Just a few Specific Quesions

[Burzum]

Ok I've begun my FFXI career again... In my previous experence I didn't have as clear of an idea of what I wanted to play so I lvled alot of jobs into the mid 30's of those I've determined I most enjoy the role of Tank and Puller.. As in my experience they seemed to have the largest impact on exp. A good tank or puller (I'd prob like to be one in the same) with competent support equaled more exp in pt's. I made this observation as both a Tank and support (DD) role. My experence with Warrior ends at lvl 40 Ok now to my inquires:

1. Are Warriors as tanks basically SATA dependant for inital hate? (At 40 Provoke+Boost+Weapon Damage seemed to be enough to maintain hate) As other than Provoke/Warcry I don't see many tools for Warriors to establish initial hate. So without a THF/DRK/MNK SATA I would suspect that DD's and healers would need to be conservitive in their hate generation at the beginnings of engagements. (As I recongnize that the higher lvl you become the more hate becomes an issue)

2. What is the role of War post exp. grind era.... Aka the post 75 encounters HNM's , Dynamis, etc... Are we Spirit Within slaves, Tanks (if so why would a Warrior Tank over a Ninja?) , or please fill in the ______?

3. Is warrior what I'm looking for? Or would another job prob be better suited to what I like to do (Pull and Tank)

So just to summerize my 2 questions are what are the hate tools of Warrior and Could someone define the end game role of warrior.

As being A MMORG vet. (I still have my orginal Everquest release box) I understand that in many instances the role of a job/class often changes dramaticly in end game encounters vs Exp encounters. So I just don't want to have a misconception of the final role of Warrior. As from my perspective once the initial exp grind is over aka reach 75 there are only 2 avenues to go either you improve your character through Equipment or you lvl another job. I would think one of the ultimate disappointments would be to lvl a job to 75 just to learn that through a misconception you stop enjoying the role of that job you have lvled for the last few months.

PS> sorry for the length of post, but I am trying to be as helpful as possible to my hopeful respondants by being as specific as possible on my concerns.

[Jinxie]

I'm not a WAR, but I have lots of WAR friends?!? From my experience, most WARs are tanks until PLDs become more abundant in their current job range. Pre lvl 30, PLDs are almost a luxury. Most WARs that I party with now are damage dealers and backup tanks. I believe that the endgame WARs are also DD.

[imac2much]

Well.... WAR's *can* tank, but they are even more situational than a PLD or NIN tank. Lvl 1-73 WAR/NIN can't really blink tank much due to relatively low evasion, so your 3 shadows will be gone instantly, and you'll have a hard time not getting hit for 4 seconds to recast it anyways. You take more damage than PLD or NIN, but can also deal more damage (better weapon choice). But if you have to use defensive stances (gear and food and job abilities), you won't be dealing spectacular damage either... and ACC will be an issue since a tank sure as hell shouldn't wear sniper rings.

WAR's are excellent back up tanks and trick partners though. They have good equipment selection so they can take damage for brief spurts of time (utsu: ni or defender), but IMO they are the highest DD of all melees except RNG from 30 ~ 60 ish... perhaps even til 66. At these ranges, Great Axe and Axe WS's easily trump those WS of other classes, DRK don't have any good WS yet, THF are only good DD's in bursts, DRG only has penta which can't really be used in any useful skillchain, etc. Of course at 66 our damage drops off significantly since our lvl 3 skillchain WS's are pretty low damage compared to other DD melees (except DRG).

At high end, WAR/NIN is one of THE best tanks out there. Utsu ni and ichi along with haste and some march songs will make sure the WAR has some shadows at all times. They deal much better damage than both NIN and PLD. However they are more costly since to be optimal, high level WARs need 2 sets of equipment (offensive and defensive). Still, they can keep offensive setup most of the time due to blink tanking, and axes are much much much better than katanas. WAR/NIN also have good skill in sword, so for those high DEF monsters they can still use Joy + Ridill or some such and for some Spirits Within action.

Out of all the jobs I've played, I think I enjoyed playing WAR the most (after getting out of the lowbie levels). Granted, my only moderately high level job is PLD, but I've played most other melee jobs up to 30-40 and I just seem to prefer WAR. Last night I even outdamaged our THF's SATA Viper (438 damage) with SA Sturmwind (450 damage)... fun stuff! Good for someone who also makes a prime backup tank..