Why aren't you tanking?

[Schattenlied]

If that is how you are tanking (hyperbole aside) then you are a terrible tank.

aside from positioning and using the occasional cooldown, yeah, that's exactly what it is. There is no effort in trying to maintain threat, you just have agro, at all times, no effort required, there should be, that should be part of tanking, it's fucking boring without it.


And before you fucking start: Obviously when DBM yells at you isn't the only time you use active mitigation, you use it as much as is reasonable while keeping enough resource/charges available to always be able to use it when required by a mechanic.

It's still fucking boring without threat.

[Scottyjscizzle]

I have tanked since the end of vanilla. Main tanked on my feral druid and blood dk. I swapped to havoc dh because after years my main guild had other stuff (kids, jobs, etc) and I found most players to be unappreciative assholes, and decided to just be dps this expansion. I still swap over from time to time if I am bored but overall people can fuck off.

[Kudos]

The thing I hate about Tanking is the rushed pace you're expected to maintain. You have to chainpull with no opportunity to actually stop and loot the corpses you are entitled to. As soon as you stop to loot the sparkling corpse, some ritalin deprived DPS in your group decides to start pulling for you.

[Mackeyser]

I'm just gonna agree with so many.

I really enjoy tanking, but due to hand tremors as a result of my service, it's not as easy and it's far too difficult and frustrating to try and tank something when at least one of the dps really doesn't want to be there. If there was an "I WIN" button, they'd just push it. What's the point in that? How many tanks refer to the "GOGOGOGO" mentality that ruins it for them?

I don't go slow, but I actually pay attention to the GROUP. I watch the healer's mana. I check to see that everyone is in range to play (my wife is someone who has ZERO sense of direction, so if she died, she'd be lost. Others are like that, too, and I really try to help everyone be involved).

I mean, I've tanked a Mythic with friends where the healer raided in top 100 guilds and she'll say to me, "we're just getting keys, so pull everything" and I will and we'll be fine. But everyone's on board with that. I wouldn't want every dungeon to go that way, tho.

I actually want to play as a tank. I really am conscientious about positioning and not just for me. How many tanks will point the mobs away from the group only to leave it in a puddle of bad so that the melee either have to also stand in it or do nothing. I make efforts to not move too much so that I don't range melee and screw up their rotations. I make mistakes but not typically fatal ones.

But I just won't tank LFR anymore. It's just a zerg to each boss. It's not fun. I realize the queue at times is an issue, but if a person doesn't want to play once in the environment to play, I just don't get ruining it for everyone else.

Then again, I'm still a bit in awe with today's games. I was a kid when my parents brought home the first Pong game so even as a former network engineer, I look at WoW today as magic sometimes.

Anyway, I think that's why people romanticize Vanilla and call TBC the best Xpac. Things were too hard to solo and your rep was everything, so you couldn't be belligerent and get things done. I love the Quality of Life improvements in the game now... but I liked the community back then much more.

Tanking stinks because we're too often treated like NPCs and not like fellow players.

[Evaddon]

Because they removed Gladiator Stance

No but seriously...HONESTLY...I'm not sure anymore LOL. Since PVP templates are a thing.
I used to not want to tank endgame because then I'd have to regear for PVP as a DPS so I can try to farm the pvp gear. But since that's not really the case anymore..not sure. I mean gives me something to do with the closing months of Legion here :P

[thealmightymoo]

every time i try to, a fully geared 930+ just runs ahead and does it anyway, regardless of class.

I need mah practice D:

[Airwaves]

I tanked from BC to Firelands. Now days I just want to dps. I've done my part.

[Deleted]

Tanking stinks because we're too often treated like NPCs and not like fellow players.

This quote has got me thinking. It's probably the same feeling we have when we're progressing raid content.
The tanking mechanics are something only tanks have to deal with, the raid is usually totally oblivious to it.
But on the other hand, the tanks do need to know about all the other mechanics dps and healers need to do because it could require a position change or using a cooldown.

Usually my co-tank an I are just whispering to each other to discuss our plan, the raid does not need to know about it and does not care.
From the raid's perspective we are kinda like an NPC, they don't interact with us, but we help them to kill the stuff.

[Sparklelord]

Honestly, i love tanking but my anxiety really hinders me, even dpsing a M+ gets pretty dicey. I hate inconveniencing people, drives me insane. I know i could probably tank pretty well.

exactly this lol

[Mackeyser]

every time i try to, a fully geared 930+ just runs ahead and does it anyway, regardless of class.

I need mah practice D:

Yep.

As others have stated, without "one shot" mechanics, it's possible to outgear an instance.

And with scaling raids, the need for endgame tanks has actually gone down, but not so much for instance tanks.

Not sure why dps queue for LFG if they can solo an instance and aren't gonna wait for a tank, anyway, but /shrug.

I just like to enjoy playing my role.

[Aensland]

Too stressing, too much responsibility, requires perfect knowledge of the place and encounters. Also, I don't enjoy leading groups and having dps giving me trouble if they don't like my pace.

^this 100%

Plus I can never remember my way through a dungeon.

[Static]

I absolutely love tanking. I got a Prot warrior, Guardian druid and a Blood DK, and I always like doing stuff with these alts. However, I recently noticed myself avoiding random heroic dungeons and M+ because the DPS just don't give a damn and they almost always pull and go ahead, which just.. kind of ruins it for me, and it's not like I'm only pulling one mob at a time. Thankfully, I'm in a guild with good people that do none of that, and now only queue for random dungeons and 15+ keystones with them. This way, I keep doing what I love without random people ruining it for me. It's unfortunate, but I think it's for the better.

[Nalam the Venom]

More Reponsibility/preasure/stress when tanking (in raids atleast) Have tanked some M+, but never raids.

[Sting]

I tanked as warrior for the most part of this expansion, but it's just too shit atm.

[Deleted]

I used to, but it just got annoying in LFG. People ninja-pulling left and right, DPS unwilling to wait for healer mana and then yelling when they didn't get healed, extreme rudeness. I had DPS pull everything in sight and then get mad when I didn't taunt it off them immediately. It got old really fast, so I went back to healing.

[Acelius]

Tanking is great. But tanking in pugs is unbearable.

[Shinrael]

Up until now I haven't touched tanks and healers because of my old PC. Now I finally have a good PC and can take up more responsible roles such as those two, but idk. I just enjoy playing a retribution paladin. And I like doing lots of damage. But ye I think it is mainly a problem concerning fantasy. I like WW monks, Fire mages, Retri palas, Fury warriors, MM hunters, Feral and Balance druids. None of those specs can tank

I have done some off-tanking as a retri pala though and I must say its quite fun.

[Addict]

Honestly, i love tanking but my anxiety really hinders me, even dpsing a M+ gets pretty dicey. I hate inconveniencing people, drives me insane. I know i could probably tank pretty well.

This pretty much ^

[Deleted]

Tanking is great. But tanking in pugs is unbearable.

Pretty much, a good one recently was DPS facepulling basically all the side packs at the start of DHT wiping us twice then disbanding just after they told me I was a shit tank who couldn't keep aggro. Almost like I watched them do it and have nameplates showing threat, meaning that as soon as it happened I grabbed them all.

On the 2nd wing in LFR on the trash at the start I went right instead of left due to not being familiar with the raid and got massive amounts of abuse, you literally have to kill exactly the same amount of packs either way so it makes no difference but still got a load of abuse. You can't wait and follow other's leads either because you will get abused for not going like you are the groups pet.

I don't understand how people tolerate tanking mythic+ in a PUG, but imagine healing them could be even worse when I see how hilariously bad the average tanks awareness is.

This expansion seems to have a lot of shit tanks that are doing it just to guarantee a raid spot, I haven't properly raiding since Cata so can't say if this has been a thing for a long time now. People often seem to argue that tanking is easy which makes it all the more baffling why so many people doing it are truly awful.

I think the "community" are the driving force in stopping more people wanting to tank, it's pretty much like when people saying someone's personality acts as a contraceptive.

[AwkwardSquirtle]

I'm not good enough at the game to do it regularly, the guild has enough tanks, and I enjoy my warlock more anyway.