If a tank loses aggro, whose fault is it?

[Hayward]

Acceptable reasons for losing aggro:

1) The tank forgot to flip to Shield Oath once inside a dungeon (That's happened to me on occasion. About as embarrassing as coming in with Cleric Stance active, really)

2) The tank couldn't get to every enemy to lock in aggro (Flash helps, but for only so long against sustained damage).

Every tank should hate losing aggro but be equally determined to get it back if lost.

[BorisDaBlade]

It's the tanks fault bar none, but as a BLM you have pretty much the only class that can have a "soft" opener, like the Blizz3 opener. That way the pld can get off 2 RoH combos before you start your nuke fest. Doing that in conjunction with quelling can usually keep you just under the tank for the rest of the boss battle. As long as you use quelling on cd.

As for trash pull aggro, yeah. Nothing you can really do but quelling and expect to tank the floor.

[Taika]

The story was painful to read and I can't believe you stayed with that group for so long! Seems like all your other party members were really bad at the game (and possibly very much undergeared for the dungeon?).

I believe it's the DPS' fault if the DPS was attacking the wrong target (not the tanks target.) I believe it's the tanks fault if the tank isn't marking the monsters correctly.

No one should be marking anything for single targeting with 2 AoE DDs (3 counting the healer) in a party... At least at the levels after the tank has gained their tank stance.

[LalaRu]

If the tank is bad, the blame is on DPS?

Nope, bad tank is bad, you can't do anything on it, I were just referring to the pull of hate, that dps can avoid, but it can happen at higher price, see below.

Is it your fault if the tank is not doing a half decent job? Absolutely not.

Sure thing, and I agree. We were just talking about pull aggro, and as dps I can really avoid it, to the extent I can just stop dps and dance manderville until the flag goes yellow again. But after all we want complete a duty, and depending where we are, I am willing to take aggro and kill the mob for sake to get out there sooner o later. Sooner is better.

[Reaperking386]

You can't blame the DPS for doing their job if it is a fair pull. If dps decided to pull first then it is possibly their fault depending on their gear.

[LineageRazor]

Not reading seven page thread, or even the entire first wall-o'-text post, but here's my two cents:

If this were FFXI, aggro maintenance is a delicate balance that DPS and tanks (and healers, even!) need to be aware of.

But this is not FFXI. This is FFXIV, where SE has seen fit to give all tanks simply ridiculous hate tools. If a tank loses hate it's for one of only a very few reasons:

1. It's a low level dungeon, and the tank is missing most of their hate tools. In this case, it doesn't matter much. The enemies don't hit hard, and the healer should easily be able to keep themselves or others alive even if mobs stray.
2. The tank is hugely undergeared compared to the DPS. This is one of the rare cases where the DPS may be required to rein things in a bit.
3. The tank doesn't know what they are doing. There's not much excuse for this, if you're not new to the job.

Essentially, tanks are overpowered enough in the enmity department that in most cases, the DPS can do whatever the heck they want and the tank should still be able to hold hate. DPS all targeting different mobs? No problem: Flash, Overpower, Unleash, and cycle enmity combo. DPS blowing all their cooldowns at once and launching an overwhelming strike right off the bat? Standard tactics in high level fights, and the tanks deal with it just fine. Healers keeping Regen and Medica up during dungeon pulls? This is bad form, generally unnecessary, and the healers deserve a dirty look for it - but the tanks can still manage.

Things like DPS focusing on a single mob, marking kill order, or sleeping other mobs in the pack - these are crutches for early-game tanks. Once a tank gets some experience and more hate tools to use, they have no need of these things.

[Altena]

As a Tank main, it is absolutely the Tank's responsibility to hold hate.

There are very few situations where a DPS or Healer can potentially pull hate on a standard pull.
None of which would be considered normal situations..
Honestly the only time I think it's acceptable to blame anyone but the tank for losing hate is if a healer is needlessly overhealing with AoE heals.. Even still, these heals have to be extremely excessive in order to pull hate...
The only other situation that is really true is if the Tank is massively undergeared and the DPS is at iLvl cap. This is still the Tank's fault - because they should ensure they have appropriate gear before attempting to do a duty.

A tank should absolutely be able to hold hate off any DPS, despite lucky crits, opening burst, and even without the use of enmity reduction skills provided they have appropriate gear.
A tank's first 4 skills on a single target should secure hate for the entire fight (with a bit of maintanence as the fight progresses by stance dancing or enmity combos when necessary).
As for AoE hate, 3-4 AoE enmity skills (Overpower/Unleash/Abyssal/Flash/Scorn) and a tank should have solid hate. Not to mention a tank's AoE damage has enmity built in..

So those saying it's ever the DPS's fault for pulling hate - it really isn't. At all. Ever.
Healers? Yeah well don't spam back to back Cure III's or Medicas for no reason and it should be a similar story.

[bswpayton]

Is it the Tank's fault for not utilizing their kit properly and rotating their enmity combo across mobs in an AoE situation, or the DPS's fault for not "managing their aggro"? In some scenarios it is the DPS' fault, but I will get to that in a moment.
?

Did you check the tanks gear, jw wondering now regardless if a tank is losing Argo on a whole mob then yea they dont know what they are doing. Now I dono about other people they may lie but from time to time a blm or a monk will put me on yellow as far as Argo, but then you just provoke and get it right back shield lob bam do flash or halone got argoo back.

I think that especially with pali having like zero aoe its easier for a single add to lose attention but the tank just has to show that they are the dominate force and tell that blm to give me my argoo back take a seat haha. I dont need blms using quelling strikes on me I dont even have it on my blm if a tank is good even if they lose argo for a second to mob or boss are anything they will get it right back. I go in sword oath all the time on blm , you just have to make sure you let the add know whos boss haha Im joking here but yea I mean its possible to momentarily lose full argo for a second but just as easy to get full control right back.

[Ama_Hamada]

SE's fault for not putting minimum gear requirements on everything.
Then tanks fault. AoE hate is way easier to handle then single target bursting. I know you can't do it that level but say one BLM was spamming fire IV on one target while the other is doing proper aoe, not fun.

[Lucke]

Only time I may lose aggro is during a long pull. I'll Unleash the first group, but the DPS continue to attack it while the mobs chase me. I'm not doing anything to these mobs since I'm busy running to the next group. If the distance is pretty far between groups, I can lose aggro to ranged DPS as they continue to attack. *MOST* DPS have enough sense to wait for every mob to gather on me after I pull all groups, before going all out.