My tanking corps rocks. They really do. I'm quite happy to be their officer representative. We all play our role as the meat shield very well, rarely do we miss a shield block in our rotation or forget to pop a health stone as healers make transitions in and out of the demon realm in Kalecgos. What is interesting about any tanking corps I've been apart of is the inevitable drama that comes up.

Since I've been in a few different guilds with a few different tanking corps and this drama always seems to happen and happen the same way, I have to ask: are tanks the most drama prone?

It's best to define what drama actually is. Drama is any whining and moaning from anyone about things out of their control. If they complain about things in their control, well, then they just fail miserably and probably should spend some time outside to recenter themselves.

For instance, a tank complaining loudly that his healer always is the first to get constructs in Gorefiend and demanding that they get a soulstone before the fight even starts, is drama.

A tank complaining that they need healers X, Y, and Z, in the raid or else they won't do anything but auto-attack Illidan, is drama.

A tank complaining that they deserve extra guild repair money for their expensive plate armor, is drama. And since the tank is special, they also need their own rank to let everyone know this (but it's also practical because only they should be able to withdraw 300g a night in repair money).

A tank complaining that the ideal tanking group is not made up of a Shaman, a tree Druid, a Paladin, and a Warrior, but instead is made of up of 4 of their closest friends that they can QQ about the entire raid with, is drama.

A tank complaining that stance dancing is too much to do during Archimonde, and he wants fear wards and a shaman totem in his group so he doesn't have to do anything extra, is drama. And woe is the raid in which the tank isn't best friends with a shaman and a priest – that is a lot of drama (see above).

A tank complaining that the three new people that were taken to Illidan is okay, as long as they do not stand anywhere near them during the demon phase and cause extra splash damage, is drama.

A tank insisting that it's okay to AFK during phase 2 of Illidan, is drama. Especially when he's not the MT.

While the above is not an exhaustive list of what defines tank drama (and I'm sure you can come up with more), it is a least a good start that allows us to look into the dark inner depths of a tank's soul. But now we need to look at why the tanks get to be the center of attention (most of the time) in all this drama. And I think the reason is really quite simple.

Everything that happens in the raid eventually makes it back to the tank. And I do mean everything. If that shadow priest dies because she didn't hit 10,000 health (and we all know those that think 9,988 health is 'just as good' as 10,000), then the Paladin doesn't get enough mana, and by the end of the fight the paladin has gone afk for a few minutes while he regens his mana. The tank now has a reason to cry and cause drama.

I never see other classes cry as much as tanks. If a rogue dies the mages will just laugh at the rogue and make fun of him that he's not ranged. And like wise, if a mage dies the rogue will just laugh at the fact that the mage didn't get Ice Block off fast enough. But the tanks? The tanks will cry that it will take a few more seconds to down the boss now that the rogue or mage is dead.

Just another example in the long line of reasons why I believe tanks are the most drama prone.

It should be noted that I'm a prot warrior, lead my class, and have "complained" heavily over everything listed here. It might be said that I'm the most drama prone, but that's a little too self-defacing for me. Besides, all tanks have to have a good sense of humor about themselves.

Tags: archimonde, cry, drama, funny, humor, illidan, meat, meat-shield, omgwtf, qq, sarcasm, shield, tank, tanking

Filed under: Druid, Paladin, Warrior, Analysis / Opinion, Humor, Raiding, Death Knight