Wanna try tanking, but have tank anxiety? Don't worry...

[Gemina]

... Nothing to be worried about at all. You gots this!



Just a light-hearted post to help ease my nerves for tanking 101 with my FC today. Felt like I was in college again with all the research I've done. Wish me luck!

[koroko220]

I still get bouts of this off and on despite the compliments I get occasionally, so you're not alone! Remember, we gots this! ^^

[SpookyGhost]

XIV is actually (imo) the most comfortable MMO to tank in. All the dungeons are just long corridors so everything you need to pull is basically laid out in order. From there it's just about holding hate (30+~40+ this becomes a cakewalk) and popping defensive CDs. A common mistake for a lot of new tanks is that they sit on their defensive CDs waiting for just the right moment to pop them - while this is great in raids, in dungeons it's much better to try and keep CDs rolling. I tend to plan my CDs out so that I only use 1 or 2 per pack, and then ones I used early on will be back up for the boss. This same logic applies to big pulls, though you have to be a bit more thoughtful of your CD usage on those.

Anyway, good luck! Let us know how things go for you. If you have any questions I'm sure the tanks here (incl me) will be happy to answer them.

[Brannigan]

Just don't forget to turn on a stance after job changing like SOMEONE I AM

[Alisa180]

As someone who suffered from tanking anxiety herself (often quite literally, I have severe generalized anxiety disorder), I'd like to offer a few of my own tips.

1. Knowledge is power. These visual guides to tanking are the single most helpful resources I ever found. They essentially demystify how to tank well: https://i.imgur.com/smNx1ZX.jpg. https://i.imgur.com/PEnLMF9.jpg. Reading up on your class in general will help you confidence when you finally delve into your first dungeons.
2. Don't be afraid to tell people that you are new to tanking! Far more people then not are happy to cut you slack if you mess up.
3. Leveling GLD/PLD to 40 is a very special kind of hell. You are going to lose aggro. Period. So long as you hold it most of the time, many players won't give a pre-40 GLD/PLD grief over not holding a mob.
4. A good chunk of tanking anxiety comes from the fact many people believe the tank = leader. This isn't really true. You may be pulling mobs, holding them, and usually setting the pace for the dungeon, but that doesn't make you the 'leader'. That's just you doing your job. It's hard to put this into words, but trust me. I am very much a follower, and have learned to disassociate performing my job from a leadership role.
5. Practice, practice, practice! Being the one to pull and initiate encounters can be nerve-wracking, but the more you tank, the more used to it you'll get.
6. Also, observe! A good chunk of my tanking knowledge came from observing tanks, or being the off-tank. Truly bad tanks are rare, so observing and mimicking will get you a long way!

Other notes:

I can't speak for the other tanking jobs, but once you cap PLD, MTing as it is probably the easiest, least-stressful job in the game. No, that's not an oxymoron. As the MT, you don't have to worry about 90% of mechanics, including most AoEs. And thanks to your high HP, you can east most AoEs that do target you. As one who royally sucks at dodging, it's wonderful!

Along with our simplified rotation, it's really an easy job compared to other roles. DPS have to hit several buttons, most have timers they have to keep up. Healers have to juggle between keeping everyone alive, and DPSing when they can. All while handling mechanics. As someone who's done both DPS and healing, let me tell you, MTing is downright relaxing in comparison.

Also, embrace the instant queues! They're great!

[Lisotte]

I think it really comes down to just spending time as a tank and getting used to it. To anyone new to tanking, leveling 1-60: don't worry if you make mistakes, reasonable people can understand what it's like for a new tank, and try and not care what bad people think. Tanking gets easier the higher level you get, you're more survivable, you hold hate easier, and all the mechanics in dungeons start to feel similar to each other so you don't get surprised anymore.

I do think it's easier on a WAR than a PLD. As a WAR you often just feel like the main star of the show, practically soloing but with some additional DPS and healing thrown in there by your party. On the other hand, PLD you feel like you're exclusively there just to gather everything and get hit. DRK feels much like WAR but also trying to pat your head and rub your tummy at the same time while doing trigonometry.

[Kibby]

I started tanking not too long ago and I still get nervous tanking dungeons that I've already done before, even if I don't think I've made too many mistakes. It doesn't help that I have anxiety in real life, too. :P I currently have drk at 46 and the highest dungeon I have in Dzemael, so I'm trying to avoid going there because I've seen too many wipes. <_< >_>

It's weird, though, but I have no problem being a healer even though lives are literally in your hands as a healer, but tanking seems so much more intimidating to me.

6. Also, observe! A good chunk of my tanking knowledge came from observing tanks, or being the off-tank. Truly bad tanks are rare, so observing and mimicking will get you a long way!

Other than looking at guides, this has been one of the biggest helps. A lot of the stuff I've learned about tanking has been from watching others (and if there are bad tanks, I know what not do :P).

[Lambdafish]

I think any new role causes anxiety, I know as a tank that I was anxious to heal or even DPS (having low numbers or tunnelvision was a constant factor), the best thing to do is practice the role and constantly be open to advice and communication. I know back in BCOB and SCOB when I was still getting to grips with learning to tank on a raid level, me and the OT would have constant communication about raid awareness, tank stats, and general improvements that can be made to my tanking knowledge, and this can be done on any level with anyone, not just on a raid level

[Gemina]

Tanking 101 for me was to involve the two level 10 guildhests, the two level 15 guildhests, all three of the first dungeons, and then wrap things up with Ifrit normal mode when I hit level 20. All with FC mates. Then it was on to DF tanking. Little did I know that my first tanking experience would come via PUG playing as my LNC in Halatali trying to obtain the Doctore's Chainmail for my GLA when she hits 20. Long story short: The tank got kicked, SMN using Titan egi to handle trash wasn't working at all. So I slotted in flash, foresight, conservalance, and bloodbath; and put ethers on my hotbar. I figured with this set up in the early levels, I have most things normal tanks do minus an enmity combo and said, "Hey guys, I think I gots this!" And I decided to pull until another tank arrived. Another tank did arrive.... about 10 seconds before we finished off the last boss The luls echoed on forever.

Fact of the matter is I wasn't feeling anxious in this situation because 1. I thrust'd myself into it, and 2. I had done so much research on tanking including video guides, written guides, reading posts here, observing the tanks in my group, and getting so many DD classes to 30. I am already a career healer and know what I need from tanks from this perspective, but getting the DD classes to 30 taught me so much about what tanks do to makes things harder, and what they do to smooth out wrinkles. And it paid off here.

Sure, I think this instance let me know, "Hey, you CAN tank casual content in this game." But I feel I need to do it with the classes that are meant to, and don't have to sacrifice cross skill slots when I innately possess those tanking skills. I still consider myself having 0 tanking experience. My biggest fear playing this role is not being able to sustain enmity. I even had dreams about struggling with it, but a big difference here is losing aggro is to be expected. I know about the whole 15-40 struggles GLA/PLD have, but I see this as a challenge. I want to actually frown at Shield Oath for taking away the challenge, instead of relieved that it made things easier.

Tanking 101 will still happen. I want and feel I need those experiences under my belt. I don't want to be a good tank. I want to be a great tank.

[Gemina]

As someone who suffered from tanking anxiety herself (often quite literally, I have severe generalized anxiety disorder), I'd like to offer a few of my own tips.

1. Knowledge is power. These visual guides to tanking are the single most helpful resources I ever found. They essentially demystify how to tank well: https://i.imgur.com/smNx1ZX.jpg. https://i.imgur.com/PEnLMF9.jpg. Reading up on your class in general will help you confidence when you finally delve into your first dungeons.

2. Don't be afraid to tell people that you are new to tanking! Far more people then not are happy to cut you slack if you mess up.
3. Leveling GLD/PLD to 40 is a very special kind of hell. You are going to lose aggro. Period. So long as you hold it most of the time, many players won't give a pre-40 GLD/PLD grief over not holding a mob.
4. A good chunk of tanking anxiety comes from the fact many people believe the tank = leader. This isn't really true. You may be pulling mobs, holding them, and usually setting the pace for the dungeon, but that doesn't make you the 'leader'. That's just you doing your job. It's hard to put this into words, but trust me. I am very much a follower, and have learned to disassociate performing my job from a leadership role.
5. Practice, practice, practice! Being the one to pull and initiate encounters can be nerve-wracking, but the more you tank, the more used to it you'll get.
6. Also, observe! A good chunk of my tanking knowledge came from observing tanks, or being the off-tank. Truly bad tanks are rare, so observing and mimicking will get you a long way!

Other notes:

I can't speak for the other tanking jobs, but once you cap PLD, MTing as it is probably the easiest, least-stressful job in the game. No, that's not an oxymoron. As the MT, you don't have to worry about 90% of mechanics, including most AoEs. And thanks to your high HP, you can east most AoEs that do target you. As one who royally sucks at dodging, it's wonderful!

Along with our simplified rotation, it's really an easy job compared to other roles. DPS have to hit several buttons, most have timers they have to keep up. Healers have to juggle between keeping everyone alive, and DPSing when they can. All while handling mechanics. As someone who's done both DPS and healing, let me tell you, MTing is downright relaxing in comparison.

Also, embrace the instant queues! They're great!

Thank you so much for putting together all those helpful tips. I suffer from GAD as well, along with panic disorder so I can relate. It's a big reason why I put so much research into something before getting my feet wet as it really helps alleviate some of that anxiety. Not all of it though

Right now I am feeling confident. It's because of the instance I just posted. I have felt this way as healer as well, only for it to all disappear when it's queue time. So right now I want to say that tanking does seem less stressful overall compared to healer and DPS because they have to concentrate on so much more. Something I did not realize the extent of for DD classes until actually playing them, and taking them VERY seriously when doing so. But ultimately, I can't say anything about tanking until I actually do some tanking. However, I do feel more confident about this confidence, if that makes sense!

Um... actually afraid of the insta-queues. This is is a benefit how? I need time for my nerves to settle for even placing myself in the queue lol.