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.