New tank perspective, my apologies to established TNKs I've met B4

[Galgarion]

snip

Let's kill a reactionary stereotype and help you improve your game.


1. Duty Finder DPS generally aren't bad players. There's a hysterical stereotype amongst tanks that most players you meet though DF are complete crap who need their hands held like children. For the most part, this isn't true. Are there bad players in DF? Of course there are. There are bad players everywhere. So why do tanks mistakenly conclude that most dps players in DF are garbage?

Answer: Because as a tank, you experience content much more often than they do. On average, you've run a dungeon three times by the time they get to do it once. You know all the tricks, you know the easiest ways to manage a boss, you know how to avoid gimmicks like the stupid eye thing in Dzemael Darkhold. And like a lot of people, once you've gained experience at something, you don't like sharing knowledge. Do you ask before you start pulling if anyone needs instructions? Do you read the dungeon message to see if anyone there is new to the place? Do you view info on your teammates to see if they have any level 50 jobs (which means they're experienced.) I do all that stuff. I've never failed to complete a run either. (Not counting one rage quit when a healer kept trolling me.)

To conclude, being new isn't the same as being bad.

2. Do you mark? More importantly, do you mark quickly? People who don't like marking have strong opinions on why marking is pointless. Good for them, yay! Mark targets anyway. It's just helpful for pugging. Marked targets die faster, the tank takes less damage and saves cooldowns, the healer spends less time healing and can participate in dps, it's just common sense. Marking works. But people who disdain it do it for the simple fact that it takes too long. No one wants to stand around for ten seconds waiting for you to tab and click, it's boring. So use this macro:

/mk Triangle
/focustarget
/ac "Target Forward"
/mk attack2 <t>
/ac "Target Forward"
/mk attack3 <t>
/target <f>
/mk attack1 <f>

Bind it to your F1 key. Now you can mark 1-2-3 targets in less than a second while on the move. Now the pulls are quicker, the fights are faster, and every other run someone will ask how you're marking so quickly. You're welcome. "But wait," you say. "What if I mark and they STILL hit the wrong target???!!" In that case, just switch targets and hit the same thing as them, it's a frickin' VIDEO GAME, c'mon bro. As long as it gets dead and you keep aggro, then who cares? I've been tanking in MMO's for ten years. You really just gotta learn to go with the flow. (But keep marking. It's like Pavlov's dogs, they'll eventually get it.)

3. Make a macro explaining Your weakness. I have a macro I use to give a short message to my pugs if I'm in a dungeon where I can't use shield oath. "Hello, nice to meet you! No Tank stance in this dungeon, so be careful with your AOE threat!" Boom. I've said hello, and I've also asked them to help me out. This is a team based game you can't do it all alone. If someone pulled off me, they'll know it's because they weren't paying attention, so I'm in the clear. Drama averted.

so, TLDR: Most randoms aren't bad, use a marking macro, and use an introductory macro to help explain why people need to watch their threat for dungeons where you can't use a tank stance. Grats, now you've just eliminated 90% of the stuff that makes a bad run. Go forth and conquer.