If you’ve ever queued up for a dungeon or raid in a massive multiplayer online game (MMO) and found yourself waiting for what feels like an eternity, you’ve experienced a symptom of a modern gaming epidemic. You check the group finder. Two healers are ready. A small army of damage dealers (DPS) is chomping at the bit. But the crucial first slot, the one for the Main Tank, remains empty. The clock ticks on.
This experience has a name, born from player communities: Tankxiety. It’s the specific blend of pressure, stress, and fear that stops players from stepping into the tanking role. This is creating a massive bottleneck in high-level group play. If you prefer a smoother and more reward-based experience while gaming, try a round or two with your friends on 22Bit, and see how you can win multiple real-life rewards while having fun!
The Weight of the Shield
“Tankxiety” stems from one simple fact: the tank is the de facto leader of the group. Everyone else follows their say, creating an immense psychological burden that other roles simply don’t have.
The Spotlight is Always On You
- From the moment a dungeon begins, all eyes are on the tank. Did you pull the right group of monsters? Is your positioning correct so the boss isn’t facing the group? Did you use your defensive ability at the perfect moment to survive a massive blow? A single misstep from the tank almost always leads to a “wipe,” the total party kill.
- When a DPS makes a mistake, it might just mean the fight takes ten seconds longer, but when the tank makes a mistake, it’s a five-minute run back to the start and a choir of sighs (or even, angry comments) from the group.
The Burden of Knowledge
To fulfil the role effectively, you should know the entire dungeon or raid inside and out, which includes:
- The precise location of every enemy group.
- The attack patterns and special abilities of every boss.
- The exact timing of big, tank-killing attacks.
- The optimal path to take through the instance.
Meanwhile, a DPS player’s primary responsibility is often just to attack the thing the tank is attacking, so the knowledge gap is enormous. This time investment required to study fights beforehand is a barrier to entry for many.
The Domino Effect
The shortage of tanks has a cascading effect that impacts the health of the game itself.
Endless Queue Times
This is the most obvious consequence, as in titles like Final Fantasy XIV or World of Warcraft, DPS players can routinely face wait times of 15, 30, or even 45 minutes for a dungeon that itself only takes 20 minutes to complete. This discourages people from engaging with a core part of the content and logging off.
The Healer Burnout
The tank and healer are symbiotic partners, so when a tank fails, the healer is the first to feel it. They frantically try to keep the party alive against impossible odds. A constant stream of under-geared or inexperienced tanks can lead to healer burnout. When they start to leave the queue as well, the group-finding system grinds to a complete halt for everyone.