A - It’s just too hard an activity in general, much harder than the other roles.
B - There’s no way to effectively practice my skills as a tank; I get blamed for failures and/or kicked, and therefore never really get better. Dummies, Proving Grounds, etc., don’t offer a true learning experience for the craft.
C - I don’t find it difficult enough. It’s not engaging, and/or it’s become something that it never was intended to be.
D - The combat system needs to be reworked in regards to tank mitigation, and how my role should play. In other words, it’s not that it’s just difficult, I just find it to be on the wrong path right now.
E - I can tank fine in 5-man content, but raid tanking (i.e., swap mechanics) confuse me, and there is no way to train for a swap mechanic.
F - Other
Just curious as to what others think. I avoid tanking because of B, mostly, with a little bit of E thrown in.
As far as “training” goes you just need to get in there and practice. If you’re going into a raid then watch videos of other tanks doing the raid and explaining the fights so that way you have an idea.
There are infinite resources out there to help you prepare before you go tank something for the first time but to really get good you just need to get in there and start tanking.
Lots of people don’t play tank because their class doesn’t have a tank spec. Only half of the playable Classes can be tanks. The other half is untanking.
Beyond that, tanking is just the most high pressure of all roles. A lot of people simply do not want all that pressure.
Would add that people don’t necessarily hold themselves to the same standards that they hold others to. Medicore DPS have no problem blaming the tank and/or healer for problems they’re ultimately responsible for.
Why would anybody want to deal with that when they can just tick the “DPS” box instead and not have to worry?
Disagree with that. I can practice my rotation on dummies for DPS and healing, check the meters, and get a pretty solid idea of what my potential is, then swap talents or gear and go again, and repeat as needed. Tanking is a whole different ball of wax for me. Stuff on the ground, spells on asymmetrical timers, that DPS over there butt-pulled a mob, etc. … there’s nothing about it that translates.
Watching videos is useful to a point, but I would need to see their UI pretty clearly to be able to tell what they were hitting and when. Even as raid DPS, I’ll watch encounter videos but I need to see it a few times in person before it all comes together.
The problem with what I said in that last sentence is that DPS can fake it 'til they make it, somewhat. Tanks can’t do that. And botching a mechanic as a tank (or a healer) seems to have more dire consequences.
The only environment I’ve ever found to be learning-friendly for tanks was a guild group desperate to train up a tank.
Plus there’s nothing you can do ahead of time about routes. You can look at a diagram and watch a video but that’s not a replacement for actually doing the dungeon.
Stand in a spot that looks right based on the video but is slightly off and accidentally pull a second pack? Get ready for the DPS to start yelling.
There’s absolutely nothing the devs can do to drive players into tanking; they’ve tried making it easy, they’ve tried making it hard and players always find excuses to not tank and play their 3 button face smashing mdps spec instead.
People can practice just fine, but even if you’re a GOOD tank, you usually get blamed when the group wipes.
OR, you end up with a bunch of other people that don’t know what THEY are doing, and no matter how good you are, or how patient a person you might be, you just CAN’T get past something with the group you have.
There is still more they can do. At the very least Shaman needs a tank spec, and I would play it a LOT.
For me, I don’t tank because I enjoy playing a Shaman. I have to switch to another class I enjoy LESS in order to tank.
I suspect there are more people that feel this way about their classes as wel.
They could do things to make it less reasonable to pile blame onto the tank, too, like giving DPS full responsibility for things like interrupts. If the group then gets wiped by spellcasters, that’s squarely on the shoulders of the DPS because it’s not something the tank can half-carry through group through.
I guess a bit of A and B but “too hard” feels like the wrong phrasing.
When I’m tanking I’m the one that has know everything. I have to know all the mechanics, where to sand, where to go, pacing, etc. Tank == group leader.
It’s just a more stressful role (although I find healer in this xpac to be far more stress with way more “oh shoot” moments). Maybe I just want to play some dungeons and relax for fun. If I’m tank or heals then it’s srs bizness unless it’s a heroic/mythic0 and that’s mostly because everyone is dependent on that role doing well.
So tanking is “work” and not usually “fun”. I do it for friends only and never for pugs because the community is awful and toxic.
I think the biggest problem is performance anxiety. DPS get impatient and run ahead or don’t want to wait for a tank who’s learning. Or make one mistake and everyone starts chewing them out.
Anonymity makes people toxic.
That being said, I will literally trade my soul for a DH tank to run m+s with, I’m getting desperate. Unfortunately, there is a drought.
I can only speak to whats worked for me. Honestly the best way is to find a guild or group that is comfortable with letting you learn and then go from there.
The leader aspect is a big one. It used to be that I didn’t mind it and even enjoyed it… there’ve been numerous BRD runs (for example) where I took up the mantle (as tank or otherwise) as the one with the knowledge of the map and how the dungeon works and took the group further than it would’ve gone otherwise. With M+ the burden is much more heavy, to the point of becoming unpleasant.
