Personally, I can't recommend enough the importance of trying out all of the classes. The one you like the best might surprise you! And if nothing else, it's an excellent way to learn the different parts that make up the whole party and definitely will help you be a better team player.
My main class has been Warrior for several years now. For me, I like having utility and versatility in my classes. WAR fits that build for me since it's a beefy tank, a substantial dps, and controls its own HP pool with self heals. After playing the class so long, most other classes feel boring or just don't offer the same control over a fight. For that reason I also play Scholar as my secondary. Even though it's a great healer class, I find that I can be useful doing dps or utility while my faerie handles most content.
It's all about finding the classes that jive with you. Personally I like to have at least one class per role at a proficient level, but that's not for everyone. You say you like tanking, you'll have WAR and PLD to start. Paladins are the more traditional tank- high physical defense, powerful defensive buffs, low damage. WARs are a little more high octane damage/heal tanks but take a little bit more effort to learn. Later you'll get DRK which is a nice balance between WARs damage and PLD's defensiveness.
All of the healing classes are fun. White Mage is your high hitting healer with HoTs, Scholar has more in the way of shields and smaller heals assisted by a faerie. Then AST plays more with buffs and jumping between shields or HoTs depending on the situation. So there's lots of choices!
My main class has been Warrior for several years now. For me, I like having utility and versatility in my classes. WAR fits that build for me since it's a beefy tank, a substantial dps, and controls its own HP pool with self heals. After playing the class so long, most other classes feel boring or just don't offer the same control over a fight. For that reason I also play Scholar as my secondary. Even though it's a great healer class, I find that I can be useful doing dps or utility while my faerie handles most content.
It's all about finding the classes that jive with you. Personally I like to have at least one class per role at a proficient level, but that's not for everyone. You say you like tanking, you'll have WAR and PLD to start. Paladins are the more traditional tank- high physical defense, powerful defensive buffs, low damage. WARs are a little more high octane damage/heal tanks but take a little bit more effort to learn. Later you'll get DRK which is a nice balance between WARs damage and PLD's defensiveness.
All of the healing classes are fun. White Mage is your high hitting healer with HoTs, Scholar has more in the way of shields and smaller heals assisted by a faerie. Then AST plays more with buffs and jumping between shields or HoTs depending on the situation. So there's lots of choices!
