Originally Posted by
Dibby
You know, I think you might be on to something, OP. That it was the design of the raid encounters and what tanks were asked to do, is what made tanking fun. Looking back at the Cataclysm raids, I can list some encounters that I really enjoyed tanking.
Tier 11:
Omnotron Defense System - Moving Arcanotron out of the puddles, moving Toxitron out of the fartgas, moving away from whoever was targeted by Magmatron, watching out for Lightning Conductor on Electron; all positional based mechanics. The shield mechanic that required damage to stop, too, was another mechanic I liked. Especially as a Blood DK, when timing your Death Strikes was crucial.
Maloriak - There's a bit of positional stuff in P1, but the real meat of it comes in P2. Suddenly you're strafing out of Magma Jets, making sure you don't hit the raid at the same time, and watching out for Frost Bombs as well. Very active and engaging encounter.
Nefarian - Nefarian was an incredibly demanding fight for the tanks, and it was amazing. Ony tank had to turn her at the right time so she wouldn't spray the raid with lightning. Phase 2 was complete and utter chaos. Pink fire everywhere, offtank kiting adds and trying to maneuver around the fire, Nef tank slowly rotating Nef... Really really fun fight.
Halfus - This was a bit dependent on what drakes were up that week, but there was still a lot going on that the tanks had to pay attention to. If Fireball Barrage was up, positioning became super super important. Even more so during Furious Roar, because you'd get knocked down.
Ascendant Council - Probably my favorite fight in Bastion of Twilight. Phase 1 didn't really have too much going on, but Phase 2 and 3 were nuts. Maneuvering around trying to get Grounded or Swirling Winds was fun. The Terrastra tank had to be super careful about the spikes, and the Arion tank had to chase Arion around the entire room. And then Phase 3, when you had to move the Monstrosity out of the puddles. Very fun fight.
Conclave of Wind - The platform switching was pretty fun, having the tanks swap the two bosses back and forth. Moving Anshal out of the pacifying circles and moving out of the ice patches on Nezir was fun.
Tier 12:
Shannox - Shannox was fun, if you were the Riplimb tank. Especially on Heroic. Making sure he got trapped, getting enough distance to reset your stacks, all very fun.
Alysrazor - Alysrazor was a very different kind of fight for Tanks, where we effectively became dps. That was super fun, and hadn't really been done before, I don't think.
Baleroc - Baleroc was a fun fight for me, despite it being completely standstill. Being a Blood DK meant that I would get ridiculously huge Death Strike heals and Blood Shields. I also have tanked him on my Druid, though, and that wasn't nearly as fun. So a bit of an oddly specific one, but fun nonetheless.
Ragnaros - The Phase transitions were fun to tank, especially the 2nd one. Every tank has some form of utility for handling the Sons, be it Stuns or Deathgrips or whatever. And then when the Scions came out, making sure those were picked up and trying to dps down the Sons at the same time.
Tier 13:
None. Dragon Soul is dreadfully boring to tank. Most, if not all, fights result in completely immobile standstill tanking. There's no interesting mechanics for tanks to deal with either. Ultraxion had perhaps the most interesting mechanics for tanking, and that's not saying much.
Tier 11 was hands down my favorite tier to raid this expansion. Tanks were given a lot to do, whether it be kiting, interrupting, or just plain positioning. As the expansion progressed, the tanking requirements became more and more simplified. Firelands had some interesting mechanics on some fights, but the tanks weren't really engaged as much as they were in T11. Alysrazor was fun to tank, but for different reasons. And then we get to T13, where seemingly the raid devs have just given up on engaging the tanks.
My view might be a bit skewed seeing as I play a Blood DK, which is arguably the most "active" tank currently. I think that's the reason I'm able to put up with the drudgery of Dragon Soul to be honest, because while DS is boring, I still have to pay attention and time my Death Strikes correctly. Even then though, it's still not engaging to me.
I would hope that they step up the raid design in Mists, because most of T12 and all of T13 were completely awful for tanks. I think the design of the raids, and the role of the tanks in the encounters, is what dictates the fun of tanking, more than anything. They can try this "active mitigation" thing, and that may or may not work out (let's hope it does). But the raid designs need to be engaging if tanks are going to enjoy tanking.