"I imagine theres about 4 times as many DPS in your guild in the same boat, sure you may have to pug the odd healer, help the other folk on the sidelines gear up maybe. But in the long run its just way more satisfying having a solid 10 man group get to end game- it just means more."

We don't know that there are 4 times as many DPS in his shoes *in that guild*. The original letter doesn't say that, only that 35-40 people show up every night. Are the DPS getting rotated in? What about the healers? If it's only the 5th tank (in his case) getting benched night after night, well... Something's wrong, and it isn't with Frustrated. Two months of this kind of thing suggests that they're content to let him sit. As for the advice that the RLs might not have confidence in his ability, well then, why did they take him in? If they're just trying to have a warm body to throw into the mix in case they run short of tanks, at least they should have the decency to tell him that. "Be patient" for 4+ weeks, 3 nights a week? That's going to get seriously old, very fast.

Your suggestion to have him essentially form up a solid 10-man within the guild structure is a good one. There are some top-caliber raiders who are burning out on 25-mans, but still want to raid. And it's been said by some that the 10-mans have less room for error, that everybody has to be on target to drop the content. (And I think that's true.) Some of those folks will prefer the challenge of the 10-mans over the 25's. Frustrated should see if he can find those folks.

Finally, there's a good possibility that a dedicated 10-man can progress further, faster into a raid instance than a 25, simple because of the encounter-tuning. 10-mans tend to be less demanding of total DPS-output, for example, so some high-output folks might able to knife through a boss that rocks the 25-man group back a few times. Being a part of that kind of 10-man could result in being a kind of "vanguard" group that reports on weird mechanics, or strategies that work well (or vice-versa). All good reasons to see if spooling up a 10-man group can be done.

Good luck, Frustrated!