Is paladin tanking a viable leveling technique?

[Bake-o]

I noticed that with the new LFG system that its much easier to find groups at 80 as all know.
I ask the question is it easier to find groups at lower levels?
And if so is it a wise idea to level a paladin through tanking the entire way to 80?

[enbee]

Yes. Though it's probably wise to go ret and pick up seal of command, use that untill you can get holy shield (lvl 40) then go prot(respec!), untill then just tank your randoms as ret

[Bake-o]

I just went out and got the battleworn thrash blade and I'm wondering if the double seal, attack, and light procs actually help more than a sword with stamina on it

[DaShaman]

As far as the random dungeons are concerned, I get grouped amazingly fast on my Healer, and would imagine the same goes for tanks.

As far as leveling as a Prot Paladin goes, I leveled mine as Prot until 58, pre-3.3, no heirlooms and was leveling unusually fast, even when soloing. I respecced ret come Outland just to try it out and thought it'd go a bit faster. However I was getting compliments that I was up to par with the leveling speed of someone with heirloom items. So now that you can get groups a lot fast, I'd say go for it, you'll get a good feel of how to tank and you won't have to learn it all at 80 (Assuming you stay prot).

[Ronark]

Definitely. I leveled my paladin as prot, made one mistake though. Don't level as prot from level 10. Wait till level 30, where you get Sanctuary, before that, the mana issue reaaaally take some time.

Pros: Big pulls, AoE damage, little down time. Easy to get into groups.

Cons: ?????... well yah, don't go prot before level 30.

Same with Ret on the Pros >.>

[Ronark]

Nah, you can do much bigger pulls as prot.

Kill 3 packs of 5 mobs in 30 seconds, or one pull of 15 mobs in 30 seconds....

Its the same over time.

[Bake-o]

Does reckoning my battle worn thrash blade and my seals all stack together?

[Ronark]

Does reckoning my battle worn thrash blade and my seals all stack together?

Umm, if you mean does Reckoning hits pro seals, the answer is yes.

[Deleted]

Kill 3 packs of 5 mobs in 30 seconds, or one pull of 15 mobs in 30 seconds....

Its the same over time.

If you are only doing 15 mobs, you doing something wrong or got terrible gear for it.
Try 30 or 50 mobs :P
Downside is that below level 50, tanking gear is rare. It's there but not common.

[Elessa]

If you are only doing 15 mobs, you doing something wrong or got terrible gear for it.
Try 30 or 50 mobs :P
Downside is that below level 50, tanking gear is rare. It's there but not common.

There is NO WAY you're going to be able to grind 30-50 mobs at the same time in greens/blues, might be doable with a healer, but withoutone there's no chance in hell you're going to make it!

[Snebbles]

If you are only doing 15 mobs, you doing something wrong or got terrible gear for it.
Try 30 or 50 mobs :P
Downside is that below level 50, tanking gear is rare. It's there but not common.

I'd like to see a screenshot if you are even able to successfully aggro 30 mobs without some of them evading away.

[Kbpringle]

If you are only doing 15 mobs, you doing something wrong or got terrible gear for it.
Try 30 or 50 mobs :P
Downside is that below level 50, tanking gear is rare. It's there but not common.

Show me an area where you can get 30+ mobs without them evading

[Spectrez]

Imo yes... You can pull large amount of groups and aoe down while you are queued in a group for whatever instance is at your level. I actually leveled up my prot pally faster than my friend as a ret pally. about the same amount of time leveling and same places leveling.

[Nexus2089]

i lvl'd from 60-70 without tank gear just the spec using BoA items Shoulders/Chest/Thrash Blade and a shield in dungeons using the finder, I lvl'd from 70-80 picking up tank gear keeping myself capped and able to run straight into heroics as soon as i hit 80 using the finder.

[twrule]

What kind of leveling isn't viable? We used to level paladin with seal>judge>auto attack, remember?

Anyway, I'd say yes - with the new lfg tool, people are going to want to group all the way up, and they'll need tanks. Yes, pally tanking is fine at low levels, but like others have pointed out, the difference between prot and ret before say, level 40, is minimal.

[Deyman]

Well this is how i leveled:

TBC - 1-16: ret (I guess)
TBC - 16-56: prot (My friend told my retri sucked for leveling and that prot was better)
TBC - 56-68: ret (I did a lot of pvp at theese levels as ret)
TBC - 68-70: prot (I was grinding blood elfes outside black temple)
WotLK - 70-80: ret (Ret got re-designed and i liked it)

If i would level a new paladin now i would do like this:

1-40: ret or prot (doesnt really matter in theese levels, I would choose ret)
40-60: prot (Holy shield and BoS)
60-80: ret (Crusader stirke + Divine Storm)

[greysin]

you can go 1-80 as a protadin as fast as anyone can level anything

you can take on 5-7 mobs around your level, almost impossible to kill and all group quests are really solopaladinquests anyway

[Babylonius]

I power leveled my Paladin for the release of WotLK as prot because I wanted to tank when he hit 80. If that's your desire then nothing is better than leveling prot. It may be mundane to some, but if you get joy out of fighting all the mobs you can pull w/o real fear of dying then its actually a really good time. And finding groups was so much easier, and I'm sure with the queue its only gotten better.

[Ynna]

I'm currently levelling a Holy Paladin (level 34 now) and I've got most experience in instances. With the Dungeon Finder healers (and tanks as well, I assume) can find groups pretty fast, even at lower levels. And as Protection you could probably do quests faster than as Holy so I'm guessing levelling as tank is perfectly viable.

[Deleted]

Show me an area where you can get 30+ mobs without them evading

The blood elves near black temple is such an area. All mobs hitting very fast but for very little. That keeps your mana bar filled. Use seal of light if you get hurt too much, otherwise seal of vengeance to kill the mobs faster. Consecration is your largest dps output. Also there is a trinket that drops from Warchief Kargath that is awesome for prot pala grinding. It heals for 120hp per block and lasts a good 20 sec. Use that with so many mobs hitting you and you're from 1% to 100% in like 2-3 sec. As for other places, you just gotta keep hitting the mobs to stop them from evading. If you aggro some mobs and then just run off without damaging them, of course they will evade. People kiting that named elite(the one that becomes immune at 50%) near black temple has been kited to Shattrath City at least several times just for the fun of doing it. If you can kite a mob through 2-3 zones, surely you can pull a large amount of mobs if you focus enough? Places where you need to grind rep or other items you need from a group of mobs are good for this. Timbermaw enemies are one thing to mention at earlier levels. Example: the enemies that live in Felwood just outside Timbermaw Hold, aggro one group, run to the next group. wait for all mobs to get to you, use consecration, then move to the next group. Just repeat that, eventually the mobs die, but you're gonna be in combat with mobs most of the time. And these mobs got a respectable respawn timer. Undeads in the plaguelands are an other example. There are plenty of places where you can grind mobs, you just gotta know where they are.