What do you enjoy about tanking? I've tried it before on my warrior (level 80 heroic PUGs in WoTLK) and just found it very stressful. If you enjoy tanking, do you run many PUGs? Do you only run with guildies? Why do you prefer tanking over DPSing?

 

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I think it can a satisfying experience leading your group to victory, crowd controlling the most damaging mob, and setting the pace.

On the other end, you will be called many times, told that you should quit wow then ending your own life, endless UMADBRAH

 

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More often than not, when I tank pugs I feel like an unpaid babysitter. I've gotten to the point now that if I want to do a pug I'll either heal or dps.

All of my tanking has been either through pugs, or filling in on guild runs where someone couldn't make it, as I am known to several guilds on my server..through pugging the RDF and regular server pick up groups..


If you let bad runs stress you out..the problem is with you IMHO...life is seldom perfect, and to expect PUGs (or even guild runs) to be so is just setting yourself up for a letdown...


It is what it is....while yes you may go for many runs saving everyone's proverbial arse without recognition, eventually you'll get the "Damn man, you are one of the best tanks I have ever seen" comment, which makes it all worth it. (And in my case, lead to many 'other-guild' invites to raids)


Don't get caught up in the finger pointing if things go bad. Do your job the best you can (Tank, heals, or DPS), and be satisfied with yourself that you did.

The rest simply doesn't matter.

 

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Can I be the first to say, I f*cking love you Gutter. Well said bro!

 

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I enjoy leading efficient and successful instances and/or raids.

I prefer to lead guild groups, in vent, to make communicating easier.

The more you tank, the more routine it is and stress is no longer really a factor. I do think some people either can't handle it or just have no feel for it. There is no lack of very bad tanks who keep tanking.

In WOTLK facerolling was an artform of trying to blast thru instances as fast as your group could handle. In Cata, I like to push as hard as possible while gaining efficiency thru CC and pulling intelligently (seeking to stress the healer the least). Sadly I encounter a lot of tanks who think that having a little gear means they can faceroll and 9/10 times they are very wrong and slow runs down with faceroll "tactics."

I didn't mind pugs so much in WOTLK but the length and barely measureable complexity of cata heroics make pugging less enjoyable. The volumes of people who seem to care nothing for their own gear (missing enchants, missing gems, use of pvp gear) yet still inflict themselves upon pve and/or who don't know the basics of their own class after 85 levels is amusing at first but gets old pretty quick and makes cata heroics miserable.

If you don't care enough about your own gear to gem it, enchant it, and/or pick the right gear for the job (use pve gear for pve), then why should anyone else care to help you get more gear (in heroics, for ex) ?

 

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The ultimate fallacy. The purpose of running Heroics is to get more gear, yet you expect them to already have it before they enter your group??


Sorry Voqar, but that is just a stupid thing to say.


If the person is bringing the best they have, in order to get "better" stuff...why should a "label" matter to you?? If the best they have is a PVP piece, why in the hell would you NOT want them to wear it?


I tanked ALL of ICC with the PVP shield and sword on my Paladin and never got a better drop. By your logic I should have just used some I level 200 piece of shit instead? Because it was "PVE" gear??


You seriously believe what you are saying???

 

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When I did tank, back in the WotLK days, it was fun. That's all. More fun than DPS is now.

Wow that's really saying something. I never thought about it or typed it out until now. Now Blizzard has to offer incentives in hopes of getting average players to tank.

Man how far they have fallen.

 

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Tanking is fun when I am in the mood, but it requires a lot more energy and effort than DPSing. Most of the time I am lazy and just want to mindlessly sit back and pew pew, popping out a few CCs/interrupts here and there.

 

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To the above about gearing adqueately for heroics: Obviously you want PvE gear for PvE content PvP for PvP and yes quests are for gearing for normal dungeons, heroic runs are about gearing for raids, 10 mans are for gearing to 25s etc and so on. That being a given it's my experience that it's your own knowledge of your class abilities and what to expect in the fights and reacting to it that determines how effective you are 95% of the time. I will pick the person that does not stand in the fire, interrupts things, uses CC, and generally doesn't be stupid; over that guy who has the higher GS and makes no effort.





It's the most active role in WoW by a longshot, there is basically never a moment where you can't be doing something to smooth the outcome of a fight. Whether it is simply being aware of what is going on all around you moment to moment and reacting, using CDs at the approriate times, or just pumping as much damage and threat out between each global cooldown. When there is a dull moment, at least when you PuG- that's usually when the %@#@ hits the fan. That's what I love about it. As a tank you have the tools to react to those times. I also find playing DPS in WoWland to be tremendously boring, about on par with George Jetson pushing that same 1-3 button(s) over and over at the office all day.


You are the leader by default, so especially in a PuG random where you cannot expect other people to know what to do you can take the majority of the responsibility on yourself and increase the odds of avoiding time wasting wipes. You dictate the speed of the instance or raid, whether you need to slow down, the group's gear and experience lets you pull as fast as possible or a mix inbetween you set the pace.





Random dungeon finder is what it is: a way to get a group (instantly at least for tanks)- then roll the dice on whether you get people who care enough to make an effort on content they've done dozens of time before or those who at least ask and/or try to learn something that's new to them. Once you've done something a few times, know the tricks, know what needs to be avoided, what needs to be interrupted, dies 1st, marked for CC etc it all becomes much easier. On the other hand, PuGing in WoW as random chance dictates will lead to you getting strangers whose mission in life seems to be to ruin other's enjoyment. You can stop and explain what needs to be done, kick them if they won't listen, or drop out yourself and move on to another instant group or something else more fun if all else fails.





Tons, my free time seems more limited all the time so I will often join that random 10 man raid that needs a tank and is ready to go or click the finder when I only have an hour or so to play. Guild groups, or at least a friend or 2 make it much more fun of course but when time is short... My only complaint is with how the RDF works across servers there is no reason to worry about your reputation or get to know the strangers you are playing with since you will likely never see those people ever again.





Nope.


In fact I'd say guild-only groups, raids, BGs are somewhat rare, maybe 1 out of 5? Alot of this is due to my own time constraints.





With plenty of exceptions, DPSing is the same no matter what you are doing or fighting, melee dps, ranged dps, PvP dps it all tends to be the same routine over and over. There is very little you can do that will decisively influence the outcome of a fight that would not have happened whether you were there or not. It just would have taken longer without you maybe quite alot longer. Even your major screw ups (assuming everyone else is competent) do not normally have many consequences other then your own death. This is mostly a problem of how easy WoW really is at its core. CC generally is rarely a necessity, interrupts and supporting abilities while certainly nice and smooth the experience quite a bit, ultimately are not required beyond what a tank or healer brings already.


Short answer: DPSing is just too easy.