FFXIV: Low Level Tanking – The Struggle is Real
Last night, my baby Maurader, Zemi, tanked through the final two of the level 15 dungeons in FFXIV: Tam-Tara and Copperbell. This was done with the aid of FC folks as I’m still too shy to tank these things in a PUG. FC folks have been very kind and helpful in getting me through the low level dungeons.
However, seeing that they are all much higher level than I and better geared, I struggled with every ounce of TP I had in my lanky tank body to hold aggro, but still lost it more frequently than I wanted to. The final boss in Copperbell, I lost it to the level 40 Black Mage about halfway through and simply never got it back no matter what I did. Of course, we were in burn mode, ignoring mechanics because we could.
Now, losing aggro never once resulted in anyone coming close to dying, thanks to awesome DPS and Syn’s healing. But it’s really been an eye-opener playing a low-level, newly-rolled tank in lower level dungeons. I can only imagine what it feels like to a totally new player tanking dungeons for the first time, especially if they don’t know the mechanics.
As a high level DPS player, I want to apologize to any low level tank I’ve rouletted with and pulled aggro from. When I dragoon, I don’t intend to pull aggro, and do try to back off when I see that I am. But still, it’s a different story when you’re tanking it and dealing with the frustration of mobs flying everywhere despite your best efforts.
Of course, my FC teams didn’t care one whit. They were probably having fun nuking things, and found it amusing that they were strong enough to pull aggro (I feel that way sometimes as a dragoon). But I’m here to practice to perfection, darn it!
I got Zemi to level 20 last night through the dungeons alone. Once I get about level 22, and unlock my chocobo, I can see myself going back and leveling Gladiator to pick up Flash and Provoke, which should be a big help. For now, I’m just happy to be past those first three dungeons – I never did understand why FFXIV felt the need to introduce a new player to dungeons in the MQS and then throw three of them in a row like that.
Oh, and have a screen of Tataru singing Trolololo. Because I remembered to take the shot of it this time around. 🙂
