The Psychology of a Tank

I'd like to think that every guild's tank team is eccentric in their own, special ways.

Take my guild, for example. We used to run with the idea that tankadins were useless on boss fights, and were perfectly fine for trash. That all changed when one of our guildies rolled a Tankadin, found that he enjoyed it, and was actually a good tank and person, and effectively squashed all the naysayers in our guild about prot paladins being unable to tank effectively. Hell, he was part of the reason why I brought my own Tankadin out of my basement and power-leveled and geared him up. We're not exactly a hardcore raiding guild, evidenced by the fact that we've only forayed once into TK as a guild - some members have left us to try greener pastures and got a ton of raiding experience, and came back to us with the intent of leading us on.

I digress though.

It's very true that a good tank needs to have certain qualities and abilities. It's what makes them the focal point of a raid group. It's so true what someone said earlier, about a good tank taking a noobish mistake and turning it into a success story. With the tank corps that my guild has, each member has their pluses and minuses, but all in all, each player has established themselves as a respectable tank.

Then again, there are some people in my guild who completely hate who's in what position, and how they got there. Here's what I mean: our tank core consists of 5 active tanks, 2 inactive tanks, and 2 that respec to a tanking role when needed. Of the 5 active tanks, there are two druids, two paladins, and a warrior. Both inactive tanks are warriors; the two respec'ers are a paladin and a druid, respectively. It's kind of sad to say that of that tank corps, two of them (a paladin and a druid) aren't always taken seriously. It's much more due to a personality issue than anything. The other paladin tank thinks that she's the queen of the world, and given the fact that she literally got the "MT" label handed to her when our top tankadin gquit, there was a fair amount of dissent. And with good reason - it should have gone to the other pally, due to his experience and willingness to stay prot even though he preferred being ret. Even though she got geared to the teeth by a friendly guild's ZA run, she got the label rather than the other paladin, giving him even more reason to stay on his alt. As for the druid... he's just an oddball

Since my priest used to be spec'd Holy, I can appreciate the differences in tank classes. Unfortunately, I spec'd Shadow before the aforementioned tankadin that was so influential to me got to 70, and so I never really got the chance to really heal a Tankadin. But when I talk to other healers in my guild about which tank is harder to heal due to higher incoming damage or whether they have more successful instance runs or whatever, it makes me cringe a bit, especially knowing that ALL of us are fairly equally geared.

It's definitely the eccentricities that make the individual tank so valuable to their guild. Granted, being a tank can be such a thankless job at times. But hey, someone's gotta do the dirty work, and that right there (I feel) sums it all up in a nutshell.
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I'm a respectable tank on all three of the classes, but I don't have the personality to do it full time. =/ It also takes a certain kind of person to do that sort of thing day in and day out. I'm more comfortable moving health bars to the right than anything else.
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Rinforza
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I do not know if there is a specific psychology for all tanks, as it seems many random people are in many roles, but I can say why I tank. Simply put, I feel more power in being able to take the large hit than to give the large hit. That has been the case in any game I play, and thus was the case in WoW, too.

I started tanking first as a curiosity (found a thread on the forums about aoe grinding to level in what seems like ages ago). Then, I started to get the hang of it, and started reading about Paladins "tanking" (wut? warriors and durids do that lol).

As I continued to level up my little tankadin, I was inspired by a lot of the people who were theorycrafting and tanking upper level content like Karazhan and Gruul's. I must have read Gestalt's guide to Paladin tanking 5 or 6 times while leveling up.

And then, in my 50's and 60's, I really started tanking. And I met a lot of resistance to the idea among PuGs. I'm not in a raiding guild, but even in that (in those early days), my Paladin tank was treated as more of an amusing struggle than an actual effort.

I still remember the MANY times that I saw someone "Looking for 1 more, tank, for X" in lfg, trade or general, and responded, only to get (in some of the better cases) no response, and in some of the worst, berated to the point of /ignore.

It wasn't until I hit 70 that I really started to open eyes. First in regular 5-mans, then in Heroics. I was always a few steps behind our guild's regular warrior tank, but it always surprised people when the Paladin tank turned out to be good. And, group by group, I started to turn people around to the idea of a Paladin tank being good - in some cases ideal.

I still remember the first time I saw, "Looking for Paladin Tank" in the LFG channel, and it warmed my heart. When people in my guild started rolling Paladin tanks, and people would send me tells with questions, it was amazing to see.

And now? I'm bored with tanking. I've moved on to dpsing (lol) and healing. And raising a druid and a warrior - I swear my druid is going to be resto.... but I keep finding myself respeccing myself to Feral to tank this or that...

But, the point is, that some people started tanking because they wanted to learn, or wanted to prove something, which could be another type of tank (especially around here).


More to the point about my own personality. I find myself to be the controlling type when I tank. It's hard for me to take a back seat and watch someone else tank - it's always in my mind that, "I could have done that better," or "that's not how I would have done it." Letting go of that control and letting other tanks shine is something that's been a struggle for me. This is especially poignant when you're not in a raiding guild and only doing things like Karazhan (by the same token, letting go of control is sometimes thwarted when I'm suddenly the only tanking option), there's not much room for more than one main tank in any instance.

Even during times when I'm not the main tank, I tend to try to take control of the situations as a dpser or healer. I joke sometimes that I'm very much a "backseat tank." The joke is really that it isn't one >.>


As far as tank competition goes, I can't comment much on it. One thing I think, especially in my case, is that you have to push yourself to the top of the pack in a guild - and you can't expect it to happen overnight. My own guild may be small, but part of the reason I tend to be the main tank is because I spend time getting to know encounters, leading raids, and learning my class backwards and forwards. I didn't become an officer in my own guild until I started tanking (if memory serves correctly... I may have been one step below that before I really picked up my Tankadin), and showed myself to be someone willing to lead, and teach.

If you think the person in your guild is doing something wrong - confront him about it. Conflict isn't always a bad thing, and some of the people I admire most now in life are people I've butted heads with in the past (win or lose).
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Yinramu- Hyjal

I play both a Prot Warrior and Tankadin. I can say that there's a vast difference in how I go into a certain situation with each class in regards to what needs to be done.

As a warrior I mark of the targets, state what needs to be done, berate those who end up f'n something up, and then pull it all magically out of my ass to kill the boss.

As a Tankadin, I go in to a large pack and tell the dps "Kill the caster, pick something after that and kill it" and I go to town.

I'm more prone to let someone who has not done the encounter before as a tank try and see on farm content. On main content I prefer to be the primary one and let them sit in the background. If the Raid Leader says who does what I have no problem with doing the OT job. I'm tanking, that's good enough. I do my job and I do it well.

Lately I've been going through a couple week patch of not being able to tank with my warrior due to some reason or another (running late, work, Raid Leader hates me). It's rather disheartening to sit outside instances with nothing to do for several hours at a nite. This is where I break out the Tankadin and mow through instances with people who need gear. Win/Win for all parties.

I admit, I'm arrogant, cocky, demanding, stubborn, and willing to listen to reason or if someone has got a better plan. I'm a leader first and foremost but my 'way' might not be the the 'best way'. Self-Retrospect is key to being a good tank and a good leader. If you can look at yourself and say "I could've done better" or "They had a point let me try it that way" then you'll go far. Smashing your head into a brick wall over and over just to see if it breaks doesn't work so well.

/sits back down on the leather couch
//asks for a hankie.

I am the 3/4 Tank in our guild and fairly happy with our Guild's situation. Let me line it up for you.

MT: Guild Leader....War Tank. Stubborn, incredibly knowledgable of the encounters, knows theory, but not amazing. Primary mission is to see the guild proceed. A bit insecure perhaps, but all in all a good guy for where hes at.

OT #1: War Tank. Knows his class better than anyone. Really pushes what he is able to do. Real Team player. Respecs to offspecs, just because he knows his role is not to MT. Accepts the gimp to improve our MT and DPS.

OT #2: Me-Pally Tank. The only one we have in guild. Probably the most aggressive. I really don't stand for stupidity or suckage, but I think i am pretty good about messing up. Knowing the fights before hand is nice, but I don't sweat it if I don't because I know my MT will help me out if I need. I would say that I am the biggest glory hound out of all of them, but some times this is just for humor. I re-rolled a pally tank since I was the Guild main holy priest and we didn't have one once we were almost done with kara. Now I am about 5 items below our MT.

OT #3: Druids...we have two and both are of similar personalities. Good guys who know their roll and do it well. Both kind of quiet, but don't mess up which is key. They get their gear move on and help the guild progress.


All in all I would say our tanking core works well together. I would still say that except for my AOE tanking ability I am still a bit of the Bastard child of the tanks, but some fights it is admitted I am better (Leo).

However, I will give props to our MT because during Hyjal bosses, etc, We were discussing if I should MT because of them being Demons and being able to dominate threat, and he was not like "hell no", but more "you can if you want".

I pass on those because I know my healing, is a better benefit that his shitty dps if I am tanking.

As a prot pally I have accepted that my role is Tank then heal during boss fights, and my guild doesn't boot me out for them etc. Hell i even specced into Imp SoC to help out. Sure...I wanna try tanking Teron eventually, but it's also a good feeling to know that my guild was terrified of doing Hyjal without me. Sure it's not a boss, but its a part of the game I am needed in.

Shout out to Clain Imperial Guard on Magtheridon. Wut Wut
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Pally Tanking...all the work, half the respect, twice the insults.

I haven't figured out where I am. IRL I'm a combination - I'm aggressive sometimes, passive sometimes normally a little of both. When I have a goal it will be done but otherwise I'm quite happy to just go with the flow. If someone pisses me off tho 'm generally NOT shy about correcting them. I'm usually the 'leader' - I set the goals, and keep others focused but for some reason I can't do it in game..I have no idea whats wrong with me LOL

Tanking is different for some reason. I have some very 'set' things that just piss me off to no end [people who don't wait to consecrate top the list] and some expectations that need to be met or I'm a sad panda IF I'm the MT then I will expect the other tanks [specifically the overgeared pally tank that usually mt's everything] to let me do my job. My problem is that I don't yell usually I just sit and take it, or ill just make a little 'So am I supposed to be MT?' comment and then just be horribly unhappy and bitchy for the rest of the night.
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This entire thread has been very interesting. Everyone seems to have a different response as to what type of person makes up a tank. I can only speak from my own personal experience, and since a tank is my first character, I haven't had the opportunity to be a healer or dps class in a group so I have no perspective on what OTHER tanks are typically like.

I know I became an accidental tank. Someone said to me that I made a really good tank in an Uldaman group. At the time, I had no freaking idea what the hell tanking was. After they'd said that to me, I started to actively look up what tanking wasn since it seemed that I had some sort of natural ability for it. The more I read about it, the more I liked it.

What appealed to me in order to become a tank was;

a) You got to run into the fray first
b) You have EVERYBODY's attention on you (the healer focuses mainly on you and keeping you up, and the dps have to focus on keeping under your threat)
c) You get a lot of good compliments for good tanking and a lot of people invite you back for other instances. This guarantees that you'll have better gear than a bad tank, and guarantees that you'll always be able to find groups for instances. Essentially, you get a massive friend network. DPS on the other hand, seem to be everywhere on my server. If you don't like one, you can always get another.
d) If you're good enough, you're very rarely ever going to have a bad pull (even if you accidentally walk too close to a mob) and get trounced within seconds. If you're a DPS or healer, you can easily aggro something before a tank pulls and wipe the entire group.

As arrogant as it sounds, for me it's a lot about attention focus. I was always overeager for attention as a kid, and it looks like I'm still attention starved as an adult. But that's only my perspective on it. IRL, I can be quite aggressive and stubborn and generally, like knowing that I'm right (even when I might not be )

All that being said, I am more than willing to ask for instructions in an instance that I've never done. Probably because I feel very responsible for the group and if I kill us all because I didn't know what I was doing then I look like an absolute ass. I don't like looking bad when I'm doing something that I really love. So if I've done something wrong, I want to know how to fix it. If only because it'll make me a better player and put me back in everybody's good books.

I ended up taking up tanking on my paladin for three reasons.

1)I was an Alliance priest before and have healed a prot pally run.

2)My guild needed tanks.

3)After going out and soloing Luzram, and Knucklerot at level 19ish, I was pretty much set on being a tankadin. Even now its satisfing chasing down Durne in nagrand pulling a few elleks, or grabing a fel reaver in hellfire with a couple of boars and soloing them down.

I wouldn't consider myself arrogant, and I don't think you have to be arrogant to be the main tank or even a tank. Even though I pretty much do 10 man raiding,(just now getting into 25 man content with another guild cause our guild is too small) our guild has two full time tanks(me and druid) and a part time tank(warrior).

Every time someone is chosen to tank a boss, its always given to the tank that is better suited for the job. The Druid tank is the guild leader and ussually in five man instances he will take a back seat dpsing, while I aoe pull everything. In Raids he also doubles as raid leader because he is extremely good at explaining things, and working as a team he is constantly taunting single mobs off me if i'm taking too much damage or if i'm low on threat, and our dps has too hold back too much.

Teamwork in raid situations (other than the obvious part of knowing how to tank) to me seems to be the most important part of our raid success, recently we did our second attempt in ZA and got four bosses down, and had a decent run at Hex Lord but had no interupts(first attempt we downed bear, and attempted dragonhawk with no AOE).

Another quality of a successful tank is not getting burnt out or dealing with it, cause I have to take a break from tanking every two weeks or so(only tanking on raids) and respec shockadin and kill things in pvp, or recently i started making a ret set(which is really fun). I'm probably not the best tank cause of it, but logging on running heroics for seven hours, for seven days a week, adding in Kara, and ZA runs, after every two weeks i just have to do something else.

Summary: Good tanks, need good teamwork, on top of all their basic tanking skills, and not get burnt out.
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Paladin/70/Rivendare

Well, we don't have a "MT" in our guild. 2 tanks used to be officers though then 1 quit. and the other is currently lazerchicken spec .
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