Feel free to ignore all these tips from the Solo MMO Player, but be warned--if you do, you are going to fail as a tank and you are going to be much mocked to boot.
Slow Down - Instances are not a race. If a tank outruns everyone else, the ads will be drawn to the tank and the group will fail because all the ads will be concentrated around the Boss, protecting and healing the Boss, and it will be impossible to take the Boss down. Don't rush and allow many ads to be killed as the group goes through the instance.
Don't Panic - Just concentrate on what your job regardless of all going on around you.
Don't Stop to Look at the Map - The in-game map isn't that helpful. It pays to view videos of the instance ahead of time so you have a general idea of where to go and what the NPC mechanics are. Making everyone stand around while you try to figure out where you are and where you should be is going to annoy the other players without buying you anything. Prepare ahead of time.
Kill the Ads - You don't have to kill each and every ad but you have to get as many as possible so they aren't all bunched up around the Boss at the end, protecting and healing the Boss. See Slow Down and the link at the end for help in tanking to prioritize the NPCs that must be killed.
Running in Circles Is a Bad Idea - Characters in ESO must target ads and bosses before they can get off a shot. If the tank is running all over, targeting is impossible and shots will be wasted. Then the group has to wait for the cool down period to be over while the ads are attacking them. Everyone dies. (That's not the point of the instance, in case you didn't know.) Zigzaging from side to side is also a bad idea for the same reason. The Solo MMO Player has no idea why so many tanks run in circles these days but it does nothing whatsoever to get through the instance. See Slow Down.
Whining Gets You Nowhere - Complaining that you've run an instance four times and not gotten the drop you wanted will get you No Sympathy Whatsoever from experienced players who've run WOW instances forty or fifty times (or even sixty times--The Solo MMO player's record) before a rare item dropped, especially if you failed to trigger the quest at the beginning of the instance that would guarantee the drop once you finish the instance. Don't bother asking if someone has the rare item they'll give you. It's not your birthday, bro, and the other group members don't care about your little problems. Spend all your energy learning to tank. This website looks helpful. Note the links at the end.
