A rant about WoW tanks. Yup.

[Lina]

Ladies and gentlemen, I will not lie..this is one of the most obvious rants you'll ever read. I'll ask questions when I'm done though so if you don't want mister text wall but want to contribute anyways then skip on down!

I have a lowbie to mid ranged mage in World of Warcraft, and I enjoy leveling/gearing her through the dungeon finder, and I'm starting to think 3 out of every 4 tanks that I get teamed up with is either dumb, a jerk, or both. >.<

1. The built wrong and not properly equipped tanks. I can understand equipment not being too much of an issue in early dungeons, but sometimes it's obvious that they don't know what they're doing with it. Early on I kept getting teamed up with retribution or holy paladins and fury or arms warriors. One of them didn't even speak English and didn't seem to know what tanking means. He would just say HI in all caps and fight as dps.

2. The rushy tanks (which I can kind of understand a weee bit better since dungeon runs are long) who don't wait for looting and questing or even the healer to be within distance to heal. So many wipes....

3. And finally, the uppity "I know your class better than you do!" tank. I had a druid tank who didn't think paladins could tank at all. As in, there IS no tanking talent tree or skills for paladins, they're pure dps! And this was Mauradon, so it wasn't TOO early in the game. He kept putting down this paladin, telling them this crap. Then as soon as I'm done explaining that I can't conjure food yet, they demand I conjure food.

Extra: Mage, POLYMORPH: remember people, bosses are immune and if you attack the monster I polymorph, it will return to normal! There was this troublesome boss that would summon two guards halfway through, so the group decides I'll polymorph one of the guards...when they show up. So we're at the boss, the ALONE boss, and the tank starts telling me to polymorph right then and now. I try to explain I can't, and they just get frustrated that I'm not polymorphing either the nonexistant guard or the immune boss. They even turn to the hunter and ask them to do it instead (crowd control I mean). When no polymorphing happens, he curses and starts the fight, thinking we're the idiots.

And there ya go.
Question time!

1. What do you think about tanks in WoW and the dungeon finder system? (And to an extent the raid finder, but I'm less informed on that one admittedly.)

2. Have you ever tried tanking? Why or why not?

3. Any stories, good or bad, about a dungeon group that comes to mind?

Just to add, I know there are good tanks out there, and that not all tanks are like this, AND that tanking is a hard job. So to all you good tanks out there, I thank you!

[Barrettblatter]

1. The dungeon finder is a nice addition, it makes getting groups together way easier. Most tanks in WoW are terrible.

2. I always roll a tank class. When possible i play a class that can both tank and heal.

3. No stories i can think of, lots of times i tanked in WoW my groups would tell me i needed to do more DPS though. Tanks dont DPS, they mitigate damage!

Tanking is far from a hard job, most people just have their priorities mixed up. We take damage, we don't deal it.

[arleneangle]

I like wow gold, then don't know how long the time limit.

[Amerist]

2. The rushy tanks (which I can kind of understand a weee bit better since dungeon runs are long) who don't wait for looting and questing or even the healer to be within distance to heal. So many wipes....

When I played a low-level healer, I got sick of this. I would get a tank who would bark at me after I yelled, “LOS! LOS!” every time they rushed ahead and were getting killed and I was unable to heal them either because they got out of range or ran behind a wall.

Personally, I do not tank well – it’s the one role that I have not pinned down, although I have one character I’ve dedicated to learning how and use amidst my friends. Still, I’ve seen many times where the person playing the tank ignores that their role sometimes requires teamwork and/or communication with the rest of the group.

I had one tank yell at the DPS for failing to focus-fire on a single target—our group didn’t have a de facto leader and nobody picked a single target, and picking the tank’s target didn’t help when my teammates picked something else. The tank also didn't take a leadership or communication role (just yelled about it.)

Fundamentally, I can overcome the skill issues in lower level dungeons with poor tanks; what I cannot and will not succumb to is people who aren’t there to be part of a team or enjoy the game. Especially if they’re in a role that actually requires teamwork support.

I’m pretty much with Lina on this.

[GenoX]

1. What do you think about tanks in WoW and the dungeon finder system? (And to an extent the raid finder, but I'm less informed on that one admittedly.)

Well I played wow recently... Sometimes they are noobs, sometimes they are agressive I know everything types so do as I say, and sometimes they are moce tanks who'll take everyone into consideration.

Raid finder just a simple mash up of people no real challenge unless you get a real......... bad group which end up wiped constantly.

2. Have you ever tried tanking? Why or why not?

Yes I have I made a Death Knight tank, Paladin and for bonuse I have 2 healer types Paladin and Priest Dis and Holy.
I decided because I thought it would be fun and it can be if you can get a group who is opened minded about tanking style such as 2-3 DK tanking = to no need to heal by healer. Also since I do great healing jobs in dungeons never made it to raids for healing. But healing in dungeons are easy.

3. Any stories, good or bad, about a dungeon group that comes to mind?

Well one time me and my brother was rolling around in our main (shadow priest and I am a fire mage) the tank was a complete a** kept calling everyone noob and etc. While he was just rushing in to the crowd while everyone was not ready or he takes on too much and expect to be invincible. So after the 2nd wipe we all let him rush into the crowd while the rest of us left him to die (healer and 3 dps).

[Arri]

Lowbie to mid level...You really can't complain that a tank isn't "built properly" or "geared properly" at those levels. Complaining that a level 40 tank doesn't have a skill that makes them superbesttankever but requires them to be level 60 is foolish, for example.

WoW does seem to manage to attract a whole punch of people who can't seem to understand very basic principles of teaming with other people, though...

[SorenEmblem]

I honestly get more good tanks than bad ones in PUGs. I get stupid ones that aren't in the right spec a lot at low levels, but by the time I reach level 25 or so, it's a non-issue.