Tanking - Druid vs. Paladin?

[sk22]

I currently have a level 85 druid which I used to tank on during the last stages of WotLK and some heroics now and I'm not that well geared yet (ilvl 340), but then I started leveling my paladin, currently 80, intending to play it as a retribution paladin in cataclysm, but now I'm getting more interested in going back to tanking after leveling a few alts. So my question is, what is more fun to tank as, a feral druid or a protection paladin? Im not a hardcore WoW player, I just want a main character that I can tank with in HC's and eventually move on to some raiding.

So Paladin or Druid? In terms of 'Fun factor' and 'Tank effectiveness (AoE and Single Target)

P.S. I do have experience with tanking on both druid and paladin..

Thanks in advance...

[Warlight]

Well to me, Protadins have an it way easier for AoE tanking, and single target isn't hard either. Plus to me its funner tanking as a pally

[Astrobandaid]

IMO when I tanked as a druid i thought it was extremely fun, and now that I'm a healer, as far as raiding goes, healing a bear is easier.

[Deleted]

I would go for Pala, more panic buttons for threat and dying party members aswell, and the best visual effects are from palas.

[Vizardlorde]

you said you have experience in both so... why should we tell you what is more fun for you? isn't that something that you should know? if you were deciding on a new alt that you dont know anything about it would be kinda different...

[Hellmakerr]

Druids are probably slightly beefier.

Paladins have more raid utility in terms of buffs and cooldowns. They also have amazing defensive cooldowns.

As for what's funnier: what's fun? To some people, dressing up Barbie dolls is fun. Some like polishing their car. Only you can decide what you find fun, so I suggest you spend some time on each of your toons and see which one you have the most fun playing.

[Senaelanna]

The answer in World of Warcraft, since mid TBC to any question ever, is always paladins. Always.

[fizikz]

Druids are probably slightly beefier.

Paladins have more raid utility in terms of buffs and cooldowns. They also have amazing defensive cooldowns.

As for what's funnier: what's fun? To some people, dressing up Barbie dolls is fun. Some like polishing their car. Only you can decide what you find fun, so I suggest you spend some time on each of your toons and see which one you have the most fun playing.

this. if this method is not effective look at other things.....do you like playing druid or pally off-spec more? does your raid already have a bunch of leahter/plate wearers (loot distribution issues) ?

For me The answer in World of Warcraft, since mid TBC to any question ever, is always paladins. Always.

I have a question for you then. what is the most boring, broken, annoying, stupid class to play?
(note: it's a joke)

[Ozy]

paladin..I have/do raid with both...and paladin is much better ATM (our healers support this message).

[eternalwhitemoon]

I love having a bear. I think they're way fun and refuse to die if you do it right. :3

That said...

I'd like to direct you to the FAQ, which states:

General posting guidelines
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The reason why is there's no real discussion to be had. The answer is so subjective it's ridiculous, and we can't speak for what YOU would like.

So in the future, please don't ask opinions on what classes are better than others, because a) it's subjective and b) it varies from patch to patch, and c) what's theoretically "best" may not be enjoyable for you.

[Moonstra]

In my guild we have 2 druid tanks, and 1 paladin (and we support two ten mans in normal raid content atm).

Druids are better single target, which is very common in the raids for threat and survivability. Certain fights do aim for a Paladin being a bit better, but in my honest opinion a druid tank is going to be the better of the two in most raid content.

[sk22]

Druids are probably slightly beefier.

Paladins have more raid utility in terms of buffs and cooldowns. They also have amazing defensive cooldowns.

As for what's funnier: what's fun? To some people, dressing up Barbie dolls is fun. Some like polishing their car. Only you can decide what you find fun, so I suggest you spend some time on each of your toons and see which one you have the most fun playing.

Yea well, I might as well play on my paladin for a while, because I already played on my druid till 85, but I forgot to mention, one of the factors that pushed me to begin this thread is that when I used to tank in WotLK, I used to lose a lot of gear to rogues (leather armor) and some hunters for weapons, where as a Warr/Pala/DK tank can only lose gear to other tanks...

So I'm going to level my paladin and tank a few HC's and then I'll see how it goes

[Deleted]

Depends what floats your boat.

Druiddd!

[Niun]

I finally gave up on Druid tanking this expansion and switched my druid from feral/feral over to boom/resto.

My issues with the bear were not survivability issues. Blizzard works pretty hard at balancing that. What got me were all quality of life issues. Handicap #1 is the big bear butt. Just always in my face whenever we're working in tight spaces. Then there is the amount of work you need to do to hold AoE groups. I suspect the new cooldown on Thrash helps, but I got sick and tired of not having a tool guaranteed to be available when I needed to grab (and hold) groups.

This is the first expansion where I've tanked on a paladin. I find the whole experience pleasant and a lot less "hectic" than either druid or warrior tanking. I never have problems gathering up mobs and holding them. I never have visibility problems. I have lots of tools. Both support tools (buffs, auras) and cooldowns. Plus, I just love the feeling when Hammer of the Righteous hits. Such a nice "bong".

[Deleted]

I am totally biased, but I simply just love playing feral bear. I love the big butt always in my face (), I love the visual effects of the paws clawing and scratching bad ass bosses, I love the growling and I love the fur<3

That said, bear tanking has been somewhat frustrating when it comes to AoE. But since 4.1 should fix this, AoE issues shouldn't be the reason not to pick the bear. Also, SD is getting changed and from the looks of it, to the better.

Once you go bear, you never go back - or something like that

[Deleted]

I am totally biased, but I simply just love playing feral bear. I love the big butt always in my face (), I love the visual effects of the paws clawing and scratching bad ass bosses, I love the growling and I love the fur<3

That said, bear tanking has been somewhat frustrating when it comes to AoE. But since 4.1 should fix this, AoE issues shouldn't be the reason not to pick the bear. Also, SD is getting changed and from the looks of it, to the better.

Once you go bear, you never go back - or something like that

Not everybody likes a big bear ass in their face to lick though.

As a raid leader, our healers complain about bears taking much more dmg than paladins/warriors. Might just be l2p issues though. So meh. I'd rather log my dk if I have to tank a boss than do it on my druid too.

[Deleted]

Not everybody likes a big bear ass in their face to lick though.

As a raid leader, our healers complain about bears taking much more dmg than paladins/warriors. Might just be l2p issues though. So meh. I'd rather log my dk if I have to tank a boss than do it on my druid too.

With entry level raiding gear I felt that I took more dmg than our other tanks equally geared. Now that I'm ilvl 359, it's not the case. If you know how to reforge, gem and in general play a bear, they have awesome avoidance tbh. Like on Chimaeron where I tanked him from 20% to 9% and hardly dropped in HP due to dodge and SD just being in my favor.

[Deleted]

With entry level raiding gear I felt that I took more dmg than our other tanks equally geared. Now that I'm ilvl 359, it's not the case. If you know how to reforge, gem and in general play a bear, they have awesome avoidance tbh. Like on Chimaeron where I tanked him from 20% to 9% and hardly dropped in HP due to dodge and SD just being in my favor.

Sounds like blind luck tbh. Should have bought a lottery ticket :P Our bears are like 363~ geared on average I guess and still taking more spikey dmg (apparently).

[Deleted]

Well admittedly RNG was in my favor, it was still pretty epic though

But the spiky dmg is due to the crappy RNG factor SD currently suffers from. Come patch 4.1 this shouldn't be an issue.

Anyways, with bears that geared I wont assume that they don't know how to play tbh. After getting geared, I haven't had any complaints about me taking more dmg than the other tanks or taking more spike dmg.

[Garouken]

As a healer I would have to say a paladin tank is way easier to heal. (Less spikey especially as ours is getting near unhittable in heroic gear.) This might change in 4.1 when they fix bear shield thing. However, paladins have way better defensive cooldowns, cheat death > last stand. A clutch lay on hands is amazing + HoP + Salv + Aura + Raid Wall. There is 100% no contest, if you are looking from a pure efficiency or min/max view always go for a paladin especially in 10 mans where extra cds count for alot more.

Druids however have their niches, as mentioned on Chimerion due to having higher avoidance than other tanks. Druid tank + avoidance trink from valiona + agi pot during last 20% goes a long way.

Ultimately play whatever is fun for you.