I dont remember things being this bad last October when I started this game for the first time. Recently I revisited ways to maximize my white mage's MP (being a hume it seems like I have to push my limits for some of the rougher battles which leaves the pt exposed to any sort of mishap that may occur) I realized that subbing Summoner would probably be my best bet since I never use black mage spells anyway (with the exception of war) I start the trek leveling summoner and whiz right through the first 10 levels and decide to head off to, yep you guessed it, good old Valkrum Dunes.
I have come to several realizations about a good portion of the lower level crowd... White Mages are a non existant job, Summoners and Red Mages are both considered healers and should be treated as such(including asking RDMs not to debuff and asking SMNs not to summon), and finally and the subject of this post... Tanks that DO NOT LIKE TO TANK. Over the last 10 days or so I have gone through 10-19 in the dunes and I have heard so many warriors say things like this
"I was power leveled to lvl 15 so I dont really know what Im doing can you guys teach me?"
"Yeah I guess I can provoke but I died the last time I did that"
"I dont really main tank I just kinda back up tank"
"I think we should get a Ninja to tank" (nothing against ninja tanks i.e. Silverboy, Mutiny youre the best Ive had in the dunes)
"DONT TELL ME TO PROVOKE I KNOW HOW TO F**KIN PROVOKE" "Then why arent you doing it?" "F**K YOU GUYS"
One Japanese fellow flat out refused to provoke, he was subbing red mage and our Monk was provoking his butt off but he would not do it... we used the translator asked him to provoke several times he didnt say anything... so using the translator we made it simple for him (No)(Provoke) (No)(Party) he left.
The best experiences I have had were with a monk named Lokiswrath I think and 2 ninjas named Mutiny and Silverboy. They held aggro well knew their business and went about it smartly.
To all of us higher level players really anyone 30 and up. I know we have friends that play and we think we are doing them this great favor power leveling them through those first 10-12 lvls... the ones that suck cause youre solo. What we are really doing is breeding a generation of players that have no idea what in the HELL they are doing. We need to let these guys learn how to play their role and then work themselves into groups knowing what their limitations and abilities are. We are hurting those players... and we are hurting new players who have to party with these morons for a good long time. Now I am in no way implying that every low level tank is crap... I am in no way implying that all new players suck... but most of the players who the parties I have been in have used power levels as a reason why they dont know what they are doing. I myself have power leveled a friend to the point where I could group with him with my BLM. He learned the game very quickly though so I lucked out. I dont know what else to say besides let players group alone for the first 20 levels let them learn to play the game first solo then as a party we will all be doing ourselves a favor in the long run.