Only warrior can tank?

[Justpassing]

Of course not. I was totally awesome on my blood DK back then!

[Cairhiin]

Every tank paladin in TBC had a spell damage weapon. Healing shield makes little sense though.

It wasn't a healing shield per say but a shield with spell power also used to heal. It is been a long time, but I think I didn't use the same shield for tanking and healing.

[faithbane]

misconception

I don't think you understand what that word means. There was no "misconception" about druid/pallies not being good tanks in vanilla. Your private server experience or anecdotal evidence of 1 pally managing to tank out of 132349 Pallies with the help of very specific items/profession/gear, doesn't make it a misconception.

Here are some facts for you for paladins and druids "trying" to tank compared to Warriors. The design itself clearly shows that only warriors were meant to tank:

Paladins DIDNT HAVE a TAUNT
Paladin set didn't have tanking bonuses and couldn't get defense capped and would have a really hard time getting hit capped as well.
Paladin protection tree didn't offer the benefits that the war tree did and it had bunch of spell based heal allies or offer protection crap that actually holy pallies dipped into to boost their healing. (you could pick talents from different trees back then)
Paladins RAN OUT OF MANA midfight if they tried to tank
Paladins would have a hard time holding agro, especially with no mana -.-

Druid "Feral" tree (yes they didn't even have a designated tanking tree back them) was a total mess off cat/bear hybrid that didnt offer a lot of benefits for a raid tank
Druid taunt was a increased threat generation and not grab agro move
Druids had very few defensive moves and couldn't get defense capped.
Druid rage generation and spending was way off with things like frenzy regen offering very little healing and sucking all your rage..

On the other hand:

Warr's had and actually tank talent tree, taunt, defensive attacks, mitigation moves, defensive stance, class specific trinkets that helped tanking, set piece that gave defense, set bonuses that helped tanking, a fucking legendary weapon that helped tanking...

[Storfan]

I thought that Taunt in vanilla worked differently: it didn't transfer agro from current target but just fixated boss for a few seconds. If it' true, Taunt doesn't look very valuable tool.

I can only speak for warrior but here's how it worked.

Taunt: Gives you the same amount of threat as the current top target and forces the boss to attack you for a few seconds, you get to teep the threat but you have to use a threat generating ability after the taunt in order to keep the boss attacking you. Basically taunt and then shieldslam.

Mocking blow: temporarily forces the target to attack you, but it does not give you the threat as taunt does.

AoE taunt: Same as mocking blow but for several targets.

[Segus1992]

It wasn't a healing shield per say but a shield with spell power also used to heal. It is been a long time, but I think I didn't use the same shield for tanking and healing.

By spell power I assume you mean spell damage? I don't think Prot Paladins used a caster shield of any kind back then, but I can't say for sure. Just going by the fact that shields have a lot of tank stats that you wouldn't want to pass up.

[Cairhiin]

By spell power I assume you mean spell damage? I don't think Prot Paladins used a caster shield of any kind back then, but I can't say for sure. Just going by the fact that shields have a lot of tank stats that you wouldn't want to pass up.

Yes, sorry spell damage. Some paladins used those shields, but I am fairly certain I didn't. It has been so long ago I really can't remember. Somehow have a feeling I just used a normal tanking shield, like the one from Illidan. You gotta remember though, you were really low on the loot food chain for tank loot.

[sam86]

You did if you want to never miss a taunt, since it was a t3 set bonus. Good luck doing the horsemen if you miss a swap on the marks in vanilla.

There was +spl hit magic trinket that drop from I think Sunken Temple that warriors needed to farm to be able to taunt the 4 horsemen, that how retard vanilla wow was, taunt hit chance was related to +spl hit, and that part I remember VERY well because losing 1 warrior tank can kill

[Segus1992]

Yes, sorry spell damage. Some paladins used those shields, but I am fairly certain I didn't. It has been so long ago I really can't remember. Somehow have a feeling I just used a normal tanking shield, like the one from Illidan. You gotta remember though, you were really low on the loot food chain for tank loot.

Right, but if Paladin tanks were second class citizens in TBC, they were beggars in Vanilla. You still had a use in TBC, being an AoE tank (which happened on a couple bosses as well as most trash).

[Cairhiin]

Right, but if Paladin tanks were second class citizens in TBC, they were beggars in Vanilla. You still had a use in TBC, being an AoE tank (which happened on a couple bosses as well as most trash).

Yes, absolutely, and Horde didn't even have Paladins. I unfortunately never really got to experience Paladins in vanilla (I rolled one at the start of TBC as I've always been horde) bar my brief time in EU Beta so I am not really that knowledgeable about vanilla Paladins.

[SirCowdog]

Yes, absolutely, and Horde didn't even have Paladins. I unfortunately never really got to experience Paladins in vanilla (I rolled one at the start of TBC as I've always been horde) bar my brief time in EU Beta so I am not really that knowledgeable about vanilla Paladins.

Ret was complete and total garbage(until the pre-patch for TBC, where they had a brief term as stone-cold killers in PVP)
Prot was terrible except for reckoning-bombs.
Holy was the only way you got anything done. Heal or GTFO. Same for Shammies. Same for Druids(in fact druids often only got a spot for Innervate to help "real" casters).

God I can't wait for the salt generated by Vanilla servers. People really don't even realize the sheer unfathomable thickness of the nostalgia-goggles. Vanilla was legitimately bad; we just didn't know any better at the time.

[AztechZero]

I don't think you understand what that word means. There was no "misconception" about druid/pallies not being good tanks in vanilla. Your private server experience or anecdotal evidence of 1 pally managing to tank out of 132349 Pallies with the help of very specific items/profession/gear, doesn't make it a misconception.

Here are some facts for you for paladins and druids "trying" to tank compared to Warriors. The design itself clearly shows that only warriors were meant to tank:

Paladins DIDNT HAVE a TAUNT
Paladin set didn't have tanking bonuses and couldn't get defense capped and would have a really hard time getting hit capped as well.
Paladin protection tree didn't offer the benefits that the war tree did and it had bunch of spell based heal allies or offer protection crap that actually holy pallies dipped into to boost their healing. (you could pick talents from different trees back then)
Paladins RAN OUT OF MANA midfight if they tried to tank
Paladins would have a hard time holding agro, especially with no mana -.-

Druid "Feral" tree (yes they didn't even have a designated tanking tree back them) was a total mess off cat/bear hybrid that didnt offer a lot of benefits for a raid tank
Druid taunt was a increased threat generation and not grab agro move
Druids had very few defensive moves and couldn't get defense capped.
Druid rage generation and spending was way off with things like frenzy regen offering very little healing and sucking all your rage..

On the other hand:

Warr's had and actually tank talent tree, taunt, defensive attacks, mitigation moves, defensive stance, class specific trinkets that helped tanking, set piece that gave defense, set bonuses that helped tanking, a fucking legendary weapon that helped tanking...

There's more than one example but, okay I never said they were better or just as good as warriors. Just that they could do it with a lot more effort and consumables. The assumption that they can't is indeed a misconception. Now if you're just saying they aren't as good as a warrior then fine, no argument there.

[RyanEX]

There was 1 place paladins where great in TBC and that was for the waves in Hyjal besides that you didnt need a paladin tank + they had no taunt in vanilla, as for druids we only started using a druid on Brutalis

You forgot Tidewalker and Leotheras in SSC. Alar and Solarian in TK.

- - - Updated - - -

Ret was complete and total garbage(until the pre-patch for TBC, where they had a brief term as stone-cold killers in PVP)
Prot was terrible except for reckoning-bombs.
Holy was the only way you got anything done. Heal or GTFO. Same for Shammies. Same for Druids(in fact druids often only got a spot for Innervate to help "real" casters).

God I can't wait for the salt generated by Vanilla servers. People really don't even realize the sheer unfathomable thickness of the nostalgia-goggles. Vanilla was legitimately bad; we just didn't know any better at the time.

While I agree the salt will flow I'm also sure there're many that loved it for what it was.

You knew what the role of each class was and rolled what you wanted to be. I know I'll enjoy popping in occasionally to play my Vanilla lock, but as we can see from many threads popping up a lot of people want Vanilla (with perks).

[Segus1992]

Yes, absolutely, and Horde didn't even have Paladins. I unfortunately never really got to experience Paladins in vanilla (I rolled one at the start of TBC as I've always been horde) bar my brief time in EU Beta so I am not really that knowledgeable about vanilla Paladins.

I mained a Paladin in Vanilla, and they were literally just buff bots in raids. Even healing (the only spec that was passable) was poor compared to proper healers (Druids and, mainly, Priests).

[ingsve]

Well that's a load of horse crap. I mained a paladin from vanilla until wrath. When TBC gave them a real tanking spec, I begged my guild leader the chance to start tanking in Kara. He said I wouldn't be able to. He said I wouldn't be able to hold the aggro and mitigate properly enough. He also told me I'd never be able to tank Maiden.

Well... I proved him wrong. And I did tank Maiden. And I held her aggro fine... because I thought as I tanked and anticipated the silences. In fact, my first night tanking as a paladin was my first night as main tank from Kara through Gruul & Mags, clear up to Sunwell.

Paladins could generate plenty of aggro, as long as their guild was smart. I pulled with my Goblin rocket launcher for single target pulls and consecration created more than enough threat. And all you had to do for taunt was use a macro that taunted the target of your target if the boss targeted someone else. Yes, they didn't have the toolset Warriors did, but they had workarounds.

One of THE most noteable tanks in the game for a long time during TBC was Invisusira, a paladin on Smolderthorn. Paladins were great throughout TBC. Not just on trash packs in Hyjal.

Additionally, I had a friend who was a bear tank who was one of the best tanks I knew and he tanked for his guild the entirely of TBC.

Ya, paladins were completely fine in TBC. We had a paladin as one of our 4 regular tanks and on several fights it made things alot easier. Our paladin tanked all of the adds on one of the sides on Hydross, used healing aggro to quickly get aggro on and tank all the murlocs on Morogrim. He could tank the shadowform on Leotheras the blind without problem so we didn't need a warlock tank. I remember the reaction when Fang of the Leviathan dropped from Leotheras. It was the best caster weapon at the time and the casters of course wanted it but it was the paladin tank that had all the DKP.

[DeuZWw]

why are ppl discussing viability of paladin in TBC if we are gettin Vanilla?

[Fooliecoolie]

Pallies during Vanilla were regulated to cleaner/backup healer because we could cleanse everything but curses.

[Vestig3]

You forgot Tidewalker and Leotheras in SSC. Alar and Solarian in TK.

On Tidewalker we used a holy pala to get the attention and then 2 tanks took over before the raid nuked the murlocs to death, On Leotheras it wasnt needed and neither on Alar and Solarian.

- - - Updated - - -

Vanilla was legitimately bad; we just didn't know any better at the time.

Thanks for my new signature line.

[RyanEX]

Pallies during Vanilla were regulated to cleaner/backup healer because we could cleanse everything but curses.

And cheesing Razorgore. /shifty

[Dergiab]

Every tank paladin in TBC had a spell damage weapon. Healing shield makes little sense though.

In TBC, 25% Healing power became spell damage as well.

[Vestig3]

And cheesing Razorgore. /shifty

Why do that if you can have fun running a 8 while listening to linkin park.