MT/OT split is unnecessary.

[AlliciaCapulet]

As it was for the healer, but here we are.

[Flick]

Gotta wait for more details but I imagine you will still be able to use any tank comp. I think a MT will benefit in some way from taking auto attacks and and OT won't, like the paladin counter attack that they showcased. They could go down the route where MTs mitigate more damage than OT's but I don't think they will.

[SalamanderIX]

One video I saw suggested, if the Main Tank is rewarded for taking damage (Paladin's counter attack), perhaps the Off Tank was rewarded for mitigating damage (Dark Knight's TBN as it is right now). Looking at it this way, the descriptions are much less vague and quite literally exactly what the sub-roles are.

Say each OT has an ability like TBN, which isn't just a net neutral but a positive, but then we could add something like Warrior's old Storm's path to that as well (We also can't be sure if Paladin really still has reprisal, or if they just left it there because it was a demo), as a blanket damage reduction. Then this would fit the profile of "skilled at lowering damage taken by allies + actions to lower enemy damage".

Then, looking at the split further, the Main Tain is described as "Skilled at taking direct damage", this is already in Paladin's inherit ability with their shield. They take less damage than others just by holding one. the other part "actions to counter enemy attacks", which explains itself.
If we take these roles to be exclusive as to each other, Then the Maintank can indeed counter attack off somebody elses hit, but they won't be able to do it as frequently as when they are the target of attacks. So they *could* offtank. As for the offtank, their "damage reduction" could be non-stacking with the other offtanks, and their ability to mitigate damage and be rewarded in the main tank role, but they lack the "skill at taking direct damage", conversely, the maintank wastes that trait. These wouldn't make either type bad reversing their roles or doubling them up, just potentially less ideal, as less damage would be reduced overall.

[Mikey_R]

Surely they did not meant to lock certain jobs to certain roles only, that would be pretty stupid, I'm more expecting "offtank stance" type thing

No, just like healers, Paladin and the new tank are going to be 'Main Tanks' and Warrior, Dark Knight and Gunbreaker are going to be 'Off Tanks'. What that exactly means for the kits, we do not know, but they aren't going to be having stances to swap between the 2.

Gotta wait for more details but I imagine you will still be able to use any tank comp. I think a MT will benefit in some way from taking auto attacks and and OT won't, like the paladin counter attack that they showcased. They could go down the route where MTs mitigate more damage than OT's but I don't think they will.

Technically, Paladin already does mitigate more damage, not only from their shield, but their 40%, Guardian, is arguably the best cooldown for mitigating damage (not counting the invulns). Yet, people do not take that into account when they choose jobs to take into content. This could be the extent of what they mean when they say 'better at taking damage'. Technically, they are, whether it makes a major impact, we will have to wait and see.

[ForsakenRoe]

Technically, Paladin already does mitigate more damage, not only from their shield, but their 40%, Guardian, is arguably the best cooldown for mitigating damage (not counting the invulns). Yet, people do not take that into account when they choose jobs to take into content. This could be the extent of what they mean when they say 'better at taking damage'. Technically, they are, whether it makes a major impact, we will have to wait and see.

It is possible that the OT's mit kits are tuned to be roughly equal to their current forms (so that they can still clear older content like Ultimates etc), and the MTs going forward have kits that are even stronger for personal mitigation.

For example, PLD was the original source of Rampart. Maybe they get a trait that bumps it's CD down further than an OT, maybe Sheltron is stronger than any of the OT's equivalent (it's already way stronger than Bloodwhetting, for example), maybe Guardian and the new MT's Guardian equivalent become 50% instead of the 40% of the others, etc

Conversely, the OTs would presumably get more benefits to their 'support tools' compared to an MT. For example, Veil on PLD might be a 90s CD and POA a 2min, like currently, but Shake It Off/Dark Missionary/Heart Of Light could drop to a 60s CD, or bet an increase in potency. The 'shareable' actions, Nascent Flash/Oblation (or maybe even TBN), Heart of Corundum, could see some bonus effect that makes them more appealing to use on an ally, for example, Heart of Corundom currently transfers Brutal Shell if you have it, maybe it gets a trait that makes it so that it always gives Brutal Shell, even if you don't have it active? Oblation might grant a TBN automatically without MP cost (making good timing of it on an ally a DPS increase), Nascent Flash already results in twice the HPS if you use it on an ally instead of BW on yourself, but perhaps it could be reworked to refresh the 'Stem the Tide' initial 400p barrier with each strike too?

But again, all of this could have been answered if SE gave us a demo of one of the OTs too, to illustrate the differences between MT and OT


edit: The three OTs are the three Tanks with the shortest (relatively speaking) CDs on their Invulns, PLD's is the longest at 7min. Even before considering that CDs could be changed, I wonder if the OT gameplay is intended to move away from what it often is currently, where you 'take the boss, eat the TB, then hold the boss until about 5s before the next TB starts to cast', and more towards 'you are VERY good at taking the boss for a short duration, but not so good at dealing with continuous strikes, so you tag in to take a TB (by abusing your shorter, relative to the MT, Invuln CD), then immediately pass it back to the MT as they're better at 'sustained damage mitigation' thanks to, for example, PLD being able to Block'

I remember for a long time in SB, WAR's 3min CD on Holmgang let them take three out of the five TBs in certain fights (the one that comes straight to mind is Kefka). But even after the CD got increased to 4min, it still happened again in M3S, WAR could take three of the five TBs. Perhaps, the OT role is going to move towards that (taking 3/5 TBs in a fight) being less a WAR-specific thing, and more a subrole-wide thing for OTs to distinguish themselves from the MTs? Perhaps the Invuln CDs could be adjusted, such that all OTs can do such a thing, but WAR remains the shortest CD (EG, GNB is 240s, DRK's is 210s, WAR goes back to 180s)? Or maybe it gets even shorter? Would things break if WAR's Holmgang were a 2min CD, given that it doesn't actually prevent them from taking damage (just prevents them from losing their last HP)?

[Calysto]

Msq lore :
3.0 - battle trained (beloved) knight and his shield get obliterated by an energy needle thrown by the pope -> main-tank (and enjoy the CS)
7.0 - fledgling (annoying) noble lady running on preschooler ethics parry the embodiment of a world twenty time her size with her axe -> off-tank

accurate SE consistency