Hey guys, I wanted to toss up a quick video to talk about my experience/thoughts on some of the main causes of Tank Anxiety in FFXIV and how I think through them. I’m not a therapist or psychologist or anything, I’m just a dude who likes to tank. I’m sure I didn’t cover all of the causes of tank anxiety, but these are the ones I’ve struggled with myself. Here’s to hoping my ramble can help someone struggling to queue blue.
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I mostly play Healers, so you'd think Tank's not that much of a stretch in terms of feeling responsible for the party. But dang that Tanxiety is a thing haha. It's ridiculous really, and personally I kind of love wiping because it's great practise and I always joke that nothing bonds a party more than wiping together 😛
But yeah.. joking's easier on DPS than heals and on a Tank I just feel that responsibility for the party even worse somehow haha.
Sooo my Tank babies are only in their 60s and I pretty much only queue familiar stuff on them. Never tried alliance raids either cuz.. how the hail do you guys decide which tank does what? Everyone just Leroy Jenkins that stuff or wut?
I once accidentally queue'd for the wrong thing and found myself in a trial that I completely did NOT remember at ALL lol. So I basically just told the group I hadn't meant to queue for this and had no ffin clue what I was doing XD But in the end we survived haha
I should probably hang a post it above my screen somewhere with "Fuck it we ball" XD
Also, sometimes I just introduce myself as a TIT (Tank In Training :P) makes people more forgiving on occasion hahaha
I recently got the same with Healers… or similar, should I say.
Since DT I don't really like healing high-end content anymore because the fights have become really tedious playing healer (much healing/mit needed while moving/playing mechs or massive healing required in rapid succession multiple times in a row and individual players needing extra) and playing min IL Healer needs a lot of planning beforehand/coordination now. I used to play very flexible and use skills where useful (A little routine/planning came automaticly with time) but now it feels like if you don't use every big CD in a "correct" spot you will become a GCD spamming bot (still everything regarding min IL mostly)
Also Players seem to have grown extraordinarily impatient now, especially against healers (Even if I am not healing), often causing them to kick healers after a single mistake or two. However, defending/excusing the Healers (if reasonable) does seem to help.
I've done it all, healing every Ex and Savage so far except for M4S so far, but it has just become really annoying for me to queue as a healer to a point in which I mainly avoid playing it entirely in high content unless there's only Parties missing healers and PF's take ages to fill
Get a girlfriend my friend it Just a game..
No tank should feel anxiety. As long as you keep a Mitigation up, do your rotation, and don't stand in fire, you're a good tank. If you fail at 1 of those things,the party will still clear most of the time. Tanks and healers are the reason queues pop for DPS players. Even if you screw up, wiping a couple of times is way better than sitting in queue
How I would recommend anyone deal with tank anxiety.
When I was a kid one time, I was scared of the deep end of a swimming pool despite being able to swim (had lessons in the shallow end). So my dad pushed me in the deep end when I wasn't looking. You know what happened? I realised I was worried about nothing because I can swim so it is ok, and I never had a problem swimming in the deep end again. He knew I could do it, and gave me the push I needed. If my dad never did that, maybe I might be still scared of the deep end now.
Moral of the story: Jump in the deep end, go wall to wall pulls. Obviously don't do this if you are not gear synced, but if you are gear synced then go nuts. If you die in this game, you don't die irl. So what are you afraid of? If you never try wall to wall, you are never gonna improve. You might be pleasantly surprised that you can actually handle them, some players are better than they think they are. And if you die? Shit happens, not a big deal. Just try going a bit smaller next time until you get better, then try go bigger when you feel more comfortable. Tanking really is this simple, stop worrying so much and just pull stuff and press rampart and other mits. If things look hairy, press your invuln. Don't be one of these idiots saving invuln for the boss, you will never need invuln for the boss unless you are literally hot dogshit at the game and can't dodge yellow puddles XD
Good video, I also maninly main tanks and it is absolutely real
I havent got over healer anxiety but funnily, I've played so much GNB that it is my comfort class. If I'm scared of trying somethign in ff14, I'll go as a GNB and feel more confident. I'm rusty after a long break? GNB. Itll be fine. I'm scared about trying savage? Its fine, go GNB.
Doesnt mean I dont have some of the tank anxiety you described, or the fear of people being upset. But it is MY class, its fine. I'm GNB, I know I'm good enough and can and will learn. If they're ass then its on them
Fuck it we ball got me into doing healer too. I started as a dps but by the time I got to HW, I was a healer main, I got my healers to cap before any other class.
thank you this is a very helpful guide
I get terrible tank anxiety. I love the idea of tanking and would love to do it, but the fear has held me back time again, especially as I've just recently returned to the game and have forgotten many of the mechanics. But I'll try to remember the wisdom, "Fuck it, we ball", the next time I want to tank.
Tank ego kills Tank anxiety
Any tips on how to communicate smoothly on ps4? That's usually my main issue with tank anxiety, not being able to communicate and the party assuming I'm ignoring them on purpose 😭
I started tanking with DRK recently and I'm a new player at only 2 months in. Still get anxiety before a session of levelling but what's helped me is knowing that I'm doing my best, I'm trying and willing to learn, and I need practice, so the reality is I need to queue in and tank. And I'm not telling people I'm new at it anymore unless I mess up badly now lol, I'm sure they can tell anyway. If anyone has a problem with it and are annoyed or rude instead of understanding what the sprout icon on my head means, then their opinion doesn't matter to me. I'm just here to do my job and have fun and learn.
I dont have a choice. I ll just go in. Stick to the universal tank basis. If people have problems with it, it is their problem, I only can do my best, consider my teammates, if I make a mistake, I need my Teammates to catch me in every way they can, because that is what I uphold for myself. Stay cool, never be toxic. 🙂
Thank you
In case there are healers here, please, use regen prepulls
I see lot of people not using it, sprouts or not, but is neccesary to pull correctly
"Fuck it we ball" has carried me through my entire tank career, even in savage and ultimates lol
I recently did a dungeon for the first time where one of the bosses creates an AoE where it charges at a random player. I didn't know that, by standing in this AoE, you can tank the charge and stop it hitting the original target. I did mention at the start of the dungeon that it was my first time there. The boss targeted the healer twice in a row, and the only advice I got from them was them putting "TANK!" in the chat when they got hit. To which I could only respond, "Healer…?"
Fortunately one of the DPS kindly informed me of the mechanic and also explained to the healer that it wasn't fair to blame me for something that was out of my control.
At the start of the game, levels 1 – 50, everyone was very kind and forgiving. I think the problem with XIV starts around level 58 – 60 onwards. A lot of the veteran players at this level forget that not every player in the game has the same amount of knowledge as them, and rather than explain, they just get angry, upset, or distressed while they struggle to get the heads around why you don't know everything they know.
I've been playing MMOs since Everquest (1). I've always been a main tank. But for some reason, tanking in FFXIV gives me MASSIVE tank-xiety. So I've always just settled for being a DPS. I just recently started back up (left after Shadowbringers – so I've got two expansions to get caught up) and I REALLY want to tank. My anxiety kicked in and so I've been maining Dragoon, but the desire to tank still burns. So I've slowly but surely been working my paladin up. I'm in my mid-50's with it and the anxiety to tank is higher than ever before because once you hit 50, it's like the doors bust wide open and most/if not all duty roulettes are open to you (up to your level limit). That's what scares me. It all really boils down to the fear of failure. I want to be the best and having tanked for so long, that's the only thing I know. But tanking in FFXIV just seems so daunting for some reason.
That being said, having watched this video has helped. Knowing I'm not the only one who gets these feelings makes it a bit better. I think I'll give it another viewing before I play again tonight or tomorrow to just get the extra pat on the back I might need. I'll also try to remember… "Fuck it, we ball."
This was a great video I've just started leveling paladin after maining white mage for forever I love tanking but also i get so much anxiety mainly because I'm afraid to fail the mechanics and I have the worst sense of direction but I really do adore the job maybe I should just go slower and let people know when I'm lost 😅