Why don't you tank LFR?

[Breccia]

I have no need for the gear in LFR, and the bonus bag offers too little for me to consider it proper payment. Besides, if I wanted to watch bad people playing badly then blaming other bad people for being bad for their failures, I would just watch Jacksonville play.

[Urukk Wartusk]

Think poll results speak for themselves here.

There is a dominant and pervasive attitude within the community that uses the matchmaking tools that it is acceptable, encouraged, and maybe even 'cool' to abuse players that tank, whether the tank deserves it or not.

Obviously there is latitude for "troll tanks" and those players that queue as tank but refuse to work with the group or take instruction. However, I think the majority of tanks are okay players that just may not know the encounter 100%, but don't speak up because of the abusive DPS (and sometimes healers).

[Varabently]

Do tanks really get that much abuse? The only ones I've seen take abuse were AFK, had terrible gear (saw pally tank with intellect/agi gear...), died a lot (didn't use cooldowns or didn't know how to play, etc), or some combination. I abuse DPS who do the same thing, and so should everyone IMO. There's no reason anyone can't spend 10 minutes on icyveins (or just google <talent> MOP guide).

Edit: I've never encountered this "it's cool to abuse a tank" attitude. That seems pretty far-fetched to me. It may just be that the people who queue in LFR as a tank are just doing that to get around a long queue time and have no idea what they are doing. If that's the case, and they waste the group's time, we should be abusing them. Don't queue for a spec you can't or refuse to play/gear. See that a lot with healers. They queue as healer then DPS.

[sweep71]

Hopefully the next expansion will just combine LFR and Proving Grounds. Instant queues, see the content whenever you want, no more having to deal with all this stuff. It is not like LFR is a great social scene we must protect or that we are not alone amongst 24 other people. Flex fixed a lot except for that % of people who don't like talking with people and/or want/need to raid only when they find an hour or two (flex is still better for this IMO). Screw it, let them queue up alone and when they want, give them 9 bots (similar to Proving Grounds), some light mechanics based on their role to perform and call it done. In the end, it does not matter to me, I am either raiding with my team or in a Flex if I want another shot at an item.

[Deleted]

i am not seeing the option : i already am.
wipe free since patch 5.3!

[Louis CK]

Do tanks really get that much abuse? The only ones I've seen take abuse were AFK, had terrible gear (saw pally tank with intellect/agi gear...), died a lot (didn't use cooldowns or didn't know how to play, etc), or some combination. I abuse DPS who do the same thing, and so should everyone IMO. There's no reason anyone can't spend 10 minutes on icyveins (or just google <talent> MOP guide).

Edit: I've never encountered this "it's cool to abuse a tank" attitude. That seems pretty far-fetched to me. It may just be that the people who queue in LFR as a tank are just doing that to get around a long queue time and have no idea what they are doing. If that's the case, and they waste the group's time, we should be abusing them. Don't queue for a spec you can't or refuse to play/gear. See that a lot with healers. They queue as healer then DPS.

This is what I've been saying. All the abuse people report on here, with no examples mind you, and I've never seen it. What I see is tanks who can fuck up repeatedly, have not the slightest clue of what they're doing, and they stay the entire run.

I was beginning to think maybe I was crazy.

[Blade and Soul]

I selected "Something Else".

I still tank LFR every now and then as there are some things I still need for my DPS spec. I can queue much faster and do the bosses I need (but usually I just complete the raid depending on how well things are going).

However, with that said, it is usually not a fun experience. Tanking LFR can be quite stressful, and that stress is not equally represented with the other roles (DPS and Healing). As a tank I have to be constantly aware of everything going on, knowing all the mechanics of each fight, and usually end up having to lead the raid. When there's people in the group who are obviously just slacking off or not doing what they are supposed to (when I say this, I mean not even putting up an effort), it adds more stress to me as a Tank.

Once I no longer need anything from LFR, I don't see myself going back.

[McNeil]

Tanks are the only ones that cannot AFK in LFR

[lakhesis]

Do tanks really get that much abuse? The only ones I've seen take abuse were AFK, had terrible gear (saw pally tank with intellect/agi gear...), died a lot (didn't use cooldowns or didn't know how to play, etc), or some combination. I abuse DPS who do the same thing, and so should everyone IMO. There's no reason anyone can't spend 10 minutes on icyveins (or just google <talent> MOP guide).

Your experience varies dramatically from mine.

I saw a LFR group wipe to enrage on Thokk last week, with only 1-2 deaths prior to the last 10%, and they spent 5 minutes blaming the tanks. I mean it's an enrage timer... it's the DPS check ffs... the cause of failure there should be obvious. But the tanks copped the crap.

On the other hand, I've also seen plenty of times in LFR where the tanks simply haven't been opening boxes on Spoils quick enough, or picking up the resultant adds smoothly enough, and that's been blamed on dps or heals.

IMO the TL;DR is that most (vocal) LFR players have a poor capacity to accurately identify the causes of raid failure, and end up semi-randomly picking one of the three roles to pick on... generally with a preference for the role that isn't theirs.

Given that tanks are a visible minority, and most people don't actually understand what they're doing anyway (how many non-tanks watch stacking taunt swap mechanics?), this puts them on the wrong end of the lynch mob more frequently. And when their role is the one in the spotlight, they don't get to fade into the background going "oh they're talking about the other dps/hps, not me"... LFR players are unlikely enough to correctly identify when the tanks do/don't screw up, let alone which of the tanks is actually screwing up.

The most guaranteed way around it in my experience is to be geared to the teeth. LFR players tend to assume that anyone in heroic gear knows what they're doing, even if they don't. I've had a warlock & a ret paladin tank ToT LFR and no one said boo, cos (a) they were surviving (we brought our own healer) and (b) they were in heroic gear, so they must know what they're doing, right? ... and they were stuffing up all over the place btw (going to the wrong heads on megaera, warlock taunt doesn't actually work on bosses, etc etc).

[goblingirl]

I quit tanking LFR in early summer. I quit because I am on a server that is grouped with the Brazilian servers for raids.

Imagine you speak only English, and the other tank speaks only Portugese or Spanish. Imagine the other tank has also never tanked before or at least never tanked that particular raid before. Imagine trying to explain to this person so they understand what to do, where to park the boss, when to taunt, etc. Meanwhile, all the DPS in the raid is screaming "WHAT ARE WE WAITING FOR PULL ALREADY" or just starting the fight themselves.

Yeah. I tried for awhile. I got tired of the wiping and frustration. Blizzard should NEVER have mixed languages for LFR queues. Freaking disaster.

[Forgettable]

For the first time, I actually experienced superb douche-ness to tanks in LFR last week. I had already killed paragons in a previous LFR, so I ended up in a fresh run for Siegecrafter. Pull the trash, kill the trash, no problems. We get to the boss, and I start explaining the strategy for those who haven't done it before, and I assign groups for the conveyor belt. Almost immediately after starting to organize, I had three people start personally insulting me and telling me to pull. I didn't, I continued to to explain and arrange the fight so we could one shot it. Well, one of these guys pulled, and I refused to tank it, so the guy who pulled got face agro and died. The other tank was on my side, and refused to tank as well.

In the end, the people who were pushy died first and then the raid wiped. I lived by going to the conveyor belt, and then mass rezzed everyone. I told them that's what they get for being idiots, and then we kicked them. Got new people, finished explaining the fight in 2 minutes, pulled it, one shot.

I was pretty surprised to find this kind of behavior because I've honestly never had someone tell me to go or pull faster because normally I way outpace everyone else. Usually people thank me or send nice whispers to me when I take control of a raid and lead them to success, or at the very least are silent and cooperative. Some people are just ungrateful and impatient I guess.

I will continue to tank LFR until I complete my 4 set (Just need one more piece!), and then I'll be done because I enjoy flex/normal mode much more.

[mitbrandir]

Because i don't like to wipe, because there are 10 dps doing 40k dps with ilvl 500+

[melodramocracy]

Apathy is why I don't tank LFR. I've seen it all already, and have no motivation to do current content on more than 1 toon, unless I'm unbelievably bored.

[skulmar]

Mostly the attitude. I get non stop abuse, whether or not i have done anything to deserve it, both in lfr and lfg. If someone dies they blame me, if i am going too fast they blame me, if i am going too slow they blame me, if i pull too many mobs they blame me, if i dont pull enough mobs they blame me, if i choose to pull on optional group i get bithed at, if i choose to skip an optional group and someone else facepulls it i get bitched at. You cant win. Lord help me if i make a legitimate mistake.

Also, people are not at all forgiving. The other day i joined SoO wing two as a tank for the first time. I told the group it was my first time tanking there, and was immediately subjected to a deluge of abuse and then promptly kicked. Among other things i was told that it was not their responsibility to teach me, and i should already know how to tank the fights. Now, i have already done the fights as dps and watched the videos, and have been tanking on my warrior since 2004 and have a 530 ilevel. I could clearly do it, i just needed a few instructions like "you pick up adds, taunt at four stacks, make sure to kite the boss out of the fire, etc. but that was too much to expect. At one point, right before the kick, i said "you know, if you were willing to spend 30 seconds explaining something you could save an hour in the que, and was told "no, the reason for hour long ques is baddie tanks like you!" Something which is not only incredibly insulting, but for the life of me i cant figure out the logic behind.

A seriously get less abuse being afk as dps than doing my best as a tank. F that, a stachel and an instant que are mot worth it.

[nekobaka]

It is shitty enough as a healer which makes me glad that I dont like tanking on my druid.

[Sithalos]

The plebs in LOLFR don't deserve my tank skills, or my time.

[Bonsaii]

Don't know how to get above 500k HP at ilvl 520 on Monk, while I see other classes tanks having 750k at far lower ilvl.

Stam Trinket will add about 200k for most people.

[Deleted]

Because I don't feel that the loot distribution justifies the time I invest into the LFR.

[bals]

Do tanks really get that much abuse? The only ones I've seen take abuse were AFK, had terrible gear (saw pally tank with intellect/agi gear...), died a lot (didn't use cooldowns or didn't know how to play, etc), or some combination. I abuse DPS who do the same thing, and so should everyone IMO. There's no reason anyone can't spend 10 minutes on icyveins (or just google <talent> MOP guide).

Edit: I've never encountered this "it's cool to abuse a tank" attitude. That seems pretty far-fetched to me. It may just be that the people who queue in LFR as a tank are just doing that to get around a long queue time and have no idea what they are doing. If that's the case, and they waste the group's time, we should be abusing them. Don't queue for a spec you can't or refuse to play/gear. See that a lot with healers. They queue as healer then DPS.

The last time I tanked LFR on my warrior, I pulled a patrol that was coming right towards the group. Rest of the run some warlock was harassing me. I personally don't care but it was just so fucking stupid I couldn't believe it. Didn't wipe on anything, did bosses flawlessly. He was still harassing me because I pulled some trash pack that was patrolling towards the group and would have been pulled anyways.

[icausewipes]

People are mean.