What tank?
 

So I've never played a tank, casters yes, wizard, enchanter and the mighty necro. Moonlighted as a monk to 52 and loved it so I thought I might be missing out on a key area of the game.
That being said, I thought I might give it a go. I see a lot of SKs running around and the odd pally (though there doesnt seem a lot of love for them), a fair few warriors as well around Oasis in their overly tanked gear.
If I was looking at a tank, is SK the be all and end all? Are Pallys not worth the love or should I do straight warrior? How different are the play styles?
Any advice would be hot. My thought patterns are, at the moment, DE SK, or halfling warrior (love the XP bonus)... maybe troll warrior for regen

War is the only tank that matters end game. Prior to that, any of the 3 work fine. You'll hold xp group aggro way easier with a knight than war though.

For most groups I'd say pal > sk > warrior. If you're hunting a really tough mob (there are only a few), warrior for defensive. If you're hunting an area that could use another fd puller, SK.

For raids? War >>> knights.

SKs are not the end all be all.

A warrior is going to make a good group even better. A knight is going to make a bad group good.

Paladins most certainly are capable of making bad groups better, but I feel the class is incapable of making anything great, simply because in solid groups their utility is eclipsed by other classes, leaving you with a one-armed warrior with no cooridnation :c

players can make any group great though, no matter how inefficient or challenging :3

For group settings your life is going to be a lot easier and less boring playing a Paladin or SK. I would avoid making a warrior unless you know for sure you're going to raid hardcore and also insist on being your guild's main tank.

Warriors:
Ogres best stats all around, and frontal stun immunity. Slap starting stats into DEX and make sure your agi is over 75 and you are good to go
Troll regen is OK when soloing, but wont be a huge deciding factor in groups, and its marginal at best at max level
Barbarian is the best "good" tank for starting stats, again everything into DEX and make sure your AGI is over 75
Dwarves are a solid spot for warriors, highest starting DEX, cool looking and the barrel roll is highly regarded by many. Also access to Dwarven Plate many pieces of which are way better than planar/thurgadin gear

Paladins:
Only real option is Dwarf here, make sure your AGI is above 75 and rest into STA. You have solid wis/str/sta, and access to the racial armor which is fanfuckingtastic all the way to max level and then some.

SKs:
Ogre has the stat/stun thing again, make sure AGI is at 75 and rest into INT. Sounds silly but with beefy str/sta it wont take much even with crusty armor to get over 200+ in str/sta without trying.
Have a troll SK at level 20 and again the regen is great when solo but people always keep you topped off for some reason even when waiting for spawns/medding. I put all I could into INT here
Female dark elves are pretty.

And for what it is worth, Slam scales off the Bash skill and will also level Bash. Slam is superior to Kick in every way until 55 or so, even then you want to Slam casters to either avoid an ice comet or stop a heal/gate

Pretty much all on wrong accounts. Take Slam vs Kick for example. Warriors can still Bash by dropping in a shield, so it's a completely irrelevant argument. Please don't follow this advice. The only thing that is correct is that Dwarven Plate is good, but it's not restricted to Dwarfs. Halfling or Gnome Warriors in Dwarven Plate are still going to tank better than Ogre Warriors in Crustacean Shell armor because of the AC difference.

But this isn't a discussion about races to begin with. For the classes, you have to think about what you want to do. Warriors will have a hard time holding aggro until twinked well with Haste and proccing weapons.

Paladins will have great snap aggro starting at level 9 with Blind and Stun, and they can also pull with Lull and CC with Root. Paladins can help reduce downtime if there's no cleric or druid in the group by using the mana-free tiny heal they get on Deepwater helm.

SKs also have really good snap aggro, but no stun spell (they have to Bash/Slam instead). SKs can pull with FD using Snare to split.

SKs will have more success soloing than Paladins through fear kiting, but both will solo really slow due to inherent lack of DPS. (Note: using a slow 2h on a Knight will allow you to cast between swings without resetting your swing timer maximizing your DPS.) A Warrior with a good Haste item and Fungi tunic and dirt-cheap weapons will be able to out solo both of them.

So what do you want to do? Do you want to struggle sometimes while tanking PUG groups with a goal of being the the best Tank starting at about level 50? Do you have a lot of Plat sitting around you can use to twink out? Can you afford a Fungi? Pick Warrior.

Do you want to be able to help CC/pull in groups? Do you want to help keep your group alive with your tiny heals? Do you know how to use Blind? Pick Paladin.

Do you want the fail-safe to never die by casting FD when the shit hits the fan but not really use it to pull because FD sucks on this server? Do you want to basically solo to 60 by fear kiting in outdoor zones? Pick Shadow Knight.

Do you want to be the only one in your raid that can use the gear that drops for your class? Pick Paladin or Shadow Knight for sure. Practically nobody else plays them end-game.

http://wiki.project1999.com/Skill_Slam

But as a dps loss and switching weapons like that all the time. Also kick has a low skill cap than bash.

http://wiki.project1999.com/Skill_Bash: 240 max

http://wiki.project1999.com/Skill_Kick: 210 max

Slam will outperform Kick in most situations and be much more reliable at higher levels due to the higher skillcap vs casters