Why does everyone blame the tank?

[Leigaon]

And that is why there are not enough Tanks (and Healers). If a new player picks up a Tank class he will be flamed by the self proclaimed elite and usally switch to dps (or stop playing).

Exactly, a new DPS doesn't get much hate thrown their way for being new..but a new tank? Yes they're suppose to be the leaders but if they're new, they're starting on the same learning curve the others did when they first started. It's a messed up situation right now, you got people who have no time to let a tank learn the run or apply new mechanics to their job. At the same time I've gotten tanks who refuse to take advice or play in a way that harms the party.

Some don't use flash and stay on a single mob causing hate to go everywhere, others don't know how to use combo's correctly and they're trying to tank cutters cry..and even others don't keep their gear up to date or even slotted at all thinking doing a level 40+ run in no accessories and lv25 gear / weapon is acceptable. they get very defensive (pun?) when someone tries to correct them.

In their defense..when people are "correcting" them, over half the time they aren't doing it in the nicest way.

[Divine_Intervention]

I'm a WHM, but i've had a paladin back at release. If i'm running a low level dungeon, I'll be patient with a new tank, and usually point out (nicely!) how he/she could improve their role skill. By the time I hit HM dungeons, i expected my tanks to know what they are doing. Although, if they tell me they are new to that specific instance, same thing as above applies. Tanks are human too.

[Iceose]

Think I've got a new one for every tank out there. Was running a low level group and I would always mark which mob I wanted the group to focus on, but I had a dps that just wouldn't hit the one marked with a big '1' above it's head. I finally said, 'Remember to hit the marked mob, please.' Not being rude or demanding, I just wanted to have threat control of the trash packs.
Of all people, the healer responds by saying, 'God forbid more than one person should take damage.' I don't say anything and continue to go through the rest of the run. We don't wipe, but there were multiple times where the dps who kept ignoring marked mobs would pull one off of me and I decided, fine, you yank it, you tank it. Of course the mob would lose interest in the dps then go for the healer soon after.
Here's the thing though. If a healer doesn't care about threat control in this game, and actually defends bad behavior from dps that makes the tanks job harder, what are we to do?

[Eye_Gore]

I say allow a 4 person GLA/PLD tank party. Once we reach Paladin we can cast cure, protect, even raise. So we can DPS, HEAL, and TANK all at the same time, why would we need anyone else? Then there is no more blame.

[Deremna]

.. If a new player picks up a Tank class he will be flamed by the self proclaimed elite and usally switch to dps (or stop playing).

^This^

Started my first real MMO experience as a Lalafell Marauder.. got flamed for being "the worst tank ever" right at the end of Tam Tara, though there was no mention of my suck at any time during the run.. or there were a couple times when I would announce my newness and people would just "no" and then bow out of the dungeon.. Bothered me so badly that I started as an Arcanist when I decided to try the whole MMO thing again with a new character on a new server. The second time I do Tam Tara, the tank announced she was new and our healer bounced on us so I did my best healing her and my husband until a new healer popped in.

That being said, because of the bad experiences as a tank I had, I give most of the commendation points to the tanks in my DF parties. I still miss hitting things with a big axe, though. XD

[Noxifer]

I say allow a 4 person GLA/PLD tank party. Once we reach Paladin we can cast cure, protect, even raise. So we can DPS, HEAL, and TANK all at the same time, why would we need anyone else? Then there is no more blame.

You can do those things as a Gladiator as well, as soon as you level up your Conjurer far enough to have those skills (plus Stoneskin at CNJ 34). The problem? Paladin healing is about as effective as paladin DPS. Meaning not much at all =/ I think last time I checked on my lvl50 PLD alt, I healed for... 70hp-ish? I'm fairly sure it was in double digits, at least. When enemies can hit you for a few hundred or more in a single blow, that's not really helping.

Also, you're perfectly free to enter a dungeon as 4 tanks -- role restrictions are not applied to pre-formed groups =)

I've run into a few jerks in dungeons. I keep telling myself that the next time I do so, I'll slap the jerk with the "Ignore 1" mark sign. Sadly, I keep forgetting to do so when I run into them XD
Haven't had the misfortune to meet one lately, though. Of course, I've mainly done dungeons with at least 75% friends the past few weeks, so that could have something to do with it. Or I've just been really lucky

[Yuki_Tokita]

I feel for you. When tanking, I get unjustly blamed all the time for mistakes that where not my fault. The tank will always take the blame first because he is the most visible party member in a group at all times. You’re expected to lead your group and if something happens the blame will always be placed on the leader.

You should have thicker skin if you’re really considering tanking; it’s just part of the job.

[Eye_Gore]

Is there no voice chat in game, or am I just doing something wrong? I can't stand the chat box thing. Last dungeon I did, (still practicing) after it was over one of the people gave props to everyone except me. Was like now what did I do wrong? We made it through and I thought I did a decent job. I went back thought the chat window and saw a message to me that I forgot to go to one room where there was treasure.

I can't really watch that window while trying to manage the aggro bars, everything happens so fast, I don't even see the messages that come up in there. So is there no voice chat?

[Noxifer]

Nope, no voice chat in the game. Not sure if they'll ever implement something like that, either. Try finding an FC with Teamspeak (TS/TS3) if you're on PC. =)

[Ashkendor]

There should be no need for a tank to mark an order. You pull the mobs and keep hate on all of them. I do most of my roulettes on tank jobs for faster queue times. I did about 90% of the mytho grind for my animus bow tanking. It's not rocket science and there are guides out there. If a tank is losing hate because someone touched a mob he wasn't actively combo-ing on he's doing something wrong. A kill order is entirely unnecessary. It's simply a crutch for a bad tank when they use the excuse "they killed in the wrong order." Sometimes it really is the tanks fault. Sometimes it's the healer's fault. Sometimes it's the DPS fault if they can't adjust their tactics to the group. Instead of pointing fingers and blaming people, maybe everyone needs to take a step back and evaluate if there was nothing they couldn't have done better.

Sure, experienced and well-geared tanks can simply pull the mobs and still keep hate on all of them while the DPS does whatever with them. Less geared or inexperienced tanks, however, generally can't and people should work with them. "Bad" is an extremely poor choice of words here. Are there bad tanks? Yes. Calling a tank bad because they are still in the process of learning or gearing is pretty asinine, though.

The point is to clear the content, so everyone should do everything they can to help toward that goal.