An Ode to M+ Tanking in TWW – It’s great
TLDR – M+ Tanking in TWW is the most satisfying it has been for years; for the first time in a long time, the tank is an active part of the team rather than an immortal, self-important, egotist.
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Context
For context, I have been playing the game for years, primarily in a tank role and am currently sitting comfortably above 3k rating but far from the highest-level play.
While there are obvious issues with the M+ system (as there always are), I genuinely feel that tanking is in a great spot.
This opinion seems less widely held, and many of the more prominent content creators, as usual, would have us all believe that it is in a constant state of being absolutely f**ked.
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Tanks were an island <3
Until recently, tanking had become the most isolated role in the game.
The rest of the team, healer included, work together to survive whatever the dungeon throws at them, and that challenge varies depending on the route/ pace of the tank.
Outside of route/pacing, in previous seasons the role of the tank was to support the DPS/healer through interruptions and stops; with very little onus on the ability of a tank to well.. tank.
So much so that other players have become entirely used to ignoring the tank and assuming that they will survive.. which we did with little to no effort.
In this environment the frustrations of playing a tank basically boiled down to watching the DPS die because they didnt use defensives properly or blaming the healer because they didn’t top everyone off before a particular mechanic.
We could happily flame DPS and healers because we were playing a different game, one entirely separate from them. We had no threatening failure state and no real risk of losing; we were glorified egotistical babysitters with no actual gameplay and no way to differentiate a good tank from a bad other than how many stops/interruptions we pulled off.
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The Sweet Irony of complaints
So the changes are in, and the season is approaching its end. What are tanks complaining about?
We are complaining about having to effectively rotate Defensives to tackle specific attacks – like the other roles are already required to do.
We are complaining about relying on the healer to heal us – like they have to heal everyone else, including themselves.
We’re complaining that it has become much harder to stay alive – well that’s kind of our job, and the skill gap we’re required to close through practice - like increasing DPS or HPS.
Suddenly, we are playing the same game as everyone else. Our failures are now as evident as the failures of other roles, and as the egomaniacs we’ve sadly become, we can’t take it.
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The Holy Trinity is back!
So tanks have gone from being invincible always to being invincible most of the time, and I think that’s great. There is finally some meaningful gameplay for tanks – we can express ourselves through survivability.
This season, for the first time in ages, it is super easy as a tank to recognise whether your healer is any good, and I hear from healers it's equally as easy to recognise if your tank is good, too.
We have the same onus on us as the rest of the team and the same ability to contribute and (importantly) f**k up too. In short, we’re back to the holy trinity, not whatever the hell we had beforehand.
The holy Trinity
Whatever the f**k we had in recent seasons
If this teamwork comes at the cost of destroying a few tank egos, I’m all for it. I’d be interested to know if anyone has had a similar experience.
P.S. for those of you who will inevitably say tanks have enough to think about – do one – it’s arguably the most straightforward roles in the game!