The praise as a tank is less frequent, but fantastic when it happens. At the risk of sounding like a pretentious douche with a “and then everybody clapped” story, when I did the Wrath wing of Chromie last night, I carried us through the safety dance after the first tank died, ate the Bres and instantly died again. 6 of us lived through the fight because I could spot heal and position the boss, and gave myself a stack icon.
I got some praise for that, and it was the best feeling as I hadn’t actually tanked anything in forever due to my mini rant above and some bad experiences. So it was super validating, even though it was just an LFR fight.
Being a rockstar DPS is cool for sure, and people recognize it, but being known as an unshakable mountain of a tank when you absolutely clutch something is the best, IMO.
I am not needed as a tank on my druid main for the guild raids, so why would I gear for guardian?
Other part is peoples’ GOGO mentality. People just want to grind stuff ASAP, I get that, but it is not for me. If I can’t enjoy what I am doing, I will NOT be doing it. So I will not tank dungeons.
These are the TWO (2) largest reasons for me to not tank, but there are more reasons.
You don’t know who your good tanks are until the situation has gone to hell.
The above situation is actually precisely the type of situation I’m referring to, even if the content is relatively easy those are the moments that genuine tanks live for.
The one downside is that a big chunk of the role is preventing them from happening… but when things go wrong, that’s when you can actually do something remarkable.
Now, I came across an interesting little video from Extra Credits just now… and I think it plays a fair bit into the above situation, and quite a bit for what motivates tanks in general.
The idea of “reciprocity” is a simple case of exchanging a gift for a gift (or a favour for a favour)… and generally being altruistic. Taking turns to share the spotlight, having fun with your own errors by allowing others to come in and save the day, and doing the same for them when they make a mistake.
A good bit to focus on here is that, fundamentally, most people who play video games want to be “the hero”. Not to just be a cog in the machine, but to be the guy or girl who saves everyone in a moment of crisis.
Over time, people tend to take turns being “the hero” simply by being the right person in the right place at the right time; it’s simply a matter of odds and everyone doing what they can at the moment. It’s one of the ways team-building and fostering a community can happen. On the rare occasion that it’s always the same person saving the day… well, they begin to feel a bit used. Either that or it goes to their head.
The way WoW is structured doesn’t really support these moments, especially with how the game has evolved over the years to be so insanely focused on optimization of throughput (in other words, obsessed with logs and DPS meters). It’s easier to measure… but it has never been conductive to that idea of reciprocity and sharing the spotlight, and in fact has been quite the opposite. The community is so absurdly selfish right now, no one seems willing to lend a helping hand; it almost seems like they’ll actually turn it away if it requires them to give anything in return.
Tanks are those who can LEAST benefit from DPS meters, as they’re generally placed near the bottom for some argument of “balance”… and with the game not really allowing for “Save the Day” moments (often due to too much focus on optimization, forcing a wipe because you lack enough people to beat the enrage timer).
To encourage tanks, especially new ones who are struggling to deal with an innately stressful role, reciprocity is an absolute MUST. Help them out, be it simple things like at least trying to cover for their mistakes and/or a bit of friendly advice, and they’ll help you out in return. Berating them for not doing it perfectly, too slowly, or anything else… that just drives them away.
In other words, the collective WoW community needs to stop being selfish jerks to one another.
Yeah, no. All of the suggestions from the OP are just wrong.
Tanks don’t need less buttons. They are already easy to play for the most part, and the Vengeance mechanic probably will never come back, although better tank DPS is something that would make more people play a tank.
Better balancing of tanks would also help. When pugging for keys, most players will want what’s best. Bad Guardian druid rerolls make it hard for better Guardian druids to get invited, while Prot Warriors and Brewmasters are highly sought after. Vengeance DHs are pretty rare at the moment.
Tanks do fantastic damage if the player wants to set them up for it and knows how. Right now that mostly means people not making weird Essence choices.
Tanks are also fairly balanced for the content most people are doing currently.
I honestly feel the #1 reason tanks don’t want to raid tank is because of taunt swopping. This should just go away. Raids should be created around the idea of a main tank and an off tank who handles adds during a boss fight.
Taunt swopping I feel was just a pointless mechanic created around the concept of tanks being bored in a fight, but its really bothersome when pugging. Will the off tank taunt when you want? is their strategy the same? Will they suddenly DC or forget to taunt swop?
I vastly prefer my Prot paladin to playing ret, however, I also like to quest and pvp. Give every tank spec a “gladiator stance” type of button, so that we can efficiently quest and be viable in PVP, without pissing off everyone else. Let me play my tank outside of group content, and maybe I’ll feel more comfortable playing my tank in group content.
taunt swaps are fine. It atleast engage mechanics. If there’s no taunt swap the off-tank just becomes a glorified dps w/ nothing to do. Look up Zaqul where there is no taunt swap. Tbh being the offtank of that fight is just down right boring
