Strength Tanks

[Syzygian]

From where I stand, it seems like some people want to take less damage and just focus on holding hate. Others want to be able to do more damage as a tank to shorten encounters.

Both sides are offended at each other... Why can't we have both?

A tank that just sits there, holding hate and taking little to no damage and hitting like a wet noodle is boring.
A tank that takes too much damage, dies all the time focusing purely on doing damage is a bad thing.

Where is the middle ground?

There is no middle ground anymore. Somewhere down the line, a mentality emerged that tank DPS is based strictly on gear, and that if a tank is wearing full or mostly VIT gear, then it follows that they also do not know their proper DPS rotation, etc.

Although I've NEVER encountered it except in other tanks, the reverse is that if a tank is wearing full or mostly STR, then it follows that they do not know how to use defense cooldowns.

The first scenario is far more prolific. I tell people all the time but the idea refuses to catch on: A tank that chooses to wear VIT can still know how to hit their DPS ceiling in the scope of that gear, through good cooldown use and the proper DPS rotation. I.E. a VIT tank can still be a skilled player.