Why do tanks have so many skills?

[SpookyGhost]

FFXIV has always been a piano-like game, you have 30+ skills to use on a different occasions and this is what makes this game so good and classes to diverse and interesting to play.

*looks at tanks in ShB*

*looks at this post*

This doesn't add up.

[Ariki]

There is a macro call '/hotbar change #'
# is the number your hotbar u want to change to...

Basic i just use 4 to 5 buttons

[TheForce]

Tanks actually need more skills, especially DRK. They have one single target combo.

[TheForce]

I've only got the PLD at 80, and quite franky I don't mind them removing another 4-5 buttons from the PLD. I literally fill 3 rows of hotbars, with only 2 slots for markers ("1" and "2") and 1 for LB.

I consider this the bare minimum:

• 1 to turn on Iron Will that loves to turn itself off due to level syncs
• 7 role actions: all of them are used regularly
• 7 for core rotation: Fast Blade > Riot Blade > Royal Authority + Goring Blade + Atonement and Total Eclipse > Prominence
• 4 for mana dump: Requiescat > Holy Spirit + Holy Circle > Confiteor
• 2 for utility: Shield Lob + Intervene
• 2 off-GCD for weaving: Spirits Within + Circle of Scorn
• 6 cooldowns: FoF + Sentinel + Sheltron + Hallowed Ground + Divine Veil + Passage of Arms
• 3 others: Clemency, Cover, Intervention

A total of 32 buttons. Add to that Shield Bash, which comes in handy in very situational circumstances, but useful nonetheless, 2 markers, and a LB, and I have 36 buttons, exactly 3 full bars. One could perhaps say this is "perfect". Which it actually is, for me, as I actually do have 36 keybinds all accessible on my left hand without taking my little finger off the Shift key. But I do hope at level 90 they remove a couple of these.

I cannot bring myself to use "I didn't have it on my hotbar" as an excuse to failing a situation that I otherwise could have perfectly handled. I think that's failure not only as a team player, but also as a gamer.

No, the answer to this issue isn't to simply just remove skills. That is absolutely horrible. Do you know how annoying it is grow so accustomed to using a certain skill after having it for years, then having it suddenly ripped away and having to essentially relearn your main job every expac? This approach is the reason why DRK is now so lifeless and barebones now, they just kept on taking, and taking, and taking. What should be done is finding ways to condense multiple skills into one or something along those lines.

For example, instead of outright removing Sole Survivor, SE should've incorporated its healing effect into Delirium.

However for PLD, SE did very well in this regard. Main example being how they removed Bulwark, but just incorporated its effect into Shelltron. That is how things should be.

[Nabian]

While PLD and GNB do have significantly more buttons than DRK and WAR, as a player who uses the crossbar on PC I haven't had any issues with placing on the buttons I need on the 2.5 crossbars. You can also try using locking noncombat bars for things like your mount that lock during combat.

[ErryK]

You can fit all tank skills across three hotbars, Paladin used as an example. We do not need the PvP system built into the standard PvE kit. White Mage uses three hotbars, so I don't know why you're saying you're having to run back to it.

[monoptic]

I agree that we don't need the PVP system built in to the PVE kit, but I would also argue that they could be smarter about the use of traits to modify skills under certain conditions. Like Royal Authority / Atonement, for instance - you'd never want to use RA under Sword Oath, so would it be so bad to have the RA button change to Atonement only when Sword Oath stacks are active? They already do this with stuff like Raiden Thrust and Inner Chaos / Chaotic Cyclone.

You could make similar arguments for merging Shelltron / Intervention and Requiescat / Confiteor.

[Raldo]

We do not need the PvP system built into the standard PvE kit.

While I agree that we do not NEED the system used in PvP, you cannot deny that it would go a long way toward helping some people setup their hotbars, so long as it was optional.

I really enjoyed your PLD hotbar that you shared. 3 blank slots, and yet I noticed it was missing any and all generic stuff. No sprint, no limit break, no duty action, no mount, no consumables. Personally, of that list, I only keep limit break and sprint on my bars full time, but occasionally I'll drop in a regen potion (eureka / hoh / potd) or duty action if appropriate, and oh look we've reached the capacity of 3 hotbars. Now, if you add onto that the fact that you're likely to want your role actions (and similar job actions) in the same spot across all jobs, you're either left with a weird layout for your other tanks, or you're left with the same skills in different places when you swap jobs.

[Rhyn]

FFXIV's method of making things challenging is basically to give you a ton of buttons to press, and make you press them in the right order (rotation) while not getting hit by telegraphs. Nowadays most games have moved away from filling multiple hotbars with skills. FFXIV 2 or FFXVII or whatever would probably take a more modern approach instead of taking inspiration from early WoW.

That being said, tanking and healing is easier on the button combos than dps. Tanks usually have a damage combo + buff/dot combo + an aoe combo + some form of gimmick (IR fell cleave spam etc) + a bunch of cooldowns. It's easier than it sounds.

[Genbe197]

I use around 32 buttons for every classes. Most of the extra buttons are always cool downs or barely used stuff like shirk. Like gab it’s combos/gap closer/heal all fit into the 16 button bar. The rest are cool downs so I don’t understand your problem. It’s be very boring if a combo was one button like than red or pvp. I don’t want to press x x x x x x x x x x. Maybe Rdm or dnc is more for you even then they also have cool downs that go beyond 16 buttons.