Please Reconsider Splitting Main and Off-Tank Roles Based on Job

[Atreus]

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2755929682?t=07h58m57s

[Carighan]

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2755929682?t=07h58m57s

Get out of here with your actual information! We want to speculate based off of nothing and doomchant a bit! :P

[Mukuku]

Get out of here with your actual information! We want to speculate based off of nothing and doomchant a bit! :P

Because it would be the first time that the devs' intent would not translate to reality, right?

Now to put some more fuel into the discussion... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2R1sHOWvQU

[Carighan]

Really?

Reply to post about actual dev information. Link to something by Xeno.

Or do you mean to imply that because Xeno, someone whose job it is to generate clicks for money, says something, there's a solid reason that it's inherently wrong? And hence there isn't really problem, only a problem with the discussion around it (since he can exploit it for money)?

[Mukuku]

Replies to post about actual dev information. Links to something by Xeno. Get out of here with that bumbling nothing of an influencer void, if your source is Xeno that never passes the smell test, no matter what it is about.

Are you arguing that dev's intent never missed the mark in the past? OK thank you for getting back to reality.

About the video, you might not like the messenger, but that doesn't mean the message is wrong.

[Terhix]

About the video, you might not like the messenger, but that doesn't mean the message is wrong.

On his own stream his own friends explain to him that, just as barrier healers have shields that don't stack, whatever they do with OTs (debuffs or raid mits) won't stack with another OT, because duh obviously, and his only response is "I guess I just don't have faith". He doesn't have an argument on why the split is bad beyond being a doomer about the game, but he also said that if they get it right "we will be celebrating", almost as if it's a good idea.

[Lyth]

Now to put some more fuel into the discussion...

This video makes valid points, most of which is probably just common sense for someone who has played the game and focused on tanking for 10+ years, as in his case.

There's actually a bit more to the story on strength accessories. In ARR and Heavensward, tanks prioritized STR over VIT by either using accessories designed for melee DPS or by using STR materia pentamelds. To convince tanks to boost their HP, the dev team initially played around with VIT as a damage stat in late Heavensward, before deciding to force tanks into it by role locking them into VIT accessories without any STR on Stormblood's release. They felt that by doing so, tanks would then focus on 'tanking' as opposed to doing damage.

When players complained about the change, they were given buffs to enmity instead and the complaints were sidestepped as being 'about enmity' rather than 'damage'. After all, this is how they intended players to play the game now. Players then went back to their i270 STR accessories from the Alexander raid series, which were not role locked, and proceeded to tank with minimal health to maximize their damage output. When players flat out ignored the forced gameplay change, the dev team then had to compromise by adding STR progression back on to tank gear. This is a recurring theme through this game's history. When the devs are overly prescriptive about how we play, it usually backfires.

Part of listening to your playerbase comes down to observing how players are actually playing the game and actually adapting changes to fit them. There are a lot of tanks and healers at all skill levels out there who are actually interested in maximising damage, because it gives you something further to optimise and improve on. So you can expect that if counterattack procs are available, people will be standing in avoidable damage just to squeeze in extra damage. You can expect even the most casual of players to start arguing over who gets to tank and can benefit over the extra procs. You can probably already imagine what a nuisance 8p and 24p roulettes will be due to the constant toxic infighting between having multiple 'main tanks' who 'need' to get those counterattack procs.

On the coordinated side, you'll see organised groups testing out if they can get away with a solo MT and locking out OT, or alternatively trying to run double OT and locking out the MT slot.

There are solutions out there. LB penalty/subrole locks have been discussed but tanks are relatively rare. If you have an LB subrole penalty, DF will also be forced to always match one of each, which will increase queue times for casual content. You can apply damage down penalties for trying to proc counters off of avoidable damage, but then players will just min-max off of the ones that don't have damage down attached.

But I'd feel more confident about solutions, if I knew that they acknowledged the potential problems to begin with.