Why do you play tank... NOT?

[Atreyes]

Played as prot/holy on my pally towards the end of wrath I was tanking a fair bit but that was mainly because of how boringly easy healing had got, now im enjoying healing and ill probably stick to that, unless im actually needed to tank

[Damax]

I played all the styles and I can say tank is far from feeling like having the most control to me

reason people don't play tank is cuz its not competitive, while as heal or dps you can brag about numbers lol
some people don't want the ''pressure''

as a tank you are dependant to your healer, your healer suck your dead, if your threat is too low dps will pull but you can taunt back, nothing is lost.

when you heal you are often the difference between a wipe and a success and you were able to ''save'' stupid things people did (not so much anymore due to mana). failure to heal properly means death which unless you are a resto druid is not something you can lean forward and fix during the fight.

tanking in heroic, its your pace your shit but in a raid, you gotta wait all the time, second tank not ready, etc.. not ready etc.. so it removes ALL the good points you said

- Controlling the flow of an instance, where we go and who we pull. (not in a raid, your raid leader does or the main tank and still if you are you wait for everyone cuz its a team work)
- Constantly challenging gameplay, you can't let your attention waiver ever. (in a raid tank are often the one with few things to do, so many tank and spank, or just taunt back get old and mindless after a while, fights like malygos are fewer)
- Instant dungeon queues, people always need a tank. in a raid there is no instant queue, good guild recruiting tanks are fewer because they often have their 2 hardcore tank
- Ability to solo most elite mobs, and solo a few normal instances when the gear comes along. in a raid you are nothing alone
- No pointless peenmeter race with other dps. in a raid with a decent guild 20k dps is worth nothing if that dps takes 4 times the damage of the tank.

also who you pull will be more specific in cataclysm you won't run around with your back turned to the mob running asap to the next pack.

[Sabellassa]

I leveled and then mained a warrior tank around the middle of the TOC raid time frame, and i gotta say that its the most fun that i've had while playing this game, for a bunch of reasons, but mostly because i feel useful while tanking.

Tanking just is more rewarding then dpsing for me, when i dps'd in raids i was always in the top 10% of the damage done, but if I died there was never a "Well if Sabby was up we would have gotten that boss" I was just another cog in the raiding robot. but when i level'd and geared my tank, it became a "well we gotta get sabby in here to tank, he knows how to do this better then these guys." and you know, it felt good to be needed.

And now, with cata, its even fun to tank, and getting set up and geared up the hard way, working with friends on hew bosses and actually having to think about cooldowns just makes it even better!

Tankign is just more reactive then "hit x number of buttons in this order and don't stand in fire." I actually like it when dps peal mobs off me once or twice cause i have to charge around like a pingpong ball and pick em back up, then get back to that caster mob and make sure he's magicing at me and then hop over to the other ranged to get him to move. Its fast paced and fun!

[Lorien]

I do tank as my secondary spec, but have some thoughts towards why there aren't so many.

Tanking is a relatively rare and new-ish thing in video games. Everyone who begins to play WoW after playing most other games, especially console games, starts to play before they know what a "tank" is or does (which would also mean they're unaware of their chosen class's ability to tank/heal/dps). You start playing, and you have to kill stuff like most other video games - so it makes sense to use talent points so that you can kill things as quickly as possible.

They may get to end game and want something different, but being the guy who gets nailed for ten minutes doesn't seem so appealing. On top of that, even if the tank is not the designated party/raid leader, they have some vocal role in directing what happens, which again does not sound so appealing. Add to that the frustrations of people pulling off you, attacking the wrong target, and facepulling. Being that guy all of the time can be draining.

[Secondbanana]

I just love tanking, it's (for me) the most fun I have in this game. For a long time my hunter was my main, and I'd get so bored in dungeons and raids that I lost interest until I started playing my pally. There really was nothing better than BC pally tanking IMO, so much fun to just grab everything and let the group AOE their hearts out.

[Calzaeth]

I have never gotten a tank above level 30. It just doesn't feel as fun to me, when compared to levelling a DPS or healer.

Why do I focus on the two other ones? Because I love tanks. I love that there are other people who wants to be the one taking all the heavy hits form mobs, that there's another guy/gal in the group that wants to take the leading role. Myself, I've never liked doing these things. I prefer DPS, because DPS is competitive. The tanks ina raid have to cooperate. The healers in a raid have to cooperate. The DPSes wants to compete. There's the difference. I want to be the winner. When I do a good job, Iw ant ppl to say "Calzaeth did great today!" Not "Calzaeth and the two other tanks did a great job today!".

You call it epeen-meter, I call it an efficient way to see my progress.

I also enjoy healing, because I like being the guy who keeps the four others alive :3

[DionLight7]

Easier to DPS because you can literally focus on one target and not get blamed for paying attention as much as a Tank or Healer would. Tanks and Healers have to keep an eye on health, mana, NPC's, spells, boss effects, incoming damage, incoming group damage and decide what spells to use and why. With CC Healers and Tanks can relax ( a bit) in their job but then they would also have to make sure if the DPS actually CC'd one.

Anything bad that happens regardless if it was someone else will be my fault. Tanking or Healing. There are DPS that will CC more than DPS, which is good, but they are the few....small few. And even if you chewed his/her ass out for not paying attention and utilizing their abilities they'll play dumb and say it wasn't their fault for knowing.


I shouldn't even be tanking really. I'm docile, yet I have 4 tanks going on 5. Everytime I mark or explain I get a "GOGOGO" or "Tank you there?" like I'm slowing down the group. Makes me want to quit but if I quit I wont be able to do dungeons as quick as I want to.

[Scottgoldstein10]

I tried it and felt that i crumbled under that much pressure.

[DionLight7]

I leveled and then mained a warrior tank around the middle of the TOC raid time frame, and i gotta say that its the most fun that i've had while playing this game, for a bunch of reasons, but mostly because i feel useful while tanking.

Tanking just is more rewarding then dpsing for me, when i dps'd in raids i was always in the top 10% of the damage done, but if I died there was never a "Well if Sabby was up we would have gotten that boss" I was just another cog in the raiding robot. but when i level'd and geared my tank, it became a "well we gotta get sabby in here to tank, he knows how to do this better then these guys." and you know, it felt good to be needed.

And now, with cata, its even fun to tank, and getting set up and geared up the hard way, working with friends on hew bosses and actually having to think about cooldowns just makes it even better!

Tankign is just more reactive then "hit x number of buttons in this order and don't stand in fire." I actually like it when dps peal mobs off me once or twice cause i have to charge around like a pingpong ball and pick em back up, then get back to that caster mob and make sure he's magicing at me and then hop over to the other ranged to get him to move. Its fast paced and fun!

I wish my Pally had some mobility of a warrior. I usually moving back and forth silencing. Warrior tanking is like an Arcade game imo

[Bombkirby]

I love tanking. :3 My main just happens to be a Mage so I'll primarily be dpsing most of the time.

In reality, like 70% of dpsers are casuals. Killing things is just something every person likes to do in WoW. DPS is so appealing! Its also the role with the least responsibility. XD And since there are so many casuals you can imagine why there are so many dps. Why do you think people think dps are all idiots?

[Sabellassa]

I wish my Pally had some mobility of a warrior. I usually moving back and forth silencing. Warrior tanking is like an Arcade game imo

with heroic leap added in i've got three at enemy charged and then one i can use to take some damage away from someone. Pluss using heroic leap to get out of things is the best thing EVER

[bak00777]

i feel i gravitate towards Healing and Tanking roles because i like being needed in grps. I also like playing important roles. I am a fan of lore, and i feel like a real hero while tanking for raids.

[d3sign8t3dDruNk]

I would, but I prefer PvP and I couldn't be bothered to level another character yet. Although my next character will probably be a tank. In PvE at the moment though, I prefer to play something that takes real skill, an arcane mage.

2 Button DPS = skillz?

[phatpat]

Mostly tanking you really notice the screw ups people shouldn't be making and it just annoyed me.

wise words; tanks are almost like the offensive line of wow. in football, the o-line is arguably one of the most important aspects of having a successful offense, but they never get the credit. if they dont do their job, theyre criticized. if they do? usually the skilled players (qb) benefit from it on paper and end up getting the glory.
however, i still do find it enjoyable

[Weerra]

Because when I started playing WoW I was fully aware that, in this game, I am a noob.
I also realised that healing and tanking are more challenging than just standing there pewpewing and didn't realise the shortage of special roles for grouping. So I just chose what seemed a nice choice from me newbish perspective - a mage.
After getting WotLK, tried making a DK, didn't like melee damaging, dropped.
After playing for almost a year, accustoming to the game, raiding at a pretty good level and introduction of an LFD tool, I tried healing. Loved it, made three healers.

And now tried a DK tank. And suddenly loving it. (While still hating the damaging role which I occasionally run.) I totally agree to pretty much all points OP makes =)

[Dariela]

I'm not tanking because tanking is the role I have the least experience with.

[aftermidnight]

Because the difficulty between playing a tank and dps is too great of a leap.

In WotLK I used to be Blood DPS and did competitive damage in raids having set up 2 castsequence macros, one to include pestilence and blood boil for AoE; one single target.
I was doing competitive damage and the selfhealing made any excessive aoe damage taken forgo long enough for me to watch some tv on the side and not die either.

This is stupid.

Now blood DPS is gone ofcourse and rarely do people actually castsequence anymore but the fact that people perform subpar due to tv on the side still exists.
This is the case with many PuG raid failures.
And who's to blame? The healers that couldn't last long enough? The offtank that couldn't handle the influx of adds anymore? I know for certain it wasn't the main tank because he has no choice but to do his best.
It's the 15-20 DPS that added another 5-10 minutes to the fight and increase the stress on everyone for not even bothering with adds, not use their defensive skills to absorb some AoE damage or drop some aggro, no stopping the spell the boss is casting, NOT DOING ANYTHING EXTRA just because they can get away with it, and sure enough, this group is going to blame the wipe on one of the three above.
Always.

Where I was going with this? I'll tell you.
Being a tank or healer is horse-**** because no matter how hard you try to perform at 200% for everyone's sake and your own; you will only be making up for the dozen DPS that are rolling at 70% and when you fail, and the raid you made disbands after an hour of gathering, 15 minutes of explaining people wtf to do, ALL YOUR EFFORT FOR PROGRESSION/LOOT IS NULLIFIED.
Instead, you are now on the ignore list of those people because THE BLAME'S ON YOU BRO.
And as more people add you to their ignore list because of their inadequacies, as your gear stays the same after every patch and while they enjoy the challenges Blizzard charges a monthly fee for, you are here.

You are here, still stuck tanking dungeons in cataclysm and hating every bit of it.


P.S.: Now you might think that I'm way off base here, generalizing all the DPS into this stereotype; but this is because if the majority of DPS weren't like I described, I wouldn't be writing this and this thread wouldn't of been made to raise the question either.
And to everyone agreeing to threads like "Tanks: God Complex much?": You have my hate too. ;-)

Acknowledge that the role of tanking/healing is harder, be more forgiving to new tanks/healers, be more strict on yourself and to what you can contribute to this group with means other then just damage.
Then, I'll consider being a tank once more, but until then and just like me, enjoy your 20-50 minute queues.

[Deleted]

I absolutly love tanking Only as a Warrior though ^^. I've tried all the classes before while tanking and I can tell you, Warrior <3! But that's my taste

Tanking is awesome because you do tend to lead the groups, and I love being in charge. And you said that when ppl wipe, it's the tank's fault, it actually rarely is (and people usually point out the healer :P). The problem is allways either from the DPS's that attack a mob individually like stupids, overaggroing, or from the healer himself slacking at the healing, ofc sometimes the tank makes some crazy pulls, but that's another story .

Tanking, as a warrior, is the only thing that keeps me playing the PvE side of WoW, i'm completly in love with it ever since i've started and i've tried DPS'ing and Healing and it's just so damn boring.

[Exodeus]

Been tanking on my pala since well ever cause ret atleast was dead boring and all my chars are dual spec so it went tank/holy.
Recently changed my DK to be mainly tank cause it really fun with the new rune system.
I like tanking cause you can control the tempo and avoiding hits, always been a avoidance heavy tank and knowing that i'm making the healers job easier with not taking EVERY hit like many EH tanks is something like my dps meter, the only thing that bothers me when tanking is taunters as offtanks if you want the mob build your own damn threat if you can't keep up sucks to be you.

[Peroxide]

When we are raiding, that boss is punching me. I like being in control. Call me an attention whore, but that's the honest truth.