Pally Tank or Healer?

[Pathogen]

I've got a fresh 85 Ret Pally and I'm having a tough time deciding if I should start gearing/speccing for 5-mans as a Tank or a Healer. Any input about how we're doing in either role would be appreciated. How viable and/or fun is the experience for each role? I should note that I've played both roles in previous xpacs and enjoy both. Thanks in advance.

Sawbones, Kalecogos

[lionhearteve]

well here's what i did since i had that same problem

i decided to play both , easy.

started as tank coz it's easier to get que times and u can always blame the healer/dps if u screw up lolz.
(all of that is in 5 man as u gear up).

after u get full 378 gear in tank spec u have 2 options:

1- start rading with tank while gearing up holy in 5 mans.

2- if u wana do holy as a MS then dont raid yet . go farm hc's and gear up ur holy spec
(u can easily gear up ur holy spec even when u tank a 5 man coz 90% of the time no one can use plate int but you :-)

in FL i geared tank 1st then holy , then i got all full t12 so i started gearing ret just for soloing older raids.

as 4.3 hit , my guild wanted me as holy for the entire progress period , so thats where am spending my Vp now :-)

tbh if u play 1 spec and not the other u r missing on a lot of fun.

its nice to be healing an instant , and u get a noob tank who wipes u twice but u cant kick coz it's 4 am and u wont get another tank easily , u just kick him and respec :-) it always feels good that u dont need nobody :-)

[RehabOC80]

Both are very viable and probably the best Class for each role in DS. So many tricks up your sleeve. Holy w/ HR is REALLY amazing right now in raids. And Prot is great to tank w/ if you're god at managing CD's and can easily CTC cap, bubbles and BoP make tanking a few of the encounters much better.

[Tutorial]

Prot is by far easier to play.
Holy in my opinion isn't that hard either, but I do re-call needing my time to get settled in with it.

Prot is seriously the AFK role for paladins. Easy to CTC cap, shitload of cooldowns. It's rather funny.


My main spec is Holy at the moment and I dare say i'm pretty damn good at it, but I would also dare to say that Prot is just as good if not better even though I spent like 10% of my time in that spec. It's just alot easier to master.

[Pathogen]

Thanks much, I appreciate it. Not to say that I've made the call at all, but your insight is valuable. Sounds like I can't go wrong either way...