Are tanks a scapegoat for performance issues?

[Jim_Berry]

Although this is a cooperative game, the average player treats combat as if it's single player. Instead of learning and understanding the fights as a whole, they learn it only as it relates to their specific job. If you ask someone what a particular mechanic does, they probably won't know it unless it directly relates to them. For that matter, players often don't know what their own abilities are for if they don't directly benefit their own gameplay (What's Shadewalker?) Most interpersonal conflicts between players during raiding happen when the fight didn't play out exactly the way that they expected it to in their head, forcing them to adapt and respond on the fly.

*SNIP*

Not to mention being told to have some knowledge by watching a video. I joined an A11S learning party a while back and watch a video about 3 times before the group filled. We go in, and the video I watched did not matched the way the group wanted to run mechanics.

People also need to discuss "new" strats BEFORE entering, because in most PUGs, players know the "known" way to handle the fight.