The answer for the original question in this thread is; Yes
The Swordsman Tree is very versatile and can virtually fulfill any role (well except being full support); and what other tree is best suited to be a tank other than Swordies.
Now to answer the first post of the OP.
as someone who isn’t able to play this game (no key T_T),is being a tanker viable on this game? pve or pvp standpoint?
PvE
IMC games made classes with essential skills for being a tank like crowd controls (stuns, slows, knockdowns, etc.) and grouping skills (swashbuckling and arrest) which make mob management for a party a lot easier.
Also, to be an effective tank you should always have to deal a decent amount of damage by utilizing your AoE skills ( Cleave, Seism, etc. ) to attack a multitude of mobs or by using boss slaying skills ( Pierce, Stabbing, Earth Wave, etc. ) which chunks a good amount of HP from bosses.
PvP
Yes, yes and yes. Tanks can be really effective in PvPs, especially for the ones who have a many disabling skills like Rodelero couple it up with the speed and power of the Cataphract.
IMO, Rodelero was made to PvP; I mean, look at those skills! Disables everywhere! Out of 8 skills, only 3 of them doesn’t have any sort of CCs, so expect to be irritated when you see a Rodelero in PvP. At the case of the Cataphract; they have powerful skills matched with peerless mobility because of Ride mount added with Trot, they can kite you and just run around waiting for their Cooldowns to finish.
also, i read somewhere (forgot the link) where def is so linear … ea: if you have 100 def and enemy attack is 1000, the damage you’ll receive is 900. if there are good def items and def enhancer skills then this is good but if it’s like others games where end game def is like 2-4k while the end game attack is like 15-20k then this is really bad. better have an evas items/stat/skills than def.
As someone already replied to this question; I’ll just add some of my opinions regarding about defense and tanks.
A traditional tank would prefer high HP and Physical Defense with an occasional Magic Defense as this was common scene on older MMORPGs like RO1 and from other RPGs; but here in ToS, it is better to reduce the hits you would take by either evading it with High Evasion Rate or just by Blocking it.
I didn’t say it is bad to have high Phy Def or Mag Def, but it will help you a lot if you invest in some of your stats to CON for block rate and HP, and DEX for accuracy and evasion.