Regaining confidence to tank 25 man SOO after limited 10 man experience

[cybercrusader]

Hey all,

Like many I'm sure, I feel at an odd place with the game at the moment (likely due to the end of expansion emotions). This expansion and its stat priority was a weird one for me. I played protection as my paladin as my only spec from Wrath through Cataclysm. I didn't like the rotation of retribution, when I wanted to DPS I played my boomkin or warlock (now adding my monk to the mix). However, with the stat priority that haste had on tanking meant that many pieces I wanted to win from LFR I had to learn how to play ret, which to this day I'm not BAD at, but I'm still far from an expert (I average about 150-160k in 563 gear with the flex 2H axe compared to my warlock with a similar ilvl that I can do 250-260k without trying very hard). By switching to ret (before spec based rolls were available) I fell behind in my tank gear. I wasn't able to upgrade from a BOE 476 shield that I bought for 9k on the AH until this past December when I won a shield off Nazgrim from Flex. My schedule also prevented me from raiding with my guild on a regular basis, so my experiences tanking were basically as a backup when someone did not show up. That said, I have tanked successfully all the way up to Spoils along with Paragons on 10 man. However, most of my SOO normal/heroic experiences have been as a DPS on my monk (AotC 25, 2/14 H) or warlock (13/14N). Last night I won the warforged trinket off of Malkorok as well as a shield off of Spoils (pushing me to 564, missing shoulders or helm for 4piece), and I would like to feel confident that I can handle 25 man tanking so that I can help my wife and her friend (hunter/warrior) team get their Ahead of the Curve Achievement. Given that I have seen some of the vitriol that can come from PUGs (Openraid/Oqueue can be little better than LFR in the way they treat players), what recommendations do you have for a player who wants to get back into tanking? What will be the biggest change switching from 10 man tanking to 25?

[pld]

1. You can change your Loot Specialization regardless of current spec now. That way you can tank and still get Retribution gear. Just a heads up.

2. I recently switched from 10m to 25m tanking and I didn't find it too different:

-Bosses hit harder so there's less cushion if you're not good with your ShoR or CD timing
-Some of the strategies are different so it took a raid or two to get used to the different positioning and tactics
-There are more healers aka more externals so get to know your healers and which CDs you can call for
-The biggest change will probably be FPS dips on busy fights (Immerseus, Malkorok, Sha, etc.) depending on your computer