Am I a jerk for doing this...

[Deleted]

Sounds fair to me.

[muto]

If they die it's their fault. Leave it at that.

[Sharrel]

Dude i do that to my own guild. impatient mage pulls. *ignore mob. if he kills it, great. if he doesn't..well he shouldn't have pulled*

[Deleted]

No OP, you're doing the right thing. Unfortunately for you and other tanks, until BC dungeons are easy so dps can tank the mobs if they pull them...

[Darkis]

S'ok mate. I have the same "no healz for u!" policy for those types of players as well.

[Terridon]

You pull, you tank. That's my one rule when playing a tank since I started playing WoW. Even though it doesn't matter that much at lower levels, I still stick to my one rule.

That.
If it annoys you a lot, you can just move on to next pack while he tanks the first one. They probably won't die though.
That being said, i've done it myself too. Pulling ahead of tanks, but it's because they're slow and I know I can survive the full pack/boss.

[Zuraz]

Leveling is annoying. If your questing you can find things that drive you crazy. Same with dunq leveling. As a dps I never pull before a tank. However, have you ever considered that tanks cause the problem your in? In low level dungs a dps can tank. Here's the thing about tanks...a tank that is hard to heal is bad, crap threat is bad, the worst is a slow tank. So many low level(and LFG at 90) are slow. Low level, as a tank you won't die... so marking mobs and going slow is not good. Dps get tired of it and they start pulling mobs. I don't agree with it but i understand it

[Karnudge]

Let me just say that you're really not a jerk but I feel like this could be easily solved with one of two ways.

1 - At the beginning of the dungeon, just say "Hey guys, I'm new to tanking, please be patient with me" - Therefore the group knows and the dps should be less inclined to pull since they won't be sure you can save them in a pickle, and if they still harass or pressure you then they look like HUUUUGE JERKS.

2 - Have you thought about ignoring them? Just play your game. You pull, when the mobs die, loot (which I do too since I'm a gold whore) and if the dps starts pulling while you loot, finish looting as you normally would, and then proceed to the next mob, which at that point should be smashing in your dps' face. If they ask you to go faster say, "Hey, I'm looting"

Also I find that as the tank I'm constantly watching my healer's mana, so if they're chain pullin and you see the healer's mana start to get too low then just say, "let the healer get mana after this" Then if they pull...again...HUUUGE JERK

[Exoblade]

Dungeons are so easy these days if you're pulling slowish people will tend to pull for you, doesn't matter what you say its going to happen. I am currently leveling my hunter and i will pull packs myself and kill them by myself.

If DPS wants the run to go faster then pull but be prepared to solo, i only ever pull if i can solo the packs myself. Then the tank or healer don't have to complain because its zero work for them.

[judgementofantonidas]

Much as with special children and pets you need to start training DPS early. Even if in principle the tank is not needed for the content I find that if you do not nip it in the bud early you are just encouraging them to continue being stupid.

Find a way that suits you to teach them to be satisfied with thier role or to change thier role to the one that they obviously want to play.

I have noticed a lot more DPS that do not know thier place or choose not to conform to it.

As a rule of thumb if a dps is being out of hand and I do not feel like being "brought" extra adds I will warn them once by stating Tank Moto number one.

"you pull it, you tank it".

on the second infraction I will initiate Tank Moto number one and let them die while ensuring that none of the other party members do as well, then leave them dead, do not rez them, and continue to pull so they can sit there or drop group.

I used to be nice about it for much longer, however the density of prick dps has increased to such an amount that it is just not worth the agravation to try to teach players that should know better after 90 levels and are simply being stupid because they have been allowed to be for too long.

[Deleted]

It doesn't matter until TBC dungeons and even then it's not that annoying.

DPS don't complain to Blizzard where during level 15-60 tanks have more DPS than them. Just relax and keep killing, you won't wipe and the dungeon ends faster this way. You can complain when people will wipe because of it, but in classic dungeons that's almost impossible to happen.

[ScottsdaleHokie]

Let them pull, then sit there and watch as they get stomped. It they boot you, who cares, you get instant queues anyway.

[Deleted]

I'm levelling a Monk at the moment with a Guildie and we're rolling Tank and Healer (him being the tank), and we do exactly the same thing.

Usually we chain-pull entire instances (Mana Tea is OP, especially at lower levels with full looms) so normally we don't have a problem even remotely similar to this, but, occasionally you'll get one idiot who thinks they can do anything and get away with it. So, they pull, they receive 0 healing and they often die (we're at level 70 currently) and we then proceed to continue our pulls, without even ressing. Our version is even more jerk-like than yours, but in reality all you're doing is enforcing that they shouldn't be pulling. It probably does help that we have control over both the tanking and healing spots so DPS tend to learn quicker than if the healer would decide to heal them, but oh well, same lesson.

You aren't a jerk, you're just trying to stop them being idiots.

[Deleted]

In my opinion, the OP did right. You spank it, you tank it. I don't care if it is a low level dungeon. The trinity (tank, dps and healer) is there for a reason.

Some kids in LFG just lack some guidance and discipline. When I see one DPS acting like a dick, like pulling for the tank without asking, or needing on anything, I inform them once what is it expected from them. If they fail to comply on purpose, I stop healing them altogether/ Life grip them, etc. I do not argue, I just make their lifes miserable.

They can either start behaving or they can enjoy their DPS 12-15min queues, because on a vote kick session, I always get the support of the tank and the other DPS players.

[Deleted]

Havent replied much on these forums but this thread caught my attention.
I totally know how you feel bro. I am a healer and there is nothing I hate more than someone standing in fire, taking dmg, not moving and waiting for me to keep spam healing him. If i let him die, they start whining that I suck as healer. I consider myself pretty decent healer ending always ranked 10 or better on every raid boss encounter (at least I used to back in Cata when I still played HC).

I did one simple thing. Made a macro and everytime I join some group for dungeons I say something like "Hey guys, just a simple reminder. If you keep getting some clearly avoidable damage, dont expect any heals."

For most its funny, or they start saying "gotta love my self heals". But I also face few kicks from the group for saying that. But I could clearly see a trend after posting this message, ppl actually started moving out of stuff. Or they start after they die once.

Especially for badly geared healers, keeping tank alive + dps taking avoidable dmg is insane task. This made my life much easier and much less stressfull

[BeastmasterofBladesEdge]

My question is, am I a jerk for refusing to tank groups when a DPS player intentionally pulls them before I can? Do I need to just suck it up and either learn to live with it, or respec dps or something?

I've been a tank for 5 years. I only DPS when we need a slot filled. As a tank, I put the healer in charge of controlling the DPSers and I say one thing before I start. "You pull it, you fight it. BTW - the healer is focused on me so if you die, prepare to run back, cause we won't rezz ya." That tends to either bring out the great DPS that can handle themselves, which I do not mind, or the ones who die alot from having Cranial Rectum Insertion Syndrome, and eventually get kicked. As the tank, set the rules. If they don't like it, they can bail.

[mipper]

OP: You keep mentioning you want to use the dungeon process as a way to learn your class. Treat ninja pulling like a time where someone accidentally pulls aggro and work on using your abilities to save them. Try to push yourself and this will help you learn -- I understand it's annoying, but when I tank and this happens, I just treat it as a learning experience and try to take as many mobs as possible or look for ways to hold aggro even though my main abilities may be on cooldown. Sometimes these scenarios have lead to my most rewarding experiences in wow.

[Maelstrom51]

Not really. If there's even a half second delay from the next pull, there is always that DPS will start pulling. Either you somehow haven't seen it yet, or you're one of them.

Half a second is a bit of a hyperbole, but in any case, why is the dps ahead of the tank in this situation? The tank shouldn't be giving them a chance to pull.

[Kissme]

Story time:

I leveled a paladin to 85 during cata as ret. I then decided I wanted to take advantage of the Call to Arms bonuses and switched her to prot to start tanking. I ran many dungeons and never had a problem.

Fast forward to Mists, I made a monk and decided I wanted to level it as a tank. So I specced Brewmaster at 10 and began running dungeons at 15. I leveled that monk to 38 exclusively through dungeons and noticed a very irritating trend. In about 80-90% of the dungeons I have tanked, I would have one or more DPS in the group who would run ahead and pull groups before I could.

Let me say a couple things here. Firstly, I've played a DPS main for 6 years now. I've made my share of mistakes and I always try to remember to apologize when I screw up. Secondly, I don't think I'm a slow tank. I do usually wait to pull a pack until the previous one is dead, but I also don't stop unless someone dies or the healer needs mana.

Anyway, when faced with these DPS players, I would ask them politely to let me be the one to pull as it is my job as the tank and its a lot easier for me and for the healer when I'm the one who pulls groups. Occasionally (maybe once or twice) the group would listen and stop running ahead. However, the majority of the time, they would either ignore me completely, or actively throw it back in my face with something along the lines of "omg quit whining". So, eventually, I adopted a policy, and I usually try to mention it at the start of a dungeon, that if DPS are intentionally pulling groups before me, I won't tank that group.

When I recently decided to server transfer, I didn't want to bother transferring a level 38 monk so I started a new one. Specced tank, queued for a dungeon at 15, and was immediately faced with a dps warrior who pulled groups and insulted me when I asked him to stop.

I realize that its just low level dungeons and not really a big deal, but I have grown so tired of questing over the past 8 years playing this game, that I prefer to level through dungeons, but I really get turned off of tanking by this behavior (even though I love monk tanking).

My question is, am I a jerk for refusing to tank groups when a DPS player intentionally pulls them before I can? Do I need to just suck it up and either learn to live with it, or respec dps or something?

Does the whole group want you to go faster, or just the one DPS?

If the whole group wants you to go faster, then you need to speed up. If it's just one impatient DPS, then have the healer stop healing him. Let him die. If he starts bitching out the rest of the group because he's dying, then kick him. Dungeons are a group activity, so you have to go at a pace that the whole group can accept. If the healer can't keep up, you slow down. If the group is constantly sitting with their thumb up their ass waiting on the tank, then the tank needs to speed up. It's not an either or scenario, rather it's a case by case basis.

There's always the option to kick the player that makes the group's experience less than optimal - that might be the DPS in question, it might be you.

Finally, low level dungeons are a joke when you consider the changes to character skills and talents, heirloom gear, and various scaling issues. If a DPS can pull the instance faster than you, tank all the mobs, and not die with minimal heals, then you need to go faster. The idea of CC and patience in dungeons died with TBC so you have to expect your groups to be full of impatient, minimally skilled people that want fast runs. The game evolved, you're just dealing with the result of that evolution.

[mosely]

I get that it can be a pain to re-establish aggro on a group of mobs if someone else keeps making the pulls. And I get that, for low level dungeons, it doesn't actually matter. Heirlooms make that content trivial.

But, part of the appeal of playing a tank is that you (ideally) get to be the one doing the pulls. It's an ego thing. If someone else is depriving you of that, they're making the game less fun for you, and by all means feel free to seek compensation however you see fit. The only thing to watch out for is that you'll start getting an annoying cooldown on your vote kick option if you use it often.