On the topic of tanks being meat shields, what discouraged me from playing other MMOs, to this date, is that tanks in those games have very low, borderline 0 dps. It makes tanks in those games leech for exp. If they try to solo level, it will take forever just to kill even the weakest of enemies. In FFXIV, I can now play the role I have always wanted(tanking) and not be gated by SHITTY damage dealing tanks have in those games that I do not wish to mention.

The good thing in 14 is, you are not forbidden to be one, yourself... go ahead and wear full fending set. There are healers who prefer those kinds of tanks. If you are planning on doing end-game raiding, this is where the meta shifts. Once everyone's already geared up, people will now start doing solo tank/solo healer savage runs.
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TL;DR, SE, don't change the tank meta. I really like the idea of tanks(and healers) that actually contribute to the overall dps of the entire raid. This is why you still have me playing this game.