QoL change with tank stance.

[Vahlnir]

And it's because of "issues" that both tanks should have their stance on.

First time into SoS on one of my alts (it had been out for over 2 months at that point) and I ended up MT even though I had asked the other tank to take MT since I had never tanked it on my other characters. He never replied, didn't turn his stance on. After waiting more than enough time for him to respond, I went ahead and pulled the boss.

At about 25%, I got a 90002 error and DC'd. Took me a minute to get logged in and back to the instance. The other tank had finally turned his stance on while I was DC'd but evidently hadn't thought to Provoke so he still wasn't at the top of the enmity table. DPS had been dying one by one and the boss had just turned to one of the healers. As soon as I was loaded and realized he was not in control of the boss, I Provoked and the healers were able to get the rest of the party back up. (Welcome to why I hate only being able to comm one player per instance - both those healers deserved it.)

If he had had his stance on from the start, it wouldn't have made a difference how bad a tank he was. The boss still would have stuck to him like glue the moment I DC'd instead of going after the DPS.

It is not hard to manage enmity when you need to. We can toggle stance off for a few GCDs to let the other tank get a comfy lead. We do have Shirk. If the other tank is still having trouble staying on top of the enmity table, they probably shouldn't be MT.

Obviously, enmity is more difficult to handle in an Alliance raid but there's still no reason to leave stance always off as OT. If it's always off, then you might as well just come as a DPS.

One tank should have it on, the other should have it off. This is the way.

However, the right way to go about it is something you brought up, and that is for the OT to keep it off while the MT establishes plenty of aggro. Then, every so often, the OT should turn it on periodically to generate some themselves, and then turn it back off again, just in case something happens. Doing it like this is a win for everyone should things start to go downhill quickly. And it avoids any unnecessary confusion/tension at the start. Personally, I'm confident enough to be able to hold my own, but I like doing things the optimal way without conflict.

Perhaps some communication would help at times, but not always. It is, at least in my experience, a silent acknowledgement of who is the MT and OT when one tank turns their stance on and the other either turns theirs off or avoids turning it on at all. When that doesn't occur, there is a bit of a standoff. If my co tank enters the instance, immediately does a ready check and/or countdown, it is also a safe assumption that they plan to take the lead. I have no issue standing down. But I also like knowing what my co tank has planned and, sadly, it is a common enough occurrence that I enter any instance requiring 2 tanks warily.