LFR, tank queue times and loot

[Deleted]

Fairly new WoW player and levelling as a Prot warrior. Currently I am level 87. I have some questions (may be noob!) about LFR,

1. On average, how long do you have to queue as a tank for LFR please? I am guessing long (1 hour+) queue times since you will only need 2 or 3 tanks for 25 man raids.
2. Is LFR loot based on class or your spec please?
3. If tank queue times are long, can I queue up as DPS but still have a *chance* of looting tank gear please?

[Deleted]

Takes your spec into consideration...and a guildie of mine said queing as a tan took him quite a while.

Edit: Actually.... i go as healer and receive healing gear and dps Sha and get dps gear. But if i was to que as damage in LFR and wear tank gear and spec....i'm not too sure what happens.

[Alta87]

Heya!

1. It depends a lot on the day and time of day, can be anything from 10 minutes to 1hour+
2. Loot is based on the specc you signed up as.
3. No

[Keashaa]

1) Depends on time of day and the day. Sometimes, I'm waiting really long and sometimes the invite is nearly instant. But on average you will wait a long time.
2) Spec is all that matters for the loot (that must be since druids and shamans have two dps specs that need totally different gear). So queueing as dps and staying in tank spec will only flatten your damage and so your contribution to the raid
3) see 2)

[Deleted]

Thanks guys for the fast responses.

If I understand some of you correctly, a Protection Warrior can queue up as DPS in *Protection* spec and get tank gear?

Also are you allowed to switch spec once you are in the raid? If yes, how will that affect loot please?

[Reg]

Yeah, you can queue as a DPS and just stay in Protection spec to get tank gear.

[Deleted]

Thanks guys for the fast responses.

If I understand some of you correctly, a Protection Warrior can queue up as DPS in *Protection* spec and get tank gear?

Also are you allowed to switch spec once you are in the raid? If yes, how will that affect loot please?

yep no point queuing as tank until the queue times for class role get shorter. better to queue as dps/healer (if you're monk/pally tank) and grab your tank loot that way

[Kisho]

Thanks guys for the fast responses.

If I understand some of you correctly, a Protection Warrior can queue up as DPS in *Protection* spec and get tank gear?

Also are you allowed to switch spec once you are in the raid? If yes, how will that affect loot please?

You can sign up as a DPS in the Raid Finder UI, but stay in Tank spec. This will mean you get Tank loot, not DPS loot. What you sign up as on the UI has absolutely no relevance to what loot you get: it is only the spec you are that counts.

Yes, you can change spec when in the raid and change per boss. This will then change what loot you get: see above paragraph. You do not get 'locked' to a certain group of loot for an entire raid. You can be DPS for the first boss, tank for the second, then heals for the third. It's on an individual, per boss basis.

I hope that clarifies it for you.

[boneyjellyfish]

Your current talent spec is what determines your loot, not what you queue as. So you can queue as DPS and then switch to your tank spec for a fight to get tank gear, or vice-versa for 1-tank fights like Spirit Kings.

[XanaduNL]

Yeah, you can queue as a DPS and just stay in Protection spec to get tank gear.

This is frowned upon though. As a prot-warrior will do "much" less damage than a dps-warrior. Then again, it's unlikely anyone will find out.

In Heroic dungeons tanks usually have instaqueue. LFR shouldn't be much worse.

[Deleted]

Thanks once again for all your answers. Its good to know there is way to get the gear type I want!

Obviously I don't want to reduce raid dps by being in tank spec if I am not tanking. So if I don't need loot from a certain boss, I will use DPS spec for those bosses.

This problem can be easily solved, if Blizzard let people tell them what type of loot they want in LFR. If they let me do this, then I will sign up as DPS and I will stay in DPS spec!

[Elrath]

This is frowned upon though. As a prot-warrior will do "much" less damage than a dps-warrior. Then again, it's unlikely anyone will find out.

In Heroic dungeons tanks usually have instaqueue. LFR shouldn't be much worse.

Actually, I tried this on one boss just for the shits and giggles, because I didn't care to queue for one boss and wait the tank queue, as personally, I find DPS queues to be faster.

I threw on my DPS gear and went in as a Prot warrior, and I pulled ~40k. Albeit the fight was Elegon, I still landed top 6 DPS.

[Scorp969]

40min+
gear not droping
join as dps stay in tank spec you will get tank gear

[Deja Thoris]

This is frowned upon though. As a prot-warrior will do "much" less damage than a dps-warrior. Then again, it's unlikely anyone will find out.

In Heroic dungeons tanks usually have instaqueue. LFR shouldn't be much worse.

Quick maths lesson.

In dungeons tanks make up 20% of a group. In lfr they are 8% of a group. Healers make up 24% and dps the rest. Queue times are therefore quickest for healers in lfr, then dps and tanks have by far the longest.