I've tanked since I was raiding in AQ40. I've been through the good and the bad periods of this class and spec (feral). I always loved my druid and loved tanking with it. But ever since the launch of wotlk our (feral tanks) state just seem to get worse and worse, and I see no signs of Blizzard or Ghostcrawler actually having the slightest clue what they want with us.
If the newest changes on 3.1 PTR goes live we will have seen the following since the time of TBC:
- Reduced healthpools (this and armor was our major "selling points" and compensated the lack of avoidance)
- Reduced armor-amount (also nerfed 2-3 patches in a row now, depending on gear)
- Reduced threat-gen.
- Still by far the worst aoe threatgen (Although it was changed for better, we are still miles behind compared to the 3 other tanks).
- Dumbening of itemization to the point where even a 7yo understands it.
For me they sucked out all the fun. It just leaves me with an empty feeling knowing that the 3 other classes are (when it comes to button-mashing and aoe-tanking) easier to play - and will have more avoidance and similar mitigation/hp. I have already started to dps more and more in 25man raids since wotlk was released, even though I'd prefer to tank. Atm I'm prepared to throw the towel in the ring and just re-gem all my gear for pure dps, and perhaps just make my Dual-Spec resto or pvp instead of my previously planned DPS & Tank setups.
Sure we might still be wanted for tanking in 5 and 10mans where the amount of tanks available in group is limited. But in 25mans - why would you have a druid in bear instead of any of the other 3 tanks? I know the whole bring-the-player-not-the-class drill. But when a class/spec won't be desired because it has nothing unique to offer anymore - why would you take it if you can get someone else and better for the job?
What are your (my fellow druids out there) feelings on this situation we may face?
Late edit: I know we have yet to see Savage Defense in action - but I have very little faith it can make up for what we lose.