Why do Tanks get a bad Rep?

[Seig345]

I use an alt I've had since 1.0 for the non-mage jobs, and I decided that since my main went through the 2.0 MSQ first, my alt deserved the spotlight for HW, which lead to her being an Au Ra Dark Knight ;p I used to have huge anxiety over being a tank at all, too many negative experiences, but I've managed to do well enough consistently enough as a Drk that the anxiety is gone, and the jerks don't even get a second thought.

That being said, ever since HW and my shift to being a Tank 99% of the time, I've noticed on more than a handful of occasions where some of the responses I get from randoms in the DF equate me to a respite from some of the other bossier or more hapless tanks out there. That being said, having played as long as I have, I've seen examples of poor players in every role and every class/job. I think it just seems worse with tanks because they're sort of the defacto leader of the group's pace and, usually, don't suffer as much with the DF queues so there's a bit of a disconnect between full time tanks and full time DPS. (More likely to get an impatient DPS that'll blow up if the tank doesn't suit their needs because they've spent so long in the queue and don't want to add a slow dungeon run on top of that, where-as Tanks are in a position to be more likely to be laid back/slow or arrogant/bossy because they get in as soon as they queue up, and rage-quitting over "plebs" isn't as much of a detriment to their time).

[fireslash]

As a tank ,some SOME dps (veterans) dont know the different mechanic of different tanks , they tend to hit mobs which are not aggroed by the tank ,they early pull mobs before tank thus making it difficult for tank to reaggro i witnessed peopel with ilv130+ gears doing such acts so i dont count them as newbies , of course good tanks will tolerate and resolve the issue before anyone dies with no hate or quarrel involved. in 8 man party when i was a younglin in tanking i get scolded by the MT :3 . in the end of the day all will thank each other as the instance ends no matter what happened . the main point as far as there are worse tanks , there are much worse dps in terms of mentality , incompetence does not lie on tanks only .. this in terms of technicality or on how to deal with new guys or mechanics-poorly informed players .

and no matter how bad a tank u are or a dps or a healer i ll be forgiving and have endless tolerance

we should give em courses

[nuyu11]

Mostly in Masamune not much talk, So I cant hate Tank here like I do in EU/NA data center. Mechanic at dungeon is easy after few run you can understand by yourself. I never have any experience getting wipe more than 2 times in dungeon, so I'm not sure why people so stress about dungeons.

In 8-24 content just vote abandon after few wipe that's all...
I don't mind DPS queue time, I got lots other stuff that I can do. I start to enjoy other content like crafting, beast tribe quest wile waiting for my queue.

[Yutsimaki]

A background on my Tanking method.....
I pull 6-12 Mobs when we start to test healer and DPS. If we all die I take things slow, and steady. But if we lived I'll pull group of mobs depending on healers limits.
I make sure ALL the mobs are distant from healer and facing away from everyone. I immediately pull any mob that attacks DPS or Heals and Cover them incase mob ignores me. Get loads of commendations and request to help alot!

I don't like ordering people or giving advice unless they need help.

[Eidolon]

A background on my Tanking method.....
I pull 6-12 Mobs when we start to test healer and DPS. If we all die I take things slow, and steady. But if we lived I'll pull group of mobs depending on healers limits.

IMO, rather than "Testing" DPS, you should only perform this test if the composition is appropriate for the party.

If I have a DRG+BRD, or a MNK+BRD, or a MCH+DRG, etc etc... basically non-mage classes / weaker AoE classes on limited resources, I'm not going to pull crazy. I'm going to keep my pulls small. This allows the healer to add more DPS to the fights and allows me, myself, to jump into DPS stance more consistently.

All doing big pulls with single-target based classes does is exhaust your healer's MP keeping you up for the duration of it. a SMN/BLM in the mix can help out on these AoE pulls, and that is where I might test it, but without those classes? I likely will keep it smaller to encourage faster kill rates instead of bigger mob pulls.

[Kolaina]

snip

all of this. as bard when my dps partner is a melee, my tp gets exhausted with consistent large pulls. paeon or not, especially as battle voice has no effect on the caster.
as healer when the party composition has no caster, the longer the fight drags on, you (the tank) start to run out of defensive cool downs assuming you popped more than 1 (please pop more if you still have a large pack). this results in heavier sustained heals, my own healer buffs probably down and now my resources are nearly diminished.
just because you have the hp pool to take a few hits from half the floor, doesnt mean its efficient.

[SuddenStorm8]

I unfortunately see tanks like this more often than I would like, not saying that other rolls aren't capable of this too (as a PLD I once had a healer trying to get me to multi-pull Satasha NM with a PUG and LNR as DPS who have literally no AOE at that lvl)

The most stand out experience I've had with this was a WAR who decided to pull 4 groups of mobs in Amdapor Keep with me (A BRD at the time) and a newbie ilvl50ish DRG. As BRD does when using AOE I burnt through all my TP very quickly even with invigorate so I activated Armys Paeon to restore my TP (and the TP of the DRG who had been spamming AOE attacks too) only to be called a "retard" by the tank and told he could "Manage his own TP", then when I told him it was for myself he told me to "get invigorate" after which I decided to ignore him completely. Later in the dungeon he apologized for his bad mood but the damage had been done already and I didn't care what ha had to say anymore.

Some very good points form Eidolon-Sama you should go back and read if you haven't already.

^ This yes please, don't pull big groups if you have 2 MNKs or something as your DPS, I mean really just think about what the composition of your group can handle.

[Malevicton]

All doing big pulls with single-target based classes does is exhaust your healer's MP keeping you up for the duration of it. a SMN/BLM in the mix can help out on these AoE pulls, and that is where I might test it, but without those classes? I likely will keep it smaller to encourage faster kill rates instead of bigger mob pulls.

Meh. Whm/sch can both put out more dps in AoE situations. So regardless of your dps comp, your healers will always be able to dish out a bit more with larger pulls - assuming they're good enough stance dancers to keep you up. MP is really a non-issue in dungeons.

I don't think you're necessarily right or wrong, but it depends on the healers. A boss-mode healer can make large pulls worth it even with mnk/mnk comp, but if they aren't then it doesn't matter.

Edit tldr; do what's best for your group. Just wanted to point out that there aren't really situations where small pulls are more efficient if we're assuming people are playing optimally.

[Keldeo]

I believe there is a place for correction and guidance especially if someone is doing something clearly wrong. On that note, there is also a way to say it extremely friendly and in a positive way. Some people who aren't as "emotional or WOO" will definitely say it in a way that could put you off. It's all in your approach. If someone knows you care then they should take that to heart. Admit your mistakes first before coaching though IMO.

[Laerune]

They get bad rep for two things, imo:

1* New tanks who fail at their job, which makes players think that alot of tanks are bad players who are tanking to avoid a long queue.
2* Tanks who think all should obey them, they will force the players to do what they want or else they will leave the group. This one is the most common one, imo.

The first point can be fixed, by letting those tanks make mistakes. Mistakes might be bad for the other members, but for the tanks and everyone in general, mistakes give us the tools to improve ourselves. If you see a tank failing, ask him if he wants some advice and provide it in a respectfull manner. Often I have seen tanks getting advice from other players in a condscending manner, which inturn demeans the tanks and makes them not listen to any advices, including those from players who mean well.

The second point can be fixed very easly aswell. The only reason why these type of tanks can get away with their douchebaggery, is because they know that players are in a rush and dont want to wait for 5-10 minutes for a new tank. If we want to get rid of these behavior then we need to agree that when this happens, we should all stand toghter and kick the tank. Finishing a dungeon takes a team effort, the tank keeps the monsters away, the dps kill them and the healer keeps the players alive. Players who do not understand this, have no place in a mmorpg, imo.