Lets Talk Tanking

I ran an instance last night...get this...as DPS...*gasp*. That's right, I put aside my tanking boots and ran a lower instance (UK to be exact) on my DPS shaman. Now, it's been a long long time since I put on my dps but honestly, I had a great time.

Now, no this doesn't mean that I'm giving up tanking but the point of this blog actually isn't about my DPS or tanking.

You see, the new LFG system paired Eto and I with a new level 72 warrior. How do I know he was new you ask? Because his tank weapon was a level 70 WHITE trash sword. His gear, also is not the topic of my post. It's more his attitude.

For once, I saw a newbie tank, with a great attitude trying to tank. At the end of the instance, he willingly admitted it was his first time tanking. Though I wasn't' surprised, simply because of the gear he was in (mostly level 70 BOE greens). Though he was knowledgeable and patient. If it had not been for the druid healer and myself back up healing when he went OOM, I'm sure this instance wouldn't have gone as smoothly.

Now, why am I bragging on this guy? Simple, he had the guts to actually play a tank. I'm sure people are gawking at me now. But it's true. The number of players willing to tank these days is pretty low. That shows with the 30 - 45 minute queue times for DPS trying to get into random dungeons. I think Eto and I waited about 30 minutes before getting this group last night and about 30 on Sunday when we got into Nexus.

Why do people not want to tank? That's also a simple, long list, of answers.

Let me see if I can break this down for those who haven't tried tanking themselves. As I do, I'm sure a lot of people will get a reality check and find themselves thinking.."oh, yeah I do this" or "Oh, I saw this happen the other day".

1. DPS and Healers have very little patience when it comes to a new tank.
2. They won't tolerate well a tank that mismarks/does not mark targets.
3. They are looking for speed runs. Constantly hearing, "go go go" even annoys the seasoned tanks. Seriously, shut up!, we'll go when our abilities are off cool down and when that person in the back that is responsible for keeping our butts alive has enough mana to do so!
4. Will bitch about a tank with low health (less than 30K). You know this is just H-UK right, now trying to tank Ulduar.
5. People don't understand that tanks don't magically get gear dropped in their laps as soon as they hit 80. They have to gear up and unless they do that as dps and off roll on tank gear, they have to run with lower stats for awhile.
6. Aggro isn't instant. DPS that start their rotation with an AoE attack 1.5 seconds after the pull will cause aggro issues and then what happens? They will blame the new tank. It isn't the tanks fault that they have to BUILD up aggro.

So, what can you do to help out those up and coming tanks, prevent them from saying "screw this" and going dps instead? Here are a few ideas.

1. BE PATIENT!! This goes a long way. Remember they are learning, you were there at one time.
2. Don't push your luck with them. Give them some space and allow them time. This means don't' pull for them, don't push them to speed up and don't keep screaming "go go go". If you don't have time for this then run with your guildies, friends or people you know. You shouldn't be queuing up for a random dungeon expecting to be done in 15 minutes.
3. Offer helpful advice, in a kind indirect way. No one wants to be told they are doing something wrong. But if you offer advice indirectly, people are going to see you as helpful more then bossy. IE - Should we kill that drake first, I remember he hits pretty hard and does AoE damage. This sounds a lot better then "Hey, kill that drake first, don't' you know that?"
4. Watch your aggro. Don't start your rotation with an AoE attack 1.5 seconds after they pull. If they aren't marking targets, kindly ask them to or tab between targets whenever you get close to the aggro level of the tank.
5. If you pull aggro, for Elune's sake DON'T RUN AWAY! Use your aggro dump abilities and if you don't have any, stop attacking and stand still or at least move towards the tank. If you keep attacking, even if they taunt you run the risk of bypassing aggro level of the taunt.
6. Learn to assist! It's a simple macro, all dps can use to help them attack only the mob that the tank is targeting.

Set focus to the tank when you enter the instance then create this macro:
#showtooltip Attack
/target [target=focustarget, harm, nodead]
/startattack

Casters change the macro to:
/target [target=focustarget, harm, nodead]

It's that simple. You can easily help the tank and not look like the jerk.

Now, tanks...there is a couple things you can do as well.

1. Be honest. Let people know you're still learning or let them know if you don't know the instance. Hopefully, there will be someone in the group willing to help you with marking targets and boss advice. If not, at least you warned them and they know from the beginning.
2. If someone pulls aggro, taunt off them once. If they continue to pull aggro without care to what you're doing, LET THEM DIE. They will learn their lesson the hard way.
3. Wait for your healers and casters to get mana. No matter how much you have that jerk screaming "go go go", take your time, you're the tank.
4. Let people know your kill order from the beginning. That way they know to kill in the order you target and have less of a chance to pull aggro.
5. Ask them not to pull the mobs for you and warn them if they continue to do it you won't taunt off of them. If they throw a fit, scream or yell, you have the right to vote kick or leave the group. You are the tank and the time it takes you to get into another random instance is a lot less then the time it will take the group to find another tank.
6. Don't play God. Just because you're the tank doesn't give you the right to be a jerk either.

Hopefully, people will take some of this to heart. Tanking is not easy, it's got a high burn out rate and a lot of people just don't like to do it. Help those new tanks when you can, you may need them tomorrow!

Happy hunting and /hug to all the other tanks out there.