Warlock tanks in the future?

[Gaidax]

I'm sure your dps is shit to go along with your shit healing and tanking specs.

r00d, u hurt ma feels, man.

[thrill]

After seeing the mess they did for hunters by overhauling a spec... I'd only want the tanking spec be added if it was a 4th tree. I would be bummed to wake up and find destro being a tanking spec.

They've already overhauled demo into a mess in legion, and looking to be a slightly different mess in bfa. I wouldn't care if they just replaced it at this point.

[Byleth]

Well they took that walock tanking concept and gave it demon hunters so its gone m8, move on.

First answer, best answer.

[thrill]

It's a pretty shallow answer however, since DH tank plays nothing like dark apotheosis did, or warlock at all. The only similarities are superficial IE: demon form model, which warlock tank doesn't need.

[Nudu]

Am I the only one that think it makes 0 sense to allow all classes to heal / tank / damage?

Like OP Mentioned - part of the special part of those "pures" is that they are "pure" I'm really against Warlock / Hunter tanking as for me it makes no sense at all.

Why not Priest tanking then? Why not Resto Druid Tanking?

[thrill]

Because warlock has had tanking tools since the start of the game, that were used to offtank in vanilla/tbc, as well as dark apotheosis in mists, that were removed as classes were simplified in recent expansions.

Priest/resto druid never had a tree full of damage mitigation and health boosting talents like old demo. Priest and resto druid never had an ability specifically meant for generating threat like warlock did with searing pain. Priest and resto druid were never given a full on tanking kit like demo warlock was given in mists in the form of the dark apotheosis.

The TLDR is warlock tanking was hinted at, and even supported to some extent (in mists) all the way from vanilla to when classes got gutted in warlords, but rather than continuing to refine the idea, it was just dropped. Priest tanking has never been suggested by any abilities or class design, and druid already has guardian spec to tank (and feral before that).

[Halwyn]

Well there is my five cents. Any thoughts?

Good old 'no'.
Why? Because nowadays spec has to have an identity first and foremost. And you go like 'oh, look, fel-infused tank, using fel, and fire'... Oh, wait we already have Demon Hunters. 'Oh, look, a tank that drains life and uses shadow magic...' Nope, sorry. Deathkinghts are here.

If any class deserves a 4th spec and a tanking one while at it, it is a Shaman, which just begs for ages for some Earthwarder-type specialization. Playing around Earth Shield mechanic, since shield spells with finite charges were gone for awhile.

[Liarparadox]

Been there, done that in TBC with illidan and Leo. I'm fine with not having to do it anymore.

yeah I have no desire for a lock tank either. I think it's a nifty idea to have some rare encounter where a lock or rogue or hunter or mage or whatever has got to do some off tanking for some fight, or maybe just part of a fight; but as a spec to fill the role in a raid? No thanks, not interested. Having said that OP Void-tanking was pretty funny.

[thrill]

Good old 'no'.
Why? Because nowadays spec has to have an identity first and foremost. And you go like 'oh, look, fel-infused tank, using fel, and fire'... Oh, wait we already have Demon Hunters.

And why isn't it the other way around? Warlock had off-tanking abilities for ten years, from vanilla all the way up to the prepatch for WoD. Illidan was not exactly a tank in warcraft 3. DH tanking form (which is quite a bit different from the dps form like illidan has) and all of it's abilities were made up on the spot for legion.

If any class deserves a 4th spec and a tanking one while at it, it is a Shaman, which just begs for ages for some Earthwarder-type specialization. Playing around Earth Shield mechanic, since shield spells with finite charges were gone for awhile.

I don't disagree that an earth tanking spec for shaman would be cool, or very thematically fitting, but why not both? Why can't lock get it's old (off)tanking kit back and turned into a real spec?

I think it's a nifty idea to have some rare encounter where a lock or rogue or hunter or mage or whatever has got to do some off tanking for some fight, or maybe just part of a fight

Unfortunately they've done everything in their power to kill those sort of things over the years when simplifying the game. Searing pain is gone, metamorphosis and it's taunt are gone, dark apotheosis is gone, distracting shot, offspec taunts from warrior/paladin/etc, earth shock/rockbiter taunt, pet taunts on bosses, etc. all gone.

[Donimic]

I think it would be really cool to summon a demon and have their life-force attached to yours somehow such that all of your spells and abilities are tank oriented but setup such that they are you buffing or interacting with your demon who is actually nnot doing the tanking.

Definitely prefer this over the meta- or self-demon. Particularly because there is no way we are going that route given that they gave most of those abilities to DH.

[Ithekro]

I saw something weird today at the Darkmoon Faire. The Moonfang boss was summoned and I was helping a paladin, death knight and a lower level monk fight the wolf mother. About half way through the fight the two tanks noted that my imp was now tanking the boss, and keeping threat and not dying. It held for maybe a third of the fight, dropping one once or twice and I stopped dps-ing to type my own responses.

I have never seen an imp tank anything since level 19, and I've never seen one do it better than the "tanks". We were all kind of "wtf, lol".

I had a few normal low raiding buffs (rep versions of potions) and a food buff that make me breath out fireballs sometimes....but how does a Destruction warlock's imp tank a minor world boss?

[Ooshraxa]

I had a few normal low raiding buffs (rep versions of potions) and a food buff that make me breath out fireballs sometimes....but how does a Destruction warlock's imp tank a minor world boss?

Very odd - could be a couple of +50% damage firebolt crits vs. a low-geared tank. I tank world bosses all the time with the Infernal in threat/taunt mode, but have never had an imp draw aggro.

[Ithekro]

I am wondering how he didn't get chomped. I had tried to tank it earlier with my Voidwalker and that didn't last very long. Unless the Paladin and monk started to heal the imp without me noticing, because I never heal the imp at all....it never looked like it was taking damage, or the soul leech was regening the imps health as fast as I was doing damage. Or something.

Maybe it was a visual bug and the wolf was just looked like it was turned towards the imp, but the two tanks were behind the wolf...the imp was alone in front of the wolf when they pointed it out and I paused and went "what?" They had repositioned to avoid an aoe starfall like attack and then the imp was holding agro for the majority of the remaining fight. It swapped back to the tanks only when I stopped dps for a moment to type. Than it switched back to the imp.

[FertsBlert]

Am I the only one that think it makes 0 sense to allow all classes to heal / tank / damage?

Like OP Mentioned - part of the special part of those "pures" is that they are "pure" I'm really against Warlock / Hunter tanking as for me it makes no sense at all.

Why not Priest tanking then? Why not Resto Druid Tanking?

Because Warlocks have been tanking since Vanilla?

It was only in WoD that all the tools to do so were removed at the end of MoP if you had given Demo locks tank threat and crit immunity that is pretty much all that would have been required.

I was an AE tank way back in Vanilla, I used to go and get all the nasty hitty mobs interested in me so our manymany mages could blow them up without fearing for their extremely squishy arses. And this was progression raiding, I also tanked an Emperor, tanked the Dracnoids on Nef, tanked the adds on Fankriss, I tanked dungeons when our warriors wanted to play alts, I tanked all through Zul Gurub(mostly I have to admit this was just because I could). So yeah warlock tanking was viable and in fact was superior for trash clearing in raids when more than a quarter of your raid was bloody mages.

[eScar95]

Warlock tanks are called Demon Hunters.

[pseudodraco]

Am I the only one that think it makes 0 sense to allow all classes to heal / tank / damage?

Like OP Mentioned - part of the special part of those "pures" is that they are "pure" I'm really against Warlock / Hunter tanking as for me it makes no sense at all.

Why not Priest tanking then? Why not Resto Druid Tanking?

i disagree with your idea. In RIFT, all classes can tank, heal, dps, and support. and their specs are still fairly unique (as i recall). in wow, it doesn't make sense to have all classes able to tank heal and dps, just because of class design. it works in rift because their classes are more archetypes (mage, rogue, warrior, cleric (primalist doesn't count)). but as for lock tanks, it does make sense. hunter tanking doesn't make sense. nor does priest, as that's just prot pally. but demo lock tanks could be made to make sense. something i've talked about a few times in the past is to make it where instead of your summoned demons function as dots for you, they work more like stagger, where % of damage you take goes to them

[TheBull300]

Well they took that walock tanking concept and gave it demon hunters so its gone m8, move on.

Warlock tanks are called Demon Hunters.

These answers are disappointing, having a ranged dps spec have a tanking off spec would be a wondrous thing, and warlocks would ft this bill nicely. they have in past to some degree been ranged tanks for specific bosses, they also got a glyph to allow it.

Meta was taken from us, given to DH, but Illidan only transformed into meta form due to Gul'Dan's skull and consuming the knowledge he had as a warlock.

[AwkwardSquirtle]

These answers are disappointing, having a ranged dps spec have a tanking off spec would be a wondrous thing, and warlocks would ft this bill nicely. they have in past to some degree been ranged tanks for specific bosses, they also got a glyph to allow it.

Meta was taken from us, given to DH, but Illidan only transformed into meta form due to Gul'Dan's skull and consuming the knowledge he had as a warlock.

And Death Knights were made by a Warlock too, but we don't raise the dead because there's too much overlap, and there are other cool things that they can do with Warlock tanking rather than going back to the meta model if they did decide to reintroduce it. Diverse classes is a good thing.

I like the ranged tanking idea. Stick Circle back baseline and give us a souped up version of Soul Link with Threat. I'd be fine with just enough abilities that we can off-tank the odd thing or hold the boss in an emergency, like druids can with bear form rather than a full-fledged tank spec.

[FertsBlert]

And Death Knights were made by a Warlock too, but we don't raise the dead because there's too much overlap, and there are other cool things that they can do with Warlock tanking rather than going back to the meta model if they did decide to reintroduce it. Diverse classes is a good thing.

I like the ranged tanking idea. Stick Circle back baseline and give us a souped up version of Soul Link with Threat. I'd be fine with just enough abilities that we can off-tank the odd thing or hold the boss in an emergency, like druids can with bear form rather than a full-fledged tank spec.

Warlock tanking is dead and buried.

To make it live would require creativity and thought, the current Dev team is... lacking in both but that is not their fault. The game itself by whoever is in charge of it's direction has been driven down the path of very narrowly defined possibilities and driven to a power rental paradigm where we will not ever again get anything actually new, we will just get what we had. What we had which was taken at the end of the last expansion, given a coat of paint and rented back to us as fresh and new.

So the game design paradigm does not require creativity or thought so any people who express either will be ruthlessly culled or browbeaten into conforming.

[garonne]

No thanks.

I would however like to see a new mail class. Its ridicules that there are only 2 classes that use mail.

It'll happen eventually if the game persist. Plate, mail and leather only had 2 classes for awhile. Dks got added 2 expansions later, monk in mop (2 expansions) and dh (2 expansions). We prob get another class in the exp after bfa.