Tanking

[warex00]

I appreciate all the feedback! I think Im going to give my prot warrior a go!





-Warex

[Ninotchka]

- How is the playstyle?
- Do you get bored often? (boring tanking mechanics from the boss)
- How is the difficulty of tanking?

Different tank classes play very differently, although they all now have the DK style active mitigation to some extent. But it's nice if you like control and being the focus of attention. Everything depends on you.

I get bored on farm content, on a couple of bosses, and more often when I'm offtanking. Most of the time, if the mechanics are simple then I can work on my dps, or try to throw a little more utility or offhealing in there, or time my cooldowns perfectly to the boss swing timer, or play the aggro sniping game with my co-tank.

I went from arcane mage (Wrath, Cata) to warrior/paladin tanking. Paladin is easier than warrior (for me, YMMV). But neither one really stressed my '1111211112' mind.

[Odina]

But neither one really stressed my '1111211112' mind.

I wont say your wrong as it is your opinion but this is what I believe is misleading to some that don't tank. Some one will try it out and say "was easy its just 1111211112 but then I ask myself as a war how are you 11112 ing and paying well?

sword and board proc, shield slam on cd, use revenge when its up ensure weekend blows is up, use shout as filler for more rage, weave in leap, and HS/Cleave on ultimatum proc, devastate to fish for S&B procs heroic throw as fillers, keep an eye on rage and use shield block when appropriate but also to benefited heavy repercussions glyph, bleed off excess rage into shield barrier if possible, use demo shout, banners etc etc

This is not even taking into account planning reck around a low dmg time as you cant use shield wall and rec at the same time, also need to see when the boss is not going to be swinging and hitting you like a truck when you DPS cd stack to get a shattering throw on there at minimal dmg cost to yourself etc etc.

That is just the tip of the iceberg ...so tanking being 11112 in peoples minds with active mitigation is beyond me!

To me it's just as exciting as dps was for me (mage from MC to Fire lands) and also has allot of little timings that added a bit more excitement for myself!

[nine3cubed]

Tanking is probably the easiest but when you fail, people tend to lash out pretty harsh. Most bosses are simple taunt after "x" stacks or after an certain ability.

Are we playing the same game? Pretty sure I have yet to encounter a boss that is just "taunt after "x" stacks or after an (a*, for the record) certain ability".

To the OP: I play a prot warrior currently, swapped to it after playing a mage from 2005 -2012. I have never enjoyed the game as much as I do right now. I am constantly monitoring c/d's, rage, positioning, hp, healer mana etc etc. It never gets boring for me, as during progression I am always working to keep myself alive. And as far as difficulty, depends on what you end up tanking. 5 mans? ezpz. Heroic raid progression? You'll get globaled more than once.

[Aquamonkey]

Are we playing the same game? Pretty sure I have yet to encounter a boss that is just "taunt after "x" stacks or after an (a*, for the record) certain ability".

Really? Morchok, Ultraxion, Blackhorn, Stone Guardians, Feng, Gara'jal (does this for you), Elegon, Blade Lord, Amber-Shaper, Empress, Tsulong, Lei Shi.

All those fights are just "taunt after x stacks or after a certain ability". The rest of the complexity is nothing the DPS or healers don't have to deal with.

[nine3cubed]

Sorry for the late reply, been busy.

Heroic Morchok: You tank one full time and the OT tanks the other full time. You are moving out of black shit, you are pulling him in range of soakers, you are trying to not get globaled by stomp/melee combos.

Heroic Ultraxion: Tossing intervenes on to shaman so they can help soak during 0% nerf progression, trying to stay alive that last few % so that you can score that first kill.

Heroic Warmaster Blackhorn: About as close to your taunt swap fight as you wil come, however cleaving drakes, charging sappers, positioning warmaster and gariona etc etc still make this fight more complicated than that.

Heroic Stone Guards: Moving dogs out of bad, keeping side dogs x distance away from energy building dogs, trying to maintain that goddamn dot. Oh and the taunt swap at very inopportune times.

Heroic Gara'jal: Not only are you keeping yourself alive, you're keeping voodoo targets alive through your cds. Again, during progression that was rough. Killing the proper shit when you went under, helping clean up before you actually killed it.

Heroic Elegon: Kiting those bastard adds during intermission. Putting out dps on energy sparks when they need help (thus, using cds to stay alive as you must build stacks to do relevant damage through vengeance).

Heroic Bladelord. Putting out enough dps to push him from 11% to 10% while the rest of the raid takes the slip stream.

I'd keep going, but I think I made my point. Tanking is never just "taunt after x stacks or x mechanic". Each fight has a lot you can do, you just have to look at the big picture, not just the mechanics you feel are related to you. And there are plenty of things that DPS and healers never have to worry about in that list.

[Deja Thoris]

Really? Morchok, Ultraxion, Blackhorn, Stone Guardians, Feng, Gara'jal (does this for you), Elegon, Blade Lord, Amber-Shaper, Empress, Tsulong, Lei Shi.

All those fights are just "taunt after x stacks or after a certain ability". The rest of the complexity is nothing the DPS or healers don't have to deal with.

Since the poster before me covered the others I'll chip in on feng.

You have to steal abilities, use those stolen abilities at the perfect times (epicenter), position the boss correctly to transition to the corect ability. In fact postioning is a big part of this fight, you may have decent tanks so you take what they do for granted but try having ones that tank the boss in the middle on an earthquake phase or ones that don't subtly move the boss when flames are dumped in a suboptimal position. You'll soon notice the difference between a good tank and one that just spams his rotation.

I'm not sure tanking is "harder" mechanically but it does carry more responsiblity. A dps can be bad and pass under the radar, or they can have a bad day and that can pass without comment. A tank or healer doesn't have that luxury.

[Deleted]

- How is the playstyle?
- Do you get bored often? (boring tanking mechanics from the boss)
- How is the difficulty of tanking?

It's quite entertaining. I'd argue that the basic playstyle is simlair to dpsing but with some added depth, in mop both tank dps and survivability are important factors and something you should take into account (especially as a dk which is my favourite tanking class).

There's a few fights that aren't terribly entertaining as a tank in this tier but most of them are really interesting and you (almost) always have way more stuff to do than a dps.

More complex than dpsing, less complex than healing, but unlike dps (and to a certain extent healers) you screwing up will usually mean a wipe.


I'd like to add that tanking has been made way more interesting in mop (compared to tbc/wotlk, I didn't play during cata). The gameplay itself is a lot more interesting with skill having a much bigger impact on your survivability, meaning that there's a clear difference between a good and an amazing tank, and most fights have a bigger emphasis on the tanks.

[Defaulty]

I have healed Hardmode, I've also DPS'd hardmode.

Tanking I've only done on normals, but here's my opinion on it.

Tanking has less dependency of "group" synergy than other roles. While DPS your "sole" role is to kill the boss, but there needs to be lots more awareness of raid mechanics and priorities. Healing has the highest of synergy requirements due to the obvious of keeping everyone alive, different priorities, wack-a-mole, etc... Every raid can be a completely different fight than a previous raid group due to your healer setup (ie: Disc Priest's Absorbs).

I've found tanking extremely easy compared to all the rest of the roles. Skill cap may be high, but its entry level is extremely low as long as you aren't brain dead.

[Tapzer]

If you wanna have fun tanking, roll a monk. I have played every tank at some sort of end game raiding content (not world firsts or anything) and i have to say Monks are by far the most fun ive had tanking compared to any other class.
Pallys are boring
DK's are fun but i personally dont like the rune system
Druids are good if you know how to play them
Warriors will always be viable tanks
Monks have fantastic aoe and some great single target tank dps, i find myself on my main doing at last 60k on single target boss encounters due to our stat priority (Crit is very high on the ladder.
All in all, tanking is fun, gotta find the class that suits you most though.

[Rheckameohs]

The only thing I can really add to this conversation that hasn't already been stated is that communication is very, very important, be it with the rest of the raid, or your healers, or the other tank(s).

[Aquamonkey]

Sorry for the late reply, been busy.

Heroic Morchok: You tank one full time and the OT tanks the other full time. You are moving out of black shit, you are pulling him in range of soakers, you are trying to not get globaled by stomp/melee combos.

Heroic Ultraxion: Tossing intervenes on to shaman so they can help soak during 0% nerf progression, trying to stay alive that last few % so that you can score that first kill.

Heroic Warmaster Blackhorn: About as close to your taunt swap fight as you wil come, however cleaving drakes, charging sappers, positioning warmaster and gariona etc etc still make this fight more complicated than that.

Heroic Stone Guards: Moving dogs out of bad, keeping side dogs x distance away from energy building dogs, trying to maintain that goddamn dot. Oh and the taunt swap at very inopportune times.

Heroic Gara'jal: Not only are you keeping yourself alive, you're keeping voodoo targets alive through your cds. Again, during progression that was rough. Killing the proper shit when you went under, helping clean up before you actually killed it.

Heroic Elegon: Kiting those bastard adds during intermission. Putting out dps on energy sparks when they need help (thus, using cds to stay alive as you must build stacks to do relevant damage through vengeance).

Heroic Bladelord. Putting out enough dps to push him from 11% to 10% while the rest of the raid takes the slip stream.

I'd keep going, but I think I made my point. Tanking is never just "taunt after x stacks or x mechanic". Each fight has a lot you can do, you just have to look at the big picture, not just the mechanics you feel are related to you. And there are plenty of things that DPS and healers never have to worry about in that list.

H Morchok: Everyone has to run out of the black shit. The soakers have to run to the crystals. The 2nd stomp soaker has to make sure he doesn't die. The Tank is dong nothing the rest of the raid doesn't have to do.

H Ultraxion: The tank tossing cds for soaking is no different than any other raid member who does it.

H Blackhorn: Everyone has to cleave drakes. Everyone has to attack the sappers. Everyone has to soak Barrages and Onslaughts. Pointing the boss a certain way does not constitute extra complexity because everyone has worry about positioning so they don't get silenced and they don't take the Shockwave.

H Stone Guards: Everone has to move out of bad. Watching your range in relation to other things in the game is something all range dps and healers have to do. The tanks don't have to worry about Jasper Chains. Changing target and taunting is no different than a dps having to change targets to dps. It's more responsibility, but it's not more complexity.

H Gara'jal: Using CDs at the appropriate windows is nothing unique to tanking. Everyone has to kill the proper shit when they go under.

Heroic Elegon: Kiting the adds while maintaining threat is difficult. However, you can do them with an AoE stun rotation. Positioning is just as important for healers and dps when they soak Total Annihilation. Meeting a dps check and timing CDs for energy sparks is nothing unique to tanks.

Herioc Bladelord: Meeting a dps check is nothing unique to tanks.

All those fights are just "taunt after x stacks or after a certain ability". The rest of the complexity is nothing the DPS or healers don't have to deal with. More responsibility =/= more complexity.

Since the poster before me covered the others I'll chip in on feng.

You have to steal abilities, use those stolen abilities at the perfect times (epicenter), position the boss correctly to transition to the corect ability. In fact postioning is a big part of this fight, you may have decent tanks so you take what they do for granted but try having ones that tank the boss in the middle on an earthquake phase or ones that don't subtly move the boss when flames are dumped in a suboptimal position. You'll soon notice the difference between a good tank and one that just spams his rotation.

I'm not sure tanking is "harder" mechanically but it does carry more responsiblity. A dps can be bad and pass under the radar, or they can have a bad day and that can pass without comment. A tank or healer doesn't have that luxury.

These positional requirements for the tanks are no different than the ones for the rest of the raid.

Everyone has to stack/spread for staff phase. Everyone has to stack for shield phase. Usually a DPS runs out to get hit by Lightning Fist. If not, the whole raid has to run out from Epicenter. Everyone has to move to drop sparks in the right spot.

Dropping a bubble or using the copy is no different than timing normal healer/dps/tank CDs.