Demand for Tanks on Classic

[BuckSparkles]

Yes there will always be a demand for tanks. I admit if I play warrior I prefer DPS, and many others do.

Not to mention in raids warriors were -the- tank.

Don't level as prot, you will hate life. Just carry a shield with you and you can tank instnaces as other specs.

[Dundebuns]

You could tank 5 man content easily enough as an arms/fury warrior, as you had access to defensive stance regardless of your spec.

[Animalhouse]

I like how so many people have this raid mind set as if they will be spending all this time raiding in classic LOL.
I've said it before and I will say it again, much, much more of your time will be spent outside of raids. Play what you like and stop this X is only viable BS.

Personally, druid/shaman will be the only 2 classes I will be playing in classic.

[xcoatsyx]

I like how so many people have this raid mind set as if they will be spending all this time raiding in classic LOL.
I've said it before and I will say it again, much, much more of your time will be spent outside of raids. Play what you like and stop this X is only viable BS.

Personally, druid/shaman will be the only 2 classes I will be playing in classic.

This is very true, the classic experience involved a lot of TIME. You won't be slapping Nefarian for quite a while even if the raids are "easy".

[Emerald Archer]

DPS Warriors weren't a think during most of Vanilla. I didn't see a Fury Warrior in a raid until Naxx.

Dps warriors definitely WERE a thing. As some fights had it so it paid off massively to have a few extra tanks. Dps warrior specs were able to take at a semi-decent level, without changing to prot, not to mention the fact that they still did decent damage.

Were you alliance? That might explain it, but even then, even as alliance, warriors dps specs were definitely still a thing in raids.

[Vestig3]

DPS Warriors weren't a think during most of Vanilla. I didn't see a Fury Warrior in a raid until Naxx.

Hmm not fury no but we had 2 arms warriors atleast from ZG till Naxx as did most guilds eventho they didnt do major dps they still did decent
dps.

I dont think there will be a huge tank demand but i people that have tanked with warrior during the early stages will have a advantage coz it was way different from what tanking is right now.

[OokOok]

DPS Warriors weren't a think during most of Vanilla. I didn't see a Fury Warrior in a raid until Naxx.

I'm guessing you didn't even play vanilla. Fury was def a thing in BWL and Arms held its own in MC

[Marc7]

That's not true. Warrior was the second character I leveled while waiting for other people to hit max level. DPS warriors were rare, particularly as Horde on a pvp realm (Ner'Zhul.) They were tanks first and foremost because it's about all they were actually good at. And I know this because I played it as fury almost exclusively. I couldn't get groups for anything unless it was with friends and even then I felt like I was getting carried. That's ultimately why I shelved my warrior. It wasn't until later balancing and added itemization made them competitive, mostly the latter. Then when the easymode PvP gearing happened towards the end of classic warriors were everywhere. But that's not true of the bulk of content up through and including BWL. In fact, I went and leveled a paladin on Alliance once we learned we were getting them to test it out and I very clearly remember we had one douchey warrior who demanded every single buff he could get, regardless of whether it was good for the raid or not. I remember it because he screamed at me on voice to give him might and I muted him and spent the next 10 minutes laughing in tells about it with half the raid. Without excessive handholding via buff catering (windfury, might, etc.) and itemization from like the last quarter of classic warriors weren't competitive. But then again, neither were half the classes that are hybrids. Ret was terrible for exactly the same reasons, but they became gods at the end of classic due to itemization and then the 2.0 pre-patch.

Warriors were tanks first and foremost because they were by far the best tanks in vanilla, and there weren't enough of them around. For raids tho, you don't need as many main tanks as you do for dungeons, so a lot of warriors DPSd. Fury was actually, now that I think about it, bad, for quite a long while since weapons weren't balanced well. Still, there was plenty of 2h arms DPS going on in MC and ZG and whatnot. At least in our guild. It wasn't the best, sure, but it still wasn't on the level of, say, ele shaman or balance druid (I played horde, so windfury totem might have made warriors seem better than they were). Once fury got fixed later in the lifespan of vanilla it got really good.

[Tonkaden]

I'm willing to bet that 90% or more that rolls a warrior will never make it to max level.

Im willing to bet that 90% or more of all players who roll on classic servers never make it to max level.


Fixed.

[Molis]

High demand for warriors.
Low demand for Druids and Paladins

[Tonkaden]

High demand for warriors.
Low demand for Druids and Paladins

You still need blessings and innervate / paw.

[niil945]

Warriors were tanks first and foremost because they were by far the best tanks in vanilla, and there weren't enough of them around. For raids tho, you don't need as many main tanks as you do for dungeons, so a lot of warriors DPSd. Fury was actually, now that I think about it, bad, for quite a long while since weapons weren't balanced well. Still, there was plenty of 2h arms DPS going on in MC and ZG and whatnot. At least in our guild. It wasn't the best, sure, but it still wasn't on the level of, say, ele shaman or balance druid (I played horde, so windfury totem might have made warriors seem better than they were). Once fury got fixed later in the lifespan of vanilla it got really good.

Fury wasn't good. Even arms wasn't good. There were warriors as dps but they weren't anywhere close to the level of damage of a mage, rogue, warlock, or hunter. They were above other hybrids but that's not saying much. The melee hybrids (which I include warriors in this) were propped up a ton by itemization reworks and added gear later in classic. I think most people don't realize/remember this, but I had full tier 1 on my mage and I didn't even use it. It didn't have spellpower. I farmed rare blue items that had spellpower on it and that's what I wore. When I got full netherwind (tier 2) I used that because of the proc and it wasn't until patch 1.5 that the stats were updated. People don't remember how bad some builds/classes were back then and warriors that didn't tank weren't in a good spot until later in classic. Hell, it wasn't until patch 1.5 that AV and WSG were even added to the game. And that's when the entire Honor system was added.

[Tonkaden]

Fury wasn't good. Even arms wasn't good. There were warriors as dps but they weren't anywhere close to the level of damage of a mage, rogue, warlock, or hunter. They were above other hybrids but that's not saying much. The melee hybrids (which I include warriors in this) were propped up a ton by itemization reworks and added gear later in classic. I think most people don't realize/remember this, but I had full tier 1 on my mage and I didn't even use it. It didn't have spellpower. I farmed rare blue items that had spellpower on it and that's what I wore. When I got full netherwind (tier 2) I used that because of the proc and it wasn't until patch 1.5 that the stats were updated. People don't remember how bad some builds/classes were back then and warriors that didn't tank weren't in a good spot until later in classic. Hell, it wasn't until patch 1.5 that AV and WSG were even added to the game.

Who really cares if they werent at the level. People played hybrids and raids moved forwards. Not everything is about the "luls min/max", especially when half your raid was afk or shits to begin with.

[Molis]

You still need blessings and innervate / paw.

Dont worry 5 Pallies and 5 Druids will be in a raid
They will just heal

I am being over the top, but fair is fair.

In entry level MC a vast majority of the tanks were Warriors.
Sure as new content opened and new gear was introduced you could find a Bear or Pally tank, but it was the exception.

[Tonkaden]

Dont worry 5 Pallies and 5 Druids will be in a raid
They will just heal

I am being over the top, but fair is fair.

In entry level MC a vast majority of the tanks were Warriors.
Sure as new content opened and new gear was introduced you could find a Bear or Pally tank, but it was the exception.

We had all warriors and one druid til nax came out. Then we let a protadin go up through AQ40 off tanking.

[niil945]

Who really cares if they werent at the level. People played hybrids and raids moved forwards. Not everything is about the "luls min/max", especially when half your raid was afk or shits to begin with.

Hey, if people want to play warrior dps I don't have a problem with it at all. I enjoyed my time on my warrior, leveling one gave me something to do while I waited for guildies to get to max level and get geared enough to start raiding. I'm just seeing all these comments about how competitive warriors were as dps back then and the reality is they weren't. If you're cool with that and still want to play one, awesome. Have fun.

Edit: It's also relevant because this matters in relation to what version of classic we're talking about. If early classic is implemented then warriors won't be good dps. If late classic is implemented then they will be good dps, moreso if you're on horde and have access to Windfury, but in either case it's only with really good gear.

- - - Updated - - -

Sure as new content opened and new gear was introduced you could find a Bear or Pally tank, but it was the exception.

Druids became really good tanks if they could pick up a ton of bonus armor items. Until then they were pretty bad. Getting those types of items was a pain, as it often involved going through BRS and praying the rare you needed was up.

[Drefan]

Yes especially in the start of vanilla were tanks are needed for dungeons and later in raids. Sure getting the maintank/offtank spot might be a bit hard, but every guild mostlikley have around 3-4 tanks, with fury warrios being geared for tanking aswell since you need tanks on trash and especially in Naxx.

DPS Warriors weren't a think during most of Vanilla. I didn't see a Fury Warrior in a raid until Naxx.

Well your experience is not fact.
Yes dps warriors was and is a thing and they do/did high dps.

[Dlucks]

Dps warriors definitely WERE a thing. As some fights had it so it paid off massively to have a few extra tanks. Dps warrior specs were able to take at a semi-decent level, without changing to prot, not to mention the fact that they still did decent damage.

Were you alliance? That might explain it, but even then, even as alliance, warriors dps specs were definitely still a thing in raids.

I preferred Blessing of Salvation to Windfury if I am being honest. Warriors were always riding the razor's edge of aggro and WF proc(s) at the wrong time meant getting squashed.

[Hotsforyou]

Do not worry. I will be protecting all the things on my warrior. I will be available when i am needed to crawl through dungeons.

[niil945]

I preferred Blessing of Salvation to Windfury if I am being honest. Warriors were always riding the razor's edge of aggro and WF proc(s) at the wrong time meant getting squashed.

As someone who raided on both sides, Salv was far superior early on and not as good later on. If you had a tank with Thunderfury which was added in 1.6 then Windfury was without a doubt the best option.