Hello,
I recently started a druid in retail ( who is now level 63) For some reason I cannot post on him (doesn’t appear on character list) I chose guardian because I heard it was easier to play as a tank and I have really been itching to learn tanking. I’m not much of a retail player but I have been itching to try the new talent trees and it has been a blast so far…except…
I’m starting to feel this is a bad choice, because I don’t have many friends in retail but I figured this may be a good outlet to meet some. Well…
It really hasn’t been, I’ve been put through the ringer with extremely harsh and colorful criticism. I have been kicked twice for going the wrong way (after apologizing and turning around) I continuously get pushed into rushing the NORMAL dungeon when I am still learning the mechanics.
One situation I was in a warlock is dotting up the whole room and expecting me to grab everything. This has resulted in some pretty serious insults which I reported, then I am made fun of for putting the person on ignore by the rest of the group. I didn’t even say anything or announce that I ignored him. I guess he tried whispering me and found that out.
Another was bad one was earlier on. A healer kept nagging me constantly on where to go, mad for pulling extra packs. Telling me to jump off here, etc. I appreciate the guidance so I kept my mouth shut till the end. There was a bonus boss before the last one. You would think I did something terrible to this persons family because I decided to go for it. I didn’t hear the end of it. And they refused to heal me for the rest of the dungeon. As I am getting cussed out I suggested a vote kick because we wiped… The vote kick passed and the healer was removed, THEN 2 of the members of the group complained and were mad they needed to wait for another healer. What in the world? Why even hit yes to the kick?
I chose to do one DF dungeon because I expected a slower pace since people were still learning them. That was not the case. I pulled 2 packs. moved on to the large mob and 2 more packs. Hunter: “Wow you are really going this slow” /leaves group… are you serious we were not even 3 mins in and almost down the hallway in ruby pools.
I have done around 20-30 dungeons learning to tank. Similar situations, general uncomfort, and stressful gameplay due to being rushed happens in about half of them. Overall my experience has been terrible and I have decided I will never tank again in this game or probably any other MMORPG.
It’s not worth the treatment.
Thank you for reading, just wanted to share how I felt.
42 Likes
well, tanking is … difficult to learn.
but it gets better once you let them die a little, they get mad, and you let them know they’ll die a whole lot more if they don’t shut up and shape up.
Relish the moment when the rage in their eyes turns to fear…
~Illidan
15 Likes
Listen man. Do yourself a huge favor and join a guild. Guilds are continuously looking for tanks. They will no doubt nudge you in the right direction. All it takes is a simple question of “where to go” or “who to attack”.
Normals and Heroics are not meant to be rushed when an xpac first comes out. We all learn them. You WILL run into those bums if you continue to pug. And if the situation turns dire, remind them of the Social Contract they agreed to. If they don’t care… well, that makes it into an ez report.
As a matter of fact, my realm is always looking for more tanks. Tanks to this day continues to be in absence. You’re more than welcome coming here.
6 Likes
people do this in normals because there are literally 0 consequences to their behaviors. we see behavior like this in real life as well but thats a different story.
the only 2 options you have are to either quit, or keep learning piece by piece and eventually get so much better than them that one day you can whisper them and ask why their IO is so low when they were power pulling your dungeon.
1 Like
That is not true at all. Most guild have 2 main tanks set in stone and DPS willing to off-spec tank when going for multiple M+ groups or filling in when one of the main tanks can’t participate, guilds are only looking for tanks when A)They are forming their raid team for the first time or B) When one of their tanks is going to take a break from the game or joins another guild, if it’s option B they will usually require you to have previous experience.
Tanks are objectively the hardest role to find a guild as, too few slots.
10 Likes
“Most guilds”.
You wanna share those numbers or should I just take your word for it?
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Well wrote post, I’ve seen it all happen many times. It’s sad. But I wouldn’t keep your experience in WoW from trying to tank in other games. This community is the problem, not the role.
2 Likes
OP is yet to experience the “you didn’t go my route, bye bye key” yet…
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I don’t know, should I take your word for “Guilds are continuously looking for tanks?” or you have empirical data?
Only difference between our arguments lack of data is that mine is based on the fact that guilds require at most 3 main tank players, while yours is based on… It has no basis.
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The problem that m+ created is that dps think dungeon running takes skill.
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Well, we have a player population of over 1.17m.
h ttps://mmo-population.com/r/wow
Don’t get me wrong, the population is split up between realms, but my realm in particular is MASSIVE.
I would think that players would form new guilds for the sake of running dungeons, because there is objectively nothing wrong with it. Ergo, the more players creating guilds, the more of THAT guild is going to require a tank.
Oh yeah… and since when does a guild need to set a tank limit of two? A bit antisocial don’t you think? Why not take in more tanks?
I’m ready for this post to be completely discredited by you. Or by other people.
If it’s bothering you this much, I wouldn’t tank.
Tanking is more than just holding aggro. You’re the unelected leader of the group half the times. It’s a management position essentially. You need to pull at a pace that your group can handle. Pull too much and you wipe, pull too little and folks get bored.
Need to balance it out.
I wouldn’t give up just yet. You picked a great independent tanking class with the guardian druid. They’re also super fast! Or if you need to learn the flow of the dungeons, maybe try DPS or healer.
I’ve done that before and watched others play tank. Then I can adapt my own gameplay based off what I saw others do.
At the end of the day, remember, you’re an instant queue. That means no matter how bad you are, you’re playing the role that most others don’t want to do themselves. So they’re stuck with you.
Honestly surprised people kick tanks unless they’re severally AFK. Like…5+ minutes.
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Just have fun. Keep getting insults? Pull as much as you can to guarantee a wipe then leave group in the middle of the pull, instant queue and try again, they’ll be waiting, you’ll be playing.
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Hi! You’re pretty much describing the reason I don’t pug or tank. Pugging is hard, and pugging as a healer or tank is even worse.
You could look for a guild that focuses on mythic plus. More tanks = more groups, so you’ll always have a spot.
Make friends with a healer, dps can be more easily replaced. If you come across a healer that you feel comfortable with, add them and ask them to join you for dungeons.
Lastly, whenever you need to pug, remember that after killing the first boss, you won’t get a deserter bonus, and that tank queues are instant, while dps take a few minutes (and will increase over time, as time goes on). Don’t waste time with rude people, just make sure to kill the first boss and bye bye.
Good luck!
1 Like
Yeah, getting cussed out over not pulling fast enough or accidentally going the wrong way does bother me, a lot. It’s extreme and my final decision was to quit tanking and stick to DPS.
It really is a bummer because I do enjoy the playstyle. Oh well.
2 Likes
stick with it and ignore people as needed. if you enjoy it, don’t let people stop you from playing the role you like.
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I would rather not be anyones problem. I also do not like confrontation and don’t deal with it well. It just isn’t worth it, no matter how much I enjoyed it.
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It has nothing to do with setting a limit my man, nothing to do with being social, you simply don’t require to have more than 2 in your guild.
Think about this way, you have a full 10 man raid team, 2 tanks, 2 healers, 6 DPS, you are looking to expand your roster to get more classes with different utilities, 2 tanks, 4 healers, 9 DPS for 15, oh, you want to expand into mythic progression? 2 tanks, 5 healers, 13 DPS. Do you see which role is immutable?
And here’s the thing, out of your DPS, most of your melee ones will have a tank spec and quite a few are comfortable tanking with a guild, so in short, there’s no need to bloat your guild with exclusively tank mains that won’t be participating in any content aside from M+, that’s how you end up with social guilds that usually end up being “20 people inner circle that raid, split into M+ groups, etc and 300 people just solo queuing” and seeing as we are both from MoonGuard I’m sure you’ve seen plenty of those guilds.
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i think tanking works best when you’re laid back about it. groups can sense fear. pull with confidence even if it’s the wrong pull. if you make a mistake, a quick “oops mb” goes far.
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Welcome to the world of tanking. Now imagine having to had to endure tank abuse on a regular basis for over the last decade.
1 Like