How I Deal With Tank Anxiety in Final Fantasy XIV

[@NeocrimsonX]

"Fuck it we ball" I like that. Thank you.

[@adjwindu70]

I'm going to use it in various instances where I experience minor fears.

[@zippsboy7164]

"Fuck it we live"?

[@NeocrimsonX]

@zippsboy7164 Yes? Maybe? Possibly? 🤔

[@cattysplat]

The number of times I've experienced toxicity based on my performance is tiny in FFXIV. But the few times it happens, haunts me in the back of my mind that it could happen again. So I naturally want to avoid situations where I have responsibility where people may notice my actions and may comment on them. Even if that chance is absurdly small. I am very easily traumatised by negative social experiences. Also toxicity way more in other games also contributes to the trauma. Ironically most toxic people don't even care of their consequences, or actively enjoy being nasty. The trauma however does encourage me to overprepare, for better or worse, to prevent toxic comments.

[@georgepickle2871]

Agreed. I ran into one toxic group back two years ago when I just started the game while learning to tank. No chance to explain that it was my first time in a late 2.0 MSQ dungeon or offering advice, just called an idiot when I got overwhelmed and kicked. The upside was it led me to a few tank advice videos which helped break the old tank style from WoW and SWtOR, and I just told myself the chance of running into those guys again was non-existent. Two years, 3/4 Tank level 90s and numerous dungeons & raids MTed latter, happy to say I was right.

[@quesopasso]

Toxicity definitely exists in 14. I think it's more common than the community wants to admit. That being said, if anyone is giving you crap in non-savage/non-ultimate content just remember that the leveling roulette you're running is the hardest content that person will ever do. So, for them, wiping in Sohm Al is the biggest deal ever. And that's all you need to know about how much their opinion needs to matter to you.

[@adakahless]

I'd happily be your healer. lvl 90 whm and 84 scholar. I've tanked on Pally and Warrior. Stuff happens. xD

[@ballistic2527]

There was a time where i felt the same thing, but not nearly as severe, but i realize now that i have way, _way_ more important things to worry about. A bunch of angry weebs is whatever

[@Memphis_ritz]

I had to check and make sure this wasn’t one of my own comments i made and forgot about lol

[@LordKhuzdul]

How do you deal with tank anxiety? Simple. You go to Limsa Lominsa Upper Decks, and pick up that little blue quest that you see at the top of the map. Yeah, then start leveling. Don't forget to do your job quests. Eventually, you will become a Warrior. It might feel difficult. Don't worry. Persevere, until you get to level 56. You will see a small axe icon appear on your bars. Press it. You will feel something. That is the Unga Bunga taking over you. Let it. You are now officially Too Angry To Die™. Welcome to the Unga Bunga Brotherhood.

[@Puddingskin01]

Instructions unclear, axe is exploding swordgun now.

[@siduxjxhdgzhdjxhxuuxxyhgg1079]

instructions unclear, i have a stand now

[@Memory_of_Light]

​@@Puddingskin01as a fellow GNB, based

[@obscurekyodai]

WAR did actually help me overcome the tanxiety :D I'm still a rookie tank and only comfortable with tanking familiar content though

[@benharrison8973]

Instructions unclear, my nan turned into thancred

[@CryogenicEchelon]

I've never had tank anxiety since my first job was gladiator. However, Dracula blessed us with some timeless wisdom that I use in my daily life. "This shit ain't nothin' to me man". Use it well, fellow Warriors of Light.

[@omnie22]

for me the biggest hurdle is not being familiar with something, if I know what I'm queuing into I can look up a guide and be fine, but the moment I queue for trial roulette or whatever and it's Spinglebonk the Awakened who I didn't even remember existed I start immediately crying

[@ele1483]

I just fucked up an endwalker dungeon for the first time ever going through the msq and it was the first time I slowed down and felt fear. I almost quit tanking right then and there 4 levels away from my first 90. Holy shit I need this video thank you

[@anatoliasmercenary.]

As a Dark Knight, we ball indeed! I’m mostly a Black Mage main but the DRK quest is so good it made me fall in love with the job.

[@JustBill88]

I for one found this useful as a healer. I get the same anxiety. I'm sure I'm not alone on this. Thank you from the healer community as well.

[@KooriGraywolf]

I main DPS but like to dabble into other roles. I remember queueing up as tank to the Alliance Raid roulette, HOPING to get a Crystal Tower, to just have an easy run. Instead I was put into a NieR raid, and I was mortified. I had done it as DPS but never as a tank, so I didn't know the mechanics. I even thought of leaving but I thought it would be rude to leave my team tankless and have them wait for another tank to join. So I did what you mentioned, just went into chat and asked for mechanics to watch out for. Granted this does not always work, but in this case they did tell me "there's only this one thing where you have to position so that...". They explained it, and when the mechanic came up they again said in chat "this is where it happens". I did it and everything was seamless. They told me I did a good job, and they've seen other tanks do worse. That was nice. But I still can't shake the feeling of not wanting to do content as tank if I don't know the mechanics beforehand. Especially roulettes since you can't just watch a guide because you're getting a random duty

[@revjimmyjam3611]

Thanks for this my dude. I love playing tank, but I often let my tankxiety get the best of me. I ALWAYS use a tank class for solo MSQ stuff, but will have a DPS class on the side for group content. I myself take long breaks. Generally at least a year, and sometimes even two years or longer. So when I return I often feel like I've forgotten so much stuff and any skill that I had built up. I often get tunnel vision on my cross-hotbar as well so I find avoiding "the bad" to be extremely difficult. As is the case most of the time as well I'm sure I'm my own worst critic. Even if we didn't have a wipe I usually feel like I could've/should've done so much better. Your vid, and the mantra which I've never heard before, has given me more of a push to just ball.

[@lucasmoore4857]

Thanks for posting this man! I have taken several breaks from the game and every time I would come back, it was the same thing I would hesitate to queue for just about anything. I think once I said f it I just want to have fun, I really started to enjoy it and started to get good. It also drove me to try savage content. One note on that, once I started with fresh prog groups and seeing everybody make mistakes all the time, I was like I can do this. Enjoyed the video, agree with everything you said!

[@ViewtifulCombo]

I went into a p12 on my fresh leveled warrior in crafted gear. I didnt know mechanics but I had an amazing time! Everyone was so supportive and helped me to understand. I made it to a mechanic called super chain theory. Thank you for helping me feel confident to get up and go for it

[@cloudfeather713]

as an accidental Tank main, i needed this advice and encouragment, Thank you!

[@valofrassilon]

Startled me so much, because that selfsame mantra is the one I say out loud to myself almost every time I pull a boss... Thank you for the advice! Good points.

[@DreamHound]

Im new to ff14, I chose paladin. I haven't played tank before and didnt realize the responsibility till I got into my first dungeon with players. They're waiting on me to initiate the fight with the boss. A sudden discomfort as if I was driving and impeding other drivers comes on, and I quickly jump into the fight. Now that I'm more used to it I'm having more fun but, at times feels like I become the caveman Spongebob meme when trying to figure out where I should go. So glad I chose this class

[@Firestone2467]

I loved tanking, but also left FFXIV for a couple of years, am back in the game and I do my dailies and want to tank, but all that you said in your video is going through my mind, thank you for this video, I am inspired to go back to tanking. Tank you, peace.

[@Heathiekins]

Thank you for this!! I'm a healer main, but I have been wanting to branch out more. I had been leveling Paladin through Wondrous Tales, so I hopped into Leveling and got Dzemael Darkhold. I'll admit: it was a really rough run. However, it wasn't because of my tanking. We had a low damage output with new players who were undergeared. We got through with only one wipe, and everyone was really positive the whole time. I am so glad I followed through!

[@LordofSeals]

I've been playing DRK in Levelling Roulette, first time tanking in FFXIV, "Any thing I need to watch out for in this encounter?" and "What did I die to there?" foreign concepts for a DPS main appreciate the advice, makes me want to tank more 🙏

[@estel-randir]

I've been leveling a tank for MSQ and general adventuring, while leveling up DPS for group stuff. But this spoke to me. Really the idea of making a mistake as a learning experience and not a failure. I like the idea of asking others what the hell went wrong, since there are some runs where I've died so many times even as a DPS (points toward end of HW*) without even understanding what's going on. I may have to get brave.

[@KingCanadane]

Tank main. Once you realize you are an unstoppable juggernaut you'll realize the world is your oyster. I've described it before to friends as "The easiest role that has the perception of being the hardest"

[@qwerty-dm8gr]

This is the mentality of shit tanks. So you should clarify and say you're a shit tank main, who by extension punishes everyone trapped in an instance with you.

[@KingCanadane]

@@qwerty-dm8gr You got like...details or a reason?

[@stonium69]

I main tank in a lot of hard content and unless you're in ultimates you have way more tools for the job than you need. Especially in normal content just using your mitigations plus some ogcd healing from your healer makes you basically immortal. Especially on trials. I have seen first timer tanks pick up 4-5 vuln stacks from not knowing mechanics and not died because of mitigation. I've even been the tank that did this. I switched to dps for dawntrail casual content just so I'd actually die when I messed up.

[@Mayahiime]

@@qwerty-dm8gr - guy who feels personally offended at tanking being called easy

[@StephenZura]

Red Mage main here, I do enjoy tanking but often feel like I'm not putting out enough damage so I end up switching back to being a DPS.

[@springthundering]

this video helped so much with my anxiety on playing tank. i started the game about 6 months ago and as much as i wanted to try tanking in queues, i was always so scared to and defaulted to dps. this helped a lot and i’m considering leveling up my tank jobs!

[@bijnahonderdeuro]

So the big thing about tanxiety is that it is a social fear. When you break it down, the act of tanking isn't difficult, the fact that your mistakes are front and center is. But I'll let you into a dirty little healer secret; everyone makes mistakes, constantly. Also, it rarely matters in casual content. The other thing you have to remember is that healer (and tank) kits are extremely overpowered for what casual content throws at you. Most of the time, mistakes can be fixed easily and barely takes any effort. If the wipe happens, there's a good chance you weren't the only one who made a mistake. Now extremes and raids are a bit different, but deal with those simply by joining from start parties. DPS fucking up will also be equally noticeable here, so playing tank isn't that much worse.

[@zordiark9673]

My first tanking experience was Titan (the first 50 one, not the 34) and he steamrolled one healer and all dps from the platform. Thats when you start to realize that tanking itself isnt the hard part. The hard part is accepting that shit happens and youre not a bad tank just because something went horrible wrong.

[@arcanadawn]

I am *shocked* at how few subs you have with this many views! I subbed, hope others will too! This was very well done, well thought out, very compassionate, and just an all around awesome piece of work. Thank you! On the note of tanking, I have Generalized Anxiety Disorder, and terrible experiences in other MMO's still haunt me to this day, so yeah, I just don't, very very too scared lol. That all being said, the FF14 community has always been super chill and kind to me, so I always try my best to pay it forward.

[@victoriayeats1649]

Honestly, the easiest way, in my opinion, to get over any anxiety is to do something. With tanking, as a main tank who's MTed current tier savage, it's actually by far the simplest role. Your rotation is incredibly simple, your defensives are pretty interchangeable in most scenarios pre-savage, and all you gotta to is get stuff to hit you and stay mostly still. What I mainly see, having everything max level and spending most of my time in mentor roulettes or browsing PF for sprouts to help, is that people don't read their abilities. I will guarantee people would be infintely better at their jobs if they took ten minutes, read their skills and smacked a target dummy around. Once you've got some simple muscle memory for what your damage buttons are, you can now focus on the actual mechanics. Basic tanking is just running, while AoEing, until you hit a wall, pop your defensives one after the other and standing still while you clobber stuff. Boss fights are even easier, just hit the thing and point it away from the DPS, if possible, preferably while standing as still as possible for your melee dps. If you did the previous step and read your abilities, you'll find interject, your interrupt, use that when the boss's cast bar is flashing red and it'll interrupt the skill/spell and you're pretty much guaranteed a commendation from me or any other person who's on a non-tank/phys ranged job. Basically, tanking is just as simple, if not more so, than any other job in this game, just press your defensives and you'll be better than half the ones I see at max level.

[@robertnewman7263]

I just wanted to say thank you for posting this video! I find myself often just getting Dungeon/Trial anxiety while playing FFXIV. This is regardless of my role in the group. I’m mostly a ranged DPS player and even then I find myself getting overly nervous playing something for the first time to the point where I’m reading guides on stuff before so even try something out to have any idea of what is going on. Mostly making myself more confused in the process. The fear of letting others down and wasting time has capped me at certain times in the game and honestly I’ve missed out on a lot of unlockable content because of it. However I’ve been trying to get around those insecure thoughts lately and just get in there to do the thing! I mean guide reading is great but I can’t learn if I don’t actually do the thing to begin with. I’m determined to not let death stop me and this video helped me contextualize some of those emotions better. I mean we should watch out for mechanics and do the best we can, I think that’s really the only thing that others can ask of us. I’ve had nothing but great experiences with the FF community so far so this has helped me get through the A-Raids up until Shadowbringers! #FIWB!

[@BLPortner]

As a whm main I still get healer anxiety for the same reasons You describe here. Orbonne Monastery has been sitting in my quest log for a week and I am still too scared to queue for it. I love healing but I feel I have let my teams down a lot of times because I fail mechanics and the party wipes. But people have been overwhelmingly nice. Like you said, its always worse in your head than it is for real

[@lethalsong5585]

I think tanking in 14 is easier than other games because of the taunt mechanics and it's great IF I'm tanking for friends. But that same mechanic also creates the wall-to-wall culture which I definitely do not enjoy, especially if I don't know what's between me and that mythical next wall. Since my friends all left, I just can't bring myself to tank. The anxiety is too high and the pressure once I get in is too high. I wish I didn't feel like that but the spectacular deaths I've had pulling more than a couple of groups tells me I'm just not ff14 tank material. The problem of course is that queues don't trigger for me as dps (I have even worse anxiety healing) and the game has become a lot less fun - Duty Support just isn't the same. I know it's dumb and I'm missing out but man...

[@vulkoi1032]

That's exactly the feeling that drove me to make this video! Just know that you're not alone in feeling that way. As long as you have the basics down (using mitigation correctly, not standing in AoEs, etc) you're probably doing better than you realize. Something that can be very insightful as a tank is to ask a friend or an FC member that's a healer main (or is comfortable) with healing to run some queues with you. Pull wall to wall and afterward have them tell you what parts were the hardest to heal through. This should (at least in theory) show you what areas you'll want to shore up to make sure that your fundamentals are rock solid. On the note of spectacular deaths, that comes with the Tanking Territory. Sometimes its us, sometimes its someone else, but it happens to us all - dying spectacularly is just part of the job :) Hope this helps!

[@RicochetOcelot]

Thanks for a great video! As a lifelong healer main who finds optimizing DPS rotations boring, this was the push I needed to give tanking a go!

[@justalurkylurker]

I have a lot of tank anxiety in this game, I usually just stick with DPS jobs like Dragoon, Machinist etc cos that's my comfort zone but lately I've been trying to push myself out of that. This video kinda hit a few of the issues I've been facing, there's a lot of stress that my mind brings up (what if I mess up, what if I don't pull good enough/enough enemies/whatever) which just makes me hesitant.

[@zordiark9673]

Ive transfered from Ninja to Tanking because the DPS rotation gives me nightmares and Tank weapons are looking the best by far. I´m at a level of tanking now, i just keep telling myself that im a Masochist DPS that likes to get hit.

[@BrunoFariaCampos]

I have the exact same problem! I like playing Tank, is so much fun! But for all the reasons you listed and the fact that no one likes to fail, I see myself hesitant to cue as tank. Sometimes I also hesitate as healer but it’s my main role since I’ve started FFXIV years ago. 😅 but it’s nice to know that this is “normal” and I’m not the only one feeling like that.

[@murasaki-yosei]

This type of mind set has really helped me a lot in my time in FFXIV( nearly 17k hours, lmao). My husband is a tank main and he helped me a lot with my tankxiety, lol. Great video ! Fuck it WE BALL!

[@wolfiepaws420]

Thank you for this :') So much of it applies to me even though I'm a DPS main. I have terrible anxiety queuing for anything to this day because of one poor experience with someone yelling at me for not using LB in The Chrysalis trial back in ARR. Failure is a learning opportunity is definitely something I need to keep in mind. As well as, "Fuck It, We Ball" love that XD

[@hufflepuffler2575]

Whenever i have anxiety be it tank or healer i always remind myself, everyone has been in this situation at some point. Messing up is a form of learning, you learn from your mistakes and no one expects you to know everything straight away

[@GwLostKing]

good video, i just started tanking first time ever, i used to play healer. I came from wow (used to tank there) but wow kinda ruined tanking for me, in the duty i was ind i was nerves as hell to tank but i just keep going. I aggroed 2 groups at first to see how the team held up and after that i keep it up.. I do however also do somthing that i used to do in wow called (chain pulling). So far i'm loving it and having alot of fun in ffxiv. even then i'm nerves :( Keep up the good work buddy.

[@etimun]

I ended up getting really bad tank anxiety after running a shadowbringers dungeon while rusty as tank. The healer was _so_ mean about me small pulling and it made me quit tank for almost a year. I'm back to my Pali main and I've gotten a lot better with dealing with things. There are still some really mean people out there but they're few and far between

[@yuumisnow]

It's my first time tanking in ff14 and I had severe tank anxiety that I would watch a guide multiple times and try to memorize before queueing up. Best way to deal with it is just ask your party for any special mechanics or let them know you dont know the dungeon and a lot of the times they'll guide you.

[@silverfang5893]

Thank you for this, I was holding myself to an impossible standard again. Thank you

[@DigitalStatic]

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.

[@IzzetNilson]

I've had tankxiety for years up until super recently when I played WoW's new Season of Discovery where they changed a lot the classic versions old formulae. I'm usually a healer main through and through for every MMO I played, but I got into an environment where I've been actually tanking for raids as the dedicated main tank, and now I feel unstoppable. Been playing some FFXIV recently and I realized how much fun tanking is in this one too. I would love to see your guide, and would especially like to know what tank call outs to expect, especially in late game stuff. (My tank jobs are at highest level 47 atm RIP)

[@duttdits]

I've been playing MMOs off and on since my first one in 2006. World of Warcraft. I've always only ever played dps until I played FF XIV for the first time after Stoomblood came out. I started out Black Mage, partying through the story with my cousin's Monk. One day, something in me said to try my first healer in my life. I freaking loved it. And now that I'm coming back from way back then, I'm gonna play my first tank. Thank you for inspiring me, dude. Subbed and liked. 💪⚔️🛡

[@maddragonqueen_]

When I come back after a break and feel anxious about tanking again, I like to run MSQ roulette. It's so brain dead that even if I'm a little rusty it's not gonna be a big deal and it kind if just helps to dip my toes back in before diving into the deep end with a trial or raid. Everything you said is true too, of course 😊

[@patrikalmblad]

Played Bard when Shadowbringer came out, return to FF14 a month ago.... I have only played tank for these past few weeks, soon all of the tanks up to 90 and I am having a blast. The only thing I have a problem with is the main / offtank when people don't want to talk in chat, so I just go offtank and try to help out as much as I can. Also healers who said that I need to use mitigation more often, but can't really use all of em at the same time and there is cooldown between 'em... but maybe healer haven't played tank before, I haven't played healer so I can't put my mind into their situations really.

[@13okto13]

Having a bit of this myself as a healer coming back from a long break. I'm not even level capped yet but trials were really stressing me out hopefully I can get over that soon and catch up with the msq thanks for the advice.

[@vulkoi1032]

I get bad healer anxiety to the point that Ive never capped out a healer (except for SCH but only because I leveled SMN). While its not 1 to 1 from tanks to healers I definitely think a fair bit of the ideas in the video can be translated to healers. The only advice I'll add for healing is that "The only hit point that matters is the last one". Cheers, and happy healing!

[@TheRecklessDark]

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.

[@Atigeve]

As someone who loves tanking and actually played all the tanks at one point up until this current expansion. I noticed for some reason tankxiety became a thing for in shadowbringers. I have no idea why and i still have an issue with it, now that im starting to pick up XIV again i really want to play my war, drk, pld and this video helped. thanks at least i know im not alone in this feeling, even if i dont get why it started.

[@jesustontinsalgado6366]

You are so right I tanked content from vanilla wow era to Endwalker about 2 years ago on last weekend for the 1st time ever on an expert dungeon roulette group kicked me as we enter last boss area without any word. What did I do wrong? Will never know. Now all I can think about is getting knocked out out of group again without warning

[@Katjajaja]

I have been going through some tank anxiety after having a really hard time in coils T13, I had some raid members get mad at me and my self esteem took a big hit, this helped me sort through my feelings a bit about it. Time to try and get back into tanking.

[@Dhalin]

The cause of tank anxiety is the crappy, elitist playerbase who expects everybody to know everything out of the gate. It's even worse over in WoW because dungeons are not linear there, but yet the playerbase expects you to know exactly where you can go and which trash packs you can skip and if you pull extra stuff, they complain even if its a leveling dungeon and they're there for XP which is just eyeroll to me. Hopefully new trials will be done in the style of the Lv87 trial in Endwalker, where you can go in with NPCs so you can see the boss first, and not have to worry about not knowing its mechanics, and not having some elitist players berating you. Though I will say that during most trials, if I'm not familiar with the fight (and/or don't remember it and/or not confident I know the mechanics), I won't turn my stance on, and I won't pull. After about 5 seconds, the other tank usually gets impatient, turns their stance on and pulls and then I'll stance up about 10-15 seconds into the fight and just play defensively.

[@Cranefluff]

The worst reaction I got by doing something "wrong" in content was when a sweaty black mage kept telling me to position a couple bosses better in Ancient Labyrinth. He wasn't swearing, but he was very insistent and rude. But this is exceptionally rare and the rest of the alliance raid was on my side. I mean who queues into a lv 50 alliance raid and gets angry that the people there aren't min-maxing casual content? And that's it. I have had tanks, healers, and even dps do something that has wiped groups many times before and there was never any anger towards them, at most a word of advice. The only people who may be mad if you mess are up are the rare sweatlords who had already min-maxed the fun out of the game, so just ignore them. If any thing, take pleasure in their suffering lol.

[@benhayward2597]

I hear you about the anxiety thing, if ever I'm nervous about groups I try to compensate by pulling fewer groups and playing a dungeon out more slowly. The other day I had a dragoon who kept standing on my tank spot, so I made sure to let my friend who was healing know that I'm not confident that they are familiar with their mechanics and we took it group by group.

[@Nancy-ff5tr]

You have a really soothing voice

[@phya9324]

I was always putting preassure on myself, but have never thought that I just need to be an ok tank

[@Kahnthelongshot]

Most content i run into is years old having just got into the game a month ago. I got over tankxiety in a similar fashion. Good to see this isn't a solitary thing. I never was interested in tanking in my early mmo days but it's just fun asl in this game. (or maybe it's just the gunbreaker job) anyway dope vid would love to see any tanking guides you want to make.

[@infoverflow5559]

I wonder why we don't hear about healer anxiety, after all if healer dies and there's noone to ressurect there's a high chance for a wipe if on a boss. I think healer has the same amount if not more responsibility when doing dungeons. It's that tank decides how much to pull and decides how much responsibility healer gets (this doesn't apply to War lol)

[@vulkoi1032]

I've been thinking about that too! Not sure I'll do a video on it just yet cause im not really a healer (because it stresses me out), but I've thought about it.

[@cattysplat]

Healer anxiety absolutely does exist. They are the least played jobs in the game. Now maybe that's from some boring gameplay. But it cannot be denied they have a ton of responsibility in looking after other people's mistakes.

[@infoverflow5559]

@@cattysplat My point isn't that it doesn't exist but that it's way less mentioned or talked about than tank anxiety. I guess people who suffer from tank/healer anxiety prefer to play as dps and they only try tank after that so it's more talked about then healer anxiety which should involve a lot more anxiety for them. I started as a tank and didn't really mind having responsibility or had fear of failure. Then moved to healer and I enjoy healing much more, I must enjoy upholding a responsibility.

[@arcanaobscura3519]

Being a healer stressed me out in the beginning but now I gotta say it's my favourite in the game. Tanking makes me a lot more nervous because there are a lot of things I don't really get like switching with a co-tank in trials. Plus, I think it's rather stressful because you're always the first to charge in which makes you feel more seen compared to other jobs.

[@LordCrowman]

This is something I'm currently struggling with. And I've played mostly tanks in the mmos I've played. Main Tanked for a guild back in the early WoW days, no sweat. But now, in FFXIV, I just always feel this pressure to be perfect. Constant wall to wall pulls and perfectly timing your defensives. And I don't even do the harder content. I know it's not, but it definitely feels overwhelming.

[@mauriciomartell2433]

I do fates and the basic solo hunts, i que for the easier early dungeons and start moving from there up, checking what works and what doesn't with each job. I grind my alts the long road towards endgame because i like getting adjusted to their skillsets. I test the test dummies and then come to terms i'll make mistakes but since i've done all roles multiple times i have an idea what troubles each might have. You may want to start with a survival build focus on tenacity and then move towards damage as you start feeling invincible

[@jihra]

I appreciate this video, thank you

[@ThornedLily]

I've leveled every single job to max, but I started with 2 healers, then did PLD because it's so pretty, then the other two healers before tackling the other 3 tanks (as you can tell, I'm a healer main but I do genuinely love tanking as well). Then I had to go through every single dps, and finally the crafters and gatherers so there was a massive gap between when I was actively and regularly tanking content and when I finally wanted to get back into it and actually catch up on all of the msq I'd put on hold to go after my other goals. I struggled with tank anxiety for a little while, and what got me through was something very similar to "f it, we ball" - in the end, none of the normal mode content matters beyond the 15-20 minutes you're there. Communicate with the rest of the group, and anyone who has a problem with it can simply leave the group and requeue as a tank themselves if they're *really* bothered by it. Since tanks are regularly getting the fastest queue times, I can only assume that those people aren't willing to join the tank queue so it's on them to learn how to deal with when a tank occasionally messes up and misses a cd or something that causes a wipe.

[@genisay]

I feel that mantra works well for being a healer as well. I primarily play DPS, as my main has been bard for a really long time. But I do heal as well, and have been working on lvling my healers. And I have to admit, I get anxiety some times when I'm considering running content as a healer.

[@captainquill5062]

I have severe anxiety and it's being yelled at I'm afraid of. I've been yelled at and I don't take well to yelling :( i was first yelled at while tanking playing WOW back in that expansion with all the new races, I've been messed up about it since

[@MeuwTube]

Curing my tankiety one day at a time 🎉

[@ebriusdracos]

I have been playing support in games for over 7 years... Been tanking and healing in mmo's for 5 years. My career in FFXIV has been overall pleasant. The term "tank anxiety" was very foreign to me until I started FFXIV, playing with former WoW players. It was intriguing cause I myself do not have such feelings. Maybe a little apprehension if I was not familiar with the fight. But even then, I would say to myself "Omfg....Just pull...already...". I guess a couple of decades of customer service have given me some rock hard people skills. But it's good to hear a fellow tank player give another overall perspective.

[@TactiSmolKoko]

"Fuck it we ball" has carried me through my entire tank career, even in savage and ultimates lol

[@xierotron]

Played warrior in WoW so picked up Marauder in 2.0 which was rough but came back 2.2 when fixed n then enjoyed warrior 3.x glory days. Warrior main for life

[@GCavalcanti1604]

This Guide of tanking is a god ideia

[@AaronWOfficial]

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

[@AaronWOfficial]

1 little thing I thought I should add. If you struggle with wall to wall, try pulling 8 - 12 mobs as a starting point and get used to that first. 6 mobs isn't enough, you can survive that without any cooldowns if you are gear synced and if a healer overheals you so. Pull more than 6 if you are gear synced. If you pull 3, you are basically griefing

[@jojorumbles8749]

The video I needed today.

[@samtaro863]

i only get tank anxiety for queing for savage raids. Mainly just due to the fact that when the tank dies in a savage they end up bringing everyone with them

[@Eshvongelion]

Honestly my tank anxiety is at its worst in 4 man groups, 8 and 24 mans I definitely go in with the f it mentality cause if i mess up there is someone to make up for my mistakes. If im the only tanks im terrified of messing up.

[@saninorochimaru2]

I just finished levelling all tanks to 90, and what really helped me get into the flow (and might not work for you but im just throwing it out there) was 2 things. 1. reading my abilities. Knowing exactly what tools I have to survive 12 mobs beating at my face means I can plan my usage so that I can be comfortable with how low my hp goes.

[@saninorochimaru2]

2. Confidence. This is "fuck it we ball" in a nutshell. Just hold down the w key. Pull every mob, and if you die, its fine just pull a little less. A simple "mb" gets you far.

[@kevingriffith6011]

Tank anxiety is stage fright, it's performance anxiety plain and simple. A DPS or Healer has to *really* screw up before their mistakes become obvious, but if a tank takes a wrong turn in Sastasha because they haven't seen that dungeon in over a year then everyone's gonna see it. You just have to try to remember that nobody is judging you as much as you think they are, as difficult as that might be. Like the video said, just be honest that you don't know what you're doing and remember that failure costs you nothing but a little time.

[@hardware72]

Been a tank main for a long time in FFXIV and had tankxiety for a while. In the end what got me over it were three major points. First was clearing the more difficult content and gaining confidence. Repetition of seeing things and being used to wiping. Death has zero consequences in a dungeon. Second, exposure to being main tank in the 48 man DRS with all eyes on me. That was the major tipping point of it can't get any more embarrassing than that again. Third and the most toxic, in time becoming so comfortable I stopped caring entirely about my random party's feelings if they got upset over something. I'm not the "you tank you pull" type but in return being a penta legend, could care less about somebody being angry in a dungeon now. In the end the first two points have developed into the third of indifference over performance aside from hitting my buttons, and without the worry of performance allows me to focus on a dungeon more. But all three points share the common theme of exposure until comfortable, and the "fuck it we ball" mentality you described.

[@renamix]

Honestly, even with healing. Pinch your nose, dive in and hope for the best. You learn from mistakes and soon enough, boom.

[@skaldi8347]

Great video, new sub! Thanks for talking about this so candidly, I'm going to give it a try now

[@Shadow22877]

thank you this is a very helpful guide

[@psoffxifan4904]

As someone who grew up on old school mmo design where tanking meant balancing threat management with every mob by spreading your single target attacks out on them, plus on the fly mitigation management, plus pulling properly while having the awareness of the healer's and any caster's mana so you don't pull when they're too low, I don't fully understand tank anxiety in 14 as much. Tanking in 14 is turning on tank stance and cycle 1-2 mitigations per big pull. Ever since they tossed threat away at the start of shadowbringers, tanks have felt like weaker dps who run in first. Hell especially in 11's case where dying meant losing exp and potentially deleveling, wiping in 14 does maybe 2% durability loss on your gear that costs a couple hundred gil to repair. I'm not saying I haven't felt some kind of minor anxiety going into new content, maybe it's my prior experience but it's never stopped me from going in regardless.

[@cattysplat]

It's the social consequence of failure. Even if the game removes almost all punishment, that possibility still remains. Because people hate having their time "wasted" on someone "failing." When in reality everyone should look at it as a learning experience, a fun videogame and a social activity that should involve atleast basic manners. But it's the internet so good luck telling people not to be rude.

[@psoffxifan4904]

@@cattysplat It's something that's difficult for me to understand again. A wipe in a dungeon is a maybe 20-30 second run back and a very tiny gil cost. It's a far cry from 11 where wiping during an exp party meant everyone had to spend upwards of 30-40 minutes running back to wherever their exp camp was depending on where you had set your home point, or vanilla wow where wiping in a dungeon was faster than that but still took several minutes to even get back to the dungeon entrance, plus running through the dungeon again to get to where the party wiped. Thinking a quick teleport and a 20 second run is enough of an inconvenience to be a dick to the tank or healer is baffling.

[@SeaborneWhale]

I accidentally queued into Mt. Gulg without my Warrior stone equipped, and- no one flamed me! After the first boss I even pulled like normal and it was okay (bless that party lol) I still feel insanely dumb for it happening but I think the big takeaway is that, when you tank in 14, You Will Be Fine, even if you make some big dumb mistakes

[@Satyxes]

"Fuck it, we ball" is from now on my FF14 mantra. Hope my Tanxiety settles because of it.

[@ghostsword6554]

Good video, I also maninly main tanks and it is absolutely real

[@esmolol4091]

What is tanxiety? Responsibility? I WANT ALL OF IT. That way I can blame everything on myself and since I'm always eager to improve and learn from more knowledgeable players, I will overcome any obstacle eventually. You have to have the mindset of a brave warrior, being selfless while always putting the most amount of pressure on yourself on purpose and to find ways to overcome anything, no matter the cost to fulfill the mission. You have to think strategic and tactical. Strategic: What is the final goal of the party? Clearing the dungeon! Ofc. Tactics: What do I need to do, to approach this goal? What should I tank, what can I tank what will I survive, which mechanincs come into play? What can I do, to turn the tide of the battle? Where do I position myself, which target do I pick first? Who in the party is allowed to die, if they mess up, and who needs to stay alive at any cost? How should I position myself and my main target. How many trash targets are allowed to attack my party to save some time for my CDs before I pick the aggro off them again? Which skills do I use to have the attention, which targets will I NOT attack? Playing a tank takes guts, a high IQ, the perfect overview over the battlefield and whats going on and knowledge about every mechanic/situation. I thrive in the midst of a messy chaos and become hyperfocused on my next move. It's the most rewarding playstyle I can imagine and being in charge of the parties fate is sexy as fuck therfore EMBRACE IT. As a dark knight now, who tried warrior and paladin I embrace my death and just don't care. If I fail, I analyze the reason. My gear is not at fault, since it's my first task to always have the best armor/weapon. If someone attacks before me, I take their aggro away. If they die trying to rush ANYTHING, they eventually learn their lesson fast and let me attack first. The key is communication with the team and dedication to the plan. Get knowledge, spread it to others, verbalize the task for each party member if necessary, make sure that everyone is on the same topic and let's go. If we wipe, back to the drawing board and make a different plan until it works.

[@unclemonkey1977]

I don’t understand tanxiety. I used to main mnk, and when I would queue into new content i would always f- up because I was focusing too much on my dmg output. When I switched to drk it became much easier to learn mechs because its rotation is mindless. Nowadays I get nervous when queueing new content for whatever reason as a dps but have no problems doing new content as a tank.

[@PandoraSoldier2024]

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.

[@tasoma]

I got tank anxiety from wow raiding back in wrath of the lich king, and when i started XIV, i just didn't want to tank at all.

[@Sapphirerosewolf]

I get Tankxiety because I've SEEN a lot of people be shitty while I or someone else is tanking. I'm not going to sprint all the way through the dungeon, but apparently some DPS have it in their head that if the tank isn't going fast enough they need to pull for the tank, and that is NOT something I appreciate at all. And the times I have called someone out for doing it when I am the tank has left me with a bad taste in my mouth, because every time it's something along the lines of "get good scrub" or "deal with it, we're going fast"

[@Orodreth888]

I just start with NPCs on low level dungeons until I am confident after I took a longer break.

[@granddiety14yt62]

I wont say ive ever gone through tank anxiety, because i haven't. Maybe i just dont dungeon/raid/trial enough outside of msq right now but I've been fine for the most part. Maybe its because i focus more on the fun of being Mr. Meeseeks in that every enemy must look at me and then die. I've had my best time playing GNB. Meanwhile, I can't play healer to save anyone's life let alone my own rn. Granted, i started out healing as a SGE so that should've been no surprise

[@granddiety14yt62]

Ok, after actually watching the first 2 minutes, I now know why I was fine all this time. I just have an overabundance of "FIWB" in me

[@RadNY1000]

I hate the thunderbolt 5000! Thanks for this. New tank player here

[@newyorknole2225]

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

[@ursulcx299]

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

[@Axermis]

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 😭

[@SapphWolf]

"Guide to beong an good tank" - A healer main: 1. Use your mitigations! 2. Face the enemies away from the rest of the party. 3. Use your mitigations! 4. Check with your healer on how hard you should pull. 5. Use your mitigations! That's it! As long as you do at least 3 of these things I'm happy. (That last one is important. I cannot stress how annoying it is trying to keep a tank alive who wants to pull the entire dungeon at once, but won't use a single mitigation ability the entire time.)

[@DocDarkAngelo]

I complete your guide with what the other should not do. Guide to heal and dps to not give Tank Anxiety as a dps main : 1. Heal...don't pull. 2. Burger King heal...Don't sprint for nothing just after a W2W. 2. DPS make sure most mob are dead before you bring a new pack. 4. DPS don't "it's a low level dungeon bro" if the new tank and/or the heal tell you he is inconfortable to deal with that many mob 5. Please DPS...Just DPS, you are not a tank FFS. 6 Heal and DPS, don't stay near or behind the tank, have some awareness. And pls, no matter what happen, don't listen to reddit. They think a tank should heal, a dps should tank and a heal should DPS...Just don't listen to them.

[@kevingriffith6011]

I can always appreciate a tank that spaces their mitigation out so they last until the end of the list.

[@NotTheWheel]

How to deal with tank anxiety: - Make sure tank stance is on. - Use your AoE abilities for many mobs. Use your Single Target abilities for singular targets (like bosses) - Use your mitigation sequentially. (As in one at a time.) ((Specially during trash pulls one mit will be enough, sometimes two)) (sometimes you may need to use all your mit, but this isn't all the time) -Your Invuln isn't just a panic button you can use it for other things if you want. Those are all the steps okay byyyyyyye 💙

[@angelmartinperez8870]

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

[@MB-dv5kg]

I can understand if it's an ultimate, but a regular trial or dungeon? You can do that blindfolded.

[@ajp1282]

Hey, man! Love this video! PLD main here and this content hit home in a lot of ways! I usually do the dailies Duty Finder (for tombstones, gil, etc) and I roll my eyes every time an ARR dungeon cues. All my tanks classes (well, everything else as well) is currently Lv90 so I'm used to wall-to-wall pulls and the dungeons are pretty straightforward. All my tank-xiety moments happened in ARR dungeons as a Sprout (baby mobs, my MT was bad, the healer would run ahead and Rescue pull me to grab bigger mobs, etc) but w more practice (reading the tool tips of the abilities, practicing the rotation) it negated the issue altogether! #FIWB ⚔️🛡

[@jacobpeters7197]

I'm still under sprout status. Started on xbox about a month ago. I got a level 70 ninja. Wanting to try tank. I came from eso after a long mmo break. The toxicity in this game is literally 0. Community is so nice.

[@Spamhard]

For me as a new player, the anxiety definitely comes from the unknown (and to some extent, peoples expectations). I only started about 3 weeks ago, just finished ARR content, but I'm still worried about roulette queues because I've picked up so many dungeons I've never run. People have been overall nice in this game, for sure, but 95% of people also seem to be in a huge rush too. I always comment that I'm new and haven't done/am unfamiliar with the dungeon, plus I say I'm open to any tips and aid. But most the time folk just say it's fine but then rush ahead and don't really help. They're not mean or rude, but I still spend the time kinda trailing behind, confused, and not feeling like I fully get what's going on, which isn't really a fun experience. That's multipled tenfold for the raid content. I did the crystal tower set and had NO CLUE what was going on. Other tanks kept running ahead and pulling bosses before most of us were there, I didn't fully grasp some of the mechanics etc. I have been trying to watch guide videos for more complex things like the raids, but the problem there is, as a new player, it kinda sucks that I have to spoil the content for myself. I wanna be able to experience the setting and bosses first hand and be able to walk into a room and be like "oh wow!", but I can't do that and ALSO know what i'm doing as a tank, lol. The usual solution to all of this is "well just play DPS first and learn from the tanks" but I admittedly don't have much interest in DPS. Ever since vanilla wow back in 2006, I've always been tank and healer mains lol. I have been trying to slowly level a bard though, and now an arcanist too. I realise it's not anyones fault, and as a tank I shouldn't expect oither people to stop and type out entire raid guides for me. It's on me to do that research myself. I know that's on me. I'm just sharing the cause of my own tankxiety. Just sometimes sucks that you have to do all this extra research as a tank, but such is the tank life ig.,

[@sutpecna]

I've always been a tank main but ever since I got to STB and reached lvl 70, tankxiety has become a terrible plague in my life. I've had a few bad experiences on lower levels and that stuck with me. Now, things require more strats, there are more skills to rotate, there's more stuff to look out for.... And the fear of failure gets to me. This also applies to real life, after I reached adulthood I became a huge coward with my own life too, and the simple yet powerful "fuck it we ball" was unironically the advice I needed. I overthink everything to the point of paralyzing. So yeah, you know what? Fuck it! We ball!

[@kargion]

I have always tanked, and find it the most easy job in ff14. All you do is pull wall to wall, rotate your mits. Make sure on boss fights you keep a mit in the chamber for tank buster. Done.