Radical thought...remove the off-tank?

[Dzian]

I'm in agreement with the OP.. Look if people want things to matter in this game changes do have to be made. I think getting rid of the offtank is a step in the right path. I mean what could it hurt? I only see good things in that it makes content harder which is what most want right?

It typically makes content easier not harder to roll with one tank

There's so many fights in this game that have some degree of off tank swap mechanic but the damage of those mechanics is so trivially tuned a main tank can usually just eat it. and ignore the swap.

O4n was one example some groups would swap after x number of stacks. some would just plough through the whole fight even on week one. The swap mechanic was so loose that it could be ignored.

And even going as far back as coil, premade groups were running 1 tank for t5, t9 and a few others because taking a 5th dps made the run easier not harder.

The 2 2 4 party composition is the cause of many of the games problems though because it's built so heavily around balance. Thus doesn't allow jobs to stand out at all. Yet the devs also push jobs into pure roles which simply don't fit the dps meta.

Whm is a pure healer for example. But because of balance sch and ast can both heal well enough to clear content. it means the extra healing power a whm had was worthless to groups and thus whm was side lined in favour of sch / ast that bought more dps to the group

If they scrapped the fixed 2-2-4 comp though that pure whm healer might be powerful enough a party that they only needed one and thus that whm would offer something usefull to a party even as a pure healer.

Or a pld always concepted to be a defensive fortress but again balance says war and dark must also be able to tank so all that extra defence a pld has isn't necessary. however if you scrapped the 2-2-4 comp it could be that defensive fortress tank enough he could tank the whole raid Single handedly but a warrior might need another war or drk. To take some of the strain.
but the problem was the other tanks can tank well enough and they bring more dps. so A pld just isn't useful. But ya know balance has destroyed job identity and that defensive tank is now arguably the most kick ass offensive tank in the game. Because of a 2-2-4 comp and heavy obsession with balance. Which has destroyed job identity in many cases.

So if you really want to be radical scrap the whole 2-2-4 thing and let players build a comp they choose. Be it 1 tank 1 heal 6 dps or 2 tanks 1 heal 5 dps or 1 tank 2 heals 5 dps. or any combination under the sun.

That would be radical and allow for some solid job variation and identity. Then they really could have a viable pure healer class or viable pure defensive tank class. which would also gives players a lot more choice in playstyles those healers / tanks that don't want to dps then don't have to they have roles to play that suit pure heals or pure tanking sort of thing. would also open up the door to like pure support classes as well...

[RitsukoSonoda]

Or we could remove the enrage timers so we can go with 6 tanks and 2 healers :P

[Sylvina]

Tank swap mechanics are fun. Don't take them away!

Agreed with that it makes tanking more interesting.

Also for the person who said "if people know what theyre doing both tanks wont be in tank stance" well if thats the case theres major issues with either tank stances or the balance of the game.

If tank stance isnt going to be useful for 99% of the content, get rid of it.

[HoodRat]

If tank stance isnt going to be useful for 99% of the content, get rid of it.

Talk with SE about that, not me.

[Sylvina]

Talk with SE about that, not me.

The point I was making was theres a problem when the meta becomes "never use tank stance"

[HoodRat]

The point I was making was theres a problem when the meta becomes "never use tank stance"

The point I was making is the only way to change that is on SE's end.

[Chiramu]

In WoW raids an off tank is needed to pull the adds together so they don't kill the raid. There are not many engagements in FFXIV that do require a second tank for this though. I thought there was a fight that had two bosses, but I think I was just thinking of the Romeo and Juliet Opera encounter of BC Kharazan.

In XIV there does seem little point to have two tanks, it seems more like wasted DPS potential in this game.

[Vanitas]

I can already see it now. Main tank dies 5 seconds before a tank buster, buster kills the Sam, then turns to the whm and cleaves the whole party wipeTASTIC! Off tank could have pulled the boss in those 5 seconds but no off tank so more wipes abound!!

[Chiramu]

I can already see it now. Main tank dies 5 seconds before a tank buster, buster kills the Sam, then turns to the whm and cleaves the whole party wipeTASTIC! Off tank could have pulled the boss in those 5 seconds but no off tank so more wipes abound!!

If there is no off tank then there will be no boss encounters designed for off tanks...

[Vanitas]

So tank busters would be removed. Gotcha.