Next expansion, please make PLD optimal MT and WAR optimal OT

[Mithron]

This has always bothered me on a deeply fundamental level. PLDs should be MT'ng, even more so in proper difficult content. Using a shield to protect your allies, being the epitome of MT. I think most people start this game who want to main PLD have this kind of fantasy in mind. Same with WAR: big berserkers who throw caution to the wind and focus more on damage than tanking. They should be the best designated off tank.

Please, make sure this happens in the next expansion. Make sure PLD is always the optimal MT and WAR is the optimal OT. DRK will fit perfectly inbetween both, and be MT with a WAR OT or OT with a PLD MT.

[Deathgiver]

What are MT and OT? Optimal play involves both tanking, either through adds or tank swaps.

[kidalutz]

Main tank and Off Tank I rather think the OP may be off thier meds considering all 3 tank classes can MT and OT if played properly.

[whiskeybravo]

Yea I don't really get this either. Some will disagree with my generalization, but from ARR to up to early-Stromblood I've always raided with PLD MT. IMO they were always the defacto MT, so if anything PLD is simply sharing the spotlight now. Early on in Stormblood my PLD co-tank was playing MT until we found how much better it was for me to WAR MT. Even then we shared responsibilities. I fully main tanked o1s and o4s, but since we had already established CD rotation and positioning in o2s and o3s I pulled and then we just swapped after openers.

At any rate, I believe it's more of a player trend than something the devs were consciously aware of. The top-end players will pick whichever is the most efficient and it will trickle down to the community from there, doesn't really matter what the devs do.

[TouchandFeel]

I have two issues with what you have presented.

First is the main argument presented that jobs should be optimized to fit into sub-roles, Main Tank and Off Tank. All that does is pigeonhole players into playing specific jobs depending on whether they prefer to OT or MT, ultimately limiting player choice and with only 3 tank classes to currently choose from we need all the choice and variety we can get with what little there is.
All tank jobs should be able to shine as MT or OT, relying on different game-play styles to shape how they achieve that.

Second, making DRK the "inbetween" tank just results in it being sub-optimal in both roles which would be terrible for the job. WAR would be a better OT and PLD would be a better MT. Sure, DRK would be a better MT than a WAR and a better OT than a PLD, but that really wouldn't matter when the optimal thing to do would be to bring a PLD as MT and a WAR as OT, resulting in DRK just being left out since it would not be optimal for anything.

Besides as others have pointed out, it's best to not have a dedicated MT and OT and to switch off to best utilize the cooldowns and abilities of both the tanks.

[OcieKo]

To me DRK always seemed like the best OT for (multiple) adds during a boss fight, a method FFXIV doesnt really use, sure you can think of boss fights with adds, but now count out any of them where the boss is untargetable during the add phases, any where the adds cant be tanked, any with just one add, any where the add is just the method of the bosses raid dmg prevention, and you get to see where things DRK could excel at with its current toolkit dwindle.

And I think what the OP is noticing is that this game follows the modern trend of heavily disregarding defense. As with many games the kill it faster mantra is prevalent. And the playerbase seem to take issue with people who play optimising defense and surviving the encounter, even if the players doing it are only the tanks and healers.

[Mithron]

I want to make it clear that I want all three tanks to be viable at both roles, but I don't want WAR to be optimal MT and PLD to be optimal OT any more. That needs to stop.

[ManuelBravo]

Experience can vary and all 3 can out class others in certain situations based on gear and player experience. I main DRK, however PLD is my alternate and War only use it if I'm bored or relic related. Depending on what I will be tanking, PLD may be used as my main.
It works fine for MT and even if it does not do much damage as the other two I still consider it efficient to keep hate compare to other two. I Just like DRk as happy medium.

[whiskeybravo]

I want to make it clear that I want all three tanks to be viable at both roles, but I don't want WAR to be optimal MT and PLD to be optimal OT any more. That needs to stop.

All 3 tanks are viable at both roles right now. There is always going to be an optimal and non-optimal selection depending on encounter design.

[ShanaMia]

MT/OT as an "MT tanks the boss the entire fight while OT handles other mechanics" paradigm is a really old and ineffective way of approaching fights. When considering efficient play, both tanks would be in their DPS stances and you'd swap either to handle mechanics and/or so that you can more aggressively use the CDs on both tanks. This is due to how strong our defensive cooldowns are and how XIV's fights are largely timeline scripted. With the latter especially, there's no reason to maintain the MT/OT model where one tank is always CD-starved while the other is pretty much wasting theirs by not using them, as you can plan everything around the fight timeline. The only thing that remains is that WAR is the best tank to pull with because of Unchained and because there's no cost to swap to Deliverance. This isn't going to change unless WAR gets a penalty attached to stance-dancing, but that was already something they did away with after it was poorly accepted on SB release.