical damage (which most "tank busters" are).

Both Paladins and Dark Knights will generally fill the MT role, but can play OT as well. The main problem with DRK atm is that as an OT it brings NO raid utility. Therefore it only really functions as MT. DRK have higher damage output than the other three tank classes when in tanking stance.

Paladins are typically considered the most boring of the three tank rolls but they also are the safest.

Warriors can do INCREDIBLE damage when in their dps stance almost matching the dps output of typical dps classes. It really depends on what you want to do. If you want to OT play warrior. Every party will most likely run a PLD/WAR or DRK/WAR combination depending on the fight. Therefore warriors will be in really high demand.

As for the "bugs" that everyone keeps reporting. Most of those have been fixed. The only issue remaining with DRK is that MP regeneration and MP cost of darkside can become unsynced.

This is ONLY a problem if you are a bad DRK and mismanage your MP. For example if you lose 90 mp from drk every 3 sec and you gain 60 mp from your natural mp regen. Players expect to see a consistent loss of 30 mp every 3 seconds. However what can happen is that they occur at different times. So you will see a drop in 90 mp then you will gain 60. As I said before this issue is really minor and only effects people who don't manage their mp well.

[TouchandFeel]

^^^
The description that you give of the Darkside MP bug and that it only affects "bad" drk's goes very much against my experience with this bug.
The most common occurrence that I encounter this is near the beginning of engaging a group and I will see Darkside get turned off even when I have only used 2-3 moves that use MP and should have 1/2 to 2/3 of my MP intact. I don't see how that is a situation of bad MP management.

[bounddreamer]

I've gotten all 3 to 50 and for me, WAR has the best combination of utility and interesting play. It's an absolute must to level GLD to at least get to provoke before you run dungeons but after that it's up to you. I love the flashy play style and different techniques of DRK but after getting that to 50 I went back to WAR to progress in Heavensward. I'll level them all but WAR is my favorite. And I actually enjoy off tanking and WAR is quite desirable for that role.

[Vurtney]

If your idea of fun is a tank with a whack a mole style tanking, then by all means go DRK. You'll have little to no downtime while tanking between threat, self healing, off global cd's and whatnot. My first 60 was a DRK and after i leveled my WAR to cap, i prefer the WAR honestly. The stance dancing is a nice addition and the gameplay is solid without any needless hassle to eyeball procs and off globals. I'd say level both. When it comes to fun factor they're both ahead of PLD (and i was one through 2.0)