submitted by /u/Financial_Radish
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​r/wow Hello, bit of background on me. This is my first time tanking since leveling dungeons in vanilla WoW. I have never really participated in mythic plus outside of very low keys in which I was very over geared. My goal this season was to try to get 2k rating on a tank. I have previously played exclusively as a ranged dps player and my previous goals each raid tier was to get AOTC. I am not a great player but I would try hard and my average parses would fluctuate between 60-80. Motto of first time tanks should be: “Get comfortable with being uncomfortable.” Mindset of first time tanks should be: “I want to be a successful tank more than I’m afraid or anxious of failing.” I see a lot of posts of how to get over tank anxiety or how to get started. Here is what I did: Researched and prepared When I feel anxious I try to prepare more. I used Quazii to research dungeons, tanks, pulls, tank class knowledge, etc. I didn’t feel a need to know EVERYTHING but I felt a need to understand boss mechanics and a generalized route through the dungeon. Start small, finish big. Start in either normal or heroics and treat it like real dungeons depending on gear. Rotate your defensives, practice your active mitigation, get familiar with your route, etc. Then move on to mythics and lower end keys like 2-4s. Find general routes at keystone.guru and use the PUG friendly ones. If you plan on trying to achieve Keystone Hero (KSH) then you don’t need fancy skips or elaborate mob skipping. You need an easy, reliable and replicable route that you can remember and lead PUGs or teams through. Understand boss mechanics enough to give light instructions if necessary to your group. Run dungeons over and over. It’s the best teacher. Did you plus three a +2 key but feel like a +5 is too intimidating? Bust the key down a few levels. I did this a lot and it helped. If I didn’t feel mentally ready for a certain key level then I wouldn’t do it and would choose a smaller key to get more hands on experience. Dungeon Leading Be the change you want to see. Say hello as people join or you join a group. On dungeons with perhaps multiple routes or a large pull at the beginning, feel free to share with your party. Ask them when they prefer to use lust on either first pulls or certain bosses. You will start to gain this type of knowledge while doing lower keys and from your experience Feel free to share with groups that you are a new tank. Most people don’t care and are wiling to help you understand the route with in-game pings. You will fail. Everybody does. There is no avoiding this. The only thing you can do is learn from it and try to do better next time. I bricked a +10 key that would have given my group portals recently because I wiped on the second boss in Siege. Because I wiped, that meant I was responsible for 4 other deaths (5 in total) plus the time it takes to run back to the boss to re-pull. It sucked. However, I apologized and moved on and tried to learn what I did wrong and work to correct it in the future. Sometimes for whatever reason you just dont have it mentally to tank during a game session. Recognize this and log off or play a different toon or do lower level content that is much easier to just unwind. If you encounter toxic players just ignore them. Literally, ignore them in game. If dps or healers pull for you take it as their way to communicate that you can do larger pulls. Its also good practice in making you perhaps feel a bit uncomfortable which is good. It allows you to try larger pulls and see how to be successful at them. Also with pugs I usually start off with smaller, one pack pulls and assess their dps and ability to interrupt casters. This information then informs me on what type of group this is and I will adjust my pulls accordingly. Tank Mentality Be a positive person in the face of toxicity Be patient and willing to explain mechanics if necessary Don’t be preachy but offer things you may be seeing that is causing wipes How you respond when you fail is determined by you Pick a class you enjoy! Every tank can get KSH Try to create a fun atmosphere during keys Its ok to joke about a “spicy” large pull or joke when you wipe or fail a mechanic. Be prepared Know the dungeon, know the route, know the boss mechanics for not just your role but other roles if necessary. Closing Thoughts I wanted to try tanking because I was getting burned out with the rat race of DPS and meters. I find tanking mythics to be enjoyable and rewarding. I love knowing more about the dungeons and mechanics because I felt compelled to know more as a tank. It’s great experience and knowledge to have regardless of role. I think I will continue in season 2 and try to get even better and perhaps get KSH again even faster. I play with my guild in M+ a lot but I also enjoy playing with PUGs because its so satisfying to clear a dungeon successfully with a PUG group. A lot of times it’s a struggle but when it isn’t it’s a lot of fun to have a random group of people just be in sync with each other and perform really well! submitted by /u/Financial_Radish [link] [comments] 

submitted by /u/Financial_Radish
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