Tank homogenization

[IdowhatIwant]

Dark Knight is more of a magic tank with their AOE now being a magic defense up.

Paladin has a different gauge that let's them do different things than warriors.
Warriors is different than Dark knight.
Dark Knight is different from gunbreaker.

Yes, they have tools to mitigate damage, wow, so bad.
But Paladin has a heal, warrior has fell cleave, Gunbreaker gets a regen and Dark knight has... TBN i guess?

Their "Invulns" are completely different too. They all do the "same" thing but Dark knights is absolute garbage and Warrior can't even move.

And why ARE GAP CLOSERS A BAD THING??
They are absolutely not! YOu don't want to be that tank that has to make the add move to you because you slowly have to run up to them again after a pushback, they forcefully move somewhere etc. And Paladin was said tank, it's... really lame to run after Bosses just because you can't get close again fast.

I have played tanks since ARR. I will say Shadowbringers has made every tank feel the exact same.
You can point out these few minor differences like War AOE shield DRK AOE magic defense boost. The do different rotations like every damn class. Problem is they are all the same thing with a different effect and name.

From ARR to SB PLD had damage mitigation and support, while WAR had self healing and HP Buffs, and DRK had your magic damage mitigation as well as some self sustain and support. None of the classes played similarly with War being the power house DPS tank, DRK being your in between tank that works well for magic based fights, and PLD was your high mitigation, high support, low dps tank. WAR had a tank stance that increased its health and decreased its damage, and a dps stance that increased its damage and crit chance. PLD had a tank stance that mitigated damage and a dps stance that gave your auto attacks a double attack. DRK could use both DPS and tank stance at the same time. Each of these had moves there were only available during a certain stance as well. These were unique features of the classes but they were all able to tank equally in different ways. I still remember going in as PLD and healing A1S for anima farming with friends. When I look at GBR and think the only think different is a regen vs a heal and a extra rotation I can go through on CD compared to the above its laughable IMO.

Now the tanks do pretty much the same DPS, have the same cds (with different names or slightly altered effects) and have 0 unique flair. The only exception I would honestly make to this is the PLD with its magic ranged DPS rotation. The whole conversation here is not about gap closers its about each of the tank classes doing the same thing and not feeling like a unique class.

So you can decide if you prefer the cookie cutter model class with different colored flashes we currently have or if you prefer diverse options we previously had.

[Leiron]

Problem is, as a result of diversity there are a lot of balance issues.
I would like to see Warrior return to the stronger self healing tank it used to be, while DRK provided shields at the cost of mana/hp as a means of mitigation.
The issue is making sure this diversity is balanced which is incredibly difficult.

[Bhearil]

Yet they shouldnt burn diversity on the pyre of homogeneization or we get skins instead of new jobs.

FFXI went to the deep end with the flavour and diversity making some classes virtually useless while others were on high demand, but here they are going the other way around HARD, making each expansion jobs more and more similar to the point some are almost the same already *cough* Dark Warrior* cough*with different animations but sharing core gameplay .

At this rate we will have just 5 jobs (Tank, Healer, Melee, Ranged and Caster) with several skins League of Legends style to choose from

[Canadane]

I much prefer XI style to what we have now.

[Masked-dingus]

I have played tanks since ARR. I will say Shadowbringers has made every tank feel the exact same.
You can point out these few minor differences like War AOE shield DRK AOE magic defense boost. The do different rotations like every damn class. Problem is they are all the same thing with a different effect and name.

I mean we are slowly reaching the point where DRK PLD and WAR are just the same tank and the job is just a skin

use your thingy and spam Fell cleave
use your requiescquat and spam your spell
same for DRK

same CD as you said

they just are all a generic tank with different outfit

[Crossu]

I agree with tanks feeling the same because they fulfill the same role and have really similar tools. But I undestand that they had to do that to not have classes being played less.(Why DRK if PLD/WAR is a way better comp)

They could try to make them more like Healers and try to make each one of them excel in something but still make any combination viable. (Which thats another whole can of worms)

But honestly I would like that at least their dps tools were more unique because right now we have: (oversimplified)

PLD/GNB: 1 Combo and 1 Damage Combo (PLD has Requiescat / GNB has Ammunition outside his combo)
WAR/DRK: Manage Gauge until Burst Phase (War is a bit more gauge dependent / DRK has Fray and Mana Skills)

[Jirah]

Imo the only two that are brushing against the H word is DRK and WAR give or take a few skills

[ItMe]

I much prefer XI style to what we have now.

What about 11 did you prefer?

[Jirah]

I much prefer XI style to what we have now.

DO tell...

[Bhearil]

They could try to make them more like Healers and try to make each one of them excel in something but still make any combination viable.

Considering that the healers rework on ShB was generally considered a disaster that made healers almost as scarce as tanks since many left and started playing DPS jobs i really hope they dont go that way with tanks. Hell im actually dreading next expansion what they will do with the new healer job

Healers were also oversimplified to almost brain dead levels, For example, I had a great fun with Astro juggling with the cards even if some cards were better than others, but instead of balancing them they just make everything the exact same, which makes you wonder why bother with the card system at all when it doesnt matter which card you use? Scholar was also castrated a lot, the only one who benefited was WHM and it was because it was on a such poor state before and was the "simple" job that ended better than before.

Balance is not equal to homogeneization, one thing is for all tanks to have a taunt, gap closer, ranged atack, and a invincible skill, but the rest of the kit can and should be different enough to not be like skins of a job called "Tank"