Think Tank: The Social Side of Tanking

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Today on TORWars, I’m looking at the social side of tanking. If you’ve ever tried to break into a new guild as a tank, this article will probably have a familiar feel.
Hello again, TORWarriors, and welcome back to another edition of Think Tank. Today, I’m thinking about the social side of tanking. Last week, we talked about the gear, and before you can become the tank for your guild, there’s a whole other set of obstacles to overcome and skills to master.  They are social ‘soft’ skills you will need to effectively tank.
We can talk about gear, and rotations, and consumables, and professions all…
This is a topic that strikes me particularly close to home because not only am I trying to work my way in the tanking corps of Zeal, but because I handled this situation so poorly in Dominion. I know most of the people I was with then don’t even play or read blogs anymore, but I hope they have forgiven me for the poor attitude I showed at times while working my way up the tanking hierarchy. Some of it was brought on my misguided (arrogant) belief that what I did in Dominion somehow mattered to the larger paladin tank community, as if my success in Dominion would pave the way for a legion of Paladin tanks to follow in my footsteps (singing my praises of course).

As for Zeal, I was an offtank for Operations Group 2 first run into Karagga’s Palace. I had a great time and it was nice to be back in the tanking saddle again. I handled the situation much better this time around, taking whatever assignments I was given with joy.

I’m not a fan of Bonecrusher. Being a tank for an untankable boss is never much fun. I’m basically just a poor DPSer at that point. I loved Jargo and Sarno. Two bosses, two tanks doing what we do best, getting smacked in the face. When the bullets started flying, I reverted back to calling everything by its WoW name, so Warding Call became Shield Wall and Endure became Last Stand. It must have been confusing to the guys who never played WoW. Screenshot_2012-04-22_00_04_41_625407Our last boss of the night was Foreman. This was a snap aggro, add pick up fight. Avengers shield, how I missed thee. The good news is we managed to down all three bosses after several wipes on each and I came away with a new hat, and some gear tokens. They are like the old Badges or Emblems or whatever SWTOR calls them.

Not bad for our first night.

Comments

Lakini said…
I remember your efforts to convince the world that paladin tanks could do anything warriors could do. Seems like it was just yesterday rather than years ago.
April 28, 2012 at 12:01 AM
Anonymous said…
Honors, where you been. You still alive?

-Teurion
June 15, 2012 at 6:34 AM
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