Tank IDENTITY

[Lyth]

Trying to base PLD and WAR's identities rigidly on what they were in 1.x/ARR is an incredibly bad idea, because their design was based on them being the only two tanks ever in existence. It took over an expansion after DRK's release and a lot of complaints from here for it to stop it from being treated as a second-class 'PLD/WAR' hybrid.

Same problem existed with healers, and they still haven't quite gotten over the 'pure/shield' duality of ARR. Not every healer job needs to be designed as a WHM-replacement or a SCH-replacement.

The one feature of WAR that was fairly unique back in ARR/Heavensward that hasn't really seen much exploration since is the relationship between defense and offense. Historically, certain defensive abilities like IR and Vengeance gave you resources, such that it was beneficial to sync up periods where you were tanking with your burst windows.

There's an element of this with IR's knockback prevention, but it would probably make sense if you had some sort of a defensive bonus while in IR, or even something that synergistically boosts your defensives if you use it in the window. It certainly would fit with that 'too angry to die' aesthetic.

They do HP as a resource for DRK in PvP. The HP absorption makes it such that you're not just a drain on your healers. Works differently in single-player games since you control both the healer and the DRK.