Every Mythic+ season opens with the same forum thread: where are all the tanks? The shortage is not a phase — it is structural, and understanding why explains half the economics of the key scene.
Why nobody tanks pugs
- Responsibility asymmetry: the tank chooses the route, sets the pace and owns every wipe in the group's eyes. DPS mistakes are private; tank mistakes are broadcast.
- Knowledge tax: a competent key tank memorizes routes, skips and pull timings for every dungeon every season. That is homework DPS players never do.
- Toxicity exposure: surveys and every tank you know agree — tanks catch the most flak, so they retreat into guild groups and friend circles.
The market consequences
Tanks in the group finder are scarce enough to pick any key instantly, which drains them from the pug pool further — they only play their own keys with their own people. The result: DPS queue times balloon at exactly the key levels where players push for score, and the classic evening of declined applications begins.
What actually works as DPS
Run your own key so tanks apply to YOU; build a two-night regular group where the tank is a person, not a slot; learn routes yourself so you can call them, making your group tank-friendly. And when a specific key on a deadline meets an empty tank column in the group finder, that is precisely the gap professional carry teams fill — a rehearsed tank-healer core is most of what you are booking.
The uncomfortable truth
The shortage will not fix itself: the incentives that empty the tank pool are baked into how pugs treat tanks. The players who solved their key nights stopped waiting for the queue to improve and either became the tank, befriended one, or budgeted for one. Choose your lane before the season does it for you.