Is the sam/xxx a pve tank?

[Leonyn]

Heya

I didnt begin with the game yet but since im a veteran MMORPG player im already informing myself and i wanted to start playing a Melee char with good dmg. abilities... well ive wanted to give the sam a try but his skills are mainly against demons or am i wrong so it means he is kinda bad in pvp? (ballista or how its called ).
Sorry when im asking the wrong questions

[Kittyneko]

Re: Is the sam/xxx a pve tank?

Sam is a very nice damage dealing job, it relies on TP (For weapon skills). PVP is not important in this game, the only time you PVP is in ballista and you're probably not gonna do that for a long time. For starters, you'll just get party's(groups duh) and fight monsters together to get expierence points. Anyway, since it's an advanced job, you will have to level one of the following jobs to level 30 first:
Warrior
Monk
Red Mage
Black Mage
White Mage
Thief

And also, one of those to level 15 to use as so called Subjob.
If you want to try melee DD, start out with Warrior, using Monk as subjob. Mainly because warrior is used as subjob for Melee DD's quite often. During the time you level Warrior to 30 to get Advanced Jobs (like samurai), you will probably be asked to "tank" a lot. Later, once you reach level 30 on Warrior, you can get Samurai by doing a certain quest, and then level Samurai using Warrior as sub.

Double Post Edited:
Ow yea forgot to add that subjobs are important. Choosing the wrong subjobs won't get you many groups. But you can only get subjobs past level 18 anyway.

[Taskmage]

Re: Is the sam/xxx a pve tank?

Well, to answer the question in your subject, a sam/war with the right gear can, in a pinch, function as a tank. I was in a party last night (57-59) where the sam tanked Robber Crabs until the replacement for our real tank could get there. We pulled in decent exp even though his gear was focused on attack rather than defense, and he didn't have any food. Samurai is not considered to be a tank job though, and will almost never be asked to tank in an exp pt.

Sam do get skills specifically geared for fighting demons, just like drk get anti-arcana and pld get anti-undead skills, but that doesn't mean they can't bust non-demonic heads. They just get an added advantage against that mob type.

I have no experience in PvP, but sam weaponskills turn out some great damage numbers, and their biggest skill in PvM or PvP is getting TP quickly to use weapon skills. I don't know how sam fares as a main job in ballista, but I know it's used as a subjob by other jobs like ranger to speed up their TP gain.

[Leonyn]

Re: Is the sam/xxx a pve tank?

sounds good but the pvp aspect in a game is important for me i dont want to pvp much but i want to pvp from time to time so i dont loose the grip to the game .
So can anyone answer my question?

[Icemage]

Re: Is the sam/xxx a pve tank?

If your main question was "Is Samurai a good job in PvP", why is your post titled "Is the sam/xxx a pve tank?"?

As has already been mentioned, Samurai is not really a tanking job. They can function in a pinch with good gear, but they're not really meant to take lots of damage the way Paladins or Ninjas can.

As for PvP, it's a very small element of FFXI. Most melee jobs do reasonably well, and the effectiveness of any job depends on what the level cap of a given battlefield(30/40/50/60/uncapped).

It should be noted that you cannot participate in PvP until you've reached at least rank 3 in your chosen nation (typically not doable until at least level 20, if not higher), and you cannot unlock the Samurai advanced job until you've got at least one of the basic jobs (Warrior, Monk, Thief, Red Mage, Black Mage, White Mage) at level 30.

From past experience, the Samurai job is probably the most difficult to unlock when you first start off, as it requires quite a bit of travel, including access to the Kazham airship, as well as some reasonably high level assistance to clear the Notorious Monster battles you'll need to win to get the necessary items for the quest.


Icemage

[aegina]

Re: Is the sam/xxx a pve tank?

a samurai... *can* ...tank, but it's very, very rarely played that way. the only time i've ever seen a samurai tank is when the paladin/ninja dies, but then everyone is tanking exept the thief, lawl! XD

a samurai is neither a tank, nor is it really your typical melee dd-type job, either. in this game, we have skillchains. a samurai is a skillchain master, helping the rest of the party perform more efficiently by making it easier for them to skillchain better.

sounds good but the pvp aspect in a game is important for me i dont want to pvp much but i want to pvp from time to time so i dont loose the grip to the game .

(psst... punctuation is your friend! )

with reguards to pvp, pvp is a very, very small part of this game. i've only pvp'd twice in a year of playing

i'm not sure how pvp'ing can keep you at the "top of your game..." pvp play and the normal game are sooooo vastly different that they're like two completely seperate enteties. this game is heavilly group centric. nearly everything in this game is based on teamwork and on learning how to coordinate your actions with the other players. pvp is something completely different.

as far as how good a sam is at ballista, i have no idea. i have only pvp'd twice, and both times it was against the same dragoon in a diorama-adgadis Ghelshiba match.

incidentally, if you want to play as a sam, use warrior as your subjob. other subjobs are usable late in the game, but for the first 60 levels or so, /war is the best subjob for sam whether you plan to tank or not. My suggestion: first start out as a monk. take monk to level 18 and use it to complete the quest to unlock your subjob option. then, go back to your mog house and have your moogle change your job to war/mnk. now, begin to level your level 1 warrior all the way to level 37 to get your subjob out of the way. once you have taken war to 37, find someone to help you unlock samurai (and trust me, you will need help)

here's an intersting post by a newb to the game, asking his questions about wanting to play the samurai class. you may find it an interesting read.
http://www.ffxionline.com/forums/sam...questions.html

[SturmTempest]

Re: Is the sam/xxx a pve tank?

SAM cannot tank and will not tank. You're being led down a garden path.

[Icemage]

Re: Is the sam/xxx a pve tank?

SAM cannot tank and will not tank. You're being led down a garden path.

Incorrect. Samurai CAN tank, with appropriatel levelled skills and correct gear/food. They're not as good at it as Paladins or Ninjas, but they're not worthless at it.

Against HNM, Samurai can't tank, but for regular XP parties, they can with appropriate support (SMN + BRD).


Icemage

[LadyPeorth]

Re: Is the sam/xxx a pve tank?

A SAM defintely can tank just like a RDM can tank. You can do it, but you won't be asked to do it often

[aegina]

Re: Is the sam/xxx a pve tank?

i have a friend who tanked as a sam a few times. you have to gear up for it properly, and use the right foods. it can be done, but no one ever does it that way...

[SturmTempest]

Re: Is the sam/xxx a pve tank?

Incorrect. Samurai CAN tank, with appropriatel levelled skills and correct gear/food. They're not as good at it as Paladins or Ninjas, but they're not worthless at it.

Against HNM, Samurai can't tank, but for regular XP parties, they can with appropriate support (SMN + BRD).


Icemage

Yes it is correct. No fucking SAM tanks. No SAM carries around tanking foods and tanking gear "just in case" because you know what? If he is asked to tank the PT is probally crap to begin with.

And if it requires a BRD and a SMN along with it, you know it's not going to happen.

If a SAM spends millions of gil for a "just in case" tanking moment but must have a BRD AND RDM with him in order for it to work, and it isn't going to work well to begin with then guess what, it dosen't work.

Don't even try to push this kind of false info into this guy's head. Don't fucking make someone a gimp because you want to glorify your class. When ever someone speaks about their class they always hype it up. Stop it. Each class does a certain thing and that's it, you're never going to break the mold or do something different, k? That's what FFXI is about, close-minded rigid gameplay. That's what it's about.

Take it away and you break your PT.

So do me a favor, don't invite me to any of your crazy gypsy PTs. My time is better spent seeking for another two hours than dealing with 1.5k EXP/hr. Thanks.

[Taskmage]

Re: Is the sam/xxx a pve tank?

Even in saying what everyone else said is wrong, you still acknowledge it's true. It takes specific gear and food and even then it isn't as good of a tank as the jobs that are regularly used as tanks. That's why nobody ever does it, and as everyone else has said you will almost never be asked to. But if a party with a sam tank gets crap experience that doesn't negate the fact that the sam is tanking, even if it isn't a party you yourself would ever join.

Your sig is totally correct, btw.

[Ziero]

Re: Is the sam/xxx a pve tank?

Sams stats are pretty well set up for tanking, as well as the fact that they can wear heavy armor and get defensive abilities. Sams have the second highest Vit and second highest HP in game behind Mnk iirc, with the addition of heavy armor a Sam *CAN* tank effectively. They're not the best tanks, and they require a special set up to do it, but they can tank successfully in an Exp pt.

Most don't however as a Sam is better at being a DD. And most DD gear, especially later in game, has very low or even negative effects on your defensive abilities. If you gear for DD you're defense takes a blow, gear for tanking and your offense will suck, that's just the balance of the game. Very few jobs can do both effectively without spending loads and loads of gil. And seeing as how a good Sam can easily do two SC a fight for impressive Dmg, they all focus on DDing because that's what they're best at.

[SturmTempest]

Re: Is the sam/xxx a pve tank?

Even in saying what everyone else said is wrong, you still acknowledge it's true. It takes specific gear and food and even then it isn't as good of a tank as the jobs that are regularly used as tanks. That's why nobody ever does it, and as everyone else has said you will almost never be asked to. But if a party with a sam tank gets crap experience that doesn't negate the fact that the sam is tanking, even if it isn't a party you yourself would ever join.

Your sig is totally correct, btw.

I forgot to take my medication today.

[Taskmage]

Re: Is the sam/xxx a pve tank?

I'm going to assume you're serious, so please be more careful about that. You're entitled to your viewpoint, but next time express it in a more polite way and keep your language in check.