Well, there are little issues actually :) I’m very, very comfortable with FFXIV tanking, and in fact this is one of the most relaxed roles in the triad of tank – healer – dps.
I’m at peace with all the three jobs I’m playing, and extremely enjoying all of them.
Warrior – nuff said, I’m power incarnate. I’m super confident and ready for everything the game throws at my warrior so far. It’s a super powerful job considering DPS, and my defensive kit is everything I could want from a tank job.
Paladin – oh well, basically now that I got two sets of my class armor at 50, I’m sated :) As expected, my Lalafell looks gorgeous in this pure white armor – and I made a mix of both sets. Of course I’d level her to level cap, but I’m already happy with it. Paladin imo lacks defensive and offensive vibe satisfaction to an extent, especially compared to other jobs, but I’m yet in the middle of the way. At any rate, I do not suffer in dungeons at all, and the job is fun to play, that’s what matters most.
Gunbreaker – finally, I arrived here. I’ve been dreaming about it, did not like it its tutorial quest with a lalafell, but it was a matter of time, and I knew I would approach it again and again. Well, it happened. The kit is carefully distributed into solo target – aoe – def hotbars, and it now plays like a breeze. It is precious in terms of being a totally dps job by its vibe, and one can only wonder how it manages to survive… but it works, is all that matters! As for the animations and class vibe – this is why I have two toons. Lalafell did not look or play exciting in gunbreaker terms (FYI, she does as a warrior and paladin!), but mi’qote sealed the deal. She looks and plays absolutely gorgeous, and the whole thing fits her like a glove – beside, its THE tanking job for her. With 5 dungeons behind my shoulders, it’s a definite YES.
Tanking in general is quite relaxing. I’ve mastered the feeling of how many and which trash I should pull, I adjust and feel my healers, so I can say I’m very confident during trash, and boss fights – the many-times run ones – also pose no trouble. There are hundreds of bosses to learn, and as I level, they’d throw the major, complex and hard stuff at me like streaks of post-60 trials, alliance raids and normal raids, but I’ll manage, and I’m actually very eager for the challenge.
I’ve learned one more trick for trash if I pull too many – running in circles like a cockroach on a frying pan. They’re chasing you with less hitting while you plant some aoes and let dps finish the packs off :) Works like a charm, although normally I’m very responsible and aware if I’m allowed to grab the normal two packs, or deal with the hard monsters in smaller amount.
Well, what can I say? Practice makes perfect, and I love the role. Who would have known, I’ve always hated the thing WoW – quite manageable, but it also felt like unloading a truck with your bare hands. Not here: it’s a lot more controlled and calculated experience.
Gnomecore 
Speaking of white armor, i remember Kotaku post about a player’s quest to have the shiniest armor and weapon, he play a paladin and found weapon and a shield to go with this armor, in group screenshots he is the most shining of all.
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Interesting insight into tanking! Gunbreaker definitely starts getting better defensive options the higher they go. Their level 80-90 upgrade to their main tankbuster mitigation is really strong and packs in healing too!
For Paladin, it’s probably my second-lowest tank (just ahead of Dark Knight) but the big issue I have with Paladin is that it gets core bits of kit very late compared to other tanks and it totally changes in the 60-70 range. Once you hit Stormblood levels, you get the full two-part rotation with a spell phase that you can execute at range, which is unique for the tanks and a nice perk, and the core spells you use also heal you, so there’s a benefit besides just a damage buff to the spell rotation for mixing it in. But then you also don’t get a gap-closer until the 70s and the Oath gauge feels a little clumsy to me still, so I don’t love it as a job. At 80, though, it feels so much better than 50 or 60 for sure, because it feels complete!
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Nay, I’m not complaining about Gunbreaker gameplay. it’s very much sustainable, it’s just a weird class fantasy – if I did not know that it’s a tank and saw it in action, I would definitely say it’s a dps job. Which is not bad – diversity is king and and differs the job from the others.
On paladin, good to know! Although the core of gameplay is leveling, so: I’m definitely stuck with level 50 kit for main scenario / 90% cases of alliance raids, the most time consuming activities :)
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About ranking, I’d say that Warrior and Gunbreaker share the first place (but for very different reasons), Paladin is second, and Dark Knight is obviously the third cause I don’t even want to play it :) Of course, from enjoyment and fun angle, not effectiveness – as I’m quite a casual and have no say in this matter.
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Yup. All of this ^^^^^^^^^. I started on Paladin so just figured the leveling roughness was normal for all tanks. Dabbling with the others I learned that nope, this is just the original tanking class slowness in spell acquisition. Still it plays so much like a WoW Prot Paladin that I knew what I was doing. While not the strongest tank in the game, it’s definitely my favorite tank in the game.
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