I was a teenage meat shield.

[Keavy]

So after many days of sitting in Aht Urghan with my flag up as my WHM I decided to go leveling. I wasn't in the mood to level my subs (Mainly because LFG in Jeuno isn't any better) so after some thought and consideration I went with Paladin.

I have a lot of respect for them. Many a PLD has kept many a mob from making me its punching bag. Also, their AF looks awesome. So I bought some food and off to level I went.

Today, shortly after reaching level 15 I got an invite to the Dunes. I explained that I had never tanked (Ever) and the leader responded "We'll help you if you come" so off I went.

Now, this is the part in these "Keavy attention whore" stories where I bitch and moan but honestly, I had a great time tanking. It took me a while to get my macro's set up and to learn when to cure and voke and such, but we had PLers that understood my situation and saved my tail when I got in trouble.

Only issue we had was with a BLM no sub that nuked like crazy and stood over by the PLer. Problem was this: I was told that to maintain chains that when I and the PLer ran out of MP the PLer would take hate and I was not to voke. With the BLM next to the PLer I couldn't tell who had hate until it was too late, which led to a lot of deaths and whining by him about how I shouldn't be tanking if I can't do it right. We asked him to move away from the PLer and to have a little patience. When we broke (Due to loss of PLer and no WHM's seeking, which is why we had a PLer to begin with) I was level 17 with a much better understanding of how Tanking works.

I know I am one of those "I hate melee jobs" people, but a job that combines Mage stuff with Melee and allows me to get revenge on all those mobs that beat me as a Mage...sign me up!

[Kintrra]

Hehe, I can relate, I'm used to being that tank that keeps you from getting beat on all the time, and here lately I've been leveling WHM, so it's a complete reversal for me as well, and I know a lot of people always complain that "Healing is boring!", and yet, I have a blast playing WHM. Between timing out Regens and Cures, and watching my hate levels, it's fun as all blazes to me. XD

[Keavy]

Hehe, I can relate, I'm used to being that tank that keeps you from getting beat on all the time, and here lately I've been leveling WHM, so it's a complete reversal for me as well, and I know a lot of people always complain that "Healing is boring!", and yet, I have a blast playing WHM. Between timing out Regens and Cures, and watching my hate levels, it's fun as all blazes to me. XD

Yeah, I know what you mean. For the first few fights I was like "Man, the tank really needs to get control of the mob. Its all over the place" then I realized "I'M THE TANK!" and the whole having to actually time my cure's thing is a little weird. I'm used to just throwing out cure's and not worrying about getting interrupted. A few more parties and I should have this tanking thing down. Gonna farm later today to get some gil for some better gear and gonna get the Power Boots either after I'm done farming or tomorrow since I'm one level away from being able to use them.

With the gear I want and the Power Boots I'll have +10 VIT at level 18. Add in Boiled/Steamed Crab and that's +12-13 VIT along with the +DEF bonus crab gives. Earliest I'll use food will be in Qufim Island. Dunes parties usually have PLers so there's really no reason for me to boost DEF.

I'm open to any and all advice concerning PLD and tanking so lay it on me.

[Alya Mizar (Tsybil)]

Good luck hunting your new boots.

As to food, Boiled Crayfish is just Uber Dunes tank food and available from a few NPCs cheap. +30% Def is nothing to either sneeze at or ignore.

Now a question. I honestly believe that I have seen the mob turn to me when I start casting. It seems to me that once you have some hate even an interrupted cast will generate more hate than you loose getting whacked. Am I wrong here?

Please understand that I do not take my Elvaan PLD out leveling even every other month so I am far from an expert on bloodtanking.

[Sugami]

I remember a RDM doing Convert + Divine Seal Cure IV and dying before the Cure went off Think it was the casting of the spell that made the mob turn but there's definately a little hate (at least) in Convert and Divine Seal.

[ScarlettPheonix]

Oh, theres a freaking ton of hate associated with DS+Cure. A cure spell boosted to double its strength is going to get a ton of hate.

One of the reasons why I don't use DS+Cure IV to heal myself after Converting. I prefer saving DS for Curaga II when the party could use an AoE Cure IV

[Kintrra]

With the gear I want and the Power Boots I'll have +10 VIT at level 18. Add in Boiled/Steamed Crab and that's +12-13 VIT along with the +DEF bonus crab gives. Earliest I'll use food will be in Qufim Island. Dunes parties usually have PLers so there's really no reason for me to boost DEF.

I'm open to any and all advice concerning PLD and tanking so lay it on me.

One of the most important things I can stress is learning your hate line. Eventually you'll realize what I mean, if you don't already, but every action has it's own certain amount of hate generated. Cure's are only worth as much hate as they can heal MP. Also, learning to either use your magic menu or learning to type in Cure commands quickly (prefer the typing method myself, as I rarely screw up in my typing, and have a decently quick typing speed) and learning to Cure bomb whoever has hate is a skill you'll need to learn. Cures gain more hate if they're being used on the mob's intended target.

Also learning when to let the hate slack off a bit (sometimes necessary to keep yourself alive long enough to get healed, and especially important once you hit SATA levels) is a skill you'll need, but you should be able to pick up on that one as you level.

And one of the most overused and yet underrated pieces of advice that I can give is to learn your Provoke timer. That timer comes back up every 30 seconds. As a blood tank, you can't get away without creating that additional hate every chance you get, unless you're trying to let hate slack off like I mentioned before.

Everything else, is pretty much common sense and learning. And never be afraid to lose your TP in order to regain your MP. PLD shouldn't be involved in Skillchains in earlier levels, due to their need for MP. After you get up to the level for Shield Mastery (I'm not sure what level, since I hit 75 before it was introduced) then being involved in the SC isn't so bad, since every blocked hit will give you back 4-5% tp instead of 2.

[Sugami]

Oh, theres a freaking ton of hate associated with DS+Cure. A cure spell boosted to double its strength is going to get a ton of hate.

Well duh but the Cure spell never finished casting We all know curing massive amounts will turn a few heads but the action of casting the spell in the first place must have some hate associated with it too.

If you don't do already I suggest making a recast macro for all your important JAs, I do it with every job it's very handy

[Keavy]

If you don't do already I suggest making a recast macro for all your important JAs, I do it with every job it's very handy

I heard about /recast shortly after I started as Keavy and have used that in every macro for every JA and Spell, with the exception of the Cure spells.

Also, I use /echo a lot for personal "Reminder" messages and avoid the /p text in Macro's like "Divine breeze of Altana, provide your warmth to <t>" because its very distracting, fills the chatlog a lot faster, and makes it harder on mage's looking for messages on enchantments like Regen, Refresh, and Haste.

I try to be as considerate as possible when in a party.

[MittensValefor]

my best loved pld macros are:
ctrl-1:
/tartet <bt>
(Targets what the puller shot at.)

ctrl-2:
/ja Provoke <t>
/recast Provoke
(Tells you and you alone how long you have to wait before Provoke is usable again. Slightly inaccurate thanks to lag. For me 2 seconds left means I can provoke. You'll notice there's no /p in this macro!!! One of the most irritating things is a pld spamming his voke macro to get hate back.)

alt-1:
/item "Pineapple Juice" <me>
(Self explanatory.)

alt-2:
/ma "Cure II" <st>
(This is critical. It serves two functions. When you hit this, it targets yourself by default, but doesn't fire immediately. For me this helps me fight lag and time my cures right. Alt-2... wait for moment just before the goblin swings... Enter! Get hit at around 10% Casting... and again at around 90%... Not be interrupted! But more importantly... This helps with saving an overzealous whm's butt: /ma "Cure II" <me> doesn't do you any good when the WHM just tried to "save you" with a huge cure and pulled aggro. With /ma "Cure II" <st> you simply press F-2 or w/e F-key will target the dying whm, hit enter, and save the day!)

Beyond that... the most amazing PLD I know (a Mithra) keeps huge ethers in inventory for emergencies.

As for whether you pull hate by just starting a cure, it's hard to tell. There was a time when I got hate right after using food... FOOD! I mean come ON! "INSOLENCE!!! How DARE you eat in my presence!"

But thinking back, it's more likely that the mob lost interest in the tank and simply attacked the next person on the hate list.

[Alya Mizar (Tsybil)]

Oh, theres a freaking ton of hate associated with DS+Cure. A cure spell boosted to double its strength is going to get a ton of hate.

Well duh but the Cure spell never finished casting We all know curing massive amounts will turn a few heads but the action of casting the spell in the first place must have some hate associated with it too.

I honestly believe that I have seen the mob turn to me when I start casting. It seems to me that once you have some hate even an interrupted cast will generate more hate than you loose getting whacked. Am I wrong here?

JAs alone generate hate. We all know this. But I STILL think that the mere act of casting generates hate. Getting the spell off will generate more of course. I rarely mind getting interrupted when I am on my Elvaan PLD as it seems it has taken no MPs to generate Hate.

This has happened more than once:
Hate is shaky, melees are taking too many hits and Provoke is no where near ready. I attempt to cast a Cure II and the mob turns to me interrpting the cast. Two more attempts are interrupted and the WHM casts Cure III on me. The mob remains fixated on me.

Has anyone else had similar experiences?

Emergency Hate tool for PLDs. Berserk. But be sure to cancel it FAST.

[Kintrra]

Oh, theres a freaking ton of hate associated with DS+Cure. A cure spell boosted to double its strength is going to get a ton of hate.

Well duh but the Cure spell never finished casting We all know curing massive amounts will turn a few heads but the action of casting the spell in the first place must have some hate associated with it too.

I honestly believe that I have seen the mob turn to me when I start casting. It seems to me that once you have some hate even an interrupted cast will generate more hate than you loose getting whacked. Am I wrong here?

JAs alone generate hate. We all know this. But I STILL think that the mere act of casting generates hate. Getting the spell off will generate more of course. I rarely mind getting interrupted when I am on my Elvaan PLD as it seems it has taken no MPs to generate Hate.

This has happened more than once:
Hate is shaky, melees are taking too many hits and Provoke is no where near ready. I attempt to cast a Cure II and the mob turns to me interrpting the cast. Two more attempts are interrupted and the WHM casts Cure III on me. The mob remains fixated on me.

Has anyone else had similar experiences?

Emergency Hate tool for PLDs. Berserk. But be sure to cancel it FAST.

Actually I can explain what happened there Tsybil. You were curing the pt I'm assuming before that spell as well. Hate builds up, and either goes back down from being hit, or just over time. Sounds like in that situation, all your DDs and your PLD were losing hate faster than you were. All of their hate levels dropped far enough so that the 'lead' on hate became yours. Usually is a problem if you get one of the Snippers from Hell or something. And I know we've all had those, that one mob out of the entire day that decides to just wipe your entire pt across the floor, right off the bat. Valkurm Dune's Snippers are infamous for this.

And Mittens, I specifically put a /p line back in my voke macro, because after I decided to take it out due to the spamming, I got accused multiple times of not even trying to Provoke mobs. After that, I put my /p line back in, specifically to avoid that. So it may be annoying, but at least you'll know your PLD is trying to get hate back.

As to Berserk...um....I've never really noticed it worth the time to bother turning on until higher levels, where you've got higher damage swords. The hate it generates is a mere drop in the bucket compared to a Cure spell, or heaven forbid if hate is completely out of control, then there's always Invincible...unless it got used recently, of course.

Divine Seal on it's own isn't really much hate, but both Convert and the Cure afterwords are a LOT of hate.

[ScarlettPheonix]

Well, Convert alone isn't that much hate- if that's the only thing your rdm does, which is unlikely. Its the Curing afterwards to get your hp back to reasonable levels that's the big hate draw.

In very rare instances I've drawn hate from just using Convert, but usually I get hate from Cure bombing the party or the (rare) times when I'm Chainspell+Nuking for some reason.

[Alya Mizar (Tsybil)]

No Kintrra, I was talking about experiences while on my Elvaan PLD. Every time I get hate as my own RDM self I understand just exactly why. Well except for Jnun in the mire.

[Kahvi]

my best loved pld macros are:


alt-2:
/ma "Cure II" <st>
(This is critical. It serves two functions. When you hit this, it targets yourself by default, but doesn't fire immediately. For me this helps me fight lag and time my cures right. Alt-2... wait for moment just before the goblin swings... Enter! Get hit at around 10% Casting... and again at around 90%... Not be interrupted! But more importantly... This helps with saving an overzealous whm's butt: /ma "Cure II" <me> doesn't do you any good when the WHM just tried to "save you" with a huge cure and pulled aggro. With /ma "Cure II" <st> you simply press F-2 or w/e F-key will target the dying whm, hit enter, and save the day!)

from being a main healer as SMN RDM and WHM for a combined total of 164 levels, I suggest this:

/ma "Cure II" <stpc>
that way, your targeting arrow is limited only to player characters and wont accidentally target a mob if you have to heal someone else.
Besides, Cure only works offensivly against undead, and there are better spells than the Cure series to attack undead with.

[Sugami]

Hmm I'd have thought if you used anything but <me> for curing youself you're more likely to get interrupted. If you need to toss a Cure out to someone else Ctrl+M -> F-key (keep your magic menu over Cure II or III so ready for emergencies).

I like to use /p lines because it's easier to notice, some of my macros are quite amusing and it tells me that my macro has triggered (since I get a small delay). I'll use echo for gear swaps and telling me my TP at the end of my recast macro.

And Berserk... don't think activation carries a lot of hate unlike Warcry, which is probably not far off Provoke.

[Alya Mizar (Tsybil)]

Berserk I think carries about as much hate as Boost. Which ain't a lot, but is noticeable. I mentioned it simply because sometimes you just need to get the mobs attention and everything else is not available.

Most PLDs never think about it as an attention getting device. Nor Banish for that matter.

[Kintrra]

Most PLDs never think about it as an attention getting device. Nor Banish for that matter.

Probably cuz PLD Banish is about = to half what a WHM's is...and that's about half the use of a decent nuke from a BLM.

Can get much more hate out of a Cure III (for 12 less MP than Banish II at that) as long as it's dropped on the person who has hate and it heals the full 190 HP that it can.