Quote Originally Posted by PangTong View Post
I don't see anything wrong with forcing tanks into tank stance at least sometimes. Making it enmity based doesn't mean it's completely predictable either, as enmity will vary depending on the group. Having to balance damage output with tank responsibilities sounds like a perfectly fine concept for a tanking role to me. If the game ends up in a state where tanking is just a side effect of certain jobs doing their DPS rotation, that's a complete failure to design a tank role.
Enmity is static though. It doesn't matter if I generate 1,000 points or 5,000. So long as I am first, I have sufficiently done my job. Therefore, I cannot optimize it. Mitigation falls into the same issue. If I can survive with Sentinel, the extra mitigation from Shield Oath is utterly useless. There is never a scenario where you need more mitigation unless it's free. This is why Tenacity has largely been ignored despite being the pseudo-tank stat. If stacked you gain an extra 5% mitigation, but when nothing remotely comes close to requiring said mitigation, it's entirely wasted. Hence why people focus on damage.

For example sake, let's use Suzaku EX and apply a rigid Tank Stance requirement. Following her phase transition, I will have an easy enmity lead and can survive Phantom Flurry with Vengeance and Raw. I've achieved my whole as a tank. There is literally nothing else I could or should do in regards to enmity and mitigation. Therefore, if I were arbitrarily forced to sit in Defiance until the swap, my damage is simply being nerfed into the ground for no reason. I'm not being rewarded with more compelling gameplay, which would come in the form of consistent damage and/or struggles with enmity. I'm merely sitting around, waiting for Suzaku to do her tank buster. This is neither fun nor interesting because I can't optimize. Nothing I do will improve the situation. I can't better mitigate her tank buster nor is generating even more enmity necessary. My role, as a tank, is done.

You may say, "Well now you can focus on damage!" Except my damage has been artificially gimped to the point of being irrelevant.

While you may prefer these sorts of restrictions to ensure a more genuine tank experience, I guarantee people will quit in droves, thus defeating the whole purpose. It may feel more "tank-y" but that hardly matters when no one's playing it.