I’m mainly a pug tank and not really having issues. Using stuff like raider io to see other people’s score tells me a lot about the group i’m joining haha. Ilvl requirements in group finder is also helping towards a far better experience.
Wouldn’t call it unsustainable myself. Been pugging as main tank since legion
The first time I ever tanked was in first karazhan. While we were waiting for people to come I thought, oh look at that little ghost, it’s just one of them, that’s not a big deal. We died to it!!! I didn’t tank for ages after that. Now tanking is my favourite role. I main tank in retail and classic. I love having the eyes of the enemy on me, I have to choose positioning, using my defensives properly.
To plunge into the scary deep end of the swimming pool I suggest to massively overgear the content, tank a normal dungeon, dont worry about defensive cds there. Just worry about grabbing adds and positioning. Practise that and then try heroics and use defensives. If you still don’t like tanking after doing around 10 normals and 10 heroics I would say tanking isnt really your thing. If you do like it then try mythic 0. And enjoy 
that will work if you are extreamly thick skinned and do not get heartbroken when you get kicked or screamed at for every little mistake you do, even if you happen to be over geard or still in leveling dungeons.
I can say from personal experience, that when I have tried to tank, be it a low level dungeon, I have always encountered the gogo people, who then screams and cries for everything. can say I never gotten a tank to max level always switched to dps or even switched class.
if you do get a guild or even a community that is willing to help you out and do not mind slower runs, you are in a good place, so yes, find a guild.
Tanking is not for the faint hearted, and many tanks have massive egos if you are not running fast enough the DPS or healer will go on ahead and pull for you and misdirect onto you or expect you to pick them up.
It’s not easy to be a tank, group with guildies that know you are learning and it might be ok.
You should know the basics of your class and the basics of trash mechanics in dungeons; in my opinion, if you’re willing to learn those you should be good to tank low to low-mid keys (+2 to +17/18 in SL, I yet have no idea how dungeons will scale in M+).
If you’re not going for high keys (+25 and above, again SL scaling can’t give a certain answer yet) you don’t have to know the maximum deals nor you have to had an exceptional route, you should be able to go for ‘weekly 15 route’.
You could find bothersome players, though, you can find those in any type of content that involves grouping and working together.
PS: low, mid-low, high, etc are subjective, the parenthesis I have add on my post are based on my opinion and my experience.
I tanked M+ in BFA. I’ve found that familiarizing myself with the routes in M0 helped ease a lot of anxiety.
But I am not gonna sugar coat it. As a tank, your mistakes are noticed immediately. There is much more room for error in other roles, which places a heavier burden on tanks to play correctly. The best you can do is try to tune out the noise when players get frustrated. Also, setting expectations helps too. Let your group know you are new to tanking, and also join groups that are merely trying to complete the dungeon and aren’t concerned about time.
I have also found that, as a tank, using my own key and forming my own groups helped. That way, you are basically your own boss and aren’t beholden to someone else’s key.
thats very common misconception of tanks with overflown ego .
its 5 people in there who dictate the speed - it all depends on how much tank can survive , how much heal can heal and how much dps can dps do.
its not a dictatorship of tanks - that why people shouldnt be afraid to kick bad tank who que for good groups.
there is plenty of slow learning groups around
but best thing you can do is find a guild and play with guildies on discord
It’s a game, If you want to tank just go for it. Read a class guide and get to know the basic routes, not much else is needed for normal and heroic. And don’t worry, even if you don’t know the route there is always at least that one dps who goes ahead and pulls for you anyway.
I have been leveling my prot warr through normal dungeons and it’s been fun. As someone said now is a good time to begin while the dungeons are more or less new to everyone.
Good thing is that you are always able to leave. Personally I’m not taking any insults over a game. Insult me and I wave you bye bye and hs out. No problem for me as a tank to find a new group with decent people.
Good luck and have fun if you decide to go for it 
Make a macro:
/s Hey everyone! I’m new to tanking
And hit it at the start of the dungeon. Now everybody knows and you don’t waste time typing 
I don’t pug but if I saw your group listed as “first tank” or somthing in notes I’d join just to help you out. The vast majority of people are alright.
You just have to give people expectations before you start.
Samesies for me with tanking in DF, experiencing the routes as a healer helped when I tanked for a new fren of mine.
Enemies don’t hit particularly hard on a tank either (will see what the tanks nerfs bring though) so you should be fine for M0 or low keys when the season begins OP 
Finding frens to play with will help a lot if you’re anxious, as they’ll know you’re a newbie to it so they won’t push you into a hairier situation than what you can handle most of the time. 
warrior tanks are awesome in DF, a lot of defenses and mobility like spider-man along with good panic buttons. As long as you have a fundamental understanding about rotation you won’t have any issues, the biggest issue is accidental pulling and ppl expecting you to pull half the dungeon at once… ignore them, they are aholes.
Just announce that you are learning tanking and ask for a little patience, most ppl don’t mind.
I’ve been thinking alot about trying tanking myself recently.
Mainly because I’m really fed up with the whole speed run attitude and If I tank, therfore I’d have some amount of control over the pace of an instance run.
That said, I’m not sure I’d welcome the flak.
Dont worry m+ opens next week so speed runs are over . And leveling via instances will be slow horrible experience again .
Cheers everyone!
I started tanking now after I had a shield drop, and it’s not that bad 
as a warrior I feel like I have 200 buttons to press, but majority of them are panic buttons so that’s a relief. I find it ridiculous how much healing is done only while using Ignore Pain 
my only issue is the rage generating, but I think that’ll come with time once I’m comfortable with the buttons I need to press.
So far all pugs were understanding when I told them in the beginning that I’m a learning in progress 
so that’s a relief too!
They’ve made all tanks OP and the new dungeons are super basic. You can play like a total noob and it wont really make a difference in pugged content.
There’s never been an easier time to start tanking.
Except the ‘where do i need to go’?
And i made the descision not going to queue normal leveling dungeons anymore. They are too hard for me. So many wipes, and i can not keep up with healing. It is just done.
what healing?
You know those buttons that makes cubes fill up?
I q-d up as dps in the beginning to become familiar with the routes then went to tank. But people are understanding at least the ones I’ve met so far. No toxicity, which I’m grateful. I enjoy it a lot