I'm a level 67 paladin... Who does not know how to tank.

[WaterShield]

It's not so much that I don't know how to tank. It's more like, I don't understand it.

Seriously... In dungeons, 40% of the time people are neutral about me, 30% they love me, and 30% think I'm garbage. For example, these past few days I've spammed that Shisui of the Violet Tides dungeon about a dozen times. The first 11 times I got a bunch of commendations. And the last one, one of the players said the following...

You... (dramatic pause) ... are garbage.

Here's my basic formula for drawing aggro...

Move forward. Once the monsters are close, I use flash twice, and then fight.

Here's my formula if it's a boss...

Move forward. Once the boss is close, I use that ability, whatever its called (the one that supposedly puts you on top of its enmity list or something), and then use flash twice.

90% of the time I draw aggro successfully. But for some reason, the rare times I fail, I get scolded severely by the other players.

I don't understand. Why the inconsistency in people's view of me as a tank? If I suck, I should suck all the time. But no. Whenever I get complimented, I get insulted as well. It's really bugging me.

I never use that ranged shield attack and I never use that weak-butt rotation that increases enmity. I've gone this far without them and I prefer to keep it that way.

What are your thoughts about my confusion?

Thanks.

There's one thing that you're wrong about. Most of what you said is good and helpful, and I thank you for that. But you're wrong about one thing.

Any community, whether online or offline, social or business, needs an egomaniacal leader. History will tell you this as well, not just me. The greatest military leader of all time, surpassing Caesar and Alexander, is Napoleon Bonaparte. He's my childhood hero. He wasn't a perfect man but his ego knows no bounds. Yet despite his ego, he was well-loved by his own soldiers. They remained loyal to the bitter end, even after his one-year abdication to Elba. His secret? Well, that's a lot of things. It's complicated. But the point is, his ego drove him to greatness. I have a fondness for the man because I'm the same way. And my experience tells me that greatness in leadership is not gained through purely morally upright motivations, but through sheer willpower and arrogance. The secret is to learn how to hide this arrogance when it counts, and flaunt it when the time to show-off is ripe.

You're talking to someone who have earned over 30 million gil throughout his 7 months of playing, half of which were gained by socializing alone. That's 15 million gil gained through sheer social skills. And wanna know something else? Before buying my FC house, I had 200k gil. I went to the house plot and hustled a nearby player who eventually gave me enough to get the plot for myself.

I created this thread to get practical advice, NOT to be sermoned to become a kinder, "purer", morally-upright person. My intentions for my FC is for my own benefit. But who cares? I'm forced to do things for others' benefit as well, so no harm done.

Can't you just use your social skills to get other people to run dungeons with you instead of randoms? That way you never have to worry about getting people in there with you who will dislike your play style.