What do you guys think?
I'll start by informing you all that I have not tanked anything other than leveling dungeons or heroic 5-mans since the end of Lich King, but I think Vengeance is getting out of control.I understand what they're trying to accomplish, I really do, but anymore Vengeance seems to bet getting more and more ridiculous. They want tanks to be fun and engaging, and when I'm leveling my Guardian or my Brewmaster, I must admit that being top DPS - even on my single target encounters - kind of puts a smile on my face. Even in your level 90 heroics, challenge modes, and raids it's not uncommon to see tanks of any class doing DPS spec DPS.
To the best of my knowledge, they introduced Vengeance for pretty much two reasons - 1) To help tank threat scale better and 2) To make tanks more fun / desirable to play. I can tell you that from my perspective though, as I've recently been leveling a handful of toons at all different level ranges, going into a dungeon run as a DPS and seeing the tank do twice as much damage as you is pretty disheartening. Most DPS specs cannot hope to compete with tank damage whilst leveling, especially during AoE. Now, I realize that balance for everything but level 90 content is pretty much null and void, but it's not uncommon to run into similar issues in max level content. Maybe not as extreme but they are still there.
The tank's "job description" as taken from the online Getting Started guide is:
Nowhere in that description does it speak of dealing high amounts of damage, only that tanks "fight by outlasting." To me, that would imply they deal less damage but can take more punishment - your stereotypical knight in plate mail; doesn't strike as powerfully as a nimble rogue or cunning wizard, but can take hits that would down either of them."Tanks fight by outlasting their enemies. They are rugged, durable characters that can soak up a lot of damage before they go down. In groups, a tank’s role is to get the monsters to attack him instead of other, more vulnerable members of his group."
With that mindset, if you were to approach this as a brand new player would it not raise questions as to why the protection spec warrior was doing more damage than yourself - a DPS spec? If it's a nuisance to myself, someone who's been playing off and on since Vanilla, then I can only imagine how irritating it could be to someone new.
My proposed solution would be to balance tanks around doing 1/3 to 1/2 the damage of what a DPS spec would do in the same content. Change Vengeance to, instead of granting AP, grant a higher percent of threat dealt as you take more damage. As the fight goes on, your threat continues to raise if you're tanking keeping DPS specs from overtaking you.
I know that some tanks love being so high on the charts, and that some will most likely flame me and remind me that low level content doesn't matter / count when balance is concerned. To that point though, I make a counterargument - With WoW losing more subs every quarter, realms dying, would it not be beneficial for them to do a tuning pass over the lower levels to try to keep the game as attractive to new players as possible? I'm not saying WoW is dying or some such nonsense, but I think few people could deny that the game desperately needs an influx of new blood. With the vast majority of players choosing DPS specs, doesn't it seem silly to make the guys who "Fight by outlasting their opponent" do nearly twice as much damage as them?
So, do you think Vengeance is getting out of control?