A Thread By A Tank For Future/Current Tanks.

[Eliniell]

As a tank, the thing I struggle with the most and get the most annoyed at is punchy dps boss or trash pulls. Us tanks, like everyone else have a Global Cooldown. Unlike games such as Wow, we do not have a direct Taunt. You could call provoke a taunt (which I have as Warrior with Gladiator leveled to 22), but it's not exactly a taunt. All provoke does is move us +1 point of enimity past the top of the list. That means if you have a dot on the boss and you have hate on the boss and we provoke it to get it off you it will go right back to you because your dot will instantly pass that 1 pt of enimity. That's a problem for us if we used provoke because now we have to wait 2.5 seconds to hit something else.

I generally tend to do one of two things if a DPS pulls agro. If I'm at a point in my threat rotation that I can quickly taunt - enmity ability, I'll just do that. If not, I'll taunt - ranged enmity and then move to the mob to begin an enmity rotation to grab it back. Taunt is off the GCD, so you can immediately throw in something that will solidify your threat lead if you're quick. That doesn't mean DPS should still be going balls deep if they pull aggro though, at some point they need to realize that they should just stop pressing buttons. I've intentionally let plenty of DPS die because they decided to just start spamming the wrong mob, or decided to pull themselves or some such. Sure, it's my job to hold aggro, but it's your job as a DPS to make sure you aren't pulling hate by not letting me get more than a Shield Lob or Tomahawk off.

[BloodOath_Loyalty]

Great read OP. I myself am a first time tank and MMO player. I try to make it my first priority so say "this is my first time in this dungeon any tips are welcome" at the start. If it's my 3rd or 4th and I still dont have it down I make the party aware. If people feel butt hurt that Im not doing my job right thats to bad. Now I can see if I say "this is my 60th time here any tips are welcomed" then by all means I deserve to be ridiculed to the fullest. I enjoy my experience as a tank so far . Learning as I go and taking tips from here. Haven't run into to many pricks (yet)

[Hoglan]

I generally tend to do one of two things if a DPS pulls agro. If I'm at a point in my threat rotation that I can quickly taunt - enmity ability, I'll just do that. If not, I'll taunt - ranged enmity and then move to the mob to begin an enmity rotation to grab it back. Taunt is off the GCD, so you can immediately throw in something that will solidify your threat lead if you're quick. That doesn't mean DPS should still be going balls deep if they pull aggro though, at some point they need to realize that they should just stop pressing buttons. I've intentionally let plenty of DPS die because they decided to just start spamming the wrong mob, or decided to pull themselves or some such. Sure, it's my job to hold aggro, but it's your job as a DPS to make sure you aren't pulling hate by not letting me get more than a Shield Lob or Tomahawk off.

I wish I could stamp this on the front of my shield.