Thanks SE for making DRK a Tank - Minority Appreciation + Suggestions!

[Fatshine]

Reading many posts here and on Reddit, the general consensus is that new DRK mains are former tank mains. Many DPS (or healers) that level DRK will get it to 60, dabble with it for a while, and be done with it. However there is a small percent of the population, like myself, that leveled both PLD/WAR, and ran EX Primals/Coil Turns (maybe not all), to get a good feel of tanking in the excitement for DRK (as a DPS main!). This turned out harder than expected because 3.0 has been amazingly good to SMN's. Both the new skills, and AF2 set really gives SMN the love it needed a long time coming (this is not even counting pet glamour's coming up). I always enjoyed tanking, it's just something I did on the side, along with healing since I started out a Thaumaturge, and my first 50 was Summoner. So, although I always aim to play optimum level, and be the best in any role, I am a DPS player.

However, DRK was my dream job. I have always been into badass, evil looking things in fantasy (in Skyrim my favorite play style was Conjuring and letting my summons do my bidding lol). I like fast action, flashiness, and power. DRK delivered especially after getting Plunge at level 54 (yeah the job could use some tweaks though). My top jobs to decide on main in 3.0 are DRK/SMN/BLM/MNK.

The point to this story is to thank SE for changing things up and making different roles appealing. Imagine if Red Mage turned out to be a healer, or Blue Mage a tank instead of DPS. SE should do this more often. The reason being is, this attracts certain tastes to other roles. For example, I love healing, however, I'm not fond of the SCH using "fairies" or WHM having this nun-more female friendly (like AST) look. Please don't misunderstand. I love the play styles! But, look/theme is a HUUUUGE factor for me. I had an evil demon look as a Sorcery Healer in DC Universe online. SE, don't try to shoe horn a certain aesthetic to a role. Make it varied! Another reason why I decided a change in 3.0 was because I got tired of all the robes as a mage. Robes everywhere. It restricts glamour options. One of the hardest things to do was try to look like a badass as a healer. My best was a "pope" holy look which got played out with Ishgard's introduction.

As much as I love SMN (remembers the MP/itemization FCoB progression days), it is time for a change with me. I am most likely going to main DRK. I already enjoy Lv50 DRK compared to Lv50 SMN. Anyways, enough ranting. Thanks SE and consider shaking it up!

[KaedrianLiang]

The Fray part of DRK is so delicious. A story i will remember forever.

[Onikimaru]

The Fray part of DRK is so delicious. A story i will remember forever.

Fray is everything i wish i could be...

[Allyrion]

I'm kind of similar.

I've tried the other tanking Jobs before, even leveled them to 50 on an alt. But I never really go into it.
PLD was boring to me and WAR didn't fit for some reason either.
But I mained a DPS for the most part, particularly because I like how melee play in this game more than in others.

I gave DRK a chance, because it looked great and the mechanics sounded interesting (I heard good things about the Job quests as well).
As soon as I picked it up, I realized it was a Tank I could play. I've played tanks in other games, and there's some I can or can't play....just like dps.

People act like adding a new tank will just shift around the current Tank population. I really disagree.
Sure not everyone is willing to tank. But the more Job options you have, the more likely one will appeal to someone where the other Jobs wouldn't.
Not everyone who likes DRG likes MNK or NIN. Same can be said for any of them.
They're all melee, but each has different appeals that attract different players (and, of course, some players will appreciate all).

Dps mains who switch to tanking also get a bad rep.
I get why because I see most really don't change their mindset to understand they've got a different role.
So I can't really argue that, but I think that's inevitable and just growing pains.
Some will give up, and most of those Flavor-of-the-month rerolls have moved on.
There will be people who don't have any tanking experience before picking up DRK, that will stick around and learn to appreciate their new role.

I switched to DRK main for my static's sake.
But I'm glad they made DRK a tank, because I just wouldn't have done it if WAR/PLD were the only options.
I already knew what it means to be a tank and what it feels like, but just being a tank isn't the only thing.
The rotation, visuals, resource mechanics, theme....they all make a Job what it is just as much as the role, just like the differences between DPS Jobs.

Tanking is an acquired taste, sure.
But I mean that literally. I think a lot more people can acquire the taste for tanking, even when it doesn't start that way.
You just sometimes need to give them incentive to open themselves to its appeal.
Like the OP, who liked the theme and visuals of the Job enough to learn the role.
I know there's more like people like that than anyone gives credit for.

Rather, those who complain just want them to release DPS Jobs, giving people options within their comfort zone so they can continue to ignore any true insight with the other roles they're partying with.
I'm glad SE's not such an Enabler.

[Raxiaz]

How are you able to post more than 1000 characters at a time?!

[Allyrion]

How are you able to post more than 1000 characters at a time?!

You can edit it in.
Most just cut before the 1k limit and then paste the rest in by editing.

[Raxiaz]

That's really weird...

[Duelle]

The point to this story is to thank SE for changing things up and making different roles appealing.

Depends on your frame of reference. Other MMOs have used the darkness/evil/shadow knight archetype as a tank. Dark Avengers in Lineage II, Shadow Knights in Everquest and Death Knights in WoW come to mind, so at the simplest level DRK being a tank isn't unnatural.

As I've said before, what makes DRK different from DKs and Shadow Knights and Dark Avengers was that the job historically drained their own HP to deal damage. Even ignoring FFXI's version of the job, the first thing that comes to mind is "wait, this thing makes itself more likely to die by nature, so how is that going to work for a tank?".

For example, I love healing, however, I'm not fond of the SCH using "fairies" or WHM having this nun-more female friendly (like AST) look. Please don't misunderstand. I love the play styles! But, look/theme is a HUGE factor for me.

You could also abstain from using AF gear or glamour a look that appeals to you. I'm not a fan of robes, so the one thing that caused me to level a mage in WoW was, incidentally, transmogrification. I picked a vest + pants set and literally mogged my gear leveling that mage to 85. If I chose to main a mage here I would probably do the same.

SE, don't try to shoe horn a certain aesthetic to a role. Make it varied! Another reason why I decided a change in 3.0 was because I got tired of all the robes as a mage. Robes everywhere.

This part sort of needs its own thread. I can agree that the jobs were pigeonholed into a certain look with this expansion, and the gear added is not as varied as it was during ARR. I can only hope they ease up on the restrictions, because really, mages shouldn't be restricted to robes and only robes. Tunics and plain shirts would be welcome, I'd think. Normal pants and boots/shoes as well. I'd probably play on the nobleman look seen all over Ishgard and let BLMs emulate this, for example (yes, that's the wizard class from Granado Espada).

Imagine if Red Mage turned out to be a healer

Bite your tongue. >.>

We did enough of that in FFXI and don't need a repeat.

[Fatshine]

^We need a manly healer lol, but nice insight

[Twilite]

We did enough of that in FFXI and don't need a repeat.

Did that crap for 10 years. No way I'm doing it again.