When do you consider it okay to leave a Mythic+ dungeon run?

We’ve all been there, right? You put together a group for your Atal’Dazar key and things are going swimmingly until they aren’t. Maybe people aren’t getting in blood pools for Transfusion, or the tank gets shredded by Serrated Teeth on Rezan, or the group’s just getting annihilated by Vol’kaal trash. As the clock ticks, it’s becoming increasingly clear that there’s no chance of timing the key. Now it’s time for the uncomfortable question all M+ players eventually face: At what point is it okay for you to leave?

Players disagree a lot about this. People do Mythic+ for a variety of reasons, and for some it’s perfectly acceptable to leave a group when it becomes apparent that you can’t time the key. For others, leaving before you finish the dungeon is an unforgivable sin. For still others, the point of M+ is just to get a +15 key done for the week, or to help a friend, or to get gear. Naturally, they’ll have different views on the merits of leaving a run early. Conflict happens when people with incompatible expectations all wind up in the same group.

You’ll see evidence of these little subcultures doing their best to avoid each other in the Dungeon Finder:

• “Push” groups: A push group is one that’s explicitly intended to time the key, or (ideally) two- or three-chest it. The keyholder wants to upgrade the key (and often their Raider.io score) and will be fairly picky about who they invite. These groups are often very brittle about mistakes, but will concede defeat early if it’s apparent that a run can’t be salvaged.
• “Completion” groups: You’re here to the grisly end. If you join a completion group, it’s really only acceptable to leave if it’s supremely obvious that the group cannot, under any circumstances, finish the dungeon.
• “Carry” groups: One or more players is inexperienced/under-geared and may not be playing optimally. I’d argue that you really shouldn’t leave these either, because they were honest about the group’s limitations going in.
• Gear groups: If you’re in M+ to gear a character, there’s no point to doing it unless you finish.

As a tank, I’m reluctant to leave any group, because that means the group is over. Even push groups can usually recover from wipes and mistakes up to around +16/+17 and still time a key. However, I’d argue that it’s acceptable to leave a key if the keyholder and/or group are getting toxic. I think you owe it to other players in group content to try your hardest, but that doesn’t mean you’re obligated to take abuse.

Where do you draw the line? At what point does the benefit of leaving the group outweigh the nuisance of a scuffed key?