Strength Tanks

[Melian]

I had a guy name Korivash call me a bad tank for slotting my vitality points in over strength.

I wouldn't call anyone bad for choosing to use vitality accessories. If you're pulling well, holding enmity, and mitigating well at the right times with cool downs, you're getting your principle job done. As long as you're getting that done, you're average at the very worst.

In all fairness however, the DPS increase between all str and all vit accessories is substantially more than 5% though. It's hard (and probably a bad idea) to compare different people, even if they're in the same iLV, but eyeballing some paladins in various setups tonight I'd guestimate you can reasonably pull in ~20% more DPS with strength accessories. In DF stuff, it's still not that exciting (+20% of bad is still bad). If you're ever doing something with a tight DPS check though, it becomes relevant.

As for pulling with voke it will generate one enmity rather than none (It doesn't "in general" put you on top, it always puts you equal to highest enmity +1). I don't think there's any great reason to not pull with provoke, apart from the (significant) fact that it means it will be down for the next several seconds in case you actually needed it for something later. If you're sure you won't need to use it, then whatever. It's not hurting anyone. It's not helping you either though, beyond the most superficially technical sense of the word. Pulling with provoke is a lot like casting cover on someone not being attacked. It doesn't hurt anyone, but why? And if you need it later, you'll be out of luck and someone will be hurt by your previous poor judgement.

I'd second what fenrir said about the bombs. It's also useful just in general, if you want to drag someone in from further away. That worker bee down by the three antlions in Mocianne's Arboretum I like to grab in with provoke when he patrols back towards me, rather than make everyone go on a really long run, for example.

Also, VIT doesn't make you any harder to kill unless your healer is straight up napping. In those cases, you'll still die

I disagree. I've found several DF healers who are pseudonapping, rather than straight up, and extra vitality has kept me alive more than once (even though I shouldn't have needed it). Staying alive once on a 4 person DF fight can reasonably save me from having to redo the fight, and by saving me from having to redo the fight (and from having to run back to it!) i'm saving a lot more time than i would have clipped from the run by just slotting str stuff on my pld. I know very little about dark knights, but apparently strength is much more useful to multiple warrior abilities than to mine, so other people's mileage may vary, etc. In the same vein though, while some abilities benefit a lot from Str it's worth not forgetting that others get boosts from vitality. You can recover more HP from various healer cooldowns, get a better stoneskin, give a better divine veil. None of those are amazing perks by any means, but they do exist.

Str Pld or Vit Pld!?! doesn't have to be a black and white issue though. There are certainly several cases where strength is much better (including the aforementioned duty finders, if you know you're going in with half decent people). If you're trying new content though, trying content with super-hard tank hits, or simply don't know what kind of people you'll be stuck with, I think you can make a very compelling argument for using vitality. IMO saying that either str or vit is /always/ better is doing people a disservice, and it's just not true.

[Aniond]

SNIP

I agree. Every time I tank in either Sword Oath or with STR rings. I come close to death. Heals start complaining that I'm in the wrong stance. In a static I think going alL STR is good, but in PF, or similar. Safe if better....

[fm_fenrir]

I agree. Every time I tank in either Sword Oath or with STR rings. I come close to death. Heals start complaining that I'm in the wrong stance. In a static I think going alL STR is good, but in PF, or similar. Safe if better....

Coming close to death in STR accessories or out of tank stance means one (or both) of the following:
You're not using CDs properly.
The healer is expecting to afk through the content and let the faery do all the healing while they watch anime.

Also, Valkyrie, any PLD that doesn't Flash multiple times on a pull isn't going to use Unleash, Overpower, Dark Passenger, or Steel Cyclone, either. It's almost as if bad players have nothing to do with the job they choose.