Ok, so I play WoW religiously off and on, and I'm just wondering why you can never find a reliable tank for instances? And this is at any level, not just 70 heroics and whatnot. You have 3 different tanking classes, 2 of which can easily switch from healing to tanking, but most people don't want to go feral druid, or protection pally. I'm just wondering what shuns people from wanting to take a class that becomes the focus of an instance battle.

The reason I dislike tanking with my Feral Druid is because tanking is (in my opinion) the most stressful job in any group. You're responsible for marking, for most pulls, for holding aggro-- and you're the first one that's blamed if anything goes wrong.

I'm not saying that's the main reason tanks are so hard to find, but it is something to consider.

Another reason it's so hard to find a tank is because people just seem to enjoy DPS more. Topping the damage charts is something you can brag about, it's a lot easier, requires less concentration, and every class can do it. Watching big numbers pop up over an enemy's head is just satisfying.

Also, most people level using a DPS spec, and I have a feeling that, after spending 70 levels doing it, they just don't want to make the switch, or take the time to get new gear.

These are just some theories.

Because it's a widely disliked form of playing?
It's a lot worse at the lower level instances, because everyone just wants to level as high and as fast as they can before the next expansion comes out.

Warriors don't want to sword'n'board their way up. It's slow, I can't blame them.
Druids go feral, but not for the tanking aspect. They do it for the DPS.
Paladins can tank, seeing as the best leveling tree (From 10 to 60, anyway) is the tanking one as well, I guess they're just lazy and don't want to.

And as far as it being easy to switch between healing and tanking, go try to play a class that can do that. Say you've leveled a Paladin as Holy. You've never tanked before, and you're asked to make the switch. So, you do it.
Oh, but you can't. Why not? You don't know the ideal tanking spec. Oh well, trial and error. So then you look online, find out you did something wrong, and do it again.

It's a lot of hassle to switch between two things that are completely different from each other.
Not to mention, you'd need to have an additional set of healing/tanking gear if you want to be effective.

Other people probably know more about this than I do, since I don't play a hybrid class.

It is very simple, most players in WoW want to DPS. The skilled tanks are all in guilds and don't pug often. I disagree that people don't play feral druids or prot pally as those have become quite popular. After a certain level for pally, prot is defiantly the quickest way to level to 70. It also depends on the server, but the reason I quit playing WoW is that to me it seems the bulk of players are immature and unskilled. That is the primary reason why there is a lack of tanks.

Levinthor:
Because it's a widely disliked form of playing?
It's a lot worse at the lower level instances, because everyone just wants to level as high and as fast as they can before the next expansion comes out.

But it's not like you can only have 1 character per server. There's no excuse for not wanting to try and play other classes.

Levinthor:
Warriors don't want to sword'n'board their way up. It's slow, I can't blame them.
Druids go feral, but not for the tanking aspect. They do it for the DPS.
Paladins can tank, seeing as the best leveling tree (From 1 to 60, anyway) is the tanking one as well, I guess they're just lazy and don't want to.

But when you level, you don't need to have specific tanking gear. Most low to mid level instances are 1-2 pulls at a time. And as long as they can keep attacking whatever target the DPS is attacking, most low level tanks don't need to do that much.

Levinthor:
And as far as it being easy to switch between healing and tanking, go try to play a class that can do that. Say you've leveled a Paladin as Holy. You've never tanked before, and you're asked to make the switch. So, you do it.
Oh, but you can't. Why not? You don't know the ideal tanking spec. Oh well, trial and error. So then you look online, find out you did something wrong, and do it again.

Again, at low to mid levels, there's no specific tanking spec. Except if you're a resto druid or a holy pally, there's no reason why you can't hold aggro. After all, stamina is one of your most important stats, right? And lots of HP give your healer good time to keep you alive.

Levinthor:
It's a lot of hassle to switch between two things that are completely different from each other.
Not to mention, you'd need to have an additional set of healing/tanking gear if you want to be effective.

Other people probably know more about this than I do, since I don't play a hybrid class.

Again, I'm only looking for some decent low-mid level tanks. Is it seriously that hard?!

fantomspower:
It is very simple, most players in WoW want to DPS. The skilled tanks are all in guilds and don't pug often. I disagree that people don't play feral druids or prot pally as those have become quite popular. After a certain level for pally, prot is defiantly the quickest way to level to 70. It also depends on the server, but the reason I quit playing WoW is that to me it seems the bulk of players are immature and unskilled. That is the primary reason why there is a lack of tanks.

QFT

I played a warlock for a long time, and for a top ranked horde guild on my server. Most of the time I used guild tanks when doing whatever, then a few of them lost interest in the game and only showed up for scheduled raids. That made the available pool or reliable people you need to get you through a day dwindle, and I lost interest shortly thereafter.

I takes a certain type to want to tank, and there's two types, one just likes to be useful, and enjoys tanking for that reason, you'll find they probably have an aly holy priest or the like too, and then there's the tanks who want to be the hero and centre of attention.

There's not even enough of the second lot around tho, sadly. I've got a warrior, paladin and druid, and my warrior is respecced fury, because I dont want to spend 5 minutes trying to kill one mob in hellfire, despite him being prot spec all the way up to that point, and my druid is boomkin because I'm no fan of the feral play. My pally is happy to tank anywhere tho, and can enjoy the pleasures of AOE grinding, and pair him up with a healer and he can pull all of SM cath in one go, thanks Hobbs!

Umm cause a Pug player in WoW, can be anywahere from 6 to 40 years old and most people don't know how to actually play beyond your level and what gear you have...on an average the playing level quality is pretty average...less when your looking at a class that isn't DPS or something "UBER" *sigh.. WoW...

Turbine2k5:

Levinthor:
Because it's a widely disliked form of playing?
It's a lot worse at the lower level instances, because everyone just wants to level as high and as fast as they can before the next expansion comes out.

But it's not like you can only have 1 character per server. There's no excuse for not wanting to try and play other classes.

There is, and it's called "People who don't understand threat."
I can't believe it's any fun trying to tank something when that one rogue or hunter manages to get himself killed because they managed to pull aggro (Repeatedly, might I add) from the tank. Rather pointless to level a warrior and not tank because you're afraid of this, right?

Turbine2k5:

Again, I'm only looking for some decent low-mid level tanks. Is it seriously that hard?!

Then why did you bring up level 70 heroics? I'd certainly not call that low-to-mid-level.

I confused myself with that first quote.
And out of curiosity, what class do you play, exactly?

Ixus Illwrath:

I played a warlock for a long time...

Enough said.

This has nothing to do with the thread what so ever. You my friend, are a perfect example for why the WoW community sucks, but lucky for your server you quit so...

Levinthor:

Turbine2k5:

Levinthor:
Because it's a widely disliked form of playing?
It's a lot worse at the lower level instances, because everyone just wants to level as high and as fast as they can before the next expansion comes out.

But it's not like you can only have 1 character per server. There's no excuse for not wanting to try and play other classes.

There is, and it's called "People who don't understand threat."
I can't believe it's any fun trying to tank something when that one rogue or hunter manages to get himself killed because they managed to pull aggro from the tank. Rather pointless to level a warrior and not tank because you're afraid of this, right?

Turbine2k5:

Again, I'm only looking for some decent low-mid level tanks. Is it seriously that hard?!

Then why did you bring up level 70 heroics? I'd certainly not call that low-to-mid-level.

I confused myself with that first quote.
And out of curiosity, what class do you play, exactly?

1. If you don't understand threat, you shouldn't play WoW. What I mean is everyone in WoW understands the aggro system, and GOOD DPS should know to wait a second or two before starting in on a target so that the tank can bring up his aggro on the target.
2. I have a 70 holy priest(Vixera - Burning Legion), because on my server I heard a lot of people whining that there was not enough heals available, so I decided to take a class that I know I can be of great use. Now I'm leveling a warrior so I can have some available tanking, if needed.

Turbine2k5:
1. If you don't understand threat, you shouldn't play WoW. What I mean is everyone in WoW understands the aggro system, and GOOD DPS should know to wait a second or two before starting in on a target so that the tank can bring up his aggro on the target.
2. I have a 70 holy priest(Vixera - Burning Legion), because on my server I heard a lot of people whining that there was not enough heals available, so I decided to take a class that I know I can be of great use. Now I'm leveling a warrior so I can have some available tanking, if needed.

I forgot what I was going to say.
So instead, bad DPS drives tanks away from PUGs, and as a result, less tanks who want to do an instance.

It was going to be a lot longer than that, but I lost my train of thought about halfway through.

Also, as a healer, you have to admit that healing that certain person who pulls aggro gets annoying pretty quick.
I'm sure the same goes for the tank.

Anyway, look on the bright side. As soon as the next expansion comes out, everyone and their cousin/grandmother/alter ego will rush to make a deathknight. I predict an overflow of tanks in the near future.

There are several real reasons why there is a lack of tanking, but a few reasons stand out more than others. Stress is a big one, especially in PUG's. Marking, pulling, aggro switching, making sure the huntard doesn't target the wrong mob, etc. it's a LOT of work, so most of us tanks only tank for people we trust.

A lot of us are losing interest (or rather, have already lost interest) in WoW tanking, because the game seems to be building further and further away from it. PVP, anyone? The single easiest access to high quality gear is PVP. No guild or tedious raid schedule required, only time and perseverance. Hell, you don't even need to win. If you will look carefully though, there is no tank gear, since it is all geared towards dps/healing.

As a last quick note, raiding as a tank is rather dull, even when get shiny upgrades, that let you tank raids better. When dps classes get raid upgrades, not only do they do better raid dps, but more aspects of the game improve for them as well, pvp, soloing, etc.

Maybe i'll return to tanking when they make respecs for tanks and healers free, so i can at least do some BG'ing or solo questing when i want without forking over 50G for 2 hours of fun.

I don't find it as annoying. I give the idiot DPS a warning, then after he's become annoying, I let him die and run his butt back (if he doesn't like it, there's plenty more DPS out there.)

But yea, you've got a point that everyone and their mother will become a DK, so I'm not worried about then, but I'm just questioning as to why people will not tank.