Only warrior can tank?

[Vestig3]

Again why would you go with a Fiat Punto if you could go with a Shelby Mustang?

[FertsBlert]

Paladins didn't have good tools for tanking. They had holy shield which was an active ability. They didn't have taunt, they did have righteous fury though.

I was the "prot" paladin in my guild in vanilla. My job (on Nef) was to have Righteous Fury on and spam heal myself (to get aggro) and keep holy shield active so i didn't die. Warriors would then pick the mobs off me as they came close. Other than that fight, i played just like a holy paladin.

None of the paladin tier gear had the defense stat on it either - which you needed to not get crushing blowed by bosses. However, their core block mechanic required you to be crit... They just didn't work. The WoW classic servers should keep paladins as bad tanks.

AoE tanking wasn't a thing (you'd use CC on multi-mob pulls and only fight 1 mob at a time most of the time) and only the warrior had a full kit of tanking abilities. Sunder Armor was the best threat generator bar none, they had a taunt, I think they had an aoe taunt on a long CD, they had hamstring (mobs running away would wipe you if they got far), I think they had shield wall back then too.

Classic had a different design ethos. Each class had a specific, unique role and had unique utility to support that role. So it was natural that there was a 'tank' class. Other classes could sort of tank (Paladins, Druids, even Shamans) but you brought them along for their supporting abilities and in that role they were all fantastic offtanks if spec'd appropriately.

AoE tanking was most certainly a thing all through BWL\AQ40 it just wasn't done by tanks it was done by ME as a warlock, I had better damage reduction and better threat holding abilities than anyone other than a Warrior and if you gave me a headstart (or a fire vulnerable mob) even they couldn't take them off me.
I regularly tanked the adds at Nef, and all the Gobbo packs getting to Nef as well as the big Dracnoids occasionally when they ended up in my Hellfire and were fire vulnerable. I also regularly tanked all the dungeons it made them damn fast with one warlock one priest and 3 mages not that that was a regular thing but Alt groups yeah often did them.

In my time we actually had Paladin tank in BWL, especially the area around Broodlord (suppression room)... And for druid, we actually had MT druid in AQ20 For the rest raids, we had druid in ZG, and that's about it... For 5 man, people usually insisted on Paladin, because runs go much faster (not sure why it was, possibly due to Exorcism, and Strath/Scholo being a lot of undead oriented..)..

You had no warlocks, my aggro reset on the three drakes was an OOC resser to get me back up after I suicided so I didn't kill the mages... ok occasionally I did deliberately kill them for fun I'll admit it.

[Deleted]

Taunt didn't work on 99.99999% of bosses even in dungeons, I think the first time a tank taunted a boss (by mistake) and it actually worked was mid-late TBC after patch 2.3 or something, and still most ppl didn't even know they can taunt bosses now, Vael the guild breaker was a NIGHTMARE because of no taunt

Vael was huge for warriors because of the free rage. It meant even the lower-geared offtanks could do some mean jank. Executes, anyone? I remember it doing absurd numbers if you had rage available, with an anecdotal bit of memory of critting 2k with it at level ~20. It just finished normal mobs in a spectacular fashion.

[Vestig3]

Vael was huge for warriors because of the free rage. It meant even the lower-geared offtanks could do some mean jank. Executes, anyone? I remember it doing absurd numbers if you had rage available, with an anecdotal bit of memory of critting 2k with it at level ~20. It just finished normal mobs in a spectacular fashion.

I think Vael itself was the boss ive wiped the most on in Vanilla hell even more then any boss ive done in TBC and that included Kael'thas and Reliquary of Souls.

[Deleted]

I think Vael itself was the boss ive wiped the most on in Vanilla hell even more then any boss ive done in TBC and that included Kael'thas and Reliquary of Souls.

Not commenting on the difficulty. Didn't reach 60 in vanilla and started again in TBC, where I actually got to know people who accepted me being a dick sometimes for being competent. Played a lot back then with the intensity of teenage gaming, you know.

[Vestig3]

Played a lot back then with the intensity of teenage gaming, you know.

Like 70% (not a factual number) of the playerbase back then

[Deleted]

Like 70% (not a factual number) of the playerbase back then

Lies and damned lies, those. I feel you.

[SirCowdog]

You knew what the role of each class was and rolled what you wanted to be.

No, you really didn't. That was my point: We didn't know better. There was no WoWhead, only thottbot and alakazam, and they were covered in bad info and viruses. The forums were full of RP nonsense, and devs talking out of their ass(shaman will get a talent review, honest guys!). There was blatant class and faction favoritism from the devs.

But I guess some people want that experience. I personally don't get it at all.

Thanks for my new signature line.

Cheers!

[Vestig3]

(shaman will get a talent review, honest guys!)

How times have changed....oh wait no they havent HAHAHAHAHA!

[Deleted]

I think that many people that are going to try Vanilla are going to be turned off HARD by how worthless some specs are.

[Temis]

Warriors, druids, and paladins can tank 5 mans without much problem. How ever paladins do have problems with bosses that drain mana and or running out of mana. Paladins and to a lesser degree druids have problems tanking in raids do to a lack of available gear most gear that drops in raids are part of the class tier gear and there is no defense on any of the paladins tier gear.

[babalou1]

I knew a Bear tank back in Vanilla that was the GM of his guild. He refused to let any one else MT his raids except for him. There progression was stunted pretty badly.

An asterisk should go by that statement. I successfully tanked Shattered Halls when it was current on my warrior. Threat was a bitch, and I don't think my butt cheeks have ever been the same, but it was doable.

This is accurate.

Having done SH as a Prot War and a Prot Pally. Its a night and day difference in difficulty.

Warriors were still fantastic MT, but Prot was the God of AOE tanking.

Ive been a Fury (OS Prot) War since lvl 30 back in 2004. The absolutely most fun I ever had tanking was when I leveled and geared a Pally in BC.

[Magicpot]

Druids couldn't become crit immune and paladins couldn't hold aggro, so it's warrior tanks > all

- - - Updated - - -

I think that many people that are going to try Vanilla are going to be turned off HARD by how worthless some specs are.

Rogue and Mage for DPS, Warrior for Tank, one warlock for curse of elements and priest and paladin (if alliance) for healing. Enjoy. Because that is literally the only viable comp

[RyanEX]

No, you really didn't. That was my point: We didn't know better. There was no WoWhead, only thottbot and alakazam, and they were covered in bad info and viruses. The forums were full of RP nonsense, and devs talking out of their ass(shaman will get a talent review, honest guys!). There was blatant class and faction favoritism from the devs.

But I guess some people want that experience. I personally don't get it at all.



Cheers!

I mean't once you got into it and understood where it went. My first character was an Ele Shaman. I lvled and pvped with it. Joined a newbie raiding guild and actually raided ZG as Ele before I realised how horrible it was. Then I went Alliance and played as a Aff lock till max then got mentored by a lock that had been playing since launch.

That's something that the new servers won't be able to recreate. Actual people wanting to help other people.

[SirCowdog]

I mean't once you got into it and understood where it went. My first character was an Ele Shaman. I lvled and pvped with it. Joined a newbie raiding guild and actually raided ZG as Ele before I realised how horrible it was. Then I went Alliance and played as a Aff lock till max then got mentored by a lock that had been playing since launch.

That's something that the new servers won't be able to recreate. Actual people wanting to help other people.

True enough. The community was COMPLETELY different back then. The internet was different then, as well as the technology.

People somehow think that these classic servers are going to roll back time or something. It's just not gonna happen. If Blizzard goes with a straight up, unmodified or updated vanilla experience, many people will play it for a handful of months then never go back once the reality sinks in.

No, I think it's much more likely that "Classic" servers will be timelocked to vanilla content, but updated with QoL changes and balance patches to smooth things out. Either way it's not going to change the people playing, like you said.

[Logwyn]

Thunder clap was shit for AoE threat.

I don't think it caused any damage or threat at all. Demo Shout was better even.

[Deleted]

Kinda sucks that the whole "hybrids can only heal" misconception has survived this long.

but thats how hybrids ARE in vanilla jack of all trades master of none and sucking at dps

[Gavan]

I don't think it caused any damage or threat at all. Demo Shout was better even.

OMG!!!! I can't take this anymore!!!

Okay, TC was garbage for main target threat, BUT is was fine for holding threat from healers.

When tanking in BC and Classic you had to name kill order and targets as such. Also, in classic you had to dance to WW and TC anyway. Usually sap, sheep, tank picks up remaining. When undead, one got shacked.


It had NOTHING to do with tanking and tanking abilities for AOE and threat gen in large groups, it was all about playing SMART and kill order with the group acting as a team. Beginning of Ony for instance was called "wand phase" for good reason, her fear usually jacked the tank for a couple of seconds for Horde groups. (Alliance had fear ward).


Beginning of a 5 group pull:
1) Sap/sheep
2) Sap/sheep
3) Pull away from CC
4) Battle stance - TC
5) dance to defense stance - Sunder each target once
6) Sunder kill target remaining and burn
7) repeat to Sap target, then final kill is sheep target


THE ONLY reason TC sucked for agro was because ALL of the Warrior agro gen was based on being in Def Stance. TC was a Battle Stance (Maybe Zerk, can't remember), only ability which is what made it's agro suffer. BUT is was enough at the start of a pull to prevent the healer from pulling threat right away.

Good grief.

Classic and BC tanking is about TWO things. Threat gen, and surviving crushes. If you can't survive a crushing blow (a mechanic that is not in the game anymore), then you'd die on a raid boss quick. (I don't remember 5 man bosses doing this.) Threat gen was damage + talents, which SOME Druids pulled off that I remember, with some really creative enchants and gear. Horde didn't have Loladins.


NONE of this had to do with the community at the time, it was math, pure and simple. Some things just didn't work on some bosses because the numbers weren't there. Pali and Druid were legit in most of BC, but not Classic. The ONLY Pali I saw tank stuff in Classic successfully was doing MC and BWL with Naxx gear. They had the survivability, but needed crazy gearing to actually hit the needed threat. And remember boys and girls, real Classic Pali's didn't wear plate, they wore dresses. (Cloth)

[anon5123]

As I heard, only warrior could tank in vanilla. Why was that so?

Best overall threat and defenses.

so what was wrong with pallies in vanilla?

Less defenses, and they can run out of mana very quickly. Also no taunt spell.

Also, druids?

They can't get defense cap and their threat is lower than warrior.

Paladin and Druid tanks were 100% fine for 5mans, but not raids.

[taishar68]

Remember that Shattered Halls was impossible w/o pala tank.

Difficult, not impossible. We used to do it with a lot of CC, same in Shadow Labs...god..that trash...