Party Roles

A tank is a character designed to take a lot of damage from enemies and thereby protect the rest of the party. Tanks include Protection Warriors, Protection Paladins, and Feral Druids.

Purpose: To keep the enemies' attention on them and away from the rest of the party, while taking a beating.

Threat Generation
Keeping the monster's undivided attention on them is a key part of tanking. Party members, such as cloth-wearing Priests and Mages, are not suited to taking much damage - particularly from a hard-hitting boss enemy. Tanks have a variety of abilities to accomplish this which vary by class. In addition, tanks typically have an ability that will taunt the monster off another player and onto them. That way the tank continues to take all the hits and the rest of the group can do their jobs of healing or DPS.

Pulling
Another usual role for the tank is to pull enemies for the group, because it causes the monsters to initially go after the tank. Tanks have some ability or weapon that allows them to pull with a ranged attack, depending on class.

Leading
The tank is usually responsible for leading the group around to their destinations, and is frequently the member who marks the enemy targets for DPS and CC priority.

First In, Last Out
The tank should be the first person into battle under most circumstances. If the party is forced to run, the tank should be prepared to buy time for the other party members to escape - taking one for the team. The other party members can then (hopefully) resurrect the dead tank.

Main Tanks vs. Offtanks
If there are multiple tanks in a group, a main tank should be chosen. The offtanks are responsible for helping out the main tank, by backing them up or by tanking additional enemies.

Healing Tips

• Always pay attention to party members' hit points. You don't want to be in a situation where party members die and you could have saved them if you were paying attention.
   
• Use keyboard shortcuts to heal people faster. One common method is using the Function keys to select party members and the number keys to cast your array of healing spells.
   
• Become completely familiar with your entire healing arsenal so that you know exactly what spell to use in any given situation.
• Don't burn through your mana too fast, use timely healing so that you don't waste mana from overhealing.
• Prioritize your healing targets when things get rough - you will likely want to prioritize the tank above all other members.
• Always try to learn and accept tips from others on becoming a better healer.