The Shortage Of End-Game Tanks In ESO Is Mind-Blowing 

Amen tanking kinda’ stinks. - You NEED to be a mechs expert - You CAN’T die - You can’t carry the group - You can’t be “fake,” but fake healers or DPS are everywhere - To do non-group content, you NEED another build (which sucks given the inventory and armory slot limitations) - The flashy sets (Frozen Watcher, Infernal Guardian, etc.) aren’t meta, and meta sets (except Turning Tide) are passive & boring - AND rude people still exist The one enduring benefit is that you’ll queue up quickly, very quickly!

the armory cost being seprate for each toon, and you have to pay crowns for each is why there nobody bothering to have a tank build they can just switch to... i think they should of made armory slots cost gold for at least 2 more slots. and make armory slots universal when you buy the other slots that can cost crowns...i swair, zenmax is just so greedy when it comes to quality of life lmfao.

So I created learning groups, back in the day, on FFXIV. Now that we have a search engine in ESO for groups, its feasible to make learning parties. And in them, I set a rule that it required people who were patient and willing to learn, with ZERO toxicity. It usually worked out beautifully. Most ppl want this type of group to learn and relax, have fun, etc.

I'm not a great tank and don't have all meta loadouts for end game content, but I started tanking because of the shortage in general. My q times while playing as a tank are almost non existent so I've been enjoying learning. I think a big piece is not many people know mechanics. You also touched on how people expect everyone to know everything, which is why I mostly play dps when it comes to trial content. It's the one role I can confidently do without worrying about fucking the group up.

I think the 1000+ cp players who have lost all enjoyment in the game and just speed run dungeons and dont wait for new players to quest will turn a lot of new players away from pve. In the last week i have had multiple runs where someone missed a boss and ruined the quest just because high cp level players refuse to wait. Everyone likes to complain about fake tanks but a new player wont care or notice there isnt a tabk. They will notice the dick that ran ahead and made them miss out completing the quest.

Yea queue times for a dungeon as dps is ridiculously long. My tank instant joins a dungeon. So wild.

As an experienced player, both tank and dd, the main issue in veteran random dungeons is lack of dps and mechanics knowledge. A lot of content creators promote 1 bar builds that have no place in veteran content, they should tell their viewers the truth about what the builds are designed for.

Yeah, I've been in PUGs in a final fight where as the tank I did 8k dps and the other 3 people who were light attack specialists managed 4k dps. Damn ZOS for nerfing light attacks! 😛 (Maybe I shouldn't be so critical of the Oakensoul HA builds and Arcanists)

I'm a Templar tank who used Tormentor + Explosive Charge as my main build and they removed it. My motivation to tank now is just dead.

I’m a tank… running turning tide/powerful assault… fairly new to eso, like 1 month in… The eso community is not friendly 😂😂😂 Give me a chance to learn the mechanics BRO! Or try to help damn

Well presented video. Very well thought through. I'm 10yrs in w/2 full tanks. Initially spec'd as tank. Levelled them as dps. Converted after finishing all bar skills and morphs. Highly recommended for new folks (not ALL skills, cause that's nuts) 😊

to your note: It adds a little challenge cause the fights take longer. I don't think that's the case - i as a tank when questing am basically unkillable, i have self-heal, mitigation, whatever. So i just sit there constantly with 100% HP with fights just taking me longer, which is not a challenge if i essentially cannot die. It's more like unnecessary inconvenience.

Good video. Just got back into this game after a year break. Been queing as healer w/ SPC/PA in random norm and vet dailies for the transmutes. Though I have enjoyed PA in pvp, I want to get better at pve and this video made me realize I could be putting that ice staff to better use! Especially if a lot of tanks are already using this set then it means I'm not helping the group much. I'm gonna set up a tank tomorrow and start practicing, thanks for the motivation!

I have to disagree with you about tutorials. In my opinion one of the greatest weaknesses of ESO is that it is bad at teaching people how to play. ZOS puts a lot of responsibility for this in the hands of the community. That means that people who don't seek out external resources and don't happen to stumble into a supportive guild, will most likely not even realize how much better they could be. A concept I have talked about in different places is to replace the Undaunted introduction quest where you have to enter a dungeon with a visit to an Undaunted training facility, where you can learn about the roles in group PVE and what is expected of them. Maybe place a portal in the enclaves, so players can go back there. ZOS is trying to appeal to a very casual audience. That means that many new players don't have any prior MMO experience and may have never heard of the holy trinity. If you teach them the basic idea behind every role, they probably not only become better at playing their own role, but also have a better understanding of what the other players in their group are doing. This could improve the conditions for new tanks by a lot, because even new players would have some basic understanding of the role and new tanks would start with a better foundation, so more experienced players would be more accepting of them. Of course, at some point you will not progress further without external resources, but as it is, many new players probably don't even know what to google for, if they want to get better.

As an experienced tank and dps. In the beginning when a dps would complain. Id be like "cool let's switch then since you're a good tank. I thought the dps was low anyway."

As a dk main tank, i hate tanking in this game mostly because the DPS in pug groups are atrocious. No one knows the mechanics, you end up being the last person standing with your 8k dps trying to solo the vet boss for 20 mins just to get the clear, and the DPS output these days is the number one reason why i hate tanking. If I'm doing 8k dps, my CMX shouldn't show that I'm doing over 50% of the dmg. It's so INCREDIBLY slow. As the tank you'll take the aggro from enemies AND aggro from the group even if you're the only one still standing and no one is doing the mechs. No one is willing to learn, no one is willing to even try the mechs, all the DPS wants to do these days is keep trying the same thing over and over again like it'll magically work and they REFUSE to take blame that their DPS is god awful. There are some things that are just straight DPS checks but you as the tank will be blamed for it if the team wipes. If you tank in this game, i highly highly suggest you just tank for friends and experienced guild members. Never pug unless you want to waste hours of your life for a vet dung that could be ran in 30 mins or less.

your message is great... be nice to new tanks

Make 1 fun tank DPS build for random normal stuff and questing and make a build if you have to tank for hard content for people you know that deserves to be there and not just looking for a carry. I have 5 different class tanks all sporting unique DPS tank builds which are fun and able to solo just about any world boss and solo any normal dungeon run, but I know enough that if I need to run trials or vet hard mode runs I need to run a different set so it's easy as hell enough to do. Join a guild you can have 5 different guilds, 500 per guild total 2495 potential semi vetted team mates for hard content.

True, I agree that a strong first step would be to improve the tank experience. However, I don’t think I fully agree on it being the community’s job to teach fundamental game mechanics. I tank almost every day I play but I am exclusively tanking for friends these days. Your average eso DPS player is *very bad* at the video game. It’s not meant as a personal insult, just an observation after thousands of hours in the game. I primarily blame ZOS but acknowledge the players do bear their share of the responsibility. I feel ZOS is at fault because they have pursued a playerbase who “main” the crown store and hasn’t educated them on the basic mechanics of the game at all. The tutorial is beyond elementary, and I think there are worthy group members out there who simply don’t know what the hell is going on haha. A lot of people say ESO is boring, but I think a major reason for that is that the tutorial has you light attacking the whole time and casting like one skill over and over. Get people involved in the combat mechanics early, let them have fun! However, I know it’s not just an education issue. I have also met a lot of players who think queuing for a dungeon means they are entitled to a clear. That’s not really much of a problem in and of itself for me, but it becomes a problem when they just mindlessly heavy attack without casting skills and ignore fight mechanics. I know we say this game has a great community, but honestly the most toxic people I’ve met are #esofam players who think you work for ZOS by tanking and that they’re paying your salary with their crown purchases or something lol. Never mind seeing that as a tank issue, I’m simply not going to play with someone who doesn’t respect other people. This is why I only do vet tanking with friends and guild mates now. Which, mind you, is a privilege as I actually *have* that network built up already. A new tank is out in the cold all alone which brings us back to needing to improve things on a game design level.

The account wide stuff is weird. The crown store is so expensive for everything. They don't even realize if they made things account wide and reduced the prices MORE people would be buying it because it's cheap players would be less reluctant to make a purchase.

@Cooperharley great job! We'll said.

I felt this to my core sir. Great points about a topic that is often the elephant in the room. The perpetual cycle of new players that are wanting to tank and failing to stick with it because of being frustrated or humiliated helps no one.

I don’t care about damage as a tank, I just want to stack all the trash mobs with something like vat sword and board and aoe taunt, so the dps can do their job. When I dps and have a tank that doesn’t stack or aoe taunt it gets so tedious to kill trash mobs. That’s my only gripe.

I know this is a little older but I just came back after 6 years and the dungeon finder needs an option so that it doesn't require a Tank and a healer, you sit in the que waiting 15 to 25 min if not longer on an undaunted pledge waiting for a Tank

Been playing this game for a month and I'm lovin it. Upon watching this video, Ig choosing the tank role was the right decision I made and in hopes i could atleast do the community a teeney weeney favor lol

Awesome video, I agree 💯

You and others have said it, and it has been my experience as well being one who started a main as a healer. Nothing is more frustrating in the game than bad DPS. I don't think that many expect them to be a meta top tier DPS, it's just actually shocking how bad/low they can get. Practically useless sometimes. Sometimes literally worse than a companion. I have had to port out of runs where I was running a support role to swap over to DPS to just finish a run. End game tanks or healers? Yeah, they ain't got not time for that and won't even mess with pugs.

This is facts XD I was just in a vDSA that I thought I'd help some people out with, and I have personally never seen the bosses get enraged in vDSA and I have been playing since 2015, and then, the healer blamed me and said they have gotten clears with lower dps. I have always loved tanking, but I have been playing mostly dps because tanking stuff is either impossible to clear if I go in as the tank, or they dont want me as tank because I havent tanked the content before.. which I do not understand, if I can't tank something because I havent tanked it before that means I just will never tank that content lol.

After watching this video: I won't try tanking in this game.

Some of the problems for new tanks is they need to know the mechanics of the boss fights. The best way is to run these dungeons on normal, before going into vet content. The number of times I've had a pug member messages they have never done the dungeon before, playing on vet is crazy to me. I would never do that. Go do the dungeon on normal FIRST, get to know the lay of the land, & how to deal with the bosses. Another issue is Hard Mode, in the base game most just need the group to read a scroll, Which is even too complex for some group member to do. So when they do come to a HM mech that is complex, they fail miserably. The DLC dungeons I find are even worse, I really don't want to have to run to several different areas, just to pull a leaver, so I can activate the HM. Keep it simple, because most group players, can't even read a simple scroll. lol. But seriously, having to spend ten mins trying to activate the HM, can be a pain. Trying to keep a certain amount of enemy adds up, or start with a vast number of enemies first, ignoring an aid to heal or protect the group, can be problematic for many new players. Finally as stated, not having an AOE taunt, is a big issue. After killing the Tormentor armour set, there is really nothing in game that can effectively do this any more. Swarm mothers monster set has a limited effect, but still needs enemies to focus their attacks on the tank. I also agree having more MONSTER damage to enemies could help tanks in PVE do a bit more damage. So having access to Empowered on the Sword & Shield weapon passives, would be a good idea, as it has NO effects in PVP...

Most end game groups or guilds have a preferred tank (and a small handful of backups). When those tanks leave the game, they run into the issue of trying to find a tank. As a tank main myself, a lot of groups don’t want to take the time to help you learn. I’m fortunate some groups have taken a chance on me and have helped me learn.

Great video

It is boring to Tank. Even people in random dungeons comment your lack of trial-gear or meta setups if you tank for them. Tank-spec in open world is sluggish since you lack the dmg of an aggressive healer or a standard dps. In Vet dungeons a Tank has the weight to carry of a missed block/dodge or missplaced boss results in a wipe.

CP 3000 and just started tanking and enjoying it. I will say it’s annoying when DPS runs ahead and doesn’t wait for me stack the ads. Also love zero waiting time for anything. Just started learning trial content and it’s difficult as people have zero patience and assume a level 3000 tank is an expert.

Yes we need more tanks!

I'm a tank main. I love the role of tanking. I think you've roughly identified the problems with it. Trials are honestly the most boring tanking because of the demand to conform to being a buff/debuff machine. I'd like to add a little something for everyone running random dungeons of any kind. The ONLY reason you won't find me there is because of a lack of decorum. I'm a proponent of the adage: "You pull it, you tank it." Of course when people get themselves killed they'll throw a legendary toddler tantrum because the tank didn't come save them from them being a jackwagon running ahead with their YOLO spec. In a nutshell, a large segment of the DPS community are entitled brats and it's not fun to tank for them. Tanks aren't shown any respect, common courtesy is rare, so it's no wonder we don't show up. Tanking is a fairly thankless job in any MMO but in ESO it's extra bad. Doesn't matter you've got every achievement for that trial, the normal diff pug is going to tell you that you don't know what you're doing. Doesn't matter you're the first real tank they've seen today, random dungeon DPS is going to sprint from start to finish and pull everything then blame you when they die.

You can build tanks that do good damage. All my tanks do over 20k dps on the 6 million dummy. This works fine in the vet DLC dungeons or normal trials. In vet trials you typically have to wear what the group/raid lead demands to optimize the buffs/debuffs. If you don't do vet trials there's no reason you can't do good damage as well as tank properly. It's harder to play in vet DLC dungeons with pugs, but it's part of getting good at the game. I recommend go full tank first and learn to stay alive, then add damage skills/traits/sets as you get more sure of your abilities. When you choose sets, pick those that boosts both your damage and that of the group, that way you fill your support role as well as boost your own dps.

I started maining a tank and no one ever wants to help me farm gear yet complain there is not enough tanks

When I did play and was grouped with randos or organized group, I would tell them to f off if they tried to tell me what sets I should wear as a tank. "Get your happy arse over here and tank if you want those sets to be run." No one gets to tell someone how to play

I think that’s the problem.. the majority of the player base is just DPS. I play every role I’m not a one trick pony we just need more people to play the other roles.. it not hard. And the type of people that say the other roles aren’t fun are just silly because they’re only saying that because they can’t damage on a tank or a healer.. like people don’t know how roles work just play the game! Makes me sad because 95% of the community are just cookie cutter builds we need to address that. Because when people just copy builds their not learning how to play.. it fucks shit up.. and we in a deep hole now I say rest everyone and let’s just start from the beginning…

I tried switching to tank as its what Ive always played in MMOs. I got trashed talked by a few groups for not "knowing" everything even after telling them I was new to tanking. I havent logged into that toon for over two years.

The thing I find hilarious as a tank during the final boss at vet tempest Island is that i'm the last to die during a wipe😂

Honestly the main reason there are so few tanks in endgame is because it is laughably hard to even start tanking in the first place. For example if I want to start tanking a normal Trial, I need about 2 trial sets (wich I can only farm as a DD or Healer since no group will accept me without the tanking gear). Getting in the Trial-Group as a DD is a big commitment in itself since you need to make time for a sceduled training run, be quick with the application and hit something like 85k+ on the 21 mil dummy to even meet the requirements of most guilds. Wich is just awful considering you have to do it on a role you propably don’t even want to play. And that is just to get starting with tanking. It is mindboggelingly frustrating to even get to the point of learning tanking mechanics that it is just a big turn of for any potential engame Players.

Too true about the 3 dps groups, I had my healer change to a half setup for my dungeon HM prog group its just been easier. Although I have to say they still blame for when they have died for not paying attention. have to say I main an Arc tank its been a whole lot of fun to play I actually enjoy it but sadly end game players do NOT want an arc tank or it has been requested that I do 50k damage as one lol.

I have a tank in every class. Done a lot of end game content. I still use it for farming, but I’ve got so burnt on PvE I basically PvP only anymore.

Problem is that pvp and pve are not separated correctly. If you buff tanks pvp would be screwed. I’m also a tank main and yea it sucks because most people’s dps sucks ass and I just have to deal with it, nothing I can do.

very balanced input and I hope ZOS implements even half of what you have suggested my priority list would be 1. making tank fun in the general game 2. making armory account wide 3. making gets sets/skills for tanks/healers way easier/less time consuming

I stopped tanking as much bc I got tired of ppl running in front of me and pulling (vet dungeons).

As a returning player who rolled a tank - its super fun when the group is chill. Ive tanked one trial and two vet dungeons now. Two of those experiences were amazing. The third was ok until the final boss, when one of the players got super nasty to me. I dont really think it was my fault we bricked on that boss, but dude just started shiting all over me. Made me never want to PUG again for vets.

End game tanks are hiding in their guilds. They don’t care about noobs lol

I'd like to be able to get more transmutes for stuff

it would be really cool, if Zos found away to have a tank trainer ( similar to the trial dummy) where it would run you through mechs of bosses or something, I dont know exactly how it would work but it would be awesome.

Thats why I adapt my builds to the content. Shouldn't be trying to bring meta setups from group content to solo gameplay. It has its own metas. Love my tanks, but also could go for some changes.

I have a tank build for all my characters just for the instant queue time alone

I love being a tank but I hate DK! I like NB, Templar and Necromancer but no one wants those. They force you to play one class and specific sets, no freedom there.

I just came back a month ago after not playing for over 2 years. I wonder if this is an issue on PS5. I made my dragonknight for tanking and found it hard to quest with, and I went with a solo stamina build. If there is an issue, I can start crafting up a tank set and level my skills.

Big numbers go brrrrrrrr

I've been a tank main for more than a year now just from the sheer fact of bad tanks in vet content to be honest. I was explaining mechanics and I was a dps main and the tank continuously did not execute the mechanics and ended up just rage quitting. I truly love tanking in ESO due to the fact how much in demand they are both in trials and in every queue. I ended up finishing so much more achievements, collected more dyes, more gear due to tanking. My tank is my gear grinder while now I mainly PvP atm. I do agree people with bad DPS LA and HA or using Oakenclutch/puncturing sweeps and still dying got really annoying.

I’ve been a tank since I started and didn’t even know the taunt abilities or uses. I actually never played an mmo at all. It made it worse at low levels, I didn’t know much about armor sets, or champion points. Let me tell you, I’ve been blamed for everything going wrong and kicked from groups. It’s a horrible feeling being constantly being told how bad I was. But every once in a while, I would get players who would tell me and help me during dungeons. Along with a little bit of research, I was able to get better. Still not the greatest at it getting the basic concepts now helps a lot. So now I just get shitted on sometimes. 😂

Getting my friend into tanking was a horrible experience for them - healers would constantly harass them for not being perfect. The armory thing also sucks; there's 3 roles, we should start with 3 armory slots!!!

I got Rushed and wasn't able do story So I just changed from a tank because this i went DPS i was trying clear full dungeon and they ran thought made me so mad so ill be DPS to the Learn to slow down.. and follow tank speed screw them... "i Payed Money to play this game i should be able to play my way in joy the game not Be a Road runner cartoon... "So if you Rude to your Tank you should be auto kicked" >I HAVE SPOKEN THE END

I wanted to play tank but apparently being a 2h tank was a massive problem so I stopped, then there was the speeding through dungeons so I couldn’t get the lore which made me not care about what I was doing which made me in turn not care as much about the rest of the game. I still play now and then but I more or less act as though dungeons and trials just arent in the game.

I'd love to be an end-game tank but I don't have a guild and finding guilds in game is a hazzle. So I stick to my DPS that way I can do other things while I wait for a group to join u.u

Speaking as a babytank just learning to walk. I stay far away from PUGs as possible. That being said. Shout out to my awesome guild for being super encouraging and nice to me. I'm very tankful. :3 Gameplay wise ZOS could make some improvements, Unlockable armory slots via gameplay, cool tank sets. special achievements when you play support roles in vet dungeons or somthing like that.. Or just a freaking ingame tutorial for those just starting out.

I feel the same, i played a tank in dcuo and it was a blast, till the game got very boring. Esos tanking is very monoton, not a lot of variation, especially wenn they nerfed Mistform. It was so much fun with Mistform but now i'm working on a tank that i like and enjoy to play. I couldn't care less of other players wanting me to play a specific way. Its my character not theirs, so they should keep out of my gameplay, or do it they're selves. The prioritys are only to keep the group safe and lower resistances, that's it. The rest is up to you what you like to do. No wunder there is a shortage of tanks, nobody wants to get told how to play their character, they want to enjoy the game in their off-time.

Played ESO since console beta. I dont play ESO as much now but when I do, I exclusively play my tank build in dungeons due to que times(one character account but 8 builds). I found tanking on ESO to be miserable for the 2 following reasons: 1. You're expected to intrinsically know every mechanic in every dungeon or trial regardless of how new it is. Its a standard other roles aren't really held too. 2. The community. My pet peeve when I tanked in ESO was DPS running ahead of me and aggro'ing stuff like they are trying to speed run in PUGs instead of guilds. Respect my authoritah! Oh and theres also the fact that people are either rude on EU or theres a language barrier.

I use my second armory slot for a tank mostly to queue quick in daily randoms but also tanking is fun until you get low dps and the dungeon lasts forever

There is a simple fix. Have modes for each job, DPS, Healing and Tanking. DPS = no changes. Healing = -x% damage and +y% healing. Tanking = -x% damage and +200% aggro. Damage of other than DPS may go down, but they get a bonus to their role. In tanking, AOE damage is like a taunt, in that you are doing 3 times the aggro, but the Tank will still need taunts on the skill bar and to manage taunts, but damage is the AOE taunt, and it is enough damage to matter and be fun.

I have an end game tank character with all of the sets (not perfected) and skills. I've tanked all the normal trials, all the dungeons and DLC dungeons on vet. My trials guild insists I have a certain number of vet hard mode clears BEFORE I can join any progression groups to vet trials. So I'm stuck. I'm ready and think I can get through vet trials, but I don't get the chance. All pugs and group finders require a vet clear to participate, and that would be a rough intro to a vet trial. I am content to do vet without hard mode, though I have a bunch of vet hard mode DLC dungeon clears. I have been working 1.5 years to qualify for their criteria to tank vet trials.

There's a lot of good, newbie-friendly tank sets available in the game. Basic Sets like Leeching Plate, Crimson Twilight, Ebon Armory, Brands of Imperiun (to name a few) can make newbies & casuals tanky enough while their learning. One problen that I see is some groups being impatient enough to see newbies & casuals join harder content (vet dgs and trials) wearing an off-meta tank set and kicks them off right away. This makes a lot of newbie tanks switch from tank to dd or worst, just quit the game entirely. I do understand the need & practicality of wearing meta sets in harder content. Just saying that getting kicked because of wearing a basic, off-meta tank set can be a big turn off for new & casual players. Especially tank players.

Am new to tanking but I will always wait and explain or let newbies do their quests. I also let people know if the content is new to me and feel free to swap me out. Personally? I rather stay in a dungeon after completion until every bag, box, container is searched. lol.

Hats off to op. Your not wrong. But, I feel as though that game is on the downswing.

i started tanking ( basic gear so far TT/Peralescent/crimson/ spaulder/archdruid/sax- dont have mats for the rest) but learning without fucking ppl and getting yelled at is oof. Did some vet dungeons so far since i know em well from Dding and getting achievs there but learning trials is big hurdle for me to wanna do

My solution is tanking in PUG groups on a frost warden with a taunt and double ice staves to still do as much damage as I can. Works well for most vet group dungeons in the game.

maybe if being a tank didnt mean you had to get like 5 sets and use only those takeing all build veriety away just because 1 dps thinks they are too important to give up 1 of they sets to bring a group buff to the team rather then it being the tanks job to respec just so they can do they job...as well as nerfing themselves and takeing all the build craft out of the game. maybe then tanking would be more popular. i myself very much enjoy tanking until im REQUIRED to throw my build out the window because the dps cant deside to bring a set that would be actualy useful to them besides the buff the 5 piece gives. takes all the buiild craft out of the game and i feel like thats a problem that prevents tanking from being more popular it sure curbs my fun playing the game on a tank.

I'm the player you're describing here. I made a tank with tormentors because it was fun.... well that's gone so I made a DK cookie-cutter tank to try to learn about tanking and it was mind-numbingly boring. I have absolutely zero interest in tanking now and i'm definitely not going to run around spending hours doing overland content on my tank when i can just blaze right through it with a DPS.

I use to normal and vet tank all the time, and was really good at it. But recently other classes in the game have started taking over the tanks role and then yelling about how inefectual of a player they are when everyone keeps dying. I havent played in three months because of not being able to find a group willing to cooperate long enough to learn mechanics and each others strengths and weaknesses. Yet I keep hearing about how helpful the community is. From my standpoint, players have become pure toxic and dont learn their roles.

I agree with you for sure.. but for most normal content (which a new player should be learning on) you could get away with a tank front bar and damage back bar.. do plenty damage and still tank effectively

I'll say for me personally that I loved taanking with a group that was growing and working on doing harder and harder content. Then drama busted up the group, so we had trouble filling a full roster from that small guild. I couldn't get a co-tank for trials and no one else wanted to tank. It's been nearly 3 months since I started looking for another endgame group and the best I've been able to play as is dps or support dps. Endgame groups prefer to go with their known tanks, leaving little opportunities for us other tanks to try the harder content. Now I seem to be EC Cro jailed because no dps wants to do such low numbers in a group. 😢

The real reason ppl don’t tank is because it requires knowing a lot of mechs in trial fight and majority of players are casual players who just want to kill stuff and not be bothered about doing mechs honestly. Even to volunteer in a learning run for mechs ppl don’t want to step up and try , that’s the problem with a lot of MMOs when it comes to doing something challenging that doesn’t require ppl to just sit there and press buttons. Ppl perfer to play the game to their want and not to the most effective way tho.

I've not watched all of this yet, but i can already agree with most of it. I started playing as dps. But in my guild, we had the need for a tank - so, for us to be able to do content, i leveled a redguard dragonknight (boo hiss, i hear - for the naysayers, get knotted, i make it work) to tank with. I actually love tanking - with people i know. I refuse to pug as tank, The couple of time i tried, i was left behind to kill everything whilst the others zerged past everything to the final boss. That said, i have stepped into a dungeon for another guild who put the call out for a tank due to the group losing two others leaving......i found out in very short order that they were trying to burn stuff that just shouldn't be burned and they kept wiping. So then i played mentor and we got thru (after several wipes for not listening). I also refuse to pug as healer (my least favourite role, but i'll do it if asked) for the same reason i won't pug-tank.....a healer cannot be left behind with a squillion adds and a minor boss - i'm sorry, a real healer just can't. I don't use the armoury - it is expensive to add slots, AND it is way too easy to overwrite a build and lose everything. SETS - OMG.....!!! I refuse to join any craglorn group or other guild trial runs because i don't have everything they specify! Even guilds with discords who spruke that they are all about players learning how to do stuff are putting requirements on players. Evedrything from sets to skills and cp placement. I do not run tormentor, i think i did when my tank was a 'baby', but that wasn't for long. I have i think pearlescent and powerful assault on her currently, with sword and board from dragonstar arena - BUT i can manage most things when i have support and encouragement from the group.....being the only tank in normal cloudrest isn't fun. I'll never own perfected gear, and i'll never get the other sets completed to use - why? - because my guild is all but dead, and we haven't had enough players to fill a trial in over a year. I have 2 or 3 vet trials under my belt only. Warhorn - whilst i have it - it's effing expensive to trigger! it costs twice as much as my shield ulti.....i don't use it....is that bad - probably - do i know 'when' to cast it? no. What's more confusing is some groups (from what i heard) tell you not to use it, others demand that you do - well sorry, if i need to shield to keep alive and aggro, you better believe i'm doing that. FInal note - i tried to make a comment on that thread - but it won't let me - even after i logged into my account and searched the thread manually - it wanted a log in - which it said was invalid!!

I love tanking. My issue and the reason I don't actively look for trial groups, is people expect you to have the gear THEY want, run the skills THEY want and already know all the mechanics. I'm a passive player and do not study all the trials. I've found some cool groups that I play with. But I'll rarely answer the call for a PUG tank. Why put myself through the ridicule?

The 1 and only thing that keeps me from tanking outside of with close friends is the community TBH.

i tank and heal, warden tank arcanist stamina healer 6k+ weapon damage, i need practice before i can do endgame trials and w/e properly though will get there soon, just came back

Why should I tank for ppl that don't even dps as much as me? I have 120k dps on all toons for example and i'm always asked to tank for ppl who can't scratch 100k ....lol

On Xb NA there is not actually a shortage we just join guilds and none of us queue anymore looking for tanks or heals even because heals is the exact same way. i hop on and group with MY A team which we hit all the vet and at least try the hard modes. LOL you mentioned scalecaller last night i was in scale caller for 2 hours with a not comfortable tank and heals. we had to call out every single mech for tank and heals we didnt get mad we taught them what to do even when we carried for sure I killed every boss just barely everyone ended up dying. That was not my A team Me and the A team hit scalecaller in 20 mins or so.

I have been playing this game going on four years now. I started out with DPS characters, tried a hand with the Healer but really found that I rather adore Tanking. I now have 12 characters with 2 being healers, 5 DPS and the rest are baby tanks, and I've run into many of the issues mentioned. I haven't done a lot of dungeons due to mainly having bad experiences with PUG groups. I've had several where the tank or the healer has literally just bailed mid-run and many where even though you inform them you are new at it and trying to learn mechanics and such they still run way ahead of you, lose you in the dungeons and then get angry because you weren't there for the bosses. How is one supposed to improve in dungeons if this is the typical way a run goes? I've done a couple as a newbie tank, sought suggestions and ways to improve and was simply told I was fine. Um that doesn't really help me at all. I mean I'm a new tank what exactly do you mean by "fine"? How can I be "fine" when I've only ever ran a handful of dungeons as a newbie tank and am still trying to learn mechanics, get down rotations and track all this specific gear and such?? It's sad because out of all three styles I find that I want to tank but there's not a whole lot of support in this game for them. I'm not sure what the solution really is, but I can see why there are so many who won't tank in the game. So sad indeed.

it's just so frustrating that groups keep asking me achievements clear, i have collected tank gears from essentials to situationals but it's so hard to get a proper group

ZOS is gonna sell you the aoe taunt at a point. Im guessing the scribring system is gonna let you modify skills to make them aoe, including a taunt. Thats why the random nerf to tormentor. They always do this. Thats why the mid - endgame is problematic, cause new players gives them proportionally more money, new character slots, crates (they dont have 20+ mounts yet), dlcs bought, costumes, personalities etc, you only buy those things once, or for crates, like twice, cause you already have something that comes from them

They need regular dungeons that teach mechanics, not bosses that hot harder but something like boss gets healed for every missed mechanic and start with more health. The normal dungeons as they are teach nothing, you cant even learn them the way they are.

I enjoy tanking. Knowing the mechanics. Guiding the group. Controlling the mobs. But it's entirely thankless. I try to keep mobs and pull mobs into aoe, apply debuffs. I supply backup healing, supply buffs, etc. It's pretty thankless though. Still, I'd rather do tanking that compete among the damage elitsts.

This is why the armory was created in ESO. Just swap and put on your DPS build when doing solo content

I’ve tanked in every mmo I’ve ever played and I tried it in eso and in my first ever trial I got shit on by literally every other group member and I haven’t tried tanking since

My personal issue with tanking as a templar currently as someone that's run EVERY vet dungeon in the game short of trails. Has almost every monster set. Its not very compelling. Usually, I have to take on both other roles because people are unaware what the mecs are or what their abilities do. And the biggest solution is just people reading. The taunt ability is very lack luster. It'd be nice if tanks get an ability rework to get more AOE taunts, abilities with pulls, abilities with damage reduction circles. Specific abilities FOR heavy armor or tanking weapons so people are unable to use them without wearing full heavy, sword and shield, ice staff, or whatever ESO defines as tanking weapons after a rework. Have specific mechanics that require you to USE said reworked abilities for healing, dps, and tanking roles. Or alternatively make it so only specific roles can do specific mechanics for example "heal X amount of damage within X time" "kill X ads within so and so time" "block X thing with X ability" to try and prevent fake X roles I don't think ESO is a hard game Its probably one of the more forgiving mmos I've played. Rappelz, terra, AION, soul worker, world of warcraft, Asta online, Bless unleashed, Rift, etc. I think they're going in the right direction with the newest dungeons making the game more complex and in turn MORE FUN. More mecs. But they're not defining their roles hard enough. Which I think is a lot of the reason why people like the game, having that freedom but at the same time It's way too easy to just have one or two healing abilities within your skill page and say you're a healer making the game harder for everyone else where it needs to be healers are healers. tanks are tanks. damage is damage. But there's almost no compelling reasons to play that way.

been my guild's ol reliable vet trial tank for a while now, I personally like tanking but lots of tanks I see are afraid of the pressure of having attention on them and tank responsibility, it's like having a spotlight shined on you, not everyone likes it. I had a severely negative experience though when I was starting out and had just gotten to DLC dungeons for the first time as a lvl 45 tank. Got Moonhunter Keep to get my skill point and had a DPS that was the rudest asshole I ever met in the game, kept berating me for not knowing mechs and holding block. I in fact did not know mechs because guess what, a lvl 45 tank that was new to the game didn't know everything, what a surprise! So yeah I agree, don't be an asshole to tanks and teach them, don't yell at them. I didn't let this stop me because I recognized it as a rotten apple in a basket, just throw it away, disregard it and moved on. Someone else might not have seen it that way though. Nowadays I feel I'm at the top of my tanking game now, experimenting with different tanks, trying some off-meta setups that are fun in their own way etc. My trial groups also look forward to me tanking because besides being good at tanking I'm also a no-pressure guy. I don't care if we lose, I may have feedback and comments about what can improve but I never yell at anyone or look for somebody to blame (unless it's me then I call myself out so no one else thinks it's because of them). And I most definitely don't let a defeat be a downer.

I switched to Tank recently. My POV is I get a lot of anger from groups for not being a good Tank at 2520CP. Issue is I was DPS until 5CP ago and played nothing but DPS until recently. So the hostility towards Tanks is so bad that no one wants to tank. It's a community attitude issue. I can leave a group, take the queue penalty and be back in a Vet DLC within 5 minutes. DPS and Healers can requeue for hours for all I care. If you want group content to be vibrant again. Be nice to tanks. That what I've learned

I have to dd in pug 4 man content when I see 55k group dps on burn bosses.

I think in a way that you feed into that a little bit, and you expose the greater problem. When you said that you would rather run with 1 tank and 3 dps. Where are healers supposed to learn? Healers need to learn the mechs too, and hopefully the have most of them down before they step into vet. That leads to the base issue though. ZOS made damage king. Hardly anything else matters. Almost all mechs can be bypassed by more damage. And when they do try and balance things out you wind up with something like vDSR where all it takes is a missed block by the OT and its a group wipe. And this comes from someone who plays all 3 roles well.

I play ffxiv and Eso.. Emm ffxiv is a better game.. Just by a small margin. I do like eso.

I tank pug groups all the time, I teach sometimes who want to be taught on the fly. It just all depends I suppose. I main tank so I understand. We were all noobs once.