Why doesn’t blizz try something really cool, to eleviate the tank shortage, and make tanks fun to play??
Right now, an integral part of tanking is how good you can run and hide like a wuss, e.g. kiting. I don’t mind mechanics to bend over groups that can’t learn to interrupt.
But, tanks shouldn’t ever get one-two shot by trash mobs hitting harder than bosses.
I am not again kiting, per se, but it shouldn’t be a “normal” part of the job.
Or like Idk make more tanking specs?
Seriously the ones available now are fine I guess but… Compare amount of DPS & Tank specs.
Obviously that is only part of a reason why there is less tanks… But still.
Also while it’s fine we’re less unkillable like in Legion I think Blizz should re-think the group compositions. Having 2 tanks that are more squishy but still dish out dmg, 1 ranged and 1 melee dps and 1 healer would incite more people to play a fighter (tank) specs.
It’s even more problematic in raids where on 30 man raid there’s only 2 tanks required. Formula has to be changed, remember Naxx?
Tanking done right is seen in HOTS, I just can’t get enough from playing garrosh/diablo/imperius there.
I think the reason tanks aren’t so popular is because they aren’t flashy enough, fun enough and feel good enough.
Also tanks feel insanely good to play when you do it with friends rather than with pugs specially since with friends you have people you synergize with, and so I’m guessing a lot of tanks don’t even bother with pugs.
Just today I’ve tanky some mythics on my warrior with friends while we were in a net cafee, the run went so smooth, fun and fast.
But when I tried to do tanking with a pug group I get people hit by doodle mob spit then call bad tank when they die
And now in BFA tanks are extremely dependant on your team mate’s play that it can become straight up frustrating to straight up easy life. It’s good that I have to work with my group to survive and achieve very good results, but I shouldn’t be entirely dependant on them to actually do good, if the dps didn’t help with interrupts and cc = dead, healer was bad = dead is lame and frustrating to deal with.
Tanking is fine in guilds apart from few underperforming spec. Tanking is only a problem in pugs because blizzard cant fix crap community.
I had 4 tanking toons in Mop because lucrative tanking box at the end of the run was enough to make me suffer through braindead pug enviroment.
Now that they expect me to just take the abuse and stupidity of your average pug without a real reward my tanking AND healing services are offered only for my guild and friends.
The problem is that all class specs are imbalanced. For example Blood DKs have extreme selfhealing, making them the best spec for Mythic+, while most other specs suffer. Prot warriors are still in a bad state, but for some reason fun to play.
I think it is a playstyle thing, as well as tied to how tanks are treated in PuGs. You have a lot of responsibility as a tank, and most tanks I know generally don’t tank PuGs. You are expected to lead if you tank, and get your head chopped off for even the smallest mistake(or other peoples mistakes).
I don’t think the way tanking is done necessarily have to change. Like I said, that’s a playstyle preference. I needs to feel different to dps, just like healing does.
Most people won’t tank due to how PuGs treat them. If you can find a way to change peoples behaviour I’m sure you’d see more tanks. I for example rarely tank for PuGs due to the fact I’m in a guild cause I want to play with the same reliable people
Honestly this game needs to be more punishing to stupid dpsers than the tank and the healer.
If the dps is pulling extra ads or is standing on crap for too long, there needs to be a flashscreen saying “oops you stood too long here, be more aware of your surroundings”, something that makes dpsers know that its them who sucks.
Ive tried a tank and i couldnt stand dpsers. I understand why tanks are so rude in the random dungeons. I understand. Troll male players are the worst of the worst when it comes to random dungeons, its always them who stand on crap, overpulls and blames everyone for it.
Blood elf male and undead players are coming secondly after them but they are like 50/50, some of the best players are blood elf males, some of the worst are them, but i rarely, RARELY see any good troll male dpsers in pugs.
I know that Alliance can be bad too but this is more diverse when it comes to WoW races, while in horde, its quite the opposite.
Considering how often they have to deal with awful people in random content (ninjapullers) and getting blamed for other people’s mistakes, it’s not surprising. I love prot pally but the last time I actually tanked any group content was on Balance of Power questline.
I remember how I became tank. It was in WotLK, and as a DPS you would wait for 20-40 minutes for a dungeon group to assemble, only fot tank to check everyone’s iLvL, say something “go **** yourself noobs, I ma not going to carry you” and then either just straight up leave, or try extorting gold. So I pretty much got absolutely sick of it, changed my paladin spec into Protection, read some guides, got some gear relatively looking like tanking one, including some PvP stuff, and suddenly dungeon life became a pure bliss for me - to go to dungeon I just needed to want it, basically no wait at all, ever, any time of the day or night, and people in the team would be “hey thank you Mr. Tank, you are so nice, lets go another dungeon right away!”. Gear up with tremendous speed, started raid tanking with a guild a joined and with another guild I had a friend on when other tank wanted a spot, because I had really no desire to go DPSing again and had no idea how to be a healer). And so I embraced tanking, later expansions started tanking like DK and warrior, and was really happy.
By Legion though, attitude to tanks basically changed to the crap that is mentioned by people above. Everyone is shouting at you “pull faster pull more wtf dont waste my time go go go”, if you ingnore them they ninjapull, when it comes to M+ - it’s same and if it’s bolster or sanguine or necrotic or else you die with a 99% guarantee and everyone is throwing carp at you “damn tank you wasted my stone” “damn tank I can’t heal you why are you so squishy (year right, with a double dozen stacks of necrotic)”. Basically, tanking with random people became a pure pain. Obviously, with guild there are no such problems, but the problem is there are very little tank spots and much more wanting tanks. By the time Nighthold came, I was absolutely sick of it, switched to warlock and did not tank since then.
Largely a player problem wherein they’re disincentivised to be helpful and useful in their role. I can’t readily number the times I’ve entered a dungeon only to have the tank quit immediatly since the random instance wasn’t to his liking and the guy could simply queue for an instant try at another.
Fix mechanics, change player behaviour, then maybe class abiities might become a priority.
Also a problem and contributing to why I won’t tank. I think these challenge/mythic+ time attack score dungeons exacerbated the problem and entrenched the mentality that all must be done fast or not at all.
I’m reading this thread while waiting 40+ minutes for a tank for Motherlode +3. No one wants to tank because it’s stressful and not fun. Tanks must be more powerful.
Update: After 1h20m our group was disbanded. There are no tanks. And this is Saturday … is this game dead?