Tank population drop after Stormblood?

[shao32]

Well, there was an interview that strongly suggested Paladin's options for defending against magic attacks are going to be increased. So it is nice to see defensive stuff is being looked at in some ways.

That said, the WAR crowd tends to attract a lot of hardcore DPSers... No news on it yet but, yeah, if SE touched that (more than they had to with the STR/VIT rework already), I can imagine a lot of people would be upset.

from my part a better balance betwen defense and ofense is really need it, i mean i hope we get more love on parry like spooky say and have more defensive playstyle.
ppl go to get upset no matter what path they choose, i hate the current meta on tanks but i main one bcs i love DRK in every sense, is the perfect job for me, and bcs i still love tanking and the feeling im doing my job perfectly setting the battlefiled for the rest of my party members, the drop grit and inflate you dps all you can is something i do for demand but i feel is complety wrong.

magic defense on PLD more that suggested is pretty confirmed if i remember well

[Zojha]

Well, there was an interview that strongly suggested Paladin's options for defending against magic attacks are going to be increased. So it is nice to see defensive stuff is being looked at in some ways.

Hey, that's great! Now you won't need to drop DPS stance for magic damage tank busters anymore.

Increasing defense is the last thing tanks need if the goal is to reduce the effects of the DPS meta. The same goes for healers and getting more potent heals. The only things you can do is nerf them, require more GCDs for mitigation/healing for the same result as now or increase incoming damage to PvP-like levels.

[Greywolfamakir]

Levels 50-60 won't be a issue since PotD and Fates (PotD is the best imo) will allow you to reach lvl 60 easily.

From lvl 60 to 70 we wil have to complete maybe 4 or 5 dungeons, and for DPSs queues will be longer, like always, nothing new here, if you play DPS you know that you have to wait more than Tank or Healers.

After lvl 70 you'll have daily expert and for "hardcore" players spam dungeons for gear or maybe spam hunts or who knows...but queues will be just the same, just like now. Every data center has different wait times.

[Risvertasashi]

Increasing defense is the last thing tanks need if the goal is to reduce the effects of the DPS meta.

Believe it or not, it's actually not all about the DPS meta. Paladin has long been favored for progression because of its superior mitigation...

...except against bosses that lean heavily towards magic damage, where suddenly it doesn't look so great.

[SyzzleSpark]

That said, the WAR crowd tends to attract a lot of hardcore DPSers... No news on it yet but, yeah, if SE touched that (more than they had to with the STR/VIT rework already), I can imagine a lot of people would be upset.

They aren't getting nerfed but the other tanks are supposed to be getting some very handsome reworking, therefore WAR may no longer be a ***requirement*** in every party. If this turns out to be the case I definitely think people are going to be upset just because they've been spoiled for so long and haven't actually needed to compete whatsoever for a teamslot.

[RopeDrink]

it's a little fallacious to suggest that the addition (or lack of addition) of a new job for each of those roles is going to have an impact on their respective populations in the long term.

This - at least as far as I'm concerned. Healer main who likes to tank from time to time - DPS being my last resort. I'm not even remotely interested in either of the new Jobs and will use Stormblood as a ticket to try keep up with the game, seeing as my induction into RR & HS was way, way too late, thus I've been playing 'catchup' for eternity rather than plunging its depths. Now that I'm caught-up to some degree, it'll be time to see what changes with my two main classes in Stormblood (rather than trying to wrap my head around new DPS). That's a route I will consider if/when I get bored of my main(s).

Roulette's won't go away, nor will the appeal of faster queues as tank. Will tanks decline? Maybe - but you won't magically become completely tank-starved for lower end content, especially considering levellers have to complete story-quests to enter the expansions fully, and there'll be plenty of people who haven't even hit 60 yet, nevermind have the MSQ done to its fullest.

[gumas]

Since there will be no new tank (or healer) class in stormblood, the only way i can see to increase tank population is to make the class itself more entertaining.

Just like putting a product on store shelf, if you want people to buy that particular product you must make it "interesting", the best i can think is hope that tank class in stormblood got the most "upgrade" compare to other class

I think 80% as to why people dont like tank is "responsibility" since as tank you work the most in party, and "automatic become the party leader" attidute is also not helping

If SE can make those 2 aspect intersting am sure people would at least try the tank class, as in right now the role of tank is prety much menacing to some people, instead of putting it in front of you so you can observe and learn, right now its more like "shove directly to your throat whetever you like it or not"

[RopeDrink]

At the end of the day, any half-decent person would consider that a good thing, even if it comes at slight expense of their own class. I certainly won't cry if self-serving players break their keyboards over something like game-balancing.

[Claymore65]

I wouldn't be surprised if there's a bit of a drop, though I don't expect it to hit too hard outside of the initial few months. Samurai and Red Mage are two especially enticing jobs for a lot of players, and a lot of people are going to main them once Stormblood releases. For Heavensward we had a lot of people interested in trying tanking thanks to Dark Knight, and some of them decided to stay in that role. Unfortunately, while there isn't really anything (that we know of) that will attract more players to the role for Stormblood, so I'm guessing we will end up with a drop in Healer/Tank populations, though I don't expect it to be extremely major.

[bounddreamer]

I'm a tank main and I'm still going to be a tank main. First priority will be getting all three tanks to 70. My co-tank will be getting PLD and DRK to 70 before he considers which jobs to level next.