This dumb old mantra of “if the tank dies it’s the healer’s fault and if the healer dies it is the tank’s fault and if the DPS dies it’s their own damn fault” hasn’t been relevant since like BC and wasn’t even fully accurate since then.
In high enough key levels, the healer isn’t anymore or less responsible for the death of anyone if said person eats a strong enough avoidable or even unavoidables without proper defensives used. The tank isn’t losing mobs to heal aggro and the only time DPS are even remotely at risk for threat is the literal first seconds of a pull. At most, the tank “saves” DPS by dragging mobs away from persistent ground effects. Everyone keeps each other alive equally by coordinating and properly utilizing interrupts and CCs.
The only tank with any real capability to actively intervene in the life/death of their party is a paladin with their litany of blessings and targeted heals and druids to a much smaller extent. Sure, a warrior can commanding shout or a DK pop amz, but by and large people live or die by not taking avoidable damage and/or properly interrupting/CCing targets and using planned defensives appropriately.
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thank you for responding to what was not in what I wrote.
but since you chimed in, I guess you could vouch for the game not having adds that bee-line towards a healer since TBC. as in , the hyena mobs with the gutshot encounter. or the elemental add with the last boss in neltharus. or the frogs in HoI. those don’t exist.
i suppose that when you tank, you let your healer just sort of figure out how to get away from those kinds of adds since you are immortal and don’t need the healer anyway. gg.
Those are fixates, they’re handled by group cc to cancel or reset their fixate target which can come from anyone, or the fixate target using the fight mechanic to their advantage. The hyenas only fixate periodically but tank can pick up enough residual threat on them with very little effort.
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What I said is what you said is rooted in and what I said when it comes to your role, as the tank, in saving your healer is relevant and your handful of fixate mechanics are not because those examples have the expectation the player react in an expected manner. For example, the fixated player is expected to kite the mutts into traps…the tank isn’t expected to “save” them with taunts or anything.
And yes, as a BDK, I don’t give an eff about my healer keeping themselves or me alive. “I” keep me alive. Outside of big trash pulls situations or VERY niche mechanics, if my healer is having to focus on keeping me alive, “I’m” not doing my job very well. I have 1 spell to use for my party that actively reduces magic damage they take and it depends equally (arguably moreso) on them to take advantage of it once I use it.
I suppose you can blame me if someone somehow pulls threat off me but that next to never happens and CAN NOT happen once a pull is established outside of a threat wipe which I don’t even think there are any (or come to mind anyway).
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Healers don’t need any special protection. If a runner pulls extra stuff, the tank picks them up because it’s the tank’s fault they were close enough to do that in the first place. If some fool buttpulls and those mobs lock on to the healer, it is the tank AND healer’s job to run together and get it all peeled. Then work together to kill that dps as often as possible.
One of the key jobs of the tank is positioning.
yes, yes, yes.
as the tank, your job is situational awareness. if your healer is in trouble or going to get into trouble, then you should not be assuming that someone else is going to deal with it. you deal with it.
just like if there is one make or break spell to be kicked, you eat everything else and save your kick for it.
you, as tank, pay attention to the most important things and be prepared to deal with them yourself whenever possible.
even if the mob doing the fixating isn’t tauntable, it can’t kill your healer if the NPC is dead. so you lead the charge to kill it if you can.
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gg. carry on team player. carry on.
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Knowing mobs and mob abilities is very important too. For example, the big whirlwind mob in BH, the Warscourge mob, buffs other enemy mobs with this:
So, while on lower content, no biggie, if in higher fortified keys this can add up, especially the cd reduction for things like this, if the group doesn’t have stops or defensive these things will reck non-tanks:
After a couple runs it gets easier because those abilities are known and priority stops are used, but a tank should be aware how grabbing more - or less - effects the group
install omen threat or whatever
if you start getting too high on threat, stop pushing buttons
so wow
much skill
Additionally, if you don’t want addons, get on comms with your dps. Allow their aural cues in the form of cursing be your guide to know when threat is lost. Lol it works for me 
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Try sparking up some brain cells to put thought into what I actually say instead of trying to twist word snippets to fit your narrative.
It’s fine being an inexperienced numpty and getting confused about a fixate and how someone dying to it means you’ve failed at your job. Nobody can be expected to know it all or be right all the time.
Once again, as a BDK, I literally have next to no say in if any of my party lives or dies. I can’t affect their health bar and make it more green. What I can control though is my bar though. The healer can take my bar and shove it to the farthest corner of their screen thus freeing up their UI and mental facilities to better deal with their own and the other squishies and environment.
If I were a pally, things change. I CAN more directly intervene in the life or death of a party member hence I do care more about certain other mechanics and happenings where my utility may play a bigger role in the overall outcome. As a BDK, I can just hover over your gray frame and press bres.
This is tanking in retail WoW.
Was doing 19 RLP with arcane mage for funzies because we’d all already done the key.
Arcane mage popped cds when the dragon hit 50% on last boss.
He still had aggro when the dragon died, through taunting on cd and the VDH focusing it with everything he had. Arxes was blinking around in circles with mirrors up trying to stay alive.
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Well, maybe that aural cue that tank don’t have aggro is that the mage laughing maniacally on comms? Lol
The perfect tanking experience means that I don’t break a nail from start to finish.
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That is a very disciplined mage/player - though at that level you’ve probably been exposed to enough to desensitize. I would have been a constant stream of heavy breathing sprinkled with some swears.
Full plate gauntlets, with the little finger cuffs, definitely help. Follow me for more pretty in plate tips, tricks, techniques.
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https://clips.twitch.tv/SlipperyHeartlessLettuceSoBayed-zeyAOCHd5xJ_o4cH
There was less screaming than I remember.
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Yeah that’s why I don’t really use that many addons. I refuse to use weak auras.
that’s actually even more baffling. so what would the skill expression be, if you don’t actually have any way to monitor your threat level?