I started playing right after burning crusade, and my second toon was a tank that Ive been using as my main for the longest time, I’ve tanked through all expansions without much issues but took a break from wow for about a year or two until DF came out.
I’ve noticed after coming back though that is almost impossible to Tank either a dungeon or raid without the pre conceived notion that because I tank I know exactly what the encounter is, I always try to research and read about it beforehand, and I warn everyone as I enter a dungeon or a raid when it’s my first time but one wipe and eventually we get the guy playing “Ike, kick the baby”, its just harder now to get experience as a tank when you cant get experience because you get griefed.
The follower dungeons were a big help for tank training, but they don’t have those for Raids, I have 3 tanks now and horde or alliance Ive seen the same stuff…
I can’t stress this enough; try to make some friends and find a guild that suits you. Pugging in this game is a horrible experience.
I believe they are adding storymode raids in the next xpac, but I may have read that wrong, I saw something about it a while back.
realistically as a raid tank you shouldnt need alot of actual experience with the fight to be proficient in it. videos guides cover the specifics so you should already know the mechanics going into the raid after that its just positioning. if you are unsure about positioning then let the other tank lead the dance.
Have you tried not letting it bother you? They are just random internet weirdos anyway.
I dont care WHAT they say, its when I get kicked without much issues that becomes a problem. words on a computer screen by itself dont hold a lot of meaning to me. It just used to be more friendly if that make sense.
As someone who has mainly tanked since wrath, i’d say though maybe in the wrath days it was better ever since MoP is been like this, constantly, so get used to it. Your still the tank and unless you are COMPLETELY clueless on the fights, which is your fault, your not getting kicked, ignore chat and enjoy game.
You have a near-infinite amount of information at your disposal and Dragonflight is practically over; of course players expect everyone to know the encounters by now.
something tells me people aren’t just kicking tanks without issues lmao
I never enter in completely clueless, I always try to either watch a video or get some idea but Im always very honest about the fact when its first time, it just used to be friendlier maybe? Like… “hey we wiped here is what we can do better” maybe joke around and go again, now its like GRRRRR lol… everyone angry
Running my alts through time walking this week, I saw 4 tanks wipe entire teams (including themselves) running off ahead of the group, pulling more than they can handle, not using mitigations, then raging at everyone else because they clearly aren’t the problem.
We had to kick 3 of them.
Toxic tanks in this game are a far, far bigger problem than the DPS and healers tired of them, and being on the back foot waiting for them to ruin 4 to 20 odd peoples time, again, so they can play Zug Zug speed run solo mode.
The incoming nerfs are nowhere near enough.
The only time I remember pug being friendly was pre-LFD/LFR. Because you had to be social and nice to a point to even find a group. (I’m not saying there aren’t plenty of awesome and nice people out there, cause there are, it’s just that in LFD/LFR most people are in a rush)
LFD/LFR though, eh. Anyone is replaceable with a queue time. Sad, but true. Shouldn’t be that way, but it is.
Best thing you can do, find a guild or a group of players who are like minded. Make a guild if you have to (although you shouldn’t need to, there are plenty of active guilds across all realms with varying degrees of play lvl).
As someone who enjoys healing and tanking, I feel your pain. I left World of Warcraft back in 2011 and came back a month before the launch of Shadowlands. It was end of expansion of Battle for Azeroth and I was playing one of my two favorite classes, a Restoration shaman.
I didn’t know the dungeons and hadn’t healed for a few years as a shaman but the toxic behavior from those first few groups was brutal enough that for the 1st time in 20 years (at that time) I started to play DPS something I never played before. Now I main an enhancement shaman but I have that itch to try healing and tanking again for groups.
Unfortunately, that itch is probably phantom finger issues as I had amputations on my dominate hand, so motor control of them mouse is affected which also makes playing a DPS a bit harder as well. I do join an occasional dungeon group or raid, but it’s hard to do the content and not have people get bent out of shape if you’re not performing like you should.
So, I mostly stay solo and stay away from people unless it’s something I can assist them in wither it’s a question in game or a piece of content I see them struggling on.
i’ve been in a lot of pug groups this xpac, specifically as a tank, unless you are clueless no one is blaming the tank, what are you doing exactly that is warranting this? i say this because I legitimately cant remember the last time someone has gotten mad at my tanking, last time I got kicked was because I didn’t know the Raz fight AT ALL.
Man tanks barreling through pulling everything without any thought is a huge issue and one of the times I was kicked, (its been three times total so I guess I cant complain a lot) was because I WASNT doing just that! lol cant win for losing, the nerfs should really help keep tanks on the tank side if you run ahead you die
I think it’s also the fact that we’re in pre-patch at the end of the expansion and many people who play are probably hardcore veterans. I think come TWW it’s going to be much easier to pick up tanking.
it will get worse in TWW- healers already have a big mouth to deflect anything anyone could criticize about their healing, and they give up way too soon currently-
It will only get worse in TWW with the tank/healer changes, +SL dungeons.
GL everyone!
I’m playing Classic WoW for TWW S1 while you all enjoy the live beta testing and ebb and flow of buffs and nurfs 
I’d argue this is an issue is mythic+ not LFR but I can see how some toxic people can comment on that, but that’s all they are toxic, I doubt your running into those every single raid experience.
Wish everyone who goes the route of tanking all the best. I do not have the patience to tank and find it way too irritating. I would rather sit in a 2-hour queue then subject myself to some of the crap you deal with.
Coming back at the end of an expansion is rough. Usually I’ll know the dungeons by heart at this point. I’ve been learning them as a do +2s. Probably not ideal.
Good luck!
I like the combination of toxicity and stupidity to form toxidity.
That’s a band name right there.