Tankt!

Finally... I tanked Utgarde Pinnacle with Lisandra last night, since it was both the Daily Heroic and the Daily Dungeon, and we couldn't find a tank. Since my tanking gear is very adequate now, I said "why not" and respecced.

So yes, I tanked my first WotLK Heroic last night, and then even on a paladin (I tanked Heroics and the early raids in TBC with Vorgas, my warrior). We had one death from the Whirlwind on Skadi the Ruthless, but apart from that, it was a smooth ride. I might actually try and tank some more now, and also offer tanking a Naxxramas maybe. Was quite fun!

On a related note, we downed Onyxia (10) on the day the patch hit the servers, and I managed to grab the new Judgement Helm for Retribution Very nice item!

Freedom

After some weeks of unhappiness, I made the big step yesterday, and left the guild my warrior has been in for over two years now. The situation had deteriorated a lot in the last weeks, with a very unfriendly atmosphere in guild chat (at least towards me), and the guild my paladin is in now felt a lot more mature, friendly, and like home. And since the day before yesterday that guild got a new addition in the form of more or less the only other officer from my warriors guild (who was fed up with the situation in our old guild as well), the decision was really made easy.

I would not have thought that the only response to my farewell note on our guilds forum (where I simply stated that I needed some fresh air, and that some things that happened in the guild lately made me unhappy, nothing more, nothing less) would be a post from the guilds leader, who more or less stated that I left just in time, since he was about to demote or /gkick me anyway. Well, thanks for spelling out so clearly why I wanted to leave that guild, just in case I needed some support now - you gave it to me with that post, and really made me see that I did the right thing there.

I will probably stay Protection specced and see what the new guild brings me - I never really enjoyed tanking for the old guild since runs were few and far between, so I would always get a little rusty. But seeing that there already are some tanks in the guild I might also spec Fury again. There are many paths into the future now for me, it seems...

Tanking can be fun indeed

Yesterday I was asked to heal a quick Mechanar Heroic run, but as we waited for a tank to come online in our guild, I proposed to our group (and guild) leader that I could bring in my protection warrior (the guild has a no-alts-outside-the-guild policy, that warrior of mine is an exception to that rule, and as such in a weird situation). He agreed, brought his wife in as holy priest, I got my warrior, and we went to Cosmowrench. I reminded the group over Teamspeak that I rarely tank 5 men instances at the moment (due to the warriors guild basically not doing anything together at all anymore), and ask them to kindly push me into the direction they want me to.

And what can I say, no one died the whole run, all bosses down. I got told what mobs would be best to down first in any group and which should better be CC'ed, I marked accordingly, the group went down. I obviously had some trouble with the last mobs before Pathaleon the Calculator, as I heard a distinct "get that mob off me please" on Teamspeak from the priest, but even that went fine.

So, what do I want to say with this? I am not entirely sure, but it seems to me that any tank that has decent gear and understanding of his class and role can tank more or less anything except the really really hard stuff if the rest of the group is supportive, helps to fill knowledge gaps, and no blame is randomly assigned to some poor soul if something goes wrong. So far I hardly had these kind of runs at all, and Karazhan is much easier to tak in my opinion (at least as main tank, as off tank you get some bad groups if you do not have too much CC with you), so it was a really pleasant surprise, and now I also understand a friend better who has been in my paladins guild for ages now as a bear tank, and he never really seemed to grasp why I didn't like tanking regular instances. Well, it seems the other four people in the group can make all the difference.

The fun of tanking

It seems it is the time of the week again - tanks left and right are complaining about their role again. Fine, just let me chime in.
I would not label me as one of the best tanks around, but I know what to do in an instance, and most of the time I even do it. But rather than list all the annoyances in tanking for me, I simply refer you to the great post that Ingaverson did on WoW Insider today:

1) Arena/PvP - With so much emphasis and gear rewards being made by Blizz a lot of warriors are fury/arms. To be honest raid spot for dps warriors are few and far between (particuarly in 10mans) but with the rewards now available from arena gear many warriors just prefer to dps.

2) Tanking isnt easy, we don't just tap sunder armor. Each instance requires knowledge of what to do and how to tank each mob. Stance dancing on Nightbane to avoid fears for example or running out of Murmur's Sonic Booms. Developing this experience takes practise and a lot of ppl cant be bothered.

3) Paying attention. For a good tank in a 5 man or raid you are not only watching the mobs but your raid/party. Who is overaggro'ing? Who isn't cc'ing their mob properly? Who has had a resist to trap? Who needs you to run over and taunt a mob off them before they get deaded. Most people have enough fun dps'ing, this isnt their kind of thing.

4) Respec costs. Three classes can tank effectively, and all have various specs to choose from... a dps war or holy pala or even boomkin could tank a non heroic instance with decent tank gear alone, but boss tanking in raids and the most challanging 5 man heroics is just a no-go unless you are spec'ed correctly, with the fees as they stand for respec costs it puts a lot of people off the very idea.

5) As has already been posted most good tanks don't pug. We spend enough gold wiping on new raid bosses with our guild. There are always guildies who could use our help more. And for t4 / t5 geared tanks and beyond the fact is there is very little of any use to us left in a 5 man instance so you wont find us in LFG very often.

6) I'll be the first to admit being a dedicated prot warrior isnt the best for solo'ing, farming or grinding, it will be slow but there is little downtime.

Yes, that pretty much sums it up in my opinion as well. Tanking is fun with the right people (read: friends and guildies). With PUGs, it usually is not. Also, why does it automaitcally mean I mark or explain bosses just because the bosses get to hit me? Escapes me.