The 4th Tank.

[dragoelete]

A pet based tank class would be quite nice.

I would like to see Samurai but another sword wielding tank is a bit much.

A dancer with bladed fans actually would be a fantastic tank idea, however I do not see them wearing plate armor.

i dunno they could be using plate but make it look like enchanted cloth or something that has the defenses of plate armor without the weight?

[dragoelete]

Imagine Samurai with actual stances: Target Eyes, Target Throat, Target Spine, Target Heart. They would actually change the way you stand and hold your weapon like classic samurai movie stances (one held over your head, one held behind you, one held in close pointing toward the enemy, and one in the sheath).

Ex: Fast Draw: With no stance it would stun, one stance would stun and move you through the enemy, another would make it a gap closer, and another could make you jump backward after striking.
You could change between them with no penalty (.5 sec cd), they wouldn't combine, and you'd go back to standard stance after use.

Closer to AST than NIN, yes, but less risky since risk isn't particularly good for tanking, and full of potential for utility.

Their actual tanking/dps stances could be holding the sword with one hand or two, or a wakizashi you'd draw into your off hand for dps.

Mitigation would be enfeebling debuffs and damage avoidance like Shirahadori.

that would be a bit to many stances which would add to skill bloat...

[Yhximott]

that would be a bit to many stances which would add to skill bloat...

If they made it so that it only affected the stand alone moves (the stun, the range draw, the aggro pull, and maybe the last move of their combos if you want to get crazy) then it would only beat Ninja's took kit by a couple of skills. It would function like NIN's poisons, but only add an effect to the next compatible ability before falling off.

Honestly I'm having trouble figuring out what anyone wants. Everyone seems to be saying they want the next tank to be different from the old tanks, but not TOO different. It's going to have to be something radical that's going to scare some people and seem crazy, lest they make the same mistakes as with DRK.

[Ferrasper]

Tanks already have a 2 handed sword tank class. They don't need another one with Samurai.

[repoe]

[FaizeD]

I'm hedging my bets on Samurai with a skillset centered heavily on counter-attacks. They could also go the Rune Fencer route like in XI, but that job was all about the elemental wheel which is barely existent in this game.

Ranged tanks sound just awful. In current content, the sky seems to fall whenever a tank rotates/moves a boss slightly or a MCH/WHM uses their push-back on trash. Do we play the same game here? I can't even imagine what kind of nonsense a ranged tank would make us deal with. They would have to have a perma-bind effect or something, but even that would allow them to bypass auto-attacks and virtually all close quarters boss mechanics, which is... kind of the point of tanking.

[Makeda]

The game has three heavy armor tanks.

If there was ever a number four, it should wear medium or light armor for variety.

You could have something that variates out of summoner - summoning 'spirit forms' or 'demon armor'. The 'weapon' could be an aether crystal embedded as a third eye and there would be some short range attacks. Mitigation would be based on having your 'bound demons / spirits' consume the damage. Which would either work as a self heal or as straight mitigation.

You could have something that variates out of pugilist - a tanking brawler, the 'boxer' class. Working by turning all damage into slow 'dots' like the WoW monk, and 'shrugging off' hits (the WoW monk's tanking form makes more sense actually as a 'Rocky - boxing champion' stereotype than as a kung-fu master' - their concept would have fit an evasion tank better)

You could have something as a variation on rogue + gladiator... a swashbuckler... your evasion tank that works by literally calling out insults to taunt, and then 'parry' evasion mechanics combined with 'that was just a flesh wound' mitigation and 'only mostly dead' self-healing gimmicks. Give it a sword and a dagger weapon combo.

[Khalithar]

Snip

You misunderstand the notion of "ranged" tank in the context I mean. The best example is the Powertech from swtor:

http://swtor.wikia.com/wiki/Powertech

The Powertech is one of the two Advanced Classes of the Bounty Hunter, It is the "tanking" AC for Bounty Hunters, and focuses heavily on the use of Gadgets, Energy Shields, and the Flamethrower. Although Powertech has a lot of ranged abilities, all 3 Powertech specs require Melee range to achieve maximum potential.

The class is armed with a gun and has a variety of long range attacks, but it still has to stand and take enemy damage and a lot of it's main moves require you to be up close. The main difference with the Powertech is that instead of swinging a lightsaber in that game, it fires it's gun at point blank range. That is what the concept of a ranged tank means and it could work in this game if the abilities are tuned right. The only real difference between the powertech and the other tanks in swtor is that it has more ranged attack options than the other classes and still uses those ranged attacks while standing in the boss' face eating auto attack damage.

[Ferrasper]

You misunderstand the notion of "ranged" tank in the context I mean. The best example is the Powertech from swtor:
http://swtor.wikia.com/wiki/Powertech

That's not a ranged tank. A ranged tank is a tank that fights enemies at a distance hence the ranged part. Calling that in SWTOR is a misnomer. Puppet Master example. You send your puppet out and it controls the mobs and where they are pointing while you stay back at a distance managing the abilities and such.

[DragonHunterG]

we have two, two-handed weapon tanks. we should get another tank that has a shield. i like the idea of a lancer tank, with heavy armor, shield and lance.