Quote Originally Posted by Lux_Rayna View Post
We probably dont have blm tanks because its hard to DD when your being knocked around. That and they don't exactly have any form of threat control. Defense is definitely not the reason.

For all practical purposes defense doesn't do a whole lot. Anything where a tank is really necessary will still do a crap ton of dmg to you, no matter wth you're wearing. You know, level curve and all that. Thats generally why ppl fret over hp and dmg reduction skills (sent, lunar curtains) rather than their defense. The only time I think its really noticeable is against mobs your level. Anything drastically over your level will curve to kick your ass regardless of how much def you have. And anything worth tanking is drastically over your level, making the whole def thing a bit moot.

As for Bards casting MP song, there's no reason they can't. If a DD can use a weapon skill a Bard can sing a damn song. And if they're worried about taking dmg, derp, thats what Stoneskin is for. The only time I don't song my PLD is if the boss is in zerk mode and I can't afford to get in. But if i've been doing my job the whole time the PLD should have Ballad on at that point anyway. This is especially true now that you can run and cancel casts. I just don't get what bards are afraid of. That stoneskin is there for you to eat some hits. Might as well eat some during a song. And if you want it back prism stoneskin is your friend. Im sure the WHMs will appreciate it.
I disagree with the defense argument. Reason I disagree is because I double stacked teir 3 fire resist on shield and body, useing ifrits weapon, and fire resist jewlry, (now dated) my fire resist was almost 500, even tho the damage I took on ifritst magic attacks was indeed far less, because the physical defense was gimped I still took almost 2k more damage for the same length of time. Ofcourse this was subject to many variable soo we tested it at least a dozen times. each time fire resist worked well with magic damage but the physical attacks raped me hard. After focusing back on Def, my damage parse in a 9 minute fight went down by almost 5k, after i got some double melds on hq gear, increasing both vit and def , damage taken continued to go down.

as far as bards go, I agree, I am currently blessed with a good bard in my static , if i need mp song, he finds a way to get it to me. that being said tho, i still perfer to save holy succor for times where I am having an extreemly hard time keeping hate or the whms are dead and 15 minute ability is used up. Stone skin , by far, offers more hp per mp spent. roughly 1500 hp per stone skin that costs half that of holy succor, and holy succor only gives me roughly 850 hp back, not sure as i dont use it often.