Forum Post of the Day: Are Tanks A Dying Breed?
by Dan O'Halloran 
Jun 13th 2007 at 6:45PM
I think we've all been there. Waiting and waiting and waiting for a tank to be LFG so you can get your 5-man underway. Random /tells to every druid in your level range. Plaintive cries in the General channel. Wondering if you should just switch to an alt. Why oh why is it so hard to find a tank for a 5-man these days?A few theories are floating around. They are all PvPing. Or they get snatched up in guild based 5-mans and don't have to resort to pick up groups for their runs. Or they are frustrated with getting stuck with big repair bills and groupmates that don't understand the basics of managing their own aggro.
What do you think? Do you find it hard to get a tank into a pick up group? Are you more willing to put up with a poor tank just to get the 5-man together? Shouldn't there be more tanks available since the tanking enhancements that druids and paladins received in the expansion? Or is this just more crying by players who need to make more friends in-game?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Vaharneim Jun 13th 2007 7:03PM
I *have* a decently geared protection warrior (aka tank), but unless I'm specifically on to tank for a guild-related instance, or hot on LFG myself (in which case desperately seeking healer), I'm playing a different character.
My guess would be that a lot of tanks feel the same way -- that their tank is there for tanking, and if you're not tanking, there are other characters to clown around on.
John Jun 13th 2007 7:05PM
I am a lvl 70 tank (warrior) and often have a hard time finding 4 other members to run 5mans.
But there are other times where I log in...and every 15 seconds, I receive random tells from people, wana tank xxx. This is almost as annoying as no invites.
James Jun 13th 2007 7:08PM
I had a warrior. Did 5 mans, did some level 60 raiding. Decided that Blizzard didn't give a rat's ass about the class, so there was no point in me continuing to play him. He has spent a good 8 months now at 60, hanging out in Ironforge and acting as a bank character while I leveled a hunter to 70.
I, personally, found the class very boring to play, whether I was specced arms/fury or prot. It was my first toon though, and I just didn't know any better. Combine that with the repair bills, being responsible for the squishies in groups, and Blizzard's lack of respect for the class, and I rolled a hunter that is now my main.
Fact is, my hunter, decked out in mail armor and having lowered hp, is far, far more likely to survive bad pulls in both parties and solo thanks to a variety of tricks and options inherent to the class. Same goes for my rogue. My warrior had alot of armor and stamina, but when things went south, all I could was run, or hope that the healer was still alive. It is not an easy class to play, and when Blizzard decided that two hybrid classes should be able to tank on par with a warrior, I threw in the towel. The class, to me, is largely a joke at this point. Maybe they've changed with 2.1, but I moved on, and have no plans to return. Maybe if Blizzard made the class worthwhile more people would be playing them.
Aryc Ogre Jun 13th 2007 7:12PM
I find myself declining a lot of invites lately because more often than not I've been involved with PUGs who don't seem to work well together, or they don't seem like they'd understand any of the points made in here: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=77595813&sid=1&pageNo=1
Redfoot Jun 13th 2007 7:17PM
My main is a protection spec'd warrior, and from my point of view, grinding is such a pain with that build that I would much rather play my . Just about every class I can think of has more all-around utility than a pure tank. No vanish, no fear, no sheep, no pets, no heal, no rez, etc. Soloing a tank is just plain work.
Also, this is the most gear-dependent class in the game, which naturally means more rep grinding, more mat collecting, and many more repeat visits to the same instances waiting for gear to drop.
Don’t get me wrong – I love tanking. There isn’t a more challenging role in the whole game. The trade-offs are just more than most people are willing to pay.
Arras Jun 13th 2007 7:16PM
I am the MT for my guild, so I haven't had a need (or desire) to run with PUGs for any 5mans.
The problem that I've encountered a few times is the expectation that I always want to tank something. Sometimes, I just want to farm or play an alt and not tank SL for the thousandth time. Fortunately, my guild is not demanding at all and it's perfectly acceptable to say 'nah, not tonight'
Kindicus Jun 13th 2007 7:18PM
I run a Feral Druid and an Aff Lock.
The issue with druid tanking for me is that they have to gear up for every role, and chances are if you're focusing on one role (melee dps / healing / boomkin / tanking), you don't have the time to gear up well for the other. Just because you have the talents to tank, doesn't mean you've invested the time and gold to get the gear for it.
And yes, it DOES get discouraging when the one or two times you do buckle down and volunteer to tank, the DPS specs refuse to manage their aggro. I've yet to have an enjoyable time tanking, despite the huge demand for me to do so. Most puggers I deal with are content to just blow their DPS load all over the place the second the pull is initiated, then let the healer play cleanup (thus pulling all the aggro onto the one place where it hurts the group most). Responsible DPS is just as important to a successful group as a skilled well-geared tank, IMHO.
amasen Jun 13th 2007 7:17PM
I have a 60 warrior, 64 mage, 67 priest. I play them all quite activly.
My warrior just hit level 60 (33/5/13) and I enjoy playing him quite a lot. That being said, he is so dependent on gear to do any damage that while I outgear my leveling druid buddy, he does significantly more damage than me. What's more sad is that all he has to do is pop to bear form and he still does more damage than me, and can then proceed to out-tank me.
So I'll keep playing my warrior because I enjoying being able to tank/spank/healbot, but when you wonder why you can't find many tanks it is because the ones that rolled a warrior to be a tank are finding druids and palidans are not only doing it just as well as they are (at the 5man level) but still being able to NICE damage at the same time (something tanking warriors cannot do)
Barnabas Jun 13th 2007 7:21PM
For me the invites never end. So I am usually too busy to tank for everyone that needs one at any given point. Sometimes I rather not run a normal cause it is boring to me and I get little out of it. There are also the groups that aren't good enough for a heroic and I tag along to find that out later. So I end up having to bust out the training wheels for 3 or 4 people and I am just there to tank. I don't mind and I am not a snob but sometimes it is better to play with familiars. People that will guarantee a smooth run. Which brings another form of apprehension to joining a PuG.
Matt Rossi Jun 13th 2007 7:19PM
I have two level 70 warriors, both specced protection, one horde and one alliance. And I won't tank for anyone I don't know. Tired of being told what to do in runs, tired of being crapped on if someone else pulls agg, tired of everyone who has never played a warrior even once telling me what I'm doing wrong. Tired of groups who won't wait for aggro because they don't have to wait for sunders when bears tank for them. Tired of hearing that warriors are overpowered.
Everyone craps on tanks and healers. That's why tanks and healers are so scarce. And yet, no one ever seems to get the hint.
Stormsinger Jun 13th 2007 7:35PM
Loving life and PUGing (as much as one can) as a bear tank.
Pre-TBC played an endgame warrior tank, but just couldn't get excited about him post expansion. OTOH the druid was fun, flexible and fast. So i still get to tank, but it's with a different feel.
I do get the occasional "Are you feral?" or "Can you tank SL/SV/Arc/SH?", but not too much. And unless I'm about to log my answer is usually yes. Nice to feel wanted ;-) Now I know what it was like for priests before they were all shadow...
Smeed Jun 13th 2007 7:26PM
The build is hard as hell to level with and boring as hell to play with. If all your doing is raiding, I can see why someone would use that spec. If your doing anything other than that, its just a pain to work with.
Halicante Jun 13th 2007 7:29PM
"Everyone craps on tanks and healers. That's why tanks and healers are so scarce. And yet, no one ever seems to get the hint."
QFT. That's why my warr is only level 61. I got so tired of all the crap that I leveled my alt mage to 60 right before tbc and leveled her to 70 instead.
Asspigeon Jun 13th 2007 7:41PM
Paladin tanks, while cool on paper, are useless in real life. More gear dependent than the other tanks, and with a more viable raid spec in holy, they are rare if nonexistent. Also with resto druids being what they are and even boomkin druids getting some credit nowadays, being a tanking feral druid is somewhat of a tough pill so swallow. This leaves prot warriors as the only *really* raid viable tanks left and it is one of the worst class/spec combinations to play solo (up there with holy paladins and holy priests). Ergo, being a tank sucks.
Virgil 70 holy paladin
Kyle Jun 13th 2007 7:47PM
It's a simple matter of just not being able to do much else as protection. Now druids have it slightly easier, they're tank and dps spec are on the same tree, but it just a pain trying to do anything except tank. It's horrible.
Adam Jun 13th 2007 7:51PM
I have a level 70 druid and have a dps set, tanking set, and healing set (btw, I'm a feral druid). I love the fact that mid-raid the raid leader can say, we need a little extra healing on this next fight, and I just pop on my healing gear. Or vice versa for dps/tanking.
Meanwhile, a warrior can do nothing but tank if he's speced protection. Add to that the fact that warriors are boring to play and a pain to level (I'm trying right now since my guild really needs a warrior). I would be fine with just sticking with my drood but Blizz has made a bunch of raid fights require a warrior (e.g., Nightbane, for Berzerker Rage) which just sucks.
Thyone Jun 13th 2007 7:55PM
As a tankadin, I'm more frequently asked on pugs as either the main healer, or as a backup to the healer, rather than as a tank, which is the role I've specialized in. (One doesn't invest 41 points into the protection tree, and equip with plate to 8000 armor to stand back and spam "Flash of Light" for an hour). Yes, that's a a lot of QQ on my part, but people who are looking for tanks are passing up any number of viable options.
roguedubb Jun 13th 2007 8:11PM
Good tanks are still out there, but most are wise enough not to walk into any old death-trap, aka: PUG.
I've been tanking a lot recently as a Feral Druid, through SM and Ulda because the Warriors I've ended up in PUGs with have been nothing other than Rogues in plate.
Thorgrim Jun 13th 2007 8:13PM
PuG DPSers often suck. And when the DPSers suck, the tank or healer usually eats the blame. Why would I want to put myself through that when I can do a guild group instead?
Derelict Jun 13th 2007 8:40PM
Perhaps it's the way they ask.
I have a 70 warrior (MS) and a 70 priest (shadow). I get at least 5-6 tells per night that usually are either a blind invite (with no "Hi, we're hitting .... tonight"), a whisper of "What's your spec?" (lrn2armorykthxbye), or some variation of "Can you help us out with XXXX" (i.e. we're FUBAR, pissed off your predecessor, and want you to come bail us out).
I do guild groups only, when I can help it. If not, I do groups built from our guild and some friends. If I can't get those, often I just farm a bit and log ... saves the frustration and repair bills.
D