Pretty much this. While I’d like to see pure DPS classes get a tank or healer spec added to them, it’s pretty obvious that adding these specs won’t affect the tank / healer shortage much. Some people, like myself, might dabble in tanking or healing if it’s added to their preferred class, but not many will actually reroll mains just for access to tanks and healers.
People don’t tank because WoW players are sensitive. Someone will say “What was with that pull?” and the “tank” runs to the forums to claim they were horribly abused and victimized, hoping the community will roll out the feinting couch to catch them as they fall.
It’s also pretty boring to tank. More boring tank specs won’t change that.
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Not sure how you incentivize a role. It is the gameplay, and mostly the responsibility involved in tanking. Tanks are expected to know the routes, know all the mechanics, mark targets and call out strats when needed. The only way to get more people to tank is to make all that easier. Make routes more obvious and/or less impactful, make mechanics more obvious with less need to hold people’s hands through the encounters, etc.
Blizz has never shown any real interest in doing any of that, thus the tank shortage.
Oh Man MoP tanking is great! Wild how making something fun makes people do it.
We are lacking for healers I will say, but tanking is solved there (atleast in AU).
It’s in the reply you’re quoting that you snipped off.
That’s what I said in my giant wall of text before the reply you’re replying to.
Routes are typically player created and change over time.
All those skips where you jump off of something and take damage typically aren’t the intended route.
I think in the same way that DPS players are able to rotate through the several spes and remain relevant in raid or M+, that’s really missing with tanks. Your set of tank specs is already limited and then you start filtering based on viability and it dwindles to maybe a couple or just one that feels really strong each patch to play. You may love bear tank, but you’re forced to play warrior tank because bear tank just does not have the survivability that prot warrior does. So you skip out on playing tank that patch. I guess ultimately the philosophy should be for tanks: make them all gigapowerful, or add more to the pool because players love having a couple viable fall back options for alts.
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My biggest problem with tanking, in Classic and Retail (but especially Classic), is how difficult it is to get into a raid team.
20% of a dungeon group is tanks, and in a 20 man it drops to 10%, and in a 40 man only 5%! Everybody needs a tank for dungeons, but no one needs a tank for raids. I don’t want to learn to tank in M+ and not get to tank in raid. In classic, tanking requires a lot more investment to be “acceptable”, and I’m not particularly interested in having to maintain two gear sets when I currently barely have the time to maintain one. At least we got dual spec in vanilla so it’s not as big of a gold dump.
Then factor in that typically melee dps are not as desirable as ranged dps for raids, it also makes playing a melee with the intent to tank later feel worse.
Give at least a single class more than 1 tank spec 
Only role in the game where if you want to play multiple specs in the role you need multiple characters
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i would absolutely tank if shamans could and they could be human or nightelf
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Have them release at least one femme magic tank spec and prove me wrong then.
Uh huh. “Rah rah” and all that.
Though if we wanna talk ignorance, femme is an aesthetic. It’s not exclusive to females.
And do not pretend there are sparkly glittery magical fantasy specs for tank players besides MAYBE a paladin lol.
It’s a very simple thing to unpack. Tank specs have pretty much no femme appeal. They’re all designed to be hypermasculine fantasies. They will never be as popular to people who enjoy femme fantasies as priests or mages or hunters. That’s why many people will never touch a tank in this game. Player class identity is actually incredibly important.
I’m scared to ask… do I do dare? Help me chat… 
“Why won’t more people play the ugliest melee specs in the game? It is surely a mystery.”
But yeah people definitely want to wait for DPS ques because they’re afraid to learn how to pull things in a dungeon. Sure.
More tank specs wont make more tanks. The lack of tanks is a purely player base controlled thing.
Good tanks stick to their friends and guilds and most dps don’t like to lead or take on most the group responsibility.
Dps is the most popular spec for a reason. Players make new tanks miserable. So most steer clear.
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Make a clothie tank and I’m pretty sure things will slightly improve.
I mean, yeah that is exactly the problem actually. People don’t want the pressure that comes with tanking. Until Blizz fixes that no amount of pretty spell fx’s will get more people to tank.
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Nah that’s just one partial issue. People will never be interested in trying a tank if they don’t look appealing to play. There’s a reason why priests and wizards are super popular in fantasy games compared to warrior among certain demographics.
The people who already want to play the armored tank are already playing it but there’s an untapped base for other kinds of tank specs.
I agree, and it’s been stated many times.
However, more tank specs will make current tank players happier. DPS players get to choose from 20+ specs, tanks get to choose from 6. And that ratio slides more in favour of dps every time a new class is added.
Everyone wants more tanks but nobody wants to give existing tanks a bit of honey from time to time. I want to tank, and I also want to play a rogue - would love the option to do both.
Right now, when I am playing my rogue, there is one less tank in the pool.
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I tank because it’s always my nature to protect others, and end evil. Not really a desire to lead, but that can be nice depending on the situation. It’s a lot to take on, knowing that if you fail, it can be catastrophic what happens to everyone else.
Waving my green hand up…this is accurate! But, I put on the armor and sharpen my sword, each day. Blood and thunder and all…
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I am the same way, but I might be more the “power behind the throne” attitude, I will lead if need be or as a representative of the one in power, but I am more then happy to be the second in command.
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