When did WAR get to be not a good tank anymore?

B

Boaz

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Joined
Jun 21, 2004
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26
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RI
As a few of you know, I've been a WAR almost all my time in the game, and I've always loved tanking. Always great equip, food, good at holding hate. I take my job seriously. But, I took a few weeks off to farm a month or so ago at lvl 34 so I could get the Bastok +VIT +DEX armor,and when I got back to levelling, it seems nobody wants me as a tank anymore.

I know a Paladin can take hits a little better, and a good NIN can almost never get hit, but every party I've been in since 34 completely looks me over as a tank. I always hear "Okay, now we need a PLD" in parties. I'm not bitching about it, just wondering if any of the higher levels think there's any use for a WAR tank after mid-30's (I'm currently 39), or should I just give it up and gear my stats towards dealing damage?
 
38 war, still tanking. The new level 29 WAR/PLD (aka eisen/kampf) set has renewed my idea of WAR tanking. I discovered that WAR/MNK has a lot of tools for hate, and no need to worry about medding for mp. The only problem is that Warcry, Berserk, and Dodge have slightly long recast times so I can use them only once in a chain, about.

Not one person in my parties have complained at all about my tank ability, so I assume i'm doing it above average. On crawlers, I never even really needed to use defender from about 36 on...

I did surprisingly okay damage with 1h axe/shield and I skillchained as best I could (only thing I could dish out with the other war in my parties was Raging Axe -> SA Sturmwind = Reverberation)

I originally had just wanted to play WAR until 37 so I could get the sub maxed out for my PLD, but now i'm considering taking it 50+ if I can. Wonder how long WAR/MNK will hold up in later parties.
 
My intentions are NOT to hijack the thread but I will
deviate from the subject slightly.

Tanking: I don't have a problem with becoming
a second best Tank or DD. I like being versatile
enought to do both. There are some situations
where I have been able to keep and hold hate
off of a PLD (not many times though). Those times
were not intentional, as I am trying to allow the PLD
to do his job. With <warcry> <boost>, the mob
starts to generate a slight dislike for the war. HEH!

I plan on taking WAR to about lvl60 to make life
in Vanadiel easier for me. I thought my true passion
would be SAM; and I think it still is, but I am loving
WAR MUCH more than I thought I would.

Other topic: Where are all the wars???
It is a little disappointing. I did a "sea all WAR" and
didn't find very many. Plus, not many were past
lvl30. <congratulations!> that you are at or beyond
39.
 
I tank for my static. I was war/mnk all the way up to 45, then I gave war/nin a try. I like it a lot (so does my static), but I don't believe that it is necessarily any better or worse for tanking than war/mnk.

The greatest strength of the WAR job is its versatility. If you don't have a static, and thus no role defined on a permanent basis, you can be a top notch tank OR a top notch damage dealer. You just need 2 sets of gear and the appropriate subs lvl'd.
 
Duffman said:
Other topic: Where are all the wars???
It is a little disappointing. I did a "sea all WAR" and
didn't find very many. Plus, not many were past
lvl30. <congratulations!> that you are at or beyond
39.
Click to expand...

I would've been there, but Optimum Online is currently screwing me.
 
In the higher levels, WAR is mainly for damage dealing. Also, some people don't want WAR/MNK becasue their WHM is too lazy to heal more often (that isn't always the case, but it does make it easier for them). I tanked a few nights ago, and it was a pain. I couldn't get enough hate on the mob to tank it properly. I'd like to get some more ninjutsu tools to cast more spells for hate, but some of those are damned expensive.
 
Once PLD and NIN become good tanks at certain levels (not sure which for each) a party is always, always, always going to choose one of them over a WAR.

Depending on what you fight, the order will be PLD. NIN, WAR or NIN, PLD, WAR.

Yes, WAR can be a good tank, but other jobs can do it better. I know I will personally always pick a PLD over NIN. But if none are available I will go with a WAR.

-Ham :shock:
 
SJ ninja is a must really, altough it could work for you and SJ MNK, oh and also what makes me mad abou alot of war's, PLEASE USE BOOST EVERY 10 SECONDS. Not only does it make your attack stronger, but it creates even more hate ^^
 
xKronox said:
SJ ninja is a must really, altough it could work for you and SJ MNK, oh and also what makes me mad abou alot of war's, PLEASE USE BOOST EVERY 10 SECONDS. Not only does it make your attack stronger, but it creates even more hate ^^
Click to expand...

Boost recast is 15 seconds. 2 boost = 1 provoke, which makes timing provoke very efficient.
 
Sorry to tell you this, but you will need ninja subjob if you want to tank at higher levels. War/Mnk is just a MP sink. Even warrior/ninja are 3rd rate tanks until Lv74 (no flames intended). At Lv 74, with Utsusemi: Ni, Warrior are awesome tanks. However, if you are blink tanking... why not just play ninja?
 
Well, I've been leveling up my WAR with a THF sub, and most players get the -hint- that I'm intending to do damage, however, I also get asked to tank. Sometimes it bothers me when I'm brought on board, people don't detail that they expect me to tank, and so I usually have to hop off choco at that point/ run back to Jeuno to change subs to MNK (I also have NIN availble, but Axe skill is lagging behind just a little bit... that will change this week) so I can properly tank! However, I disagree that people don't look for WAR tanks. I have a reputation as a good player that gets the job done no matter what job, and I've proved myself as a very solid tank so far... I need to level that axe skill though so I can sub NIN and don't be ashamed of WHIFF WHIFF WHIFF HIT for 10!

WAR is all about versatility... how well a WAR can tank is a lot more dependant on player skill than PLD tanking is. I'd say it's about on par, skill-wise, with NIN, but my NIN's only 24 so I don't have THAT much experience with Blink Tanking.

Boaz, that's kinda odd that you haven't been getting invites! I thought people would keep balking at a chance to take on a WAR, especially a Tarutaru! But I keep getting requests to party without seek tag up, with about 3/4 of the time to be a damage dealer, not a tanker. I guess it's all in luck and when you log in. :)
 
Wow, thanks for the help everyone, and the support too. I've already been moving my gear towards versatility (Fish and Meat Mithkabobs, Courage Rings in inv. next), so I guess I'll just have to try to get away with both, depending on the party situation.

xKronox, as ashamed as I am to say it, I never knew Boost itself drew hate before this. I always assumed it drew a *tiny* bit of hate, due to the extra damage of the next attack, but I never knew the ability itself drew any hate. I always just stacked it before the next mob, because I figured I attack slow enough with my GAXE anyway, I didn't need Boost taking up even more time. This should help in the event I'm tanking, thanks a bunch

Runey: I didn't complain about invites, I've been getting a ton of them, even without my flag up. Problem is, none of them even considered me for a tank, which made ME balk :P Looks like I've got to go lvl up THF now. Thanks again guys!
 
boost is every 15 seconds? hmm, sorry havent leveled up war or mnk in ages, and yea about subbing war / nin instead of nin / war i think is for two small axes, more about damaging purposes, ^^;. thanks for correcting me about the boost, though.

Good luck with thf, boaz, if i had the time and effort i would love to level thf to atleast lv45, and thf is incedibly fustration with all the players who refused to learn or understand about blink tanking,
 
Boaz said:
Wow, thanks for the help everyone, and the support too. I've already been moving my gear towards versatility (Fish and Meat Mithkabobs, Courage Rings in inv. next), so I guess I'll just have to try to get away with both, depending on the party situation.

xKronox, as ashamed as I am to say it, I never knew Boost itself drew hate before this. I always assumed it drew a *tiny* bit of hate, due to the extra damage of the next attack, but I never knew the ability itself drew any hate. I always just stacked it before the next mob, because I figured I attack slow enough with my GAXE anyway, I didn't need Boost taking up even more time. This should help in the event I'm tanking, thanks a bunch

Runey: I didn't complain about invites, I've been getting a ton of them, even without my flag up. Problem is, none of them even considered me for a tank, which made ME balk :P Looks like I've got to go lvl up THF now. Thanks again guys!
Click to expand...


Just a little note here: About boosting before an attack, keep in mind that when you use any skill while waiting for your next attack, it stops the delay timer for your next attack until that skill's animation is over. It just makes your next attack slower. Try stacking boosts in-between pulls if you aren't tanking.

In my opinion, WAR/MNK may not be as godly as WAR/NIN in the endgame, but you can keep hate just as well/if not easier than NIN, and you don't have to spend money doing so.
 
no you can perfectly time boost, two attacks, boost, two attacks, boost, and you MISS THE WHOLE POINT, we are talking about creating hate DURING battle....... please read the other posts b4 posting thankyou....
 
xKronox said:
no you can perfectly time boost, two attacks, boost, two attacks, boost, and you MISS THE WHOLE POINT, we are talking about creating hate DURING battle....... please read the other posts b4 posting thankyou....
Click to expand...

ANY animation you make when waiting for your next attack delays your next attack. I'm 100% sure of that. You also misread what I said, it was a suggestion if you weren't tanking. You should be able to attack at least 4 times in that 15 seconds without boost, and you shouldn't be really tanking with G.Axe anyway.

I think you're the one that's getting stale, here. :(
 
Boaz said:
Wow, thanks for the help everyone, and the support too. I've already been moving my gear towards versatility (Fish and Meat Mithkabobs, Courage Rings in inv. next), so I guess I'll just have to try to get away with both, depending on the party situation.

xKronox, as ashamed as I am to say it, I never knew Boost itself drew hate before this. I always assumed it drew a *tiny* bit of hate, due to the extra damage of the next attack, but I never knew the ability itself drew any hate. I always just stacked it before the next mob, because I figured I attack slow enough with my GAXE anyway, I didn't need Boost taking up even more time. This should help in the event I'm tanking, thanks a bunch

Runey: I didn't complain about invites, I've been getting a ton of them, even without my flag up. Problem is, none of them even considered me for a tank, which made ME balk :P Looks like I've got to go lvl up THF now. Thanks again guys!
Click to expand...

xKronox said:
G.Axe is warriors best weapon, and what does it have to do with tanking?
Click to expand...

I was adding that if you want to be versatile and not tank, but use g.axe, don't use boost during a battle.
 
Well well well, you guys cetainly raised some questions in my mind! I was planning on leveling my WAR all the way, while trying different subjobs for different situation. Not so sure about that anymore. Right now, I am only 25 War/Mnk, but with full chain gear and Battle Axe+Decurion shield. I never had any complaint about my tanking, only positive comments actually. I usually manage to keep hate during the whole fight, but maybe it's harder to do so at higher level.

Anyway, I think there are some advantage of using a War as a tank (Double Attack + Counter Attack stacks for 150 dmg at my level).

One final though. I red hear that WHM don't want WAR/MNK as tanks because it's harder for them to keep the tank alive, MP pit I red. I though this was the job of the WHM. Why don't they sub WAR so I won't have to keep aggro on me that much! No offense but my point is, everybody's got a job to do and if you don't like yours, change it!
 
The subject of "who's a better tank" has got to be the biggest dead horse in FFXI. The fact is that there are 3 jobs that can tank effectively. Those jobs just tank in different ways. It all comes down to what kind of job you want to play, what works for your party setup, and the skill of the person at the controls.
If you want to take WAR all the way, then do it. It's your game experience we're talking about here.
Myself, I love being a WAR. Maybe I don't have the evasion of a NIN or the def of a PLD, but I sure as hell can hit the mob harder than either of those 2 jobs.
 
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