Tanks Gone Bye...

I was once told that you should thank the people you need too thank before its too late.

Going thru some Blogs last night, I was listening to the Double O Podcast about tanking done a few weeks back. What a great episode and I learned some stuff but...I also started thinking about those I have tanked with, set up a relationship with and I think I need to take a minute to say thanks to them, tell them what they did to advance me and let you see the pixels that not only helped me become a better tank but allow you to stroll down this memory lane as well.

Below is the links to those who I've Co~Tanked with and a bit about how they moved me along:

Saharah - The person responsible for me being the player I am, in fact I rolled a tank so he could play his hunter that he really enjoyed playing. All in all, this is the person that taught me to tank and was an in game friend. Sah, ran the guild, was the RL in TBC and basically a father figure to us all. A bit of a misunderstanding in the guild and resulting drama drove the guild apart.

Solner - The coolest RP'r I've met in game. On top of that a hell of a tank with so much of a real life it held him back from being one of the best in the world, IMO. Solner, taught me pace, mob control and how to min/max. He also allowed me to make mistakes and guided me to be better. He was a no nonsense tank and I hope I take some of my style from him.

Kurok , Jexar and Janthar - My Co~Tanks, from a guild I was in called Natural Twenty. I was newer to hard core raiding when I joined them and we sat around top 1000 in the world during Ulduar. All of these guys were ahead of me in skill but always made me work to earn my spot. In fact Kurok, gave up his tanking spot to DPS so I could tank and Janthar played his Shammy. Natty 20 was the most talented guild I was ever in. One day I logged on to see the GMotD state "thanks for the memories, we will not be a guild as of next week. The members of Natural Twenty made me a capable raider.

Soten -Best tank I've played with while he was on and had incredible motivational influences on the raid and he was a natural leader. Amazingly he was only a teenager but I at time felt in awe while tanking with him. I learned so much from him. We were in a guild called Refuge, they were super casual, none the less great.

Shem -  He was such a great guy and a good tank. The guild always made him feel inferior due to how good Soten was. He was good, he never knew how good. During Wrath pally's were OP and that fueled Shem and Skreebo in the ongoing "Pally's are OP debate".

Skreebo/Raxial - What a goof! This guy was probably the closest friend I had in game. He knew so much about every class in game and helped me learn warrior and druid tanking. He had a job that didn't allow him to raid hardcore and he got tired of the game far too fast. He took about 3 extended breaks while we tanked together. Amazingly he had so much grace he made a troll look like a ballerina while pulling.

Vars - I learned something every time I logged on to raid with him. Much to my chagrin none of it was good. Vars was the GL and RL for the guild he was in and ruled it with a heavy hand. He was a loot hog and disingenuous. No wonder he had gone thru several tanks including me and the other pally he recruited at the same time as me. It was a great lesson thou and other than the comment about "our guild doesn't give new people gear because bring new raiders in is a big investment" there are no hard feelings. Hey Vars....the big investment is the $50 it cost me to learn how bad things really can get.

Elms - The best DK I've ever seen! He was RL, tanked and always wanted the kiting job or OT role. He never missed anything and made improvements on the fly. We were top 3000 in the world and I think most of that was because Elms was so good at his jobs. I really wish things would have been different and I could have stayed with that guild.

Lifedrynker - What do I say about Life? He was a tremendous player, an officer without the role and just let me do my thing...Tank. He had ZERO ego when it came to putting the best class in its proper role. He was a step ahead at all aspects of the game and I wish I had his awareness. Life just recently left the game due to burn out, too bad we didn't get to tank more together. I could have learned alot from him had we tanked more together, as it stands I'm a better player for working with him. Who knows maybe SWTOR will see me and life getting hit in the face again.

And I never tanked with any of them but a special big shout out to those who have helped me and did so much work with the pally community at Maintankadin.com.