The holy trinity is the root of the problem. This is an archaic setup and devs could have innovated this system greatly a long time ago, and some have tried but failed pretty badly. One problem is the lines are way to distinct in most games. A class is chosen and that class's role is determined from day 1 with no gray area.
FFXI had a pretty cool setup due to having so many classes there were many viable party setups. Dragoon burn, Black Mage burn, Ninja blink tank, Paladin tank, Thief giving aggro, etc. Current class systems are too black and white, too pigeon holing, and they need to be innovated on going forward. Players should be able to adjust their roles, and content should not be made around the idea that the party must have 1 tank, 1 healer, 1 support, and 3 dps, or whatever variation there is.
Of the games coming out in the near future the Secret World and Guild Wars are both trying to do something different that eliminates this old school system. SWTOR of course, like almost every aspect of their game, is sticking to old school archaic design.
The lines need to be blurred. Players should not be pigeon holed into a single role. Games should not be made around the concept of going from point A to point B with one class and then rerolling for a different experience.
Why not? I kind of like having multiple characters that do different things. I guess your not talking about removing tanks, healers and dps entirely, just making it possible for people to choose roles more freely right? To some extent I agree that every class should be able to fill any of the three roles since that would make team composition easier and people whom don't like rerolling could avoid it.
but doushi, there's a nice part about tanking. you dont really HAVE TO keep all dps alive all the time. If they run their mouth too much, they better watch their threat.
if it gets to the point where seeing them die will satisfy me more than seeing the boss die...oh yes, I will get them killed.
got to let them know who the master really is in the group. you cant abuse a tank and live. hame on the tank if it happens. That's the beauty of tanking. the power is de facto.
The healer will instinctively try to keep them up, healer gets aggro, healer gets splattered, you get the blame.
Unless the healer cooperates with you, I don't see how this would work.
Robokapp,
I did that alot, they started to run their mouths, they would die more often, but when the mouth running happens almost all the time, just cba anymore.
and about healer healing them, that wasnt a problem to me, I usually whispered the healer to ignore them and let em die,
so far all healers I played with ignored them happily and dps was rage quiting and we were getting new dps instantly.
Why not? I kind of like having multiple characters that do different things. I guess your not talking about removing tanks, healers and dps entirely, just making it possible for people to choose roles more freely right? To some extent I agree that every class should be able to fill any of the three roles since that would make team composition easier and people whom don't like rerolling could avoid it.
Yeah pretty much. I think that when you are picking a class in any of these holy trinity games you think... 'Do I want to tank.. It's pretty fun having the responsibility, but it takes so much focus. If I PvP I will just be an annoying gnat that lives for a long time (In most MMO's haha).'
Then similar thoughts can be associated with healing. Then with DPS you think.. 'I can slack off and probably no one will notice, I can probably dominate PvP, etc.'
The roles are so distinct and are locked in for the life of your character. Even in some games where you have build options as a tanking class you will be asked to tank most of the time. Your DPS build can't be as diverse and useful as other DPS classes or the DPS classes will cry about it. It is a flawed and poor system.
If people like rerolling and burning through content repeatedly then it is a great system. I know I would prefer to have a big living breathing world where your character moved around, revisited old content, could adapt to your playstyle at the time.
In real life why couldn't a raging barbarian put on a heavy suit of armor and pick up a shield? In MMO's you can't because you decided that you were going to be a raging barbarian and your class can't equip heavy armor by some magical force restricting it.
It is all a bit silly, and it has worked for some games, but there is no reason it should be applied to every game.
Having tanked through WOW on both Pally and Warrior, I'd have to say I ended up hating tanking for three reasons:
1. Someone always knows better.
Even during excellent runs, I would get tanking tips. I remember after MT both Gruul and Magtheridon getting a bevy of tips - even though no one died either run (and those fights have some random events which a tank cannot control). From DPS. I don't mind tips, but these were blatant aggro errors, and the people giving them really had NO clue about how a pally tank generates aggro.
Even as a straight-up warrior tanking Nax (one of the simplest instances). I would be getting tips on how to "position the bosses better for DPS". Some tanks are elitist asses who think no one knows their business but themselves - I wasn't one.
2. Nothing is forgiven.
A healer or DPS makes a mistake and pull aggro, the tank is expected to handle it. When one dies, it's not the DPS fault. It's the tanks fault. Basically, it felt like EVERYTHING was the tank's fault. Healer let someone die? The tank didn't get that add during the boss fight fast enough. Boss randomly switched targets per their script and smeared the rogue with one hit? Tank didn't re-acquire fast enough.
As a DPS and healer both, I had plenty of room for error, over-aggro, last-second heals. The game is much more forgiving toward every other class. Tank makes a mistake - everyone dies. Healer makes a mistake - tank could go down, but perhaps he doesn't. DPS make a mistake - rarely a problem.
3. Very few guilds are willing to devote the gear initially neccessary to make a tank viable.
Getting started in end-game was a nightmare. You had to grind your ass off to get gear in 5-mans, then begin the 10-mans with substandard gear tanking (sometimes, in a good guild, you'd be off tank until you got geared up). But the bottom line - you got 4 out of 10 plate or tanking drops. Most people rolled on stuff you actually needed to do your job better.
The pro guild (was 2nd in raiding on the server) knew how to do it correctly. I had a tank alt and was run through Naxx25 until fully geared in tiered sets, best iLevel gear, etc.
Basically, you had more responsibility, but without the reward for that increased responsibility. I remember doing a Naxx25 run with my druid, and literally getting every healing drop on "Greed". Even though I know for a fact that I didn't work half as hard or have nearly as much responsibility in the fights as I did when tanking. All because no one died. I remember the sub-gaered tank (who was an effing brilliant guy - pulling that off with the gear he had) having to fight over every piece of tanking gear because someone was gearing for off-spec that run.
I know people on this forum look down on WOW, but it's where I learned my tanking. Prior, I was a casual player or DPS. My regen scrapper off-tanked, but there was really no aggro mechanic involved - and COH had aggro built into every tank action, so I believe you had two "taunt" abilities (single and AoE) and there wasn't anywhere near as much strategy as with WOW tanking.
Its all about opportunity, it sucks to have a character with a build that is only good at one thing. Most of the time tank builds fair poorly in skirmish pvp situations and depending on the game they do poorly all around in pvp. Where as a healer can have an active role in both pve and pvp.
The only game I've played that truely favored tanks in pvp was Warhammer Online, mainly because of enemy player collision and the support that they could bring to the table. I know Guildwars doesn't appreciate tanking in pvp, mainly because most tank builds in guildwars revolve around you actually being focused, where in most situations you'll be ignored and end up being useless, but then again Guildwars pvp is generally spiking or crippling players, not soaking up loads of damage.
Well i can say this, i have been playing MT for some very large raiding guilds for the better part of 15 years and the one thing i can say is people who dont play tanks have more to say about tanks then the people playing tanks.
EverQuest wasnt so bad but that because everything was so new. Then we have few years of pretty ok in WoW till BC then thats when everything went to shit. Everything was pull faster , or your a noob who cant hold aggro , or OMG the tanks do to much dmg i cant kill them. I was always something.
There have been a few games that started good for tanking then just went to crap.
I play a tank because i enjoy the challange of it . I will say this if people dont stop the belly acheing about tanks people will stop playing them all together ... Then what are you going to do.
Honor, Valor, Truth are in the heart of the true and the one.
I don't have a problem with the small numbers, gear dependent, blah blah blah jibberjabber, but my problem with the tanking role is that, it is THE most unrealistic role in the trinity. A giant dragon stomp on you, not only will you not require to physically dodge the attack (with today's average combat system, its more like you can't actually dodge it), you won't even get completely destroyed by the stomp. The idea of combat, at its basic, requires three fundamental actions, Attack, Block, Dodge, and prankly, tank doesn't do any of them, unless you mean block as in man up and take the beating.
Tanks main role is to keep "the threat" on him, and what seeming intelligent epic boss, with the ability to destroy the whole world, will be aggravated by a simple taunt from a tiny human (or whatever race you play). It probably isn't the actualy role's fault, but more of the combat, holy trinity is a system created eons ago, which is based on the technology limits eons ago, and simply right now, we can do better than just stupid 'tanking'.
We just need something more advanced than the holy trinity of tank.
How much WoW could a WoWhater hate, if a WoWhater could hate WoW? As much WoW as a WoWhater would, if a WoWhater could hate WoW.
Im probably in the minority and this is just my opinion. But...
I dont like instances all together. I like open-world dungeons where it is feasable for 1 person to go in solo and see how far they can get. Or gather a group and see if you can tackle the whole dungeon. I hate the thought of having a beginning and an end. I do like multiple paths in the dungeon to take. I like named mobs that drop better gear inside of it, not neccesarily placed at the end of the instance. I also dont mind other groups or soloers having the ability to kill you while you are down there.
I take my view from over a decade of mmo-playing, sandbox and themeparks alike. Again, just my opinion.
I loved tanking in every mmo I have played up until WoW cata. In lich king I even leveled 2 warriors and 1 paladin from 1-80 in prot spec. Does it matter if my dps friends could kill faster? Not to me I was having fun enjoying my classes and that is what the game is about. Unfortunately the guild convinced me to try raiding again and even though successful the game started to feel more like a job and I left WoW and will never raid again in any game as I still feel raiding in the death of community. Tanking is really fun when you can keep a group of your friends alive but my motto always was if dpsers talk crap or refuse to watch their aggro you don't taunt off of one of them and let them die to give them a learning experience.
Tanking isn't unpopular. Tanking for people the tank doesn't know is unpopular.
Tanks (good) ones have no shortage of freinds. Therefore they have no need to make new ones outside of thier circles.
Hence the percieved "shortage" of tanks in most games.
This is only true if and only if 3 DPS and a healer (or whatever group makeup the game has other than the tank) have access to 2-3 tanks each. The fact that a tank can square off with the same 5 people and there's a tank shortage after that means... there is actually a tank shortage.
Few reasons off the top of my head:
(1) Tanking generally has a lot of responsibility placed on it's shoulders. So much that an entire wipe can be blamed on a 'bad pull' a 'loose mob' or not using an ability at an appropriate time. Other specs have far less responsibility.
(2) Tanking is usually boring compared to other specs. This is because they dumb down rotations in most games to the point that anyone at all can play them. This is supposed to off set the fact that they have so much responsibility in their hands.
(3) People who play tanks generally have 'control' issues. Instead of just dealing with things as they come they end up freaking out at their groups for making mistakes. You see a similar reaction in people who choose healers who believe they are choosing who lives and who dies and punish people to this effect. These types of people make the role appear unattractive and people feel that they need to adopt these traits in order to do it.
(4) Tanks are expected to lead groups. This is because the tank is the first one in on the pull and if it goes right, the first one to die.
(5) Perception of difficulty: No one likes telling people or being told that thier job is easy. To every person they feel their job is insanely hard and that they're this special fellow. What we actually know is that tanking is usually the easiest role to play and the perceived difficulties of their tasks are nullified by the abilities they are given to deal with that situation. A good example is when you see a bad tank who does a pull and doesn't aggro all mobs. This makes you think that tanking must be hard because this person can't do it. The truth is that this same person would be letting your group die as a healer or do less DPS than a tank.
(6) Games generally do not have tanks in mind when they make them. I can only think of a few games that maintain their 'dungeon format.' Think of World of Warcraft. Dungeons are 1 tank 3 DPS 1 healer. 10-man raids are 2 tanks, 5 DPS 3 healers, 25-man raids are 2 tanks, 16 DPS, 7 healers. At some point this formula just breaks down. The ending result is that the end game requirements are higher towards DPS and healers than tanks. There's basically no tanks in PvP so you will lose the PvP crowd to DPS/heal roles as well.
The root issue? Community. After playing a couple of MMOs and tanking, I can tell that games such as WoW attract the worst of the worst. However, if you group with friends and guilds, you will be fine, for the most part. I am done with the trinity. That group tactict of having the tank pulling the mobs and having dps classes spamming their fire/frost spell and braging about their dps output from a distance without been touched needs to go away. It's an outdated design that works as intended but it's geting old.
Also, it's the role most reliant on group effectiveness. You're in the thick and if the healer is off mucking around somewhere, your death is near certain. Ranged DPS and most healers and crowd control at least have a chance of getting outta Dodge, but tanks are generally surrounded by a half dozen or so mobs; they aren't going anywhere.
And, there's the very reality of the concept. Who on earth wants to encourage an overwhelming number of creatures to beat the crap out of them? Ranged DPS gets to hide in a bush somewhere and poke critters in the back. Healers get to "save everyone's neck" time and time again. Mage's get to nuke the crap out of several enemies at once. But tanks? "Dude, stand there and get beat on. If a mob tries to leave, poke them with a sharp, annoying stick." Doesn't sound appealing at all.
In a well made game, it's nowhere near that bad to actually play one, but the stigma is still there.
As games have progressed the tanking role has gone from a basic 1 mob tank & spank roll. To multiple mobs with different abilities.
Now not only does the tank have to pay attention to what is going on, generally lead the group. Show what mobs to pull and how to pull. But now its also his/her job to watch as mobs go ping poning all over the room becuase the DPS of your group randomly attack what ever they can to make sure that their damage meter is the highest.
The once simpler role of the tank has become a glorified baby sitter. And when the group does wipe more often than not the finger is ponted at the tank. IMO though more often then not it has nothing to do with the tank.
Many people have now backed away from the role. They do not want to deal with said peoople who will nerd rage and just leave the group. Reguardless of how good the tank is.
Tanking is an extremly popular role. Since they are sought after, they are able to gear up quickly and move on, thus giving them the appearence of being unpopular.
Tanks are usually able to solo most things.. If you can't seem to find one, it is probably just because they don't need you or anyone else.
in WoW at least, Tanking is one of the two most difficult things to do well, encountering few of them, isnt because they don't need others - which they do, its because most players choose one of the dps classes, even in paladins and warriors, most of the ones you encounter won't be tank spec'd - its harder, not as rewarding - its a lot easier to make mistakes, and everyone will jump all over you if you do make one.. but.. it is also the most challenging..
Agree with above posters, my blood DK can solo most of the 346 heroics now. I do it for luls. Halls of Origin is giving me trouble at the moment, though
Edit: I did the same thing in Guild Wars actually, I solo'd for extra loot through most of the only campaign I finished.
Comments
Why not? I kind of like having multiple characters that do different things. I guess your not talking about removing tanks, healers and dps entirely, just making it possible for people to choose roles more freely right? To some extent I agree that every class should be able to fill any of the three roles since that would make team composition easier and people whom don't like rerolling could avoid it.
Responsibility - no one wants it.
Robokapp,
I did that alot, they started to run their mouths, they would die more often, but when the mouth running happens almost all the time, just cba anymore.
and about healer healing them, that wasnt a problem to me, I usually whispered the healer to ignore them and let em die,
so far all healers I played with ignored them happily and dps was rage quiting and we were getting new dps instantly.
mmorpg.com, the 4chan of mmo forums.
Yeah pretty much. I think that when you are picking a class in any of these holy trinity games you think... 'Do I want to tank.. It's pretty fun having the responsibility, but it takes so much focus. If I PvP I will just be an annoying gnat that lives for a long time (In most MMO's haha).'
Then similar thoughts can be associated with healing. Then with DPS you think.. 'I can slack off and probably no one will notice, I can probably dominate PvP, etc.'
The roles are so distinct and are locked in for the life of your character. Even in some games where you have build options as a tanking class you will be asked to tank most of the time. Your DPS build can't be as diverse and useful as other DPS classes or the DPS classes will cry about it. It is a flawed and poor system.
If people like rerolling and burning through content repeatedly then it is a great system. I know I would prefer to have a big living breathing world where your character moved around, revisited old content, could adapt to your playstyle at the time.
In real life why couldn't a raging barbarian put on a heavy suit of armor and pick up a shield? In MMO's you can't because you decided that you were going to be a raging barbarian and your class can't equip heavy armor by some magical force restricting it.
It is all a bit silly, and it has worked for some games, but there is no reason it should be applied to every game.
Having tanked through WOW on both Pally and Warrior, I'd have to say I ended up hating tanking for three reasons:
1. Someone always knows better.
Even during excellent runs, I would get tanking tips. I remember after MT both Gruul and Magtheridon getting a bevy of tips - even though no one died either run (and those fights have some random events which a tank cannot control). From DPS. I don't mind tips, but these were blatant aggro errors, and the people giving them really had NO clue about how a pally tank generates aggro.
Even as a straight-up warrior tanking Nax (one of the simplest instances). I would be getting tips on how to "position the bosses better for DPS". Some tanks are elitist asses who think no one knows their business but themselves - I wasn't one.
2. Nothing is forgiven.
A healer or DPS makes a mistake and pull aggro, the tank is expected to handle it. When one dies, it's not the DPS fault. It's the tanks fault. Basically, it felt like EVERYTHING was the tank's fault. Healer let someone die? The tank didn't get that add during the boss fight fast enough. Boss randomly switched targets per their script and smeared the rogue with one hit? Tank didn't re-acquire fast enough.
As a DPS and healer both, I had plenty of room for error, over-aggro, last-second heals. The game is much more forgiving toward every other class. Tank makes a mistake - everyone dies. Healer makes a mistake - tank could go down, but perhaps he doesn't. DPS make a mistake - rarely a problem.
3. Very few guilds are willing to devote the gear initially neccessary to make a tank viable.
Getting started in end-game was a nightmare. You had to grind your ass off to get gear in 5-mans, then begin the 10-mans with substandard gear tanking (sometimes, in a good guild, you'd be off tank until you got geared up). But the bottom line - you got 4 out of 10 plate or tanking drops. Most people rolled on stuff you actually needed to do your job better.
The pro guild (was 2nd in raiding on the server) knew how to do it correctly. I had a tank alt and was run through Naxx25 until fully geared in tiered sets, best iLevel gear, etc.
Basically, you had more responsibility, but without the reward for that increased responsibility. I remember doing a Naxx25 run with my druid, and literally getting every healing drop on "Greed". Even though I know for a fact that I didn't work half as hard or have nearly as much responsibility in the fights as I did when tanking. All because no one died. I remember the sub-gaered tank (who was an effing brilliant guy - pulling that off with the gear he had) having to fight over every piece of tanking gear because someone was gearing for off-spec that run.
I know people on this forum look down on WOW, but it's where I learned my tanking. Prior, I was a casual player or DPS. My regen scrapper off-tanked, but there was really no aggro mechanic involved - and COH had aggro built into every tank action, so I believe you had two "taunt" abilities (single and AoE) and there wasn't anywhere near as much strategy as with WOW tanking.
Its all about opportunity, it sucks to have a character with a build that is only good at one thing. Most of the time tank builds fair poorly in skirmish pvp situations and depending on the game they do poorly all around in pvp. Where as a healer can have an active role in both pve and pvp.
The only game I've played that truely favored tanks in pvp was Warhammer Online, mainly because of enemy player collision and the support that they could bring to the table. I know Guildwars doesn't appreciate tanking in pvp, mainly because most tank builds in guildwars revolve around you actually being focused, where in most situations you'll be ignored and end up being useless, but then again Guildwars pvp is generally spiking or crippling players, not soaking up loads of damage.
Well i can say this, i have been playing MT for some very large raiding guilds for the better part of 15 years and the one thing i can say is people who dont play tanks have more to say about tanks then the people playing tanks.
EverQuest wasnt so bad but that because everything was so new. Then we have few years of pretty ok in WoW till BC then thats when everything went to shit. Everything was pull faster , or your a noob who cant hold aggro , or OMG the tanks do to much dmg i cant kill them. I was always something.
There have been a few games that started good for tanking then just went to crap.
I play a tank because i enjoy the challange of it . I will say this if people dont stop the belly acheing about tanks people will stop playing them all together ... Then what are you going to do.
Honor, Valor, Truth are in the heart of the true and the one.
- Gereth Deepdale
Tanking isn't unpopular. Tanking for people the tank doesn't know is unpopular.
Tanks (good) ones have no shortage of freinds. Therefore they have no need to make new ones outside of thier circles.
Hence the percieved "shortage" of tanks in most games.
I got to the point where I would only tank with people I knew. I had fun, they had fun, worked great.
Would you like to be MY meat shield?
ok thats my point
I don't have a problem with the small numbers, gear dependent, blah blah blah jibberjabber, but my problem with the tanking role is that, it is THE most unrealistic role in the trinity. A giant dragon stomp on you, not only will you not require to physically dodge the attack (with today's average combat system, its more like you can't actually dodge it), you won't even get completely destroyed by the stomp. The idea of combat, at its basic, requires three fundamental actions, Attack, Block, Dodge, and prankly, tank doesn't do any of them, unless you mean block as in man up and take the beating.
Tanks main role is to keep "the threat" on him, and what seeming intelligent epic boss, with the ability to destroy the whole world, will be aggravated by a simple taunt from a tiny human (or whatever race you play). It probably isn't the actualy role's fault, but more of the combat, holy trinity is a system created eons ago, which is based on the technology limits eons ago, and simply right now, we can do better than just stupid 'tanking'.
We just need something more advanced than the holy trinity of tank.
How much WoW could a WoWhater hate, if a WoWhater could hate WoW?
As much WoW as a WoWhater would, if a WoWhater could hate WoW.
1. You dont deal much damage.
2. You have to make the decisions (leader).
3. Often soloing isnt very comfortable (slow).
i am not sure, but personally i love tanking.
I didnt said there arent people who still love tanking ?
Im probably in the minority and this is just my opinion. But...
I dont like instances all together. I like open-world dungeons where it is feasable for 1 person to go in solo and see how far they can get. Or gather a group and see if you can tackle the whole dungeon. I hate the thought of having a beginning and an end. I do like multiple paths in the dungeon to take. I like named mobs that drop better gear inside of it, not neccesarily placed at the end of the instance. I also dont mind other groups or soloers having the ability to kill you while you are down there.
I take my view from over a decade of mmo-playing, sandbox and themeparks alike. Again, just my opinion.
I loved tanking in every mmo I have played up until WoW cata. In lich king I even leveled 2 warriors and 1 paladin from 1-80 in prot spec. Does it matter if my dps friends could kill faster? Not to me I was having fun enjoying my classes and that is what the game is about. Unfortunately the guild convinced me to try raiding again and even though successful the game started to feel more like a job and I left WoW and will never raid again in any game as I still feel raiding in the death of community. Tanking is really fun when you can keep a group of your friends alive but my motto always was if dpsers talk crap or refuse to watch their aggro you don't taunt off of one of them and let them die to give them a learning experience.
This is only true if and only if 3 DPS and a healer (or whatever group makeup the game has other than the tank) have access to 2-3 tanks each. The fact that a tank can square off with the same 5 people and there's a tank shortage after that means... there is actually a tank shortage.
Few reasons off the top of my head:
(1) Tanking generally has a lot of responsibility placed on it's shoulders. So much that an entire wipe can be blamed on a 'bad pull' a 'loose mob' or not using an ability at an appropriate time. Other specs have far less responsibility.
(2) Tanking is usually boring compared to other specs. This is because they dumb down rotations in most games to the point that anyone at all can play them. This is supposed to off set the fact that they have so much responsibility in their hands.
(3) People who play tanks generally have 'control' issues. Instead of just dealing with things as they come they end up freaking out at their groups for making mistakes. You see a similar reaction in people who choose healers who believe they are choosing who lives and who dies and punish people to this effect. These types of people make the role appear unattractive and people feel that they need to adopt these traits in order to do it.
(4) Tanks are expected to lead groups. This is because the tank is the first one in on the pull and if it goes right, the first one to die.
(5) Perception of difficulty: No one likes telling people or being told that thier job is easy. To every person they feel their job is insanely hard and that they're this special fellow. What we actually know is that tanking is usually the easiest role to play and the perceived difficulties of their tasks are nullified by the abilities they are given to deal with that situation. A good example is when you see a bad tank who does a pull and doesn't aggro all mobs. This makes you think that tanking must be hard because this person can't do it. The truth is that this same person would be letting your group die as a healer or do less DPS than a tank.
(6) Games generally do not have tanks in mind when they make them. I can only think of a few games that maintain their 'dungeon format.' Think of World of Warcraft. Dungeons are 1 tank 3 DPS 1 healer. 10-man raids are 2 tanks, 5 DPS 3 healers, 25-man raids are 2 tanks, 16 DPS, 7 healers. At some point this formula just breaks down. The ending result is that the end game requirements are higher towards DPS and healers than tanks. There's basically no tanks in PvP so you will lose the PvP crowd to DPS/heal roles as well.
Website: http://www.thegameguru.me / YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/users/thetroublmaker
The root issue? Community. After playing a couple of MMOs and tanking, I can tell that games such as WoW attract the worst of the worst. However, if you group with friends and guilds, you will be fine, for the most part. I am done with the trinity. That group tactict of having the tank pulling the mobs and having dps classes spamming their fire/frost spell and braging about their dps output from a distance without been touched needs to go away. It's an outdated design that works as intended but it's geting old.
I used to play as warrior tank but i stopped because of 2 things
1) the levelling curve for tank was very slow in PVE.
I used to have to put in work to kill a mob whereas mages , assasins used to just fly thru mobs like anything.
2) some game mechanics used to reward only dps and healers .so as tank always used to be the last ones to get anything decent.
This.
Also, it's the role most reliant on group effectiveness. You're in the thick and if the healer is off mucking around somewhere, your death is near certain. Ranged DPS and most healers and crowd control at least have a chance of getting outta Dodge, but tanks are generally surrounded by a half dozen or so mobs; they aren't going anywhere.
And, there's the very reality of the concept. Who on earth wants to encourage an overwhelming number of creatures to beat the crap out of them? Ranged DPS gets to hide in a bush somewhere and poke critters in the back. Healers get to "save everyone's neck" time and time again. Mage's get to nuke the crap out of several enemies at once. But tanks? "Dude, stand there and get beat on. If a mob tries to leave, poke them with a sharp, annoying stick." Doesn't sound appealing at all.
In a well made game, it's nowhere near that bad to actually play one, but the stigma is still there.
As games have progressed the tanking role has gone from a basic 1 mob tank & spank roll. To multiple mobs with different abilities.
Now not only does the tank have to pay attention to what is going on, generally lead the group. Show what mobs to pull and how to pull. But now its also his/her job to watch as mobs go ping poning all over the room becuase the DPS of your group randomly attack what ever they can to make sure that their damage meter is the highest.
The once simpler role of the tank has become a glorified baby sitter. And when the group does wipe more often than not the finger is ponted at the tank. IMO though more often then not it has nothing to do with the tank.
Many people have now backed away from the role. They do not want to deal with said peoople who will nerd rage and just leave the group. Reguardless of how good the tank is.
BTW i "was" a tank as well :P
Tanking is an extremly popular role. Since they are sought after, they are able to gear up quickly and move on, thus giving them the appearence of being unpopular.
Do you know for certain?
Tanks are usually able to solo most things.. If you can't seem to find one, it is probably just because they don't need you or anyone else.
Ya, I agree with this too.
Do you know for certain?
in WoW at least, Tanking is one of the two most difficult things to do well, encountering few of them, isnt because they don't need others - which they do, its because most players choose one of the dps classes, even in paladins and warriors, most of the ones you encounter won't be tank spec'd - its harder, not as rewarding - its a lot easier to make mistakes, and everyone will jump all over you if you do make one.. but.. it is also the most challenging..
Agree with above posters, my blood DK can solo most of the 346 heroics now. I do it for luls. Halls of Origin is giving me trouble at the moment, though
Edit: I did the same thing in Guild Wars actually, I solo'd for extra loot through most of the only campaign I finished.