Why do you tank ?

[KyGents]

Started in FFXI when i saw a PLD in full AF standing in Bastok, so originally it was just the aesthetics.... I keep tanking in XIV because i enjoy the balance of maintaining enmity, minimizing incoming damage through appropriate use of cds, and contributing with as much dps as i possibly can. That, and the insta-queues....

[AmandaLashaquoa]

I love being THE tank (preferably MT) because it feels really good to be the one with the monster's attention, it trying really hard to kill me and and I die, everyone else is condemned; I like to be THAT toon in the spotlight, the leader, the powerful, the sturdy and scary and one mistake of mine could mean a wipe, unlike DPS, which they can even afk midfight and no one will even notice.

[Kothos]

I'm a masochist

[armandojc3]

Tanking is an awesome concept but honestly, in FFXIV, 90% is really boring.

Bosses on the other hand are awesome as a tank.

[Mysteltain]

I've been a WAR tank since 2.0, so I wasn't going anywhere with the SB changes to WAR. Plus, to quote an old saying, "If a job's worth doing, do it yourself."

[Extreme]

tanking gets me in parties. (End of Story)

[VexSunkiller]

Beside that I like the looks and feels of all 3 tanks. I just like tanking it feels really natural. To me I can't get the swing of healing and all the DPS feel boring to me even the new ones.

[SunAurel]

Because I am part of a raid group and i love playing with them and they needed a tank. Other than that, short queues, SWORDS N SHIELDS, cool armor, a lion, and most importantly,

SOMEONE'S GOTTA DO IT

[Foobits]

I tank because I fell in love with the role after my first ffxi party on my war in the dunes

[Phoenicia]

I started my MMO journey in FFXI (I did play RO and Lineage II before but wasn't hooked).

In FFXI, I didn't understand roles so I wanted to be a RDM/SMN (REDM sub SMN) so I could do white, black and summoning magic while being able to melee. Silly me lol....

After I understood what roles were (didn't take long, something the game's harsh nature taught me by level 10 lol). I decided to go DRK/THF for big damage...... Only to realize I had to level WAR as a sub job as well. WAR share-tanked via tank swaps with NIN, PLD and other WARs until 37 where NIN and PLD just took over the tanking because they could solo from there.... And I was HOOKED on tanking. Leveled PLD and never looked back. I was a RDM and PLD main in XI.

What made me love tanking?

1- Holding hate was hard and only the best tanks could keep the attention permanently. Especially against extremely good players on dangerous DPS classes like DRK, BLM and WAR.

2- Being the backbone of the party where dead tank meant dead party.

3- having the ability to protect others. Self sacrifice for the safety of others felt rewarding to me.

4- The ability to go over do more than just my job. Be it as help the healing when things get iffy (adds attacking party) or dishing out damage when threat and/or damage in take were no longer an issue.

5- Clutch plays. This probably goes in tandem with points 2 and 4. But think PLD in FFXI covering that dangerously good DRK, WAR or BLM to save them from killing themselves. Or WAR in FFXIV holmganging the second boss in Wanderer's palace when he fixates on your healer to root the boss in place and stop the chase. Giving immunity bubble on an ally in WoW when they go ape-sh*t nuts on a raid boss to prevent a wipe. Or dropping tank stance and dishing out extra DPS when you're the last man standing before a wipe to get the group a kill. THAT... IS.. SOOO... SATISFYING!

Since then, I've been maining any tank that has the ability to protect others while maintaining attention (knight/paladin archetype) in every MMO since.

Here's a small on-topic story from a FFXI experience:

I had a VERY rich and hardcore friend in FFXI who was leveling all jobs to 75 (back when that was the cap) where he had 1 job left to take up: SAM.

This guy got a great katana that allowed him to attack randomly twice or thrice per attack round. With SAM being a TP generating machine and the amount of TP-store stats he had, he was using a Weaponskill every 20 seconds or so and self-skill chaining every minute or two. In a game where people take a full minute to have enough TP for 1 weaponskill, that was BROKEN!

We formed a linkshell party (mostly friends) and they told me that my PLD would NOT be able to keep up with his SAM (he had a good reputation). Being decently geared myself and having multiple jobs leveled, I had confidence in at least keeping him alive.

During the experience party and as the bard kept bring the mobs to our camp, I would go max enmity generation at start, then put on my damage (warrior gear) outfit and slap the mobs with a good weaponskill either opening or closing skillchains with my SAM friend. If the RNGods were nice to me I'd get some decent numbers and cruise until the mob dies. If the RNGods were nice to him and cruel to me, I switch to super defensive mode where I use cover on my friend (in there you have to physically stand between your ally and the attacker) and heal any damage he or I take until i regain aggro... or mobs dies.

After the experience party ended (3 hours), my friend opened up my trade window with a million gil as reward for not letting him die once (where you lose exp if you die).

THAT was a memory that I will keep forever in my tanking career!

Thanks for reading and sorry for the long post.
~ Phoenicia ~