When did you start tanking?

[RiisWolf]

I started tanking in WoW back in 2005 because I could not enjoy the game as DPS because the tanks were always awful. What's so hard about hitting EVERYTHING!?

In FF14 since I like Sword and Shield I went for Paladin right away, but be warned, they lack power, their AoE damage is inept, their lack of active mitigation, your tank stance doesn't come till 40, and the threat multipliers are low. It's much funner with just sheltron and clemency alone though. I got sick of PLD at Garuda because NOBODY AoE'd anything, and I would have done it in a heartbeat if I could. So I went to Warrior, had more things to do with it too. BTW because of the lack of healing, PLD will not survive very well. Normally power isn't supposed to be an issue but with low threat modifiers and no AoE damage, the power issue is very serious, but I'm not saying go pure Strength.

[Hydrium]

I tanked alt runs in wow starting in wrath with my DK. Enjoyed it but we always had our tanks zo once I made the jump to FFXIV I made tanking my full time thing, now that DRK is here my life is complete.

[Sennema]

I started early this year, after being a 50 DRG for a bit and getting tired of the queue times for dungeons to run the daily quests, I levelled to 50 PLD. There were definitely a few things about targeting to learn, but once I got the hang of it I felt like I did pretty well. Now that DRK is here, I just got that to 50 and it's my favourite besides my DRG

[Bizzarroh]

I started tanking in Vanilla WoW when our alt run needed a new OT. Levelled my war and went and got all that sweet Ragnaros loot. Continued tanking in all those expansions with all classes that could do so. Played a little tank in SWTOR as well. When I got here, I played monk first to 50, and liked it, but I just wanted to try the tanking in this game and started levelling WAR. <3 my little lala beast whacking things with an axe while also being able to take a hit...

[Firepower]

Well I guess you could call going from 15-37 "Tanking" on FFXI back in 2004. I Switched to DRK back then, I guess levelling WAR and NIN count as experience to tanking. Endgame wise I was always DRK or COR. In FFXIV I started 2.0 as WAR so I would count that as real tanking. I did a small bit of tanking endgame then switched to MNK until DRK came out and started tanking again since Heavensward

[Cooperal]

I technically started playing tanky classes in 2004 starting with MU Online, and then moving onto fully 3D MMOs with Lineage II later that year. But it wasn't until I got FFXI in 2006 and reached 10 with WAR in the Valkurm Dunes that I finally began to work with strangers and get onto the party dynamic. And from there I progressed to PLD. It went good. Very good.

Ever since, tanking has been the standard role that I intend to pick in the vast majority of MMOs, only with some exceptions in faster games which rely more heavily on individual skill. For example, Guild Wars 2 isn't as tied to the holy-trinity and encourages avoiding any hit that doesn't have to be taken, rather than soaking attacks. So I just preferred to go thief.

In Global Agenda, you did have the holy-trinity, but it was also primarily a PvP third-person shooter with very little lock-on abilities. So in the same sense as GW2, dodging was always an option over soaking hits. As it was nearly pointless to attack a tank with a healer still on him, and since real humans don't come with enmity meters, the Medic was always the first on the enemies kill list. Little progress could be made until they've killed you first, and the game became extremely hard if you were too clever to be found in the open and undefended. The actual tanks were like a superior off-tank, while the healer mained everyones attention and did everything possible to waste their time and efforts. I learned so much from this amazing, unfortunately dead game.

I learned things that made me better than most tanks I meet.
1. A tank that runs away to escape with 5% hp is a hell of a lot better than a tank that stayed with 0. (In PvP this usually results in baiting greedy enemies into the heart of your team too)
2. Don't take a hit if nobody including yourself has to. The ultimate negation is making the hit miss. And giving your healer a breather.
3. A tank should not be the first to die. He should be the second to last before the healer. If a DPS dies so a tank can get healed, you have a far more manageable scenario than if a tank dies with a perfect record on aggro (see point 1). Though in a PvE game you never get faced with a situation as extreme as this unless someone chooses to do a horrible pull on your behalf. Your party can't be stressed if your healer isn't. The healers stress is your project. They are your bae.

These are the concepts that I tank with.

[Adrasteia]

I played a Warrior back in Everquest and continued the trend onwards through WoW. It was a combination of always being in demand and being able to do the "party leader" role effectively that drew me to it.

[Tila]

Paladin in EQ in 2003, my first MMO, and I was 13 at the time. Had a lot of fun, picked Paladin because smiting evil and plate.
Warrior in WoW, and still going strong. Love how brutal it is.
City of Villains brute. Same as WoW warrior. Love the fun mix of damage and tanking
W/MO in GW1. I went for the armor, stayed for holding my own in the middle of abunch of death
Now in FFXIV, WAR again. I love the armor, love axes, and love def mixed with offense in the spiky way.

[chidarake]

actually started tanking in this game from get go.. didn't know gladiator was a tank though, so had some things to learn.

I did ok for awhile but eventually you just have to get good at it.

I switched to blm when I got pld as I was bored of not being able to kill stuff in open world. I consider myself a blm main but I tank more id say. although less since heavensward came out due to the story and levelling. but now blm and pld are my only 60 battle classes again.

tanking gets easier once you learn the dungeons and what you can and cant handle. even raids aren't to bad for the most part.

run each dungeon 10x over to get a feel for them, and playing other classes in dungeons makes you know what those classes need from the tank. don't be scared to jump in and run stuff as "someones gotta tank", and most people wont.

it doesn't take much practice to start improving as a tank, even target swapping for agro control becomes second nature.

[Myric]

In FF14 since I like Sword and Shield I went for Paladin right away, but be warned, they lack power, their AoE damage is inept, their lack of active mitigation, your tank stance doesn't come till 40, and the threat multipliers are low. It's much funner with just sheltron and clemency alone though. I got sick of PLD at Garuda because NOBODY AoE'd anything, and I would have done it in a heartbeat if I could. So I went to Warrior, had more things to do with it too. BTW because of the lack of healing, PLD will not survive very well. Normally power isn't supposed to be an issue but with low threat modifiers and no AoE damage, the power issue is very serious, but I'm not saying go pure Strength.

You're crazy. Paladin has plenty of active mitigation. What aoe at Garuda are you even talking about? Paladin doesn't have low threat mods either or a power issue. We are tanks, we don't need aoe damage. Flash and circle of scorn are plenty to hold aoe hate.