Roles for Samurai, Red Mage, Dancer

[Evangela]

I can't imagine you saying this with a straight face. The shortage of tanks is beyond easy to prove. Queue up Duty Finder as Tank, Healer, and DPS. Which one gets in immediately? Which one has to wait longest? Tanks get their instant queues for a reason; there are many healers and many many DPS looking for parties, but not nearly as many tanks. So as soon as one queues, they're instantly matched with the DPS and healers that are waiting.

Even as a DPS, I can get a DF pop in 5 minutes for latest content. Sure, it's not as fast as tanks and healers but I'm not gonna call it a tank shortage issue if it doesn't take like an hour.

[Shippuu]

Even as a DPS, I can get a DF pop in 5 minutes for latest content. Sure, it's not as fast as tanks and healers but I'm not gonna call it a tank shortage issue if it doesn't take like an hour.

Your anecdotal evidence means little especially when you simply look at the factors. You're on balmung which is one of if not the most populated server, which resides on a data center that includes gilgamesh, another super populated server. Your experience doesn't reflect the game as a whole and only SE has the metrics to backup any kind of claims regarding tanking populations.

[aesteval]

People don't tank because it's the most demanding role (except maybe healers) and requires the most attention while playing.

I don't know if tanks require the most attention while playing. While some jobs definitely require less attention than tank, effective support on various roles all require additional attention. Healers, played properly, require quite a bit of attention. BRD, MCH, and SMN should all be paying attention to the entire party's state. Other DPS also have support functions that can be best optimized during certain parts of a fight or at certain times. And all roles should be paying attention and managing aggro and watching for new mobs entering.

That said, I find that I don't like being the pace setter for things and so that's what limits my interest in tanking. I don't like being pseudo "in charge."

[aesteval]

I'd rather wait a little longer so I can play DPS Samurai. Yoshi-P promised that it's gonna be a DPS. If it's a tank, I'll stay in offensive stance and play like a DPS and I don't care if the party will complain.

This is why we can't have nice things? :-p

[aesteval]

That indicates that there probably aren't enough people playing Tanks and Healers, at least in Duty Finder.

In DF is the big qualifier. Holy crap the sheer number of tanks I see roaming the open world. Joining a hunt party comes with a fair chance at the party being 50 - 75% tanks. Sometimes healers are still scarce in the open world, but they also have times in which they show up in large groups.

[ADVSS]

In DF is the big qualifier. Holy crap the sheer number of tanks I see roaming the open world. Joining a hunt party comes with a fair chance at the party being 50 - 75% tanks. Sometimes healers are still scarce in the open world, but they also have times in which they show up in large groups.

yep. only enter trials as tank these days, the role just doesnt feel so rewarding to play like it did in 3.0

[Claymore65]

In DF is the big qualifier. Holy crap the sheer number of tanks I see roaming the open world. Joining a hunt party comes with a fair chance at the party being 50 - 75% tanks. Sometimes healers are still scarce in the open world, but they also have times in which they show up in large groups.

That's a fair point, although Hunt Parties are kind of an exception. Since participation is based off of Aggro generated, a disproportionately large amount of players end up as Tanks, since they can more easily get credit.

However, class distribution is arguably most important in Duty Finder. That's where roles matter most, as queue times affect the vast majority of players. Being a "Tank" doesn't really matter much in the open world, however once you enter DF it allows players to complete dungeons. PotD was literally designed so it could be ran without a tank, to reduce queue times. Perhaps the issue is that "Tanks" aren't entering Duty Finder, where they are most needed.

According to the 2015 official census (http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodest...e8ff1bcf34c5ae), approximately 19% of players are Tanks, with 19% being Healers and 62% playing DPS. That's not too bad, although an ideal percentage would be 25% Tank, 25% Healer, and 50% DPS. I'd love to see some statistics for Duty Finder in particular. It would be interesting to see.

[Derio]

What if they made samurai have a tank version and a dps version. 2 different style katanas.

[aesteval]

According to the 2015 official census (http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodest...e8ff1bcf34c5ae), approximately 19% of players are Tanks, with 19% being Healers and 62% playing DPS. That's not too bad, although an ideal percentage would be 25% Tank, 25% Healer, and 50% DPS. I'd love to see some statistics for Duty Finder in particular. It would be interesting to see.

Did they ever mention how they calculated role distribution? At that point my highest level was DRG but I was effectively main PLD by that point. Meanwhile PLD is currently my highest ilvl but I've actually shifted to primarily SMN.

[aesteval]

That's a fair point, although Hunt Parties are kind of an exception. Since participation is based off of Aggro generated, a disproportionately large amount of players end up as Tanks, since they can more easily get credit

Hmm...I'm thinking of situations in which it doesn't match up to this rationale though. If aggro gains were the driving force I would expect to see more of them actually using a tank stance. There are times where it's like everyone wants to come as a tank, no one wants to use a tank stance. :-/

I find myself readily getting more credit as DPS than tank, but I also tend to unload as DPS while limiting aggro gains as tank unless I'm actually main tanking. So I go out of my way to limit aggro gains when not main tank.