What do you guys think is the cause of severe lack of Tank users?

[LalafellDown]

On the rare occasion that a tank is new and doesn't realise they're supposed to be leading, the rest of the party will usually wait and try to nudge them along.

Therefore, there is more pressure and responsibility on the tank to lead the party, and it is easier to learn a dungeon as DPS.

This is true because when I heal and see the tank doing slow pulls I usually pull a bit more for them. They don’t need to worry because I’ll keep them alive. I wouldn’t of pulled extra if I couldn’t handle the healing. New tanks if you see your healer do this, trust them. Don’t get bitter and stop playing. You might learn something.

It also helps break that comfort zone when you see what is possible to achieve when healer and tank are in sync. Just remember that in most instances the healer could probably tank the whole dungeon themselves. So don’t worry.

[SamRF]

This is true because when I heal and see the tank doing slow pulls I usually pull a bit more for them. They don’t need to worry because I’ll keep them alive. I wouldn’t of pulled extra if I couldn’t handle the healing. New tanks if you see your healer do this, trust them. Don’t get bitter and stop playing. You might learn something.

It also helps break that comfort zone when you see what is possible to achieve when healer and tank are in sync. Just remember that in most instances the healer could probably tank the whole dungeon themselves. So don’t worry.

I've had several tanks get mad when I did this and l've made a post about it before on these forums, in which by far most seem convinced you should never do this as healer because it seems to violate some arbitrary etiquette.

[Nedkel]

5.0 Patch that made tanks a worthless meatshields with zero damage or gameplay depth whatsoever. Tanks right now are there just to hold the boss, they feel useless and boring, there is nothing exciting to play them it feels like door holding boys so others (dps) could have fun. You could play one hand and spam one aoe, nobody gives a crap about what you do on your tank, your contribution to dps is so sheet that it doesnt matter and i bet next patch paladin is going to be bis tank due to the clemency, people instead of dpsing will be expected to heal themselves and let healers dps, mark my word.
I started lvling all 3 healers and dont even care to cap tomestones anymore, thats how bad it is right now.

[Valic]

Tanks have little too little to do and little difference between each other. This I feel was implemented to GIVE tanks some mechanics to do.... but it feels unnecessary because it was already an easy job to begin with.

[Rasikko]

Truthfully, I kind of miss fighting DPS for aggro. Watching those folks creep up in enmity and thus provoking little creative ways to stay ahead.

[Ultimatecalibur]

Sprouts probably don't have the foreknowledge that people on this forum do.

Even if things were perfectly divided, you would have 25% Tank, 12.5% healer, and 57.5% DPS because that's what's available to start, and it doesn't shift that much.

But by even level 50 the ratio starts to normalize around a 2 Tanks:2.5 Healers:5 DpS ratio.

The only places you see tanks not being the one of the most in demand roles is Alliance Raids (which have a 1:2:5 ratio) and Savage+ Raiding which puts a lot more responsibility on Healers.

A new player is going to be drawn more by aesthetics than anything else, and that doesn't favor tanks either.

You want to play a caster, that excludes tanks.

You want to play some sort of gun/bow class, that excludes tanks.

You want to play fist fighter, that excludes tanks, etc etc.

There are less archetypes / fantasies represented by tanks than by the other jobs.

Even in those MMOs that do allow tanking with those archetypes the Tank:Healer:Support: DpS ratio still ends up being something like 2:2.2:2.2:5.

[Kabooa]

Even in those MMOs that do allow tanking with those archetypes the Tank:Healer:Support: DpS ratio still ends up being something like 2:2.2:2.2:5.

I mean.

We're not shown any numbers here so, you know.

Just standard tank forum stuff.

[Lyth]

You're right. These numbers are completely fabricated. Surely there are more than enough tanks, and Square Enix has nothing to worry about. Let's cater more to dps, because that's where the sub money is. They will fund us with their pretty cash shop glamours.

[Shurrikhan]

You want to play a caster, that excludes tanks.

You want to play some sort of gun/bow class, that excludes tanks.

You want to play fist fighter, that excludes tanks, etc etc.

There are less archetypes / fantasies represented by tanks than by the other jobs.

The sad thing is that for each of those aesthetics / archetypes / fantasies, I can think of an MMO that allows for them as a tank. Kung Fu Master, Kineticist, Sapper, what have you -- in a more diverse vision class design as a whole, there's just so much more that can be done with the tank line-up.

I don't think that's the lead reason are tanks are few here, but damn... a little diversity beyond sword, big axe, big sword, and gunny-sword might be nice.

[Kabooa]

You're right. These numbers are completely fabricated. Surely there are more than enough tanks, and Square Enix has nothing to worry about. Let's cater more to dps, because that's where the sub money is. They will fund us with their pretty cash shop glamours.

In perfect distribution, you'd have less tanks than DPS, and only slightly more than healers.

So the answer to "Why are there not as many tanks" is muddled, especially because no source for the numbers are provided.

But hey, continue to make it an 'us vs them' argument. Whatever does it for you.

The sad thing is that for each of those aesthetics / archetypes / fantasies, I can think of an MMO that allows for them as a tank. Kung Fu Master, Kineticist, Sapper, what have you -- in a more diverse vision class design as a whole, there's just so much more that can be done with the tank line-up.

I don't think that's the lead reason are tanks are few here, but damn... a little diversity beyond sword, big axe, big sword, and gunny-sword might be nice.

Sounds like it's time for a #ParadigmShift