Reasonable buff to war

[Shurrikhan]

My response was to a post about job identity, part of which is a job's lore and the nature of its abilities beyond just their numbers. Part of their reasoning for warriors deserving to be top DPS was that they carry a giant axe. If having a giant axe qualifies as a valid argument, then I would posit that pointing out the job's lack of aetherial manipulation as compared to the other tanks should be a permissible counterpoint. I am unsure as to why that poster believed their possession of a giant axe justified giving them higher DPS than the other tanks, however. Regardless, my response to them was largely tongue-in-cheek, as there is no valid justification for giving warriors higher damage than the other tanks with current design accounted for, particularly if we consider that GNB exists.

In any case, to reply to the rest of the thread: I do not feel that warriors are currently disadvantaged. They just aren't the dominating force they were before. The other tanks certainly deserve their chance to shine, and the excellent balance SE has struck between them at this point in the game has provided just such an opportunity.

Ahh, I see. Sorry I missed the (deserved) off-handedness of the response.

Personally, if there were other things at nearly the value of rDPS, I wouldn't mind seeing Warrior be the "skipped utility; more wham-wham" tank. But I also think it'd waste opportunities that'd be at least as interesting in the form of Warcry-type raid utilities or the like, as its own answer to the utility capacity of other tanks alongside its similarly equal damage.

Nonetheless, I agree that as things stand now, there is neither space nor reason for an intentionally "lead rDPS" tank, exactly. I'd also agree that number-wise, WAR's position is nearly fine. There are some parts of its internal balance and significant losses to its iconic capacities (e.g. lifesteal, which it specialized in prior to DRK) that I'd love to see patched, but that's a separate issue. I'd also personally prefer that GNB had just a bit more utility in place of a smidgen of its damage. Heck, I'd prefer that DRK's Living Shadow was a bit more responsive and Blood Weapon effectively lasted almost a half-second longer -- which might well be enough to push it up to PLD and GNB already, despite arguably having the most OT APS/HPS of the bunch (which might make it then be a tad too powerful, in which case I'd be fine with a 20% TBN, as that'd also be more future-proofed against future issues by which it'd be near impossible to pop in certain dungeons). But for the most part I'm pretty happy with tank balance this time around.

[Absimiliard]

Snip

No worries. I may not have made the intended sarcasm clear enough. A consequence of writing the post while exhausted, perhaps.

Anywho, I'm inclined to agree with you; both about WAR probably needing minor tweaks insofar as its internal balance and iconic abilities go and about DRK's God awful blood weapon window. The former could do with having a bit of its individuality restored, if nothing else. The good news is that WAR's stat scaling is usually quite good. There's no telling what their DPS will be compared to the other tanks as the expansion carries forward, but I'd wager it'll at least end up on par with PLD in terms of overall damage output. Poor balancing in the past allowed it to become godlike compared to the other tanks, but that probably (and rightfully) will not be the case this time. SE did a good job.

Not everyone can be picked.

The difference between tanks is so minute this time around that what differences in performance they DO have should really only matter to people racing for world firsts. For everyone else, any tank is perfectly fine. They're all more than just "viable" this time. And what's more, the two tanks whose damage is on the slightly lower end compensate for it by having hilarious amounts of durability.