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  1. #1
    The Patient
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    Tanking in FFXIV (New Player)

    I am just getting into FFXIV now that there is an EXP boost. I got a PLD to level 32 a while back but I haven't picked it back up since. I did a few dungeons, but I didn't really know too much about what I was doing.

    In WoW, tanking was always my favorite role to play. I felt like I had a general understanding of the way threat worked in that game and it was easy to rotate cooldowns and use abilities to keep myself alive.

    In FFXIV, threat generation seems to be a lot more difficult (or at least it was back then. I just started leveling a rogue to see how I like that). I feel like tanking is harder in this game than it was in WoW.

    I guess my questions are, before I ramble on too much, are the tanks in this game pretty equal? I loved playing DK back in Cata, and I'm wondering if DRK is a decent job at high levels and isn't one where people don't want to take you because it isn't nearly as good as the other tanks? This happened to me in WoW with DH :|.

    Are there any good tanking guides that I can look at to get a better understanding of the role in FFXIV?

    Does tanking in WoW compare at all to tanking in FFXIV?

    Thanks for your time. If there's a thread I missed somewhere, please post it and I will look into that.

  2. #2
    Pandaren Monk Melsiren's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Judic View Post
    I am just getting into FFXIV now that there is an EXP boost. I got a PLD to level 32 a while back but I haven't picked it back up since. I did a few dungeons, but I didn't really know too much about what I was doing.

    In WoW, tanking was always my favorite role to play. I felt like I had a general understanding of the way threat worked in that game and it was easy to rotate cooldowns and use abilities to keep myself alive.

    In FFXIV, threat generation seems to be a lot more difficult (or at least it was back then. I just started leveling a rogue to see how I like that). I feel like tanking is harder in this game than it was in WoW.

    I guess my questions are, before I ramble on too much, are the tanks in this game pretty equal? I loved playing DK back in Cata, and I'm wondering if DRK is a decent job at high levels and isn't one where people don't want to take you because it isn't nearly as good as the other tanks? This happened to me in WoW with DH :|.

    Are there any good tanking guides that I can look at to get a better understanding of the role in FFXIV?

    Does tanking in WoW compare at all to tanking in FFXIV?

    Thanks for your time. If there's a thread I missed somewhere, please post it and I will look into that.
    At level 70 as of right now PLD is the strongest tank in almost every way.

    The issue with FF and tanking has to do with every ones obsession with the Meta, a tank can function well but be worse than the other two and be considered worthless by the over arcing community. I mean there are only 2 tanking positions in a savage raid, so every one sees it as bring the two best out of the three tanks.

    As of right now, PLD is far too strong, DRK is... in an interesting place. Some people hate it, it's dps numbers last time I checked were lower than WAR and PLD by a fair margin. DRK however is very fun and forgiving to play, and something about it in my opinion flows very well at 70.

    WAR is a hot mess right now, it functions well enough but is clunky due to unnecessary punishments to the jobs former identity.

    Honestly we will not know what the general consensus for tanking is until Savage is released, because SE will also be dropping some balance changes at that time.



    Also, most guides I found for FF14 are video guides rather than your standard Icyviens guides. I think we're a little too early on stormblood for guides at this point, you will find the FF14 community is much different than the WoW community in that regard. We do not have a nearly as strong theory crafting community, or a data miner community.
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  3. #3
    Early on, PLD and WAR can have trouble managing threat since they lack tank stances. DRK does better since it was built more to hold AoE threat, but in low-level instances, if DPS laser on a target you're not attacking, they'll pull hate. You might snap it back with Provoke, you might not. You can try marking targets to minimize it, but there will always be those who won't listen.

  4. #4
    The Patient
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ralqadar View Post
    At level 70 as of right now PLD is the strongest tank in almost every way.

    The issue with FF and tanking has to do with every ones obsession with the Meta, a tank can function well but be worse than the other two and be considered worthless by the over arcing community. I mean there are only 2 tanking positions in a savage raid, so every one sees it as bring the two best out of the three tanks.

    As of right now, PLD is far too strong, DRK is... in an interesting place. Some people hate it, it's dps numbers last time I checked were lower than WAR and PLD by a fair margin. DRK however is very fun and forgiving to play, and something about it in my opinion flows very well at 70.

    WAR is a hot mess right now, it functions well enough but is clunky due to unnecessary punishments to the jobs former identity.

    Honestly we will not know what the general consensus for tanking is until Savage is released, because SE will also be dropping some balance changes at that time.



    Also, most guides I found for FF14 are video guides rather than your standard Icyviens guides. I think we're a little too early on stormblood for guides at this point, you will find the FF14 community is much different than the WoW community in that regard. We do not have a nearly as strong theory crafting community, or a data miner community.
    Thanks for the detailed answer.

    I will give PLD a try again. I really enjoyed it but ended up getting into another game at the time. Once I get it up to 50, I'll play around with DRK to see how I feel about that too. Thanks for taking the time to look for some decent guides on tanking. I really appreciate it.

  5. #5
    Like other said and everyone will say its the lack of abilities at lower level. Right now WAR seems to be the weakest in many regards in a complete 180 from HW and now everyone bar us die hard DRK tanks are playing PLD.

    But i'm not giving up my greatsword dammit!

  6. #6
    Brewmaster Karamaru's Avatar
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    As DRK I found out that you really need to look out for for DPS in leveling dungeons since a lot dont use aggro lowering skills looking at you RDM on single targets in a AOE situation.

    And since DRK lost scourge and I cant really rely on salted earth because of its CD in comparison to the PLD since they keep goring blade I wish they made scourge a combo instead of out right removing, but they again we have the blood meter skills wich are a nice addition.

  7. #7
    Deleted
    Regarding this I have a bit of a question. I started playing recently, and have a Marauder. Now I read that a Marauder's job is a Warrior. Is it possible to stay a Marauder or do I 'have' to switch to Warrior?

    Thanks!

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by Waervyn View Post
    Regarding this I have a bit of a question. I started playing recently, and have a Marauder. Now I read that a Marauder's job is a Warrior. Is it possible to stay a Marauder or do I 'have' to switch to Warrior?

    Thanks!
    Yes you have to switch. If you go into later content without your job people will kick you. You get more HP/stats with your job stone and job specific abilities.

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by Waervyn View Post
    Regarding this I have a bit of a question. I started playing recently, and have a Marauder. Now I read that a Marauder's job is a Warrior. Is it possible to stay a Marauder or do I 'have' to switch to Warrior?

    Thanks!
    You can stay as a Marauder, but you will only lose that way (not to mention the abuse you WILL get from other players if you dare to join groups without your Warrior job crystal). Warrior is literally the advanced class with loads of abilities you will need to stay effective.

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by Saradain View Post
    You can stay as a Marauder, but you will only lose that way (not to mention the abuse you WILL get from other players if you dare to join groups without your Warrior job crystal). Warrior is literally the advanced class with loads of abilities you will need to stay effective.
    To be fair you shouldn't be joining groups without a job crystal post 30 imo.

    I still maintain for endgame pieces of content you should have to do your max level job quest.

    So for Praetorium do your 50 one, for ACRF do your 60 one and for Ala Mhigo you do your 70 one. Especially the 70 one since it awards a 290 left side set except belt and will really help for the trial after Ala Mhigo.
    Last edited by Eleccybubb; 2017-07-26 at 09:14 AM.

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by Eleccybubb View Post
    To be fair you shouldn't be joining groups without a job crystal post 30 imo.

    I still maintain for endgame pieces of content you should have to do your max level job quest.

    So for Praetorium do your 50 one, for ACRF do your 60 one and for Ala Mhigo you do your 70 one. Especially the 70 one since it awards a 290 left side set except belt and will really help for the trial after Ala Mhigo.
    But he asked if he CAN stay...Sure he can, but that's like choosing to only cast Blizzard spells as BLM...Not very clever and only hinders your party members

  12. #12
    Deleted
    Thanks for the replies everyone. This is interesting, and maybe a bit disappointing. I thought the jobs were all optional, increasing the amount of choice you have, but it seems like it's mandatory.

    Ah well, switch to Warrior I shall then!

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by Judic View Post
    I will give PLD a try again. I really enjoyed it but ended up getting into another game at the time. Once I get it up to 50, I'll play around with DRK to see how I feel about that too. Thanks for taking the time to look for some decent guides on tanking. I really appreciate it.
    A bit of tanking advice that my friend gave me when I was first leveling paladin:
    In the low levels, when you start the pull, let the enemies get to you, then use Flash three times. It's a boring opener, but it gives you AoE threat to build up and hold them a bit. After that, tanking is a bit like older school WoW - you just want to tab target through the group and hit them with a threat combo. As you get more comfortable, and more tools, you'll start mixing in more "when to threat vs when to dps" options and you'll get another AoE threat ability.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by Eleccybubb View Post
    Yes you have to switch. If you go into later content without your job people will kick you. You get more HP/stats with your job stone and job specific abilities.
    There is one exception my friend told me about....

    He was running 24 man, I think Dun Scaith or Weeping City, and they were on the 2nd or 3rd boss when someone asked the Alliance "Why do we have a pugilist in here? Not a monk, a pugilist."

    Everyone looked to the person not wearing their job crystal to figure out what was wrong with this nutjob. He was dressed appropriately....and his name was Hamon Holyfist.

    Everyone thought it was pretty funny and couldn't bring themselves to admonish him, let alone kick him. He played it up, too.

    I still wouldn't advise it, but still.. amusing story!

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by Judic View Post
    I am just getting into FFXIV now that there is an EXP boost. I got a PLD to level 32 a while back but I haven't picked it back up since. I did a few dungeons, but I didn't really know too much about what I was doing.

    In WoW, tanking was always my favorite role to play. I felt like I had a general understanding of the way threat worked in that game and it was easy to rotate cooldowns and use abilities to keep myself alive.

    In FFXIV, threat generation seems to be a lot more difficult (or at least it was back then. I just started leveling a rogue to see how I like that). I feel like tanking is harder in this game than it was in WoW.

    I guess my questions are, before I ramble on too much, are the tanks in this game pretty equal? I loved playing DK back in Cata, and I'm wondering if DRK is a decent job at high levels and isn't one where people don't want to take you because it isn't nearly as good as the other tanks? This happened to me in WoW with DH :|.

    Are there any good tanking guides that I can look at to get a better understanding of the role in FFXIV?

    Does tanking in WoW compare at all to tanking in FFXIV?

    Thanks for your time. If there's a thread I missed somewhere, please post it and I will look into that.
    There was a recent patch that massively buffed the threat/enmity generation of all of the tank's basic AoE abilities (Flash, Unleash, Overpower), which has gone a long way toward smoothing out tanking, which could be really frustrating for new tank players (especially GLA/PLD). PLD now also gets their tank stance at 30 (previously didn't get it until 40) and not long after, they get an AoE attack that deals damage (at 46, I believe).

    With the 4.05 changes, the only thing I think DRK would even want/need would be a shorter cd on Shadow Wall. The Blackest Night is one of my favorite abilities in the game, and in combination with the buff to Quietus, AoE pulling in dungeons is fun as fuck. You basically become a whirlwind of edginess, lol. Deal a shitload of damage and look great doing it!

    PLD is still the best overall tank, though, but compared to when the OP was posted 2 weeks ago and change, the gap between the tanks has been closed up fairly significantly. I think most bleeding edge progression guilds favor PLD + DRK currently, but for the average player leveling up or in general, that sort of thing is very much irrelevant.

  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by Kazela View Post
    There was a recent patch that massively buffed the threat/enmity generation of all of the tank's basic AoE abilities (Flash, Unleash, Overpower), which has gone a long way toward smoothing out tanking, which could be really frustrating for new tank players (especially GLA/PLD). PLD now also gets their tank stance at 30 (previously didn't get it until 40) and not long after, they get an AoE attack that deals damage (at 46, I believe).

    With the 4.05 changes, the only thing I think DRK would even want/need would be a shorter cd on Shadow Wall. The Blackest Night is one of my favorite abilities in the game, and in combination with the buff to Quietus, AoE pulling in dungeons is fun as fuck. You basically become a whirlwind of edginess, lol. Deal a shitload of damage and look great doing it!

    PLD is still the best overall tank, though, but compared to when the OP was posted 2 weeks ago and change, the gap between the tanks has been closed up fairly significantly. I think most bleeding edge progression guilds favor PLD + DRK currently, but for the average player leveling up or in general, that sort of thing is very much irrelevant.
    I've leveled both PLD and DRK to 70 at this point and am working WAR up there too (so I can finally start getting rid of some gear, the struggle is real with the inventory for me).

    I much preferred leveling PLD because it felt like it had a full kit from 60 on with just some cool stuff added from 60-70. DRK feels incomplete until at least 66 when you finally get a trait that makes Blood Price worth a damn in generating black blood and making Delirium actually make sense, and finally feels like it has a full kit at 70. With the buffs to DRK I find it FAR more fun to play than PLD. I for some reason thought PLD got an AoE spammable damage attack, and was thoroughly disappointed when I didn't because Flash has got to be one of the most unsatisfying to use abilities in the game and Circle of Scorn has such a high recast time making it pretty useless when gathering mobs. My issue is I only play in dungeons, and IMO, DRK just feels better in packs than PLD with Abyssal Drain, Quietus and Salted Earth... it feels pretty badass on bosses too with Bloodspiller.

  16. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by Katchii View Post
    I've leveled both PLD and DRK to 70 at this point and am working WAR up there too (so I can finally start getting rid of some gear, the struggle is real with the inventory for me).

    I much preferred leveling PLD because it felt like it had a full kit from 60 on with just some cool stuff added from 60-70. DRK feels incomplete until at least 66 when you finally get a trait that makes Blood Price worth a damn in generating black blood and making Delirium actually make sense, and finally feels like it has a full kit at 70. With the buffs to DRK I find it FAR more fun to play than PLD. I for some reason thought PLD got an AoE spammable damage attack, and was thoroughly disappointed when I didn't because Flash has got to be one of the most unsatisfying to use abilities in the game and Circle of Scorn has such a high recast time making it pretty useless when gathering mobs. My issue is I only play in dungeons, and IMO, DRK just feels better in packs than PLD with Abyssal Drain, Quietus and Salted Earth... it feels pretty badass on bosses too with Bloodspiller.
    Total Eclipse, level 46; it's not the greatest thing, but it beats spamming flash when you already have a significant threat lead and want to actually help out and deal damage.

    DRK is a mess, imo, until 70; The Blackest Night and the way it synergizes with so many things is just bonkers. Bloodspiller is a fun button simply due to the animation.

  17. #17
    RN, Paladin is in a prime spot as offtank. Now it's a decision on what you want to bring to MT savage. My group is running DRK/PLD for V1/2, and WAR/PLD for V3. We haven't quite yet cleared V3 (7% enrage was our best, so hopefully this week), but it might be a tossup whether I tank Ex-Death as WAR or DRK. I'm sure we'll play through the fight a little bit and figure out how we want to handle the tank busters and find the best tank to accomplish what we want. WAR in V3S just has so many tools to deal with Critical Hit, and Holmgang being on such a short CD makes it so I can entirely shrug off at least half of the tank busters in any given fight.
    Last edited by The Casualty; 2017-07-26 at 05:02 PM.

  18. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by Kazela View Post
    Total Eclipse, level 46; it's not the greatest thing, but it beats spamming flash when you already have a significant threat lead and want to actually help out and deal damage.

    DRK is a mess, imo, until 70; The Blackest Night and the way it synergizes with so many things is just bonkers. Bloodspiller is a fun button simply due to the animation.
    I feel stupid. I even looked for abilities from previous levels because I swore I saw it and I didn't find it. Well...I can be happy now I guess, lol.

    Agreed on DRK. I'm honestly having a little trouble with The Blackest Night (TBN) in most boss situation because the duration is so short I don't get full use of it. But as I learn the fights better I am definitely making better use of it. It's one of those abilities that actually require you to know the fight to take full advantage rather than just popping it when it's available. DRK didn't ever feel like it had something like that before. Defensive cooldowns are a little different because their duration are at least triple what TBN is and you can always benefit from damage mitigation whereas with TBN you really only get full advantage of it if it gets fully used up.

  19. #19
    Ah well, switch to Warrior I shall then!
    Out of curiousity, how does this work now? I have all my crystals (that I'll need any time soon), but... Is it the same as it was before, except you don't need to have the sub-class leveled before you're offered the job quest? Or do they just give you the job crystal now once you reach 30?

  20. #20
    Quote Originally Posted by Aurimas View Post
    Out of curiousity, how does this work now? I have all my crystals (that I'll need any time soon), but... Is it the same as it was before, except you don't need to have the sub-class leveled before you're offered the job quest? Or do they just give you the job crystal now once you reach 30?
    The quest to unlock your advanced job is unlocked by simply hitting level 30 on the class. So upon hitting level 30 on Marauder and completing the level 30 Marauder quest your trainer should then have a quest that is the breadcrumb quest to the Warrior job trainer.

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