OK this is getting rather silly regarding hard mode Flashpoint GF

LOL... roll a tank

Give me legacy wide commendations with a significantly increased cap and a stacking reward bonus of credits and commendations for completing flashpoints and I'd consider tanking again, more than one run even.

But for the most part many of the replies have summed up the reason why most tanks won't pug anymore. It's just not fun to deal with stupid people.

This is an age old problem which, IMO has a possible solution which is both simple and terribly complicated at the same time-

Player Etiquette

Allow me to explain.

When I queue up as DPS, I try to stick to the below priority -
1. Kill Order.
2. Anything that touches the healer overrides priority 1 and must be killed.
3. Pay attention to mechanics and phase changes. A good example here - Mando Raiders Final boss. When turrets are up, I should not be touching Mavrix at all. Turrets are my priority, once turrets are down, then I can open up on Mavirx himself.
4. Spread out my damage - If I open up with everything I've got right at the beginning, then tanks will most probably lose aggro. That 10k SoS followed by an 9k FT doesn't help the tank who hasn't built up an aggro table yet. In this regard, I give the tank 2-3 GCDs to build up a good ground. I know this point will be contested. But this is my practice and so far no tank has complained about it (this was also my practice when I was doing HM raid with my old guild).

Doing big numbers on the wrong target makes me look like an ***, doing big numbers on the right target makes the tank's and the healer's job easier. Problem is - a fairly high number of DPS class players, because of gear, feel they have a god given right to completely ignore Kill order. This frustrates both tanks and healers to no measure and as result, they stop queuing. If they did the right thing, then fps go a lot smoother, lot less frustration and much more enjoyable for the whole group. I sometimes wonder if these guys do the exact same thing when they're doing progression raiding and if so, why do their Raid Leaders put up with it.

As a tank (a mediocre one at that), I try to follow the below -

1. Aggro priority - my job is to make sure as many of the Elites and Strongs as possible are focused on me. If I lose aggro of weak or standard mobs to DPS, I wont fret over it - those things die quick and smart DPS should be able to clean them up before jumping on the strongs and Elites.
2. Spread out mobs - I'll ask DPS to handle to weak stuff while I taunt the strong/elite to me. Keep them bunch ed as much as possible. This makes for a clean fp
3. Set a medium pace - I don't need all my DCDs available, but so long as healer has full force/energy, everyone has picked up loot and my main CDs are available, I'll charge in. I don't like spending 2 hours in an FP, or doing RCs before every single pull. At boss fights, I'll ask if group is ready, no answer in 3 secs, I assume they're ready and I will pull.
4. in between fights, its not healer's job to top me up - I got an out of combat regen for that. that force/energy the healer spent topping me up, could've been better used in the next fight.

Problem I face regularly (in fact, 98% of the time) - DPS juggs/maras feel the obnoxious need to jump in first or MM snipers take a knee and want to get in that insta snipe. This means if my major skills are on CD after the last fight (charge/ grapple etc.) I'll need some time for them to become available, which makes my job easier. Everyone wants to rush the FP at breakneck speed, even if it means pulling ahead of tank over and over despite being asked not to. I can handle it if they gave me a few secs to build up an aggro table instead of taunt fluffing, but asking for that is too much for these uber l33t DPS who can solo burn Dread Council in their sleep with only a pair of tweezers. On one hand, this makes me want to give up tanking all together, on the other hand, realization that doing so only compounds the issue at hand still keeps me wanting to queue. Fortunately for me, I've managed to get the attention of some good folks who practice what the preach and do the right thing, so I now mostly queue with them. I still queue for a random group to at least try to be a part of the solution, but not as much as I'd like - simply because dealing with the Prima Donna DPS/healers isn't worth the time and effort.

My apologies for the wall of text

And i agree with you sir. Try to play as a tank and you'll receive hate in exchange.

Problem :

1. No multi-specs
2. Painful and costly respec system
3. No automated gear switching
4. No load/save UI key and skills layout
5. Alternate gear taking inventory
6. Cumbersome mods management
7. No gear tabs
8. No (optional) cross server queues

Can't have a success story with all that.

I think those might help address part of the problem, but part only. It might encourage a small percentage of people to tank, but then the fundamental problem remains with one addition: now you have DPS players queuing as both tanks and DPS, and just swapping (or not) to whatever the queue pops. I have a feeling that would result in a glut of REALLY bad tanks in GF. If KDY grads are a problem as DPS, just imagine what they'll be like as tanks.

Don't get me wrong, sometimes I wish I could swap my main away from Shield spec and into Tactics or something without getting all new gear and redoing all of my hotkeys, but I really don't see competent players swapping much. If they were going to have a tank, they'd have one already.

all of the above is incredibly minor. and field respec is not costly, after single time fee - its free to subscribers. or you could just go to fleet and not even pay that fee. cumbersome mod management is a matter of perspective. I actualy like mod system in this game, I just don't like deliberately bad enhancements you get in commendation gear.

none of the above when/if changed, will fix an actual problem with groupfinder. and that problem is - players. you cannot really fix jerks but you CAN fix incompetence by gating groupfinder content behind having to pass training for your chosen spec.

Don't get me wrong. This is probably a good idea and perhaps not too hard to implement.

POINT: Can someone at an upcoming Cantina event mention this. Repeatedly? Perhaps on a big sign with a flashing light?

Anyways, can you imagine the drama the forums will see? Proving grounds are too hard! ***? I instafail because I use Knockback/Overload once?!

You pretty much summed it up. We had a run two nights ago HM Czerka Labs where the Jug tank (from a very prominent guild) was screaming at our healer the entire run and he was doing no aoe taunts, no agro, no nothing playing as if he was a Marauder... He left at the end with a bash on our guild saying "we'll get better soon."

I won't have anything to do with that guild anymore. We usually run HM anything with zero wipes. So in that instance it was the tank's attitude but it wasn't the tank it was the attitude. DPS do it too, so do healers. And there's NOTHING you can do about it!!!!!!!! NOTHING! What, ignore them? Give me a break, it does nothing.

This game needs a player rating system like XBL so you can rate these a-holes 1 star so people know when they see them trying to queue in.

We could forcibly unsub ppl who click their abilities, but then 90% of the game would be unsubscribed.