Great read. I appreciate this type of post.

I need to play a tank at some point in time (I'm always a healer) so I can better understand why certain issues pop up. Specifically I want to know when it's something the tank can correct or when it's just the nature of the dungeon. Right now I don't have the needed understanding of tank abilities. Issues I've personally run into are (1) some tanks taking far more damage than other tanks, sometimes even losing most of their health in 1 or 2 big hits (anecdotal, but GLA's seem to lose health easier than MRD's); and (2) tanks that lose aggro easily after only a couple casts of Cure 1.

The only things that I've had tanks do that made me unhappy were (1) not paying enough attention to notice I have aggro and am taking damage rapidly (in the higher dungeons I've played I can be nearly 3-shot by trash even with the correct level of gear); (2) constantly going AFK; and (3) complaining when I don't use my attack abilities in addition to my healing. This last one comes because I use Regen a lot and if the group is doing well enough I rarely need to cast. What people don't seem to realize is that things can go downhill rapidly and mana management is the name of the game for me. Plus my attention is already divided between health bars, my positioning so I avoid enemy attacks, and the dungeon itself. During hectic battles I already have a hard enough time even knowing what the dungeon looks like or how battles go. =/