Quote Originally Posted by Kyuuen View Post
Only have an issue with these ones, because following this logic some healers in XIV would be considered tanks as well. And they're obviously not.

And that skill from XI was garbage. SAM in XI were used mostly as TP sticks more so than anything else.

While it might be true that there's history of SAM being tanky.. how much history is there of DRKs being tanks?

Will elaborate further later if need be, posting on this site from a tablet makes me feel as though I'm going to have an aneurysm.
SAM's iteration in FFXI had the foundations of being a tank, just because it wasn't executed correctly and the system didn't work doesn't discredit those are absolutely abilities in-line with a tank role. Whether the skill was useful or not in the grand scheme of the entire job doesn't discredit the fact the job has a history of abilities that could be taken from inspiration-wise to be given to a new iteration of SAM in FFXIV.

I have no clue why you'd even bring up DRKs because that would only hurt any kind of argument against a SAM tank. DRK had LESS of a history with defensive abilities in past games than SAM has, and yet SE decided to make it a tank anyways, because it fit other criteria they were looking for (Tank armor, Thematically fit with planned scenario/setting, popular and requested job with lots of appeal/allure). The fact they took a job with less history of defensive abilities and made it a tank means that even if SAM didn't have ANY defensive/tanky abilities they could still use it as a tank for the same reasons they picked DRK. The fact that SAM does have a history of tanking ability (as well as stats/equipment) means it has an even stronger basis for a possible choice for another tank job.