Sorry my replies aren't being seen.
The Forum Mods have to OK every post I make as like policy to new posters or something. I posted something like 5 days before this one and still hasn't come up. I really don't even know if this one will get seen either.
Regarding distance to get hate, it's 25' when the spell is cast. For kiting, hate moves that do not require you to target the mob are a huge plus because you can start casting outside 25' and just have to make sure the spell goes off 25' or under - you can keep very good distance.
When you deal with hate moves that are on the target mob you're kiting, you have to start casting inside 20' and god knows where the mob will be when it goes off. This is why I feel BLU is an excellent kiter for harder mobs (on the things people actually still kite full time).
Another comment I saw about RDM tanking... RDM tanking is considered a standard tank on many servers. I know it's kind of hard to see things outside your own server, but I guess you'll have to trust me on this one. My server, Odin, actually uses a great deal of RDM tanking. NIN/DRK tanking isn't used quite so much here other than by my own LS (which actually never uses PLD on anything). Different styles but they all work - although each certainly has it's pluses and minuses.
Another thing I'll touch on is the idea that PLD is the "3rd best at hate generation". If you go strictly by the numbers, then yes this is correct. However, I will still say that PLD/NIN is in fact, the best overall, most versatile endgame tank (this coming from someone in a LS that never uses them). My reasoning is that robots don't play this game, human beings do - and we're not perfect (some of us not very skilled either). PLD/NIN is "easier" to play in that you can screw up more and still not die, you are required to perform less actions to maintain a decent amount of hate, and it's incredibly self sufficient.
PLDs make great holders for groups that have to rush to HNMs. There's a PLD on our server that gives us so many headaches because he'll solo claim and hold the craziest shit for like 10-15 minutes (usually Khim). It's really frustrating since we use NINs and they require very good support to function. We still prefer NIN/DRK because when given the right support, you can maintain the TE hate cap (as seen by the enmity #s) more consistently than PLD - actually very easily, which pretty much allows everyone else in the alliance to go brain-dead regarding hate (a plus when you're killing timmy at 5AM).
RDM tanking offers a couple of things PLD and NIN tanking cannot. The general MDB (outside of PLD rampart and maybe an Aegis PLD - this one is close) is much higher than either of the other 2 standard endgame tanks. RDMs are also nice because they can fall back to typical RDM duties and the /NIN sub doesn't really gimp that aspect - so they can tank, or be normal. Some argue that you can't do both at the same time so what's the point? I'd argue that in an ideal world it's no big deal, but when you're in a real LS, being versatile helps. Some LS members only have tank jobs, some only mage jobs. RDM can be both and it's like getting 2 things for the price of 1. For us, we see RDM is a good backup for situations where we're not sure what tanks are going to show up later - one shows up RDM/NIN goes support, one doesn't, goes tank. Other groups will live and die by RDM tanking and take this REALLY far - ideally they have strengths of both PLD and NIN if the person is extremely good. Belkin's LJ is probably the most concise about how to go about it.
Last thing I guess. Some people here and on other forums offer a lot of information from the research Ashira and I have done on this, which is really flattering to me. However, I do not think anyone should make the argument that if you do not understand our testing, then they are a tanking n00b. There are some pretty damn good tanks that either don't know such testing exists or know about it and simply don't give a damn. Conversely there are some really awful tanks I see on my server that have clear knowledge of the system. Sometimes converting things from paper to action can be difficult I guess. I feel that the enmity information is most useful when discussing new tanking ideas or complex strats using hate manipulation - I don't think any of the information is all that useful to well-known tanking schemes like NIN/DRK, PLD/NIN, and RDM/NIN. People knew it worked before it all came out.
h34r:
