Tanks in PUG's- Tell 'em straight

Shadoed

After all these years in the game i decided to actually create a Warrior Tank, just purely out of curiosity more than anything else and it has been an interesting ride. The upside is that you are pretty much guaranteed  a dungeon run at any time of the day with a couple of minutes maximum, but on the downside you do take a lot of stick and 'advice' from everyone that thinks they know better.

After one particular run i decided that enough was enough and i needed to lay my stall out at the start of every run so no-one is confused about where i stand on a run, so i composed a small macro which said;

"I am a whiney biatch of a tank, i will moan if you pull. I am very much of the mind that if you pull it, you tank it, so please take note before complaining that i let you die. Let's have fun."

I get a few laughs and 'OK' comments, but since i started posting that up at the start of every run the issues i have with players pulling or critizing have dropped by at least 80%+. It is far from exact science and bear in mind that i am still only running classics at the moment, but i have tried runs since with and without this message and the runs are a lot smoother with it than without it.

If i get anyone who is giving constant 'advice' then i just purely tell them to pick up a damn shield and become a tank, otherwise, keep their 'advice' to themselves.

WW4BW

Always nice to get that sort of thing out of the way before the group gets going.

No matter what game you play.

ScribZ

Had same experience with being a healer in WoW too. I too had to lay out the rules up front, and found it worked rather well. I agree that if you pull it you tank it, I also agree that if you pull it and you shouldnt have you may not get any heals until you learn not to do that anymore. Perk of being a healer The one thing every healer needs to know up from of every run is who is the main tank/puller. You have to know who to watch and who to keep up first and foremost. When you ahve disruptions in that you can recover from it sure, but it makes your run a living hell and tons of work if your the healer. Sometimes it is just better to let that same fool lick the dirt a couple of times as a point than give them the one or two heals which could save them.

 

And yeah, these rules apply to every game.

maji

I shortened it with my tank, while levelling, to saying: "as always: he who pulls on purpose also tanks that mob".

In addition I installed a small addon, that posts in the party chat, whenever someone but me uses a tanking ability (ie an ability whichs main function is to generate a lot of threat). That also helped.