Anyone else ever have "Tanking-nerves"?

[Claymore]

Well, I've been playing since Vanilla, and not to sound arrogant, but I consider myself a pretty good player (admittedly, I didn't really get "good" until Wrath). I feel like I know my stuff pretty well, and I'm constantly researching strats, builds, and just anything that can help me play better. When it comes to DPS, I'm perfectly fine; even on the rare occasion that we managed to make it to a new boss before I had the chance to research it, I can always keep a level head.

When it comes to tanking, however, it's a totally different story. I've been just farming Heroics, but I always feel on-edge the entire time. It's not that I have a hard time tanking it -- I'm not well-geared yet, but haven't died yet, short of someone else wiping us -- but I just always feel incredibly stressed-out the entire time. Am I pulling fast enough? Too fast? Am I just not taking any damage, or is the healer having to work overtime to keep me up? It doesn't matter if they tell me I'm doing fine, I'm always just incredibly nervous when I'm tanking.

Have any of you ever had that problem? If so, did you ever overcome it? Or, for whatever reason, am I just not cut out to be a tank?

[SunbakedDuck]

U just care too much, i also always wonder if im performing good enough since i want to be like..One of the best ^^

[Simulacrum]

I have that problem when tanking too. I deal with it by simply figuring out the best way to do any given instance (using challenge-mode strats if I think it's survivable, but not skipping unless I think the group can actually avoid the mobs in question, etc), and then anybody who isn't happy with what I'm doing has to be so difficult to please, or have such totally different goals than the goals of the average LFDer, that it just isn't worth worrying about them. Can't please everyone all of the time.

[skrump]

That feeling is true of any tank who is uncertain of their skills and those around them.

To be honest though the only thing that should dictate weather a tank holds back or presses harder is the mana bar of the healers, and understanding the capabilities of said healer should be your prime goal when stepping into any instance.

Other than that the only things that would cause nervousness are a lack of knowledge about a given instance such as the layout or mob capabilities.

[Morbownz]

From my perspective, I always felt that the tank had way more responsability in a group than a DPS, countless times in WOTLK playing DPS I would switch off mentally and faceroll 5 man Heroics because I had gear from hardmodes, if I accidently do anything like use a CD at a bad time, the worst thing that could happen was my DPS was lower... big deal, if the tank does this and then dies later on because of it then its a different story.

Tanking can be stressful imo, you need to concentrate because the rest of the group are usually following your lead.

[yjmark]

Every tank goes through the "nerves" until they are more comfortable with tanking. It's part of learning to tank To answer your concerns though - basically watch your healer's mana. If it is above 70%, pull. If less, ask him if he needs mana.

That should answer most of your questions

If you are taking too much damage, the healer will be runing low on mana a lot.
If you are pulling too fast, your healer will be running low on mana.

It's all about watching your healer's mana levels Of course, this assumes that you are mataining aggro on all mobs you are fighting, interrupting, using CDs properly, taunting when needed, etc...

[Siduri]

All the time!

I've also played since Vanilla and I do strive to know about boss fights, gear, stats, ect... and while I have no issues with playing DPS or even a Healer, Tanking is a whole other issue for me. I'm constantly worrying that I am going to screw up but at the same time I love the idea of tanking... I enjoy playing Warriors and Paladins (heavy plated w/ sword and board) and being in the fray/taking the damage and holding the boss.

Even being told by a good friend, who has pretty much main tanked throughout his 'WoW career,' that I do a good job still doesn't help a whole lot.

What does help a little is having someone I know with me in the group. Either guild mates I am comfortable with or even with my husband (he prefers to heal so we should have good synergy). But it's the blasted Puggers that always worry me and I know I really shouldn't care about some random person that I am probably never going to run into again.

[Deleted]

I remember when i started tanking on my pala with full pvp gear .. i had few problems because it was completely new to me.

But..

After few heroics and some good advice, i got much better and start building a lot of self confidence which is essential in a good tank.

Now dont take me wrong.. i said self confidence , not arrogance.

A good tank will always do his/her job despite the circumstances and whoever they got in party. Be it with ninja pullers or else.

A bad tank will almost always react like * you pull you tank * *stand to watch till you die because you started 0.1 sec before i reached the mob*.

So what i am saying is that you need to grow self confidence based on your performance which should be based on :

1- Keeping aggro on almost everything
2- Using all you got to increase your surv and helping healer ( better if healers keep mana for healing screw-up-dps than wasting it on a tank that doesnt use the right skills)
3- Watch always healer mana and if possible ( unless you are really anti-social ) try to share 2 words with healer at beginning and during the istance for better coord.
4- Hope to get some good loot :P.
5- DONT let whoever say that you tank bad effect you unless you are actually doing things wrong ( like dying on pulls or not keeping aggro on anything ).

[Deleted]

The only parts I don't like are where you sort of skip packs like all the rabbits in Stormstout Brewery, if people attack them and take aggro off you do you stop and kill them all or just keep on running to the end.

And judging how fast to pull things, If it's managed fine i'll quite happily chain pull several groups together to be aoe'd down or let the healer run off to pull more. But it gets a bit annoying when theres caster mobs involved or when stuff is just streaming in from all directions. I had a warlock running with the 500% aoe size talent in scarlet monastery a couple of days ago, let's just say no trash packs were skipped that day >.>

[Simulacrum]

Every tank goes through the "nerves" until they are more comfortable with tanking. It's part of learning to tank To answer your concerns though - basically watch your healer's mana. If it is above 70%, pull. If less, ask him if he needs mana.

That should answer most of your questions

If you are taking too much damage, the healer will be runing low on mana a lot.
If you are pulling too fast, your healer will be running low on mana.

It's all about watching your healer's mana levels Of course, this assumes that you are mataining aggro on all mobs you are fighting, interrupting, using CDs properly, taunting when needed, etc...

This depends a lot on the healer, too. I've had some really bizzare experiences with healers running oom while healing me, when I'm tanking mobs or bosses that I know I can do without requiring any healing. A lot of them are really stupid, and will blow their mana needlessly spamming heals for no reason. Geeze. I wish they'd at least waste their mana dpsing.

I had one shaman be at 100% mana when we pulled hoptallus, then during the fight he popped almost every cooldown available to himself; healing tide, ascendance, mana tide, (without any of them being needed, mind you) and then after the boss died he asked for a mana break... yeah, I didn't oblige.

[JeKv]

Yep! I think it's a genuinely interesting topic to discuss, I've thought about it a lot. I've struggled with varying levels of social anxiety my entire life, and the feeling I get when I try to tank is the same.

The obvious response is to say "It's just a game stupid!" but my brain clearly doesn't know or care. Queueing as a tank is putting myself in a position where I feel directly responsible for the experience of four other people, and that's paralyzing for me.

[Monolith of Mazes]

You just need to be more arrogant!

[Iso]

It's a first time thing. I remember back when I was still a scrub, I was so nervous about having to tank one of Sulfrons adds back in MC. Even remember my heart beat rasing as 25 dps came rushing to it after the first two were dead. "Don't lose aggro, don't lose aggro!" in my head ^^

Also had the same feeling when I picked up tanking with my DK bit after wotlk launch, having played dps since tbc launched. It's a performance thing I guess..most people get used to it after a while.

[Deleted]

I've had this as well, it was the reason I never tanked through Wrath and Cata, but in mop with my monk I'm loving tanking heroics, and I didn't mind tanking low level dungeons on anything while leveling.

As soon as it comes to endgame you have a lot of pressure on you, and usually it's always the tank that gets blamed if the group fails, which is a big put of from tanking.

I still have this feeling when thinking about tanking raids though, and it's too much pressure for me so I don't do it.

[mjolnir1122]

What you're going through is perfectly normal.

When I first started tanking, it was a huge step for me. The class I learned to tank on, however, was my warrior, which back in early cata wasn't really the easiest feat, seeing as how we lacked sustained AoE, which gives Paladins and Death Knights a huge advantage. After learning to tank on my warrior however, I learned the basics, what to look for and the method in which to keep aggro and avoid as much damage as possible. This translated well for me when I started playing a Paladin, as well as a Death Knight. I have now proceeded to level a Druid and Monk as well, so I now play all the tanking classes.

Tanking isn't hard, but my best suggestion would be to start off with the harder classes to master tanking with. It'll give you the utility and knowledge you need to tank on any tanking class after that.

[Deleted]

Not really, nope. Tank at heart. I only ever really tank, save for the occasional holy paladin alt.

[BeastmasterGuardian]

I've been tanking for years. Started out with a Warrior, worked into a Pally, Brought a DK up in LK, and have now dedicated my entire playstyle to my Guardian. I get nervous everytime I step into a raid or dungeon with an unfamiliar group. I am well aware of my skill level, but I find myself wondering which DPS is suffering from Rectal Cranium Insertion Syndrome (Head In Ass Disease) and how many pulls am I going to save him from. I always look at the healer and say, "Chain or Paced?" and go with whatever the healer is comfy with. If someone else wants to go fast and pull, let them. They want to aggro, they can tank it too. Whatever shuts them up and keeps them outta my hair I tell the healer that healing "off tanks" when we have no need of an off tank, is entirely at their discretion. That usually separates the asshats from the accomplished.

[Deleted]

I played warrior tank in classic and dk tank (lol faceroll) in wotlk and kinda enjoyed them then. After cata pre-patch, i stopped tanking and even healing after 4.3 patch, too much pressure for me. Tanking (and healing) needs certain mindset, if you dont have it, you are just one of the keyboard turning "tanks" who let trash mobs hit healer all the time and who ragequit instantly when someone talks to you.

Though if i had good group of imaginary friends, i could tank or heal again. I'm not self-confident enough to listen drooling idiots blaming me for their own failings in LFD.

[Kasterix]

A good tank will always do his/her job despite the circumstances and whoever they got in party. Be it with ninja pullers or else.

A bad tank will almost always react like * you pull you tank * *stand to watch till you die because you started 0.1 sec before i reached the mob*.

I disagree with your bad tank comment.

A GOOD tank likely has good reason for not pulling if they're waiting... So if you have someone ninja pulling letting them die before picking up the mobs is likely the only way to get the point across. As 99% of the time they're an impatient moron who thinks they're some uber badass that is carrying the group, yet fail to see what the tank is paying attention to such as the healer having no mana, etc.

I've seen groups wiped countless times due to ninja pullers thinking they know better... And you know what happens soon as you wipe? They leave the group because they know damn well they're about to cop an earful of commentary on their stupidity.

Don't be that guy. More tanks should let them die, and more healers should oblige. There'd be less of it occuring in the long run.

[Claymore]

Yep! I think it's a genuinely interesting topic to discuss, I've thought about it a lot. I've struggled with varying levels of social anxiety my entire life, and the feeling I get when I try to tank is the same.

The obvious response is to say "It's just a game stupid!" but my brain clearly doesn't know or care. Queueing as a tank is putting myself in a position where I feel directly responsible for the experience of four other people, and that's paralyzing for me.

Hah, I think this is exactly it! I hadn't really thought about it before, but I thin you're right. I also used to suffer from social anxiety, and while I generally have a handle on it now, it does feel like the same sort of anxiety when tanking. You might be right; in a way, you feel responsible for everyone's enjoyment when you're tanking.