Roles for Samurai, Red Mage, Dancer

[Welsper59]

What you're describing isn't a caster tank though. You're describing magical themed tanks which isn't the same. We have magical themed tanks such as Paladin and Dark Knight. Paladin's have flash, they have clemency which is a hard-cast heal, and Divine Veil which creates a magical barrier around their allies. Even Cover has a somewhat magical connotation. Dark Knight has even more, from Dark Arts itself being a buff, to Dark Passenger shooting a wave of dark energy, even their Power Slash which isn't magic damage has the appearance of a magical spell as they blast a ball of dark magic from their hands.

So a tank can definitely be a kind of mage. But one cannot work so well (In this game specifically) as a caster. At least not without making some significant exceptions to how it casts spells. There's just no way it can be feasibly done unless you do the following:

-The caster tank cannot be interrupted in their spellcasting.
-They can move while casting magic with no reduction to their mobility.
OR
-Their cast times are incredibly short (think BRD/MCH level, about the same as the GCD).

We have already seen the problems when it comes to Paladin's Clemency. They already had to significantly reduce the cast time, and even now it's challenging to find windows you can squeeze out a cast without being interrupted or having to move. Tanks in this game sometimes have to move often, and a caster that has to move often significantly drops in efficiency. Tanks also often have to tank a lot of enemies at once, especially with dungeon speed runs calling for huge pulls. More enemies = more chances to be interrupted. So this is why a caster tank needs to have these kinds of exceptions made to their casting to make it work.

At that point though, are you really playing a caster anymore however? You're fighting in melee range, and basically just waiting for your attacks to go off. Tanks often have to grab enmity quickly and react fast to pick up adds or enemies who might have gotten pulled away. If the majority of your moves have a cast bar it's counter-productive to things like snap-aggro, we saw this in 2.0 Warrior's Overpower which had a long windup before going off, in 2.1 it was changed to the fairly instant version of Overpower we have now because it was easy to miss with such a slow AoE enmity tool.

There's other things to consider too like armor types, will it wear mage robes? Or Tank gear? Is it a good idea to have a tank compete with gear with dps? (Generally not so good of an idea). If it wears tank gear do they need to add magic stats to tank gear? That's more work. How will it handle mechanics in fights where enemies are immune to magic damage such as in the Void Ark if all it does is magic damage? Or fights where magic is reflected? Why would people want a tank that takes extra damage from a boss?

So in the end, it's not so cut and dry. There are many things that need to be considered and while a concept might sound cool initially when you start to look at it from a realistic and developmental viewpoint it can easily fall apart. This doesn't mean that a casting tank isn't possible, but it's a lot harder to develop and in the end it could likely never be a full blown caster but rather a melee job that has a handful of casted spells not unlike Dark Knight thematically or Paladin mechanically.

Well "caster" isn't really a role, it's just a term used to identify the type of class/job/whatever (i.e. a broad group identity). Generally speaking, casters are magic users, be it they are primarily instant use spells (similar to melee skills/abilities), have cast time, or channeled. If SMN, for example, were entirely composed of instant cast spells, you'd still lop them in with the group identified as "caster". They're casting spells, even if they are instant. It's pretty rare for anyone to not use that to reference a magic user in general. For the role of tanking, instant cast with some either channeled or cast time spells/abilities thrown about.

In terms of the idea of distance, that much is fairly irrelevant. Think about times you solo, need to move in close (e.g. WHM Holy), or even use as a means to increase DPS (like SMN were technically moved to do during the 2.0 era, since books as weapons added a noticeable increase). You're in melee proximity for those cases. What you might be thinking of is a ranged tank, in this case. Those are of magic use or physical, as was the case of 2.0 BRDs kiting FATE bosses around, since the point is to simply play in a way that keeps distance between you and the target(s). Outside of kiting or fighting ranged-only mobs, they don't really exist for obvious OP status reasons lol.

Again, the term caster is simply a title or identity, it's not a reflection of mandatory play. Instant cast spells, spells with cast time, spells that are channeled, etc. are all part of the identity of "caster". That is, a character that utilizes magic as their primary. Technically, if PLD in this game could cure groups reliably, they'd be considered a caster too if they choose to focus on healing lol. Since they're more melee oriented though, they're simply a melee or tank that can cast spells. Even the term "melee" is simply a description to identify the primary means of doing their job. Casters can melee too, but you rightfully wouldn't label them as such.

[Fevelle]

A quick description of what I's like and why:

Samurai TANK: stacks system that goes up the more hits you take, so you can unleash powerful blows like Bonecrusher. A DPS stance based on drawing your sword where you lose your ability to auto-attack but counters every hit you take with a 100 potency Iai attack.

Red Mage HEALER: only role in this game where you can use both attack and healing magics without people getting mad at you. Mechanics based on doublecasting (instant-cast 2 spells, no MP cost), one melee combo for MP management.

Dancer DPS: Think Monk without the stacks and each "Form" would give the nearby party members a different effect, so, depending on how you want to support them, you rotation would differ.

[Arrik]

What I would be ok with: SAM tank, RDM anything that isn't a healer, DNC as anything
What I would love to see but isn't happening: SAM tank, RDM full hybrid, DNC full hybrid

the trouble with samurai as tank, and it was pointed countless time but ignored by some, is... it will be:
- a two hand sword class (like the dark knight)
- based on parry (like dark knight and warrior)
- mostly physical damage (like paladin and warrior)
- wearing heavy armor (like every tank)

the point is the samurai as tank is only a skin.... we already have a jobs with 2 hand sword as tank... and one based on parry. what the point to add one more jobs like this? i see more a magic melee tank that will bring novelty and new gameplay to the tank, more than samurai that some want simply because.... they want samurai as tank.

as tank it will bring nothing new to the jobs. when a tank based on a caster can be quite interesting and have a few way to be added. because dark knight is not really a caster tank, is more a bad hybrid with more a melee with a few ability draining him mp... don't make it a caster tank.

and just a particularity into the combo system is not enough for justify to add samurai as tank.

INCOMING FFXI TALK. This is your only trigger warning!

- Doesn't have to be, although not using their iconic weapon is probably a big turn off. Samurai Weaponry
EDIT: Maybe a fellow D&D/LoT5R nerd can help me, wasn't there a stance/feat/something that allowed one clan to offhand the wakizashi in a defensive stance? Maybe something like that could work.
- Doesn't have to be. FFXI has Seigan/Third Eye to make it a psuedo evasion tank, with some parry on the side. They could pretty easily break the mold here and still keep balance.
- Doesn't have to be. FFT Samurai shows that making magic damage a part of the skill set could work. It does have the potential to step on NIN's toes if the gimmick isn't tweaked more to work with whatever physical damage is in their skill set, but that's more on SE.
- Doesn't have to be.FFXI's Rune Fencer is a light armor tank. That isn't to say it doesn't have issues, but those issues are more ingrained into the game itself rather than the classes design (it's hard to make a tank that can compete with Ochain/Aegis). There are also armors that could fit in-between the heavy and light categories like some of the earlier "tank" armor that has DRG on it as well as the tanks. Build that Medium armor set into full sets will also have the framework set for other lighter armor tanks.

I think the part I bolded in your post is the biggest issue. It's on SE to step out of the safe space they have been playing in with the patch cycles and job design, and actually want to make an attempt at something new and keeping the balance instead of the trend toward homogenization. That's the bigger issue.

[AlphaFox]

I've said it before but mage tanking can be a thing and I would hope they would consider it. Sure give them a few instant spells or casts for hate but let the basic skills be actual casts. When your in tank stance, lower dps, more hate and having a permanent "surecast" in a way so your only interrupted in casts via stun and silence

[Arrik]

So a tank can definitely be a kind of mage. But one cannot work so well (In this game specifically) as a caster. At least not without making some significant exceptions to how it casts spells. There's just no way it can be feasibly done unless you do the following:

-The caster tank cannot be interrupted in their spellcasting.
-They can move while casting magic with no reduction to their mobility.
OR
-Their cast times are incredibly short (think BRD/MCH level, about the same as the GCD).

We have already seen the problems when it comes to Paladin's Clemency. They already had to significantly reduce the cast time, and even now it's challenging to find windows you can squeeze out a cast without being interrupted or having to move. Tanks in this game sometimes have to move often, and a caster that has to move often significantly drops in efficiency. Tanks also often have to tank a lot of enemies at once, especially with dungeon speed runs calling for huge pulls. More enemies = more chances to be interrupted. So this is why a caster tank needs to have these kinds of exceptions made to their casting to make it work.

Paladin's issue with Clemency would almost go away if blocking an attack prevented an interruption like in 11. That being said insta-cast spells, auras, channeling abilities could all play some role in how a caster tank could deal with this. Or if you wanna cheese it give them Aquaveil buff that would pretty much do bullet #1 here. Casting time doesn't necessarily need to mean exactly like BLM or exactly like BRD and that's it.

At that point though, are you really playing a caster anymore however? You're fighting in melee range, and basically just waiting for your attacks to go off. Tanks often have to grab enmity quickly and react fast to pick up adds or enemies who might have gotten pulled away. If the majority of your moves have a cast bar it's counter-productive to things like snap-aggro, we saw this in 2.0 Warrior's Overpower which had a long windup before going off, in 2.1 it was changed to the fairly instant version of Overpower we have now because it was easy to miss with such a slow AoE enmity tool.

Aura that keeps a mob 10' out (the caster's life could be tied to said aura so they aren't invulnerable) or whatever as long as its in a place it could normally go (not pushing Titan off the platform for example). I don't see why you seem to exclude insta-cast for a caster, it'd be pretty easy to give them the standard Flash/Unmend equivalents as spells, and even in 11 some spells were pretty damn quick. Probably a better way to do this I'm not thinking of and I could see this taking the most time to debug.

There's other things to consider too like armor types, will it wear mage robes? Or Tank gear? Is it a good idea to have a tank compete with gear with dps? (Generally not so good of an idea). If it wears tank gear do they need to add magic stats to tank gear? That's more work. How will it handle mechanics in fights where enemies are immune to magic damage such as in the Void Ark if all it does is magic damage? Or fights where magic is reflected? Why would people want a tank that takes extra damage from a boss?

Ilvl 240 with a 245 weapon PLD is at 1399 VIT and a BLM is at 918 VIT and 1253 INT. 1399-918=481 481/1253 ~= 39%. Wear the caster gear and trait them to add 40% of their INT to VIT. Ragnarok 2 did similar when switching from Cleric to Monk, there was a trait that messed with int vs att so you didn't have to restat to go from Cleric to Monk at 25 (at that point both str and int helped att). Defensive differences could be fixed with pre-pull buffs, increased amount of mitigation tools, playing with cooldowns, etc.

It would be a challenge for sure, but that's not such a bad thing.

[Shippuu]

Paladin's issue with Clemency would almost go away if blocking an attack prevented an interruption like in 11. That being said insta-cast spells, auras, channeling abilities could all play some role in how a caster tank could deal with this. Or if you wanna cheese it give them Aquaveil buff that would pretty much do bullet #1 here. Casting time doesn't necessarily need to mean exactly like BLM or exactly like BRD and that's it.

If a majority of their skills/abilities are instant then are they truly a caster tank though? Because in my opinion they'd just be a tank that has some casts. In which case that mechanic can be applied to just about any job in the form of a "charge up" mechanic for certain skills.

Aura that keeps a mob 10' out (the caster's life could be tied to said aura so they aren't invulnerable) or whatever as long as its in a place it could normally go (not pushing Titan off the platform for example). I don't see why you seem to exclude insta-cast for a caster, it'd be pretty easy to give them the standard Flash/Unmend equivalents as spells, and even in 11 some spells were pretty damn quick. Probably a better way to do this I'm not thinking of and I could see this taking the most time to debug.

In a game where positioning is often key something like this keeping enemies at range makes positioning things exceptionally more difficult. It's impractical and thus highly unlikely. It's harder to move enemies when they're kept far away from you. You use Titan as an example but don't consider that Titan is usually kept at the edge of his arena, you simply cannot move him there if he can't get closer than 10 feet from your character. Impractical and ultimately a pointless mechanic, what benefits does this add except giving the illusion you're fighting from range?

Ilvl 240 with a 245 weapon PLD is at 1399 VIT and a BLM is at 918 VIT and 1253 INT. 1399-918=481 481/1253 ~= 39%. Wear the caster gear and trait them to add 40% of their INT to VIT. Ragnarok 2 did similar when switching from Cleric to Monk, there was a trait that messed with int vs att so you didn't have to restat to go from Cleric to Monk at 25 (at that point both str and int helped att). Defensive differences could be fixed with pre-pull buffs, increased amount of mitigation tools, playing with cooldowns, etc.

Mechanically making a tank wear any kind of armor is easy, as abilities can be implemented that passively boost stats to be on par with other tank's defense. The problem comes with things like sharing loot. Role-mixing on loot in FFXIV would provide potential issues. I pointed out that tanks sharing gear is an intentional one that affords tank players the freedom to generally swap out to any of the 3 tank jobs pretty easily. (Same goes for healers). This is certainly an intended design to help keep Tank players playing tanks. If you remove this aspect, you've now introduced a tank that doesn't share armor with other tanks, meaning they have to choose between gearing the new mage tank, or the other 3 tanks. That's a bad decision and splits the tank players.

Now you have a tank that shares gear with a DPS, which means they can gear as a tank and then spend the rest of their time playing a DPS? That's counter-productive to trying to aid the age old problem of low tank population. Not to mention who would want to queue into content to get tank gear when you can be contest by quite possibly every DPS in the party as full mage parties are very common when queueing into duties.

It would be a challenge for sure, but that's not such a bad thing.

The simple reality of the situation is that challenges take time to iron out. And Time is not something this game has an abundancy of when it comes to developing content. Because they release content on such a regular basis they just don't have the time or resources to spend trying to reinvent the wheel. This means that new job additions are less likely to shake up the formula anytime soon.

[ShinMetsu]

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Keep telling you guys, RDM tank is where it's at.

What are they gonna do with their Shields anyway otherwise?

So many possibilities for unique tank stuff, and since it would be a Mage Tank, have their shield block magic hits too!

[Arrik]

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Keep telling you guys, RDM tank is where it's at.

What are they gonna do with their Shields anyway otherwise?

So many possibilities for unique tank stuff, and since it would be a Mage Tank, have their shield block magic hits too!

Under the current system I agree with you.

OPINION ALERT!

As much as I don't want RDM and DNC to be pushed into a single role I feel that they will. And I have my doubts about SE being able to balance sword damage, magic damage and healing capability in a way that would satisfy me (look at all the issues stemming from cross classing cure, SMN issues unrelated to the pets, etc.). I think at best I will get some sort of RDM/RUN hybrid as a pure tank job.

EDIT: And the only time I refused to play RDM in FFXI was ToAU when it was a full healer.

[Nalien]

What are they gonna do with their Shields anyway otherwise?

Why do they need a shield? In my head, they're using a rapier in one hand, and magic in the other, and dealing damage with a fencing style that effectively weaves in magic...

If they give Red Mage a clear fencer vibe, then slap a shield on it... I'm going to be pissed... More so if it's a tank... Isn't that just Paladin?

[ShinMetsu]

Why do they need a shield? In my head, they're using a rapier in one hand, and magic in the other, and dealing damage with a fencing style that effectively weaves in magic...

If they give Red Mage a clear fencer vibe, then slap a shield on it... I'm going to be pissed... More so if it's a tank... Isn't that just Paladin?

"slap" a shield on? They usually come with a shield across all numbered final fantasies tho?


And the way i see RDM as tank is way more versatile and spell heavy than PLD.
It would actually be more along the lines of OT position, so it would compete for a spot with WAR more so than PLD or DRK.

Like, use your normal Melee Combo > Get a buff that lets you Instant-cast spells in between your combos > Cast Fire III or Phalanx (dmg barrier) in between combos

Goes well with the Fast Cast / Dualcast / Chainspell theme RDM usually has, combining all Melee, Black Magic, White Magic.


If RDM was to go DPS, it would be a heavy support DPS imo because DPS usually don't get heals, they're expected to dps / support.