Considering Tanking in SB, But Have a Question

[TheArchivis95]

I want to tank in FFXIV, like I do in other MMOs, but my play time can be limited.

I was wondering what queue times can be like? Playing a tank is most fun to me when you're... well, tanking. And if I'm going to spend a lot of time in queues, that could both kill some of the fun for me, as well as make it hard to make any real progress, due to my schedule. Anyone have an answer? I'm praying to Oschon that the answer is that tank queues aren't bad.

[NealSnow]

I want to tank in FFXIV, like I do in other MMOs, but my play time can be limited.

I was wondering what queue times can be like? Playing a tank is most fun to me when you're... well, tanking. And if I'm going to spend a lot of time in queues, that could both kill some of the fun for me, as well as make it hard to make any real progress, due to my schedule. Anyone have an answer? I'm praying to Oschon that the answer is that tank queues aren't bad.

They are atm. Lotta people picking up gunbreaker so healers are in demand atm. Not as long as dps wmques tho

[TheArchivis95]

But that's not a typical thing? Cuz if there's a spike right now, but it dies down soon, that's fine, I can deal with that. I just need to decide which playstyle is best for my schedule and stuff.

[Destatiredux]

Right now, tank queues are somewhere between 5-12 minutes depending on what time you’re playing, at least on my Data Center (Crystal). A new tank came out this expansion and tank mechanics got changed, so there’s a lot of tanks queueing up where before tank queues were practically instant because tanks were the least desirable class to play. So good news, tanks are more accessible; bad news, everyone is rolling one. Lol

[TheArchivis95]

So basically healers are the only role getting into content pretty quickly?

[Muchmidget]

So basically healers are the only role getting into content pretty quickly?

*At the moment, yes.

Give it a couple weeks and the queue times will go back to how they normally are. It varies between the types of content you're trying to do, but tanks usually have instant queues for most things.

[TheArchivis95]

Ah see, that I can deal with. As long as I'm not committing to being a tank in my mind, and then having it be a lot of waiting.

[Senden]

I'm on the Light server cluster and tanking queues have drastically improved in the last 48 hours. Everything is <5 minutes now and even had a few instant queues last night.

[Spartan926]

The Que times are still much shorter than DPS was before SHB, and I would imagine that they won't remain bad. The only time I've had trouble with a Tank Que is for endgame content (specifically some of the 24 man raids, but never in a roulette). As for queue times, it's rarely over 5 minutes which is as low as it will show on the timer. Even with everyone running dungeons as GNB or trying out new mechanics it's super quick and I would encourage you to try it out. That being said, If you've never tanked before I would encourage you to try out either Gladiator or Marauder to learn the basics quickly. DRK is also a decent option if you already know the basics of the game but I wouldn't recommend rushing to the GNB without learning the basics of the tank class.

[whiskeybravo]

24 mans are really the only consistently-longer-than-normal queue times (24 player but only 3 tanks). As others have mentioned, a new tank job was released, along with highly questionable healer changes, so it's been bad recently but should eventually stabilize.

In the bigger picture this game is designed to be accessible for those with limited schedules. There are grindy elements for people who enjoy such, but it's not a main focus of the game. By the time you get level capped it's just a matter of running 1, or a couple of, roulettes 3-4 days a week to max out on weekly currency and what not. Relevant raids you're only allowed 1 drop a week so it's not something you have do constantly (though most drops are RNG based).