Something is severely wrong with tank design at the moment, and has been since 2.0. This is specifically going to touch on an issue with progression raiding, not dungeons or casual raiding. There are many problems that I can think of, but I'm specifically talking about a certain one that affects a lot of us (that I feel, shouldn't): VIT accessories.

Now, generally, anyone that's wearing STR accessories or crafted in raiding content you assume knows what they're doing. They at least know that they need to contribute damage - they need to put out more than they should be because they're in a progression group. Even if they're a bad and fall flat on their face, they have the right mindset just not the right execution.

What really irks me is when I'm recruiting for my group and we get nothing but VIT tanks. You're probably thinking "Oh, you're irked that people would sign up for a progression group and wear VIT accessories, not contributing to the group dynamic you just described". No. My problem is that those tanks are immediately viewed as bads to me, and I'm sure many make this assumption as well. Even if I don't hold that thought for long (if they show that they're good at their job then I just tell them they'll need to make the switch to crafted/3 STR + 2 VIT) I still have that thought initially, and it's extremely stupid that it should even be entering my mind.

I should not be seeing people who thought "Oh, I'm a tank, all the accessories I've gotten from dungeons until this point have been VIT accessories, therefore I should get those with my tomestones and Alex NM runs" and immediately assuming them to be bad tanks. The reason that I do is because the meta is so focused on DPS that any job, regardless of role, who isn't pulling their weight in the damage department is viewed as a detriment to the team.

I don't even have a problem with maximizing your DPS as a tank - that's perfectly fine, even stance dancing is fine with me. But the fact that seeing a VIT tank, even a Parry focused tank, makes me have this ridiculous mindset forced on me by the design of the game is just... insane. All these pre-conceived notions that would be stupid in any other game.

I know this has been said many times, but it's been really wearing on me. I love maximizing my damage, but I don't like that every tank is being forced to stack their accessories that way. It's not leaps and bounds difficult to grasp or anything, but it's just so counter intuitive to go pick up the accessories that you couldn't even Need on in a dungeon. No other job has this problem, even healers (who also DPS) will use MND accessories, not INT or something equally silly.

It's admittedly not the biggest problem in the world, but it's just mind blowing that I have to sit down with the recruits and tell them they need to get different accessories. I don't really know what to make of it and it never really entered my mind before when DPS checks weren't so tight. I apologize if this has just been incoherent babbling, just wanted to get all that off my chest as it's been really frustrating me lately.