Y u no tank? ---A Blog from too much free time---

[Redith]

Let me start by saying that I have been a hunter since B/C days. I have always loved the feeling of being an awesome agile archer sending fourth some slick cat, powerful wolf, or lumbering bear to chase down and rend my foe.
However I have always had moments while playing, watching myself distance myself from my enemies as a ranged attacker, and like Robert Barathian I found myself saying .....Piss on that, I want to hit somebody!
One of my favorite ideas of myself when I think of playing a fighter class is going in with a weapon in one hand, a shield in the other. Well that is fine and dandy when you are soloing, but try and join a group as DPS with sword and board and watch how fast you get kicked.
So you think, maybe I could tank. I mean the idea is pretty awesome. You standing toe to toe with a huge enemy, blade in one hand, shield blocking the blows being struck. Keeping the squishy DPS and heals safe....If only it was that true....or easy.

Instead you have to try and un clusterf*** situations that were not your fault. Sure you can keep the attention of 3 mobs, but hey, the Warlock just panicked when something attacked him, and he just feared the mob into a convention of baddies. Is it the locks fault? Ohhoho no. It was yours Mr. Shiny pants. Healer goes afk in the middle of the fight and you die. "Well why don't you have better gear?"

Another standard that tanks are held to is knowledge of every single bosses battle rotation. You are expected to know that random boss 4c, when he hits 40 percent health pulls a claymore from behind a bush, then fires a Kamahaha blast out his ass. No other party member is expected to do that kind of homework. But you are, because you are the tank.
So it comes down to this when you play a melee combatant. Be a glass cannon, or be a tank...well being a tank is too much, much too much, so I guess I will have to settle for being the guy in the back firing the arrows

[Raera]

I just have to say that I have been astonished and amazed at the ability of most tanks to find their way around the dungeons AND keep those baddies occupied so I can shoot them from afar. I always try to thank the tank before or after because I can only imagine how many hours its takes to memorize those fights and get it all right. I wish people would be nicer and not blame tanks for everything that goes wrong. I'm sorry that you had such a bad experience 'cause we need more good tanks like you tried to be!

[Lupis]

Tanking is wicked fun- and so bloody hard and stressful. x.x I feel like my group is judging me if I stop running forward for even a second. Health starts dropping? Oh god, my fault clearly, throw up all my shields! Someone pulled extra mobs? OH NO I NEED TO GET THEM ALL.

That said, there is a wonderful satisfaction to it, and I love being the one that pulls, keeps the mobs occupied, etc- it's more active than playing DPS. It's just... a lot of pressure. x.x And man I do not look forward to reading up on every boss fight when it comes time for LFR.

[peanutbuttercup]

I think tanking suits players with a certain mindset - you have to want some responsibility and control (which is why tanks often lead by default, either by giving instructions or controlling the pace). My spouse has been doing nothing but tanking since WOTLK. He even tanks on up to 2 alts. Yet he is the one person in the raid group who never wants to watch videos before going into new dungeons or raids and it's never been a problem - if he (or other experienced tanks) don't know a fight they can usually figure out the gist of it from the dungeon journal and from simply doing it.

That said, he claims it's less stressful to tank than to DPS (and far less stressful than healing). His job is to make sure the boss hates him the most/almost the most, and to taunt off the other tank as needed. Otherwise he usually only has to stand in one place and get punched.

[Boven]

I used to love tanking and I still miss it. Ever since TBC, though, I've gotten to the point of tanking heroics with friends and then ended up not being able to secure a raid spot. While warrior dps is easy and fun, I really do miss tanking.

Thing is, even in LFG, people are horribly unforgiving and impatient. I guess it's a holdover from vanilla, but unless I know a group fairly well, I'll start off with slower, smaller pulls in a dungeon and try to get an idea what the healer can handle, as opposed to just running in and grabbing everything. I won't even try tanking LFR. The people in there somehow expect the tanks to know and handle the fights as if they were fully-geared veterans of heroic SoO. The last one I was in (as dps), someone inspected the tank and questioned *one* of the gems he had, which got the ball rolling for 4 or 5 people going on about how he didn't know what he was doing and must have been a boosted 90 and stuff. The guy eventually left the group, which was then stuck in queue waiting for a replacement tank.

I've mentioned to the leader of the 10-man raid group that my shaman is in that I'd like to get back to tanking with my warrior in WoD. I dunno if that'll happen or not.

[Makoes]

I love tanking, it's so much fun on my Blood DK, dungeons/heroics I tend to enjoy since I just have to worry about 4 people being dumb or mean, in which case it's easy to just not say anything to them and keep doing my job. I would really really love to tank in LFR, but the whole "it's the tanks fault" for everything mindset and the expectation to know everything about the fight that detours me from trying...and people complain so much about there not being enough tanks and long que's...do they not realise that it's their own detrimental attitude that leads to the lack of tanks?

I am always afraid to speak up for someone in LFR because as a dps, the que's are so long if I get kicked. However, I do often whisper the target of LFR bullying and offer words of encouragement. I hope that by even just one person telling them that they are doing a good job, that it will help them keep going, and make them feel better.

[cowmuflage]

You have got to be a tank to tank