I started this character very recently as a marauder, went on to warrior.

Tanking up to 50 was fine - because I had previously done the dungeons as a healer and knew where to go and which mobs did what.

And then I hit 50.
I had never done any of the level 50 dungeons or even the story dungeons. I figured I'd give it a shot.

Zerging. Zerging everywhere.

I went through the story dungeons, and the HM primals, and I hardly even had the opportunity to tank. The other tank always outgeared the content and of course, me. The DPS were the same way, and it was hell trying to hold agro against them. I mean, agro in this game is an issue in itself. Anyway, I finished the story and got my Relic weapon and a piece of gear or three .. and then I realized that I was completely useless. What did I contribute to any of that? Nothing.

If I wanted to go and do the level 50 4 man dungeons, I'd have to read up on every single detail of them first, as I wouldn't be able to simply walk right into the dungeon like other roles could. Even after reading those details, I still didn't want to tank anymore. It was scary. I was afraid to fail, especially with everyone else out-gearing you.

Of course, this is all speaking as someone that doesn't know anyone else that plays the game. If I had friends playing with me, it would definitely be a different story, and I wouldn't be afraid to fail with them. However, life as a solo tank is hell.

On top of all that, I believe that the biggest issue with tanking currently is threat. It's my opinion that tanks should not have to stress over threat. Sure, it's not unreasonable to have to work for it somewhat, but in order to grab threat and keep it in this game, you cannot miss a single rotation. You have to be near flawless - even when your party doesn't outgear you (which is rare when you're a new tank).

Instead of having tanks focus on holding threat, why not look into having them focus on active mitigation? It's a much more intelligent and fun system where you're reacting to enemy damage and using the proper abilities to counter it, rather than staring at a threat meter all day.

Don't get me wrong - I enjoy a challenge, and I enjoy tanking. When it's [B]fun[/B].

In the end - I decided to just start over. Going in to these dungeons as a DPS class or even a healer is far easier than attempting them as a tank first.