I wonder why it’s always tanks who make threads like this.
As a dps player, I typically don’t care much what other people are doing to the point where I let it ruin my time.
I do think that people who play tank generally need their egos massaged and get off on “teaching people a lesson” when tanking is really easy to begin with.
If you leave a group I’m in, you’ll land on ignore. Doesn’t matter to me what role you play or what the reason is. Strand me mid run, I won’t ever make the mistake of grouping with you again.
I know you’re here as a tank and feel like you need to be vindicated against all those evil dps players out there; but I have found that most pug tanks are pug tanks because they suck.
Politely leave the group if the over-geared and/or higher-level DPS aren’t smart/polite enough to taper or modify their DPS accordingly for the type/level of tank running the instance with them. Depending on the class & level/gear of the tanks I group with on my 70 mage, I modify my DPS & group-dps play-style accordingly. It’s not rocket science & it makes for a smoother, more-relaxed & friendly run. Some people just can’t operate/play the game outside of hormonal-douchebag parameters, however, because that is their personality in RL.
In my opinion, if you’re tanking, it’s your call. If you don’t feel comfortable in a party with a group of people for whatever reason, it’s your prerogative to leave.
Having said that, there are some things you can do that may improve your experiences.
Form your own groups
Being the party leader is a pretty natural position for the tank. You have a clear view of what everyone is doing, and how everyone is playing. You can set the pace, and the tone, and remove people if they don’t follow your rules.
Just chill
A lot of people who play WoW have been playing for several years, or more, and are pretty good at the game. If they want to play a certain way, just let them. As a tank, you have your priorities, and running away from 3 mobs you have good aggro on to go taunt a mob off a DPS 40 yards away that is tunneling isn’t one of them
Here’s a pretty good guide aimed at newer warrior tanks from early WoW Classic, which is still quite relevant, imo.
The problem THIS ONE TIME wasn’t a prima donna tank. The problem was DPS were way overgeared compared to the tank and decided to be jerks about it.
The entire thing could have played out 100% differently had the DPS not been jerks. The dungeon could have been steamrolled had the DPS and tank figured out the entire issue and acted accordingly (i.e. tank + Hunter pet tank + Voidwalker tank all acting in sync).
The lesson here is “Don’t be a jerk.” Nothing about a prima donna tank.
Those guys are asshats for going ham with a level 66 tank. I ran the Hellfire Citadel quest line as a 70, since I didn’t get a chance to do any of the lower-level dungeons on my way through, and toned it down A LOT because I knew I’d be tearing aggro off the lowbie tanks I was grouped with on my hunter.
You were absolutely correct, and did your best to deal with a bad situation until it was simply untenable.
If I’m in a party with people who can’t be team players I’d leave too. It’s too easy to have fun doing something else rather than be miserable in a party of asshats.
Why would fully geared 70s be doing normal dungeons anyway with a 66? Feel like some of the story is missing here. I cant imagine they actually needed anything probably just trying to have fun.
After a simple inspection by the tank of the dps-he easily knew what he was getting into.
After noticing that people were level 70 and he wasn’t-he easily knew what he was getting into.
A thread exactly like this pops up every couple days with some random tank decrying the malicious intent of dps players. The theme is almost always the same, the tank is always the good guy and he always ends the run in some spectacular fashion teaching the dps players a lesson in some way or the other.
He was clearly being carried by his DPS. No group is ever going to invite a 66 tank to OHB and expect to succeed without carrying him. He threw a tantrum and left because he’s the tank and that automatically means that his time in game is far more valuable than players of other roles, or at least that’s what we’re all meant to understand.
I’ve seen lvl 70’s in the sub 70 dungeons quite a bit while leveling up various characters. Some are guildmates helping out another guildmate. Some are doing quests they skipped during their leveling process, for whatever reason. Some still need certain rep levels. Some are just bored or slumming. You would be surprised how many 70’s have to do OHB, just to get that quest out of the way, so that they can get into BM.
I just did what I could and didn’t worry about it. If people want to aggro everything then they get to tank their own mobs. The only person I really looked out for was the healer.
I see it as he quit because some douchebag/stupid dps players don’t know how (or refuse) to adjust their dps play-style to accommodate different types of grouping situations or encounters. Some players are deliberate griefers in PvE, just as much as they are in PvP, which seems to be the case here.
Which is exactly how I categorize any tank player who takes it upon themselves to teach other players lessons.
The overwhelming majority of tanks are completely terrible. The fact that they play an underplayed role doesn’t give them a pass to just leave groups because things aren’t going their way without expecting there to be some sort of pushback.
If you decide in your head that stranding a group because they aren’t playing how you’re playing, you are within your rights to do so. You can also come here and make crybaby woe is me I’m a tank and everyone else sucks posts too.
The end situation is still the same. He willingly tanked a group that he was underleveled and undergeared for. They were carrying him, and he got upset that things didn’t go exactly the way he wanted and left.
If that isn’t the definition of ‘pve griefing’ then I feel a case for it will never be made.
