Quote Originally Posted by CGMidlander View Post
Your rules 1-3 are inflexible and don't really take into account the current state of the game.
With a competent party, there is no content in the game ATM that can't be tanked in full slaying accessories.
FCoB doesn't need it (with echo being so strong) and savage coil doesn't need it either. (With how strong i130/135 left side pieces are and the stronger heals/shielding these days.)
My point is that doing those things means that you aren't a Tank. Sure, you're getting hit by the monster and you're holding aggro and such... but you aren't a Tank. Does that means that you're going to fail? Not if your party is competent and filled with people you trust to have your back, as you've stated. This isn't a "you're playing the game wrong!" treatise; it's just a matter of attitude and mindset. Are you a Tank, or are you a durable DPS? Which one is best for your party right now? One should always be the one that's best for their party. If the situation says it doesn't matter, that's when personal preference makes the decision. For example, I prefer to be in between the two extremes. By wearing pentamelds and putting my bonus points in Strength, I have 1.5k more health than the extreme durable DPS(ie. full Slaying accessories) while having a DPS ceiling only 12-15 points lower than them.

My biggest problem here is the predilection of the community to tell a new Tank something along the lines of this: "So you want to be a Tank? Step 1: Stop thinking like a Tank." It's just poor advice to give to someone who is barely grasping the breadth of their job and raises the bar higher for a role that not many people want to play in the first place.

Of those points, I would say that breaking 4 is the big cardinal sin. You're not alone; you're in a party of people who are expected to work together to achieve a goal. If a Tank cannot listen to, work with, and adapt to their party, then they're just letting that party down. This is one of the biggest failures anybody can make, and it isn't limited to Tanks.