Thunderforged and the Green!

Long overdue and many broken promisises later, PTR 5.2 features green fire for Warlocks and a call from Blizz to increase the want/need to do 25 man content again. On top of that Tanks are beating on Ghostcrawler (GC) about the bad idea to stack haste and the fact that dodge/parry gear is horrible and I think Blizz is hearing the cry's from the player base that the overwhelming amount of dailies was bad, the reduction of VP after the 1st heroic 5 man.

In other words nothing new for the devs to handle but I think the later is driving the normal playbase away from the game in droves. In a quote from GC we are supposed to get the new ground breaking part of the game in an upcoming patch. (source) (source)


Bout time -  This comes from a quest line that won't be open to everyone that comes form a piece of gear it seems to be in the unknown range just how but it looks like it starts in the Black Temple.
(source) (source)

The uproar on Haste - (we all seen it coming) almost seems long overdue. This incarnation of tanking features Hit/Exp and Haste and lacked the need for dodge/parry and to a smaller extent mastery. (source) (source)
 Paladin (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator) 

• For Protection, we do have plans to try and lower the value of haste relative to dodge and parry. We don't want to make haste terrible for paladins, but we agree that it's odd for it to be better than more traditional tank stats. It might require a nerf to Shield of the Righteous to do this, but our goal is not to nerf survivability overall. We just wanted to provide you some context if you see odd changes to tanking abilities.

Is there a reasoning behind this? It honestly feels like you're taking the opinions of a mysterious part of the playerbase (like the same portion who you quoted as "not liking DivPurP because it was too RNG") and changing the entire spec paradigm around it. Why push for MORE class homogenization when the game already has WAY too much?
The game just isn't currently designed to support it. It creates potential problems such as:
A Prot paladin competing with a Frost DK or Ret paladin over gear, meaning there isn't enough DPS plate to go around.

• A Prot paladin considering a tier set with dodge and parry on it to be "garbage" because it doesn't stack all haste.
• A Prot paladin looking at a Ret 2pc set bonus that she normally wouldn't touch because now the stats aren't that bad either.

In a world where tanking plate didn't exist or every loot system used the personal LFR one or 100% efficient reforging then it might work
We understand that having a lot of haste feels fun and visceral and is more dependable than dodge and parry. We'll try to come up with a solution that keeps that in mind.

And along those lines we are now seeing the backlash of the daily grind and the loss of the once "cool" seven 5 man VP grind that was introduced mid-cata, we now the the max once a day then as Blizzard states, we can do 20 in a day but a much reduced level, almost forcing players to log on or it is, in essence a waste of time. (source) (source)

Strongly prefer 7x/wk. Can't play weekdays much, like to grind on weekends. Its was fun for me in cata
You can still do that. The runs after the first still give valor. It's not the most efficient way possible, but totally works. (Source)
Look at it this way. I got few hours per week to play & not every day. 7x/wk means I get full valor. Other not.
I can appreciate that. The current model is intended to be a compromise between folks who want long sessions vs. many sessions. (Source)
7 per week allows you both to do them on one day or on 7 days. The current implementation doesnt (without dr on vp)
But the current one lets you do 20 a week if you really want to. (Source)
you traded the one efficient way in cata for the one efficient way here. Don't pretend you're more diverse.
Disagree. The big difference in the previous two systems is after X you got *no* valor. Very hard to play other ways. (Source)
Do you honestly think players want to do 20 per week? RT But the current one lets you do 20 a week if you really wa
How many should you do a week? (As an aside, more did 1/day than 7/ week.) (Source)
it's something only HC raiders (a minority of the raiders) would say, or someone with more time than skill.
HC raiders tend to do content anyway. It's more casual raiders who drop out if rewards and prestige are lacking. (Source)
so am i right in asumming you are designing content for a slim minority and saying screw the rest of yall?
How did you get that from what I said? I said we tend to see players give up when their accomplishments are too easily outdated. (Source)
You seriously want players to have to grind 5.0 content before running 5.2?
Is it fair to players who played in 5.0 if they aren't ahead of those who did not? (I don't think we ever said "grind.") (Source)
I'd like to see the numbers/proof of this "the less hardcore raiders quit when we provide catch up stuff" crap.
You don't see it all the time? Think about those players who get lazy when a tier is near done. It's like that but more so. (Source)

And the icing on the cake of what is going on in the PTR is the new Thunderforged. Briefly we now have upwards of 6 versions of gear; LFR, normal gear, normal Thunderforged, heroic gear, and heroic Thunderforged. Blizz is doing this to give upgrades for what all of us have done, getting a chance at upgraded loot on a boss you might still be progressing on and getting a special cooking by getting Thunderforged gear. Wouldn't this had been nice pre-M'uru nerf in Sunwell? 

Just why is Blizz doing all this? They have increased Thunderforged gear drops in 25 man, a bit too late to help increase 25 man raids. Blizz in some way seems, in a mercy attempt to keep 25 mans solvent, being throwing a bone for those who want to stick with it. It is not their fault it is easier to set up a 10 man platform on a 7 year old game who's numbers of solid raiders are dropping. They are rewarding what here? Ants on a sugar cube! Really, if you make is so better loot falls, people will come, for now and then back out after the special snow flake gear is gone or acquired. A shoddy attempt if you ask me.

(Source)

Tyiliru

Coming to the PTR in the near future will be a new designation of item type in Normal and Heroic raids for non-tier pieces. Each 5.2 raid boss will have a chance of dropping this new designation of a particular item that's 6 item levels higher than their counterparts. These higher quality versions will be called "Thunderforged". This means that there will be five variations of some items. You'll now see a 5.2 raid item of LFR quality at item level 502, the same item in Normal quality at item level 522, the item in Normal Thunderforged quality at item level 528, the Heroic version of the item at level 535, and the Heroic Thunderforged version of the item at level 541.

This new item designation is being added for a couple reasons, but first and foremost to make loot drops more interesting overall, especially after you have earlier bosses in Throne of Thunder on farm. As you're working on progression, those first few bosses can now continue to provide a chance at upgrades, making repeated kills potentially more exciting and rewarding. Those additional upgrades can then help to slowly raise power, and boost you over whatever progression roadblock you may hit.

We've also received a lot of feedback regarding 25-player raids, and have been looking for ways to address some concerns. Ever since we changed 10-player raids to drop the same item level as 25's, we've seen a steady decline in 25-player raiding. This isn't surprising. A 25-player raid takes an extra level of logistical commitment for the officers of those groups. It's unfortunately easy for a 25-player guild to collapse down into a 10-player guild, but very unlikely for the opposite to happen. However, we like 25-player raiding and don't want to see it go away. Like many players, we love the epic feeling that comes with banding together more massive groups to battle powerful foes, we love that there's opportunity for those groups to try out new players or unusual comps without causing a huge burden, and we want to support the larger raiding guilds. That said, we're also concerned that over-rewarding the 25-player guilds-if, for example, we went back to a higher item level across the board for 25's, as was the case for Icecrown Citadel-would feel like a slap in the face to the many 10-player raiders out there, who are the majority of our Normal and Heroic raiders.

To attempt to navigate this minefield, we're going to try having Thunderforged items drop more frequently in 25-player raids. They'll be somewhat rare in both cases compared to the standard versions that'll drop, but they'll be even rarer in 10's. Overall, a 25-player group will be more likely to end up with a slightly higher item level after several weeks of raiding.

It's important to keep in mind that this only affects 10- and 25-player Normal and Heroic raids, and tier-15 armor pieces won't be available in Thunderforged quality at all. We're curious to hear your thoughts about these changes, and what you think once you begin seeing them on the PTR..

Til next time, thanks!

How to be Elite!

Everyone thinks they can -

The separation between the elite player and a normal raider is staggering. So staggering that the normal raider will never ever have a clue on what the elite player does to get where they are at, the amount of pulls it takes to kill the boss or the investment of time they put into their toon to make it right for ONE fight let alone a whole nights raiding.

This topic came to me while reading a thread on a forum I go to from time to time. The forum has some good  people but in a way, a skewed sense of the game from a more casual audience  I take nothing away from what they have accomplished or what kind of people they are but it usually isn't a site you go to when you want to find out what is new in game. For that reason I will leave it anonymous.

In every aspect of life you come by people who just have a knack at being better at something they do. Call it natural ability, if you will. Usually that isn't by total mistake and this portion of the discussion goes way deeper than I'm willing to go here but skill is usually cultivated more than innate. If you want to learn more about that please check out this book and site. I've looked at both in length and they make a ton of great points. But back to this point; you are always in awe of those people -they are often called the 1% because 99% of the people walking around can't tie their shoes correctly but these people make anything look easy.
Our game of WOW is no different. 

How did this post come about?

There was a discussion about Prot Pally builds and the new way things are for post 5.0 tanking. The poster started to slam a person who has contributed so much to WOW, Pally's and tanking in general he is a legend. I'm talking about Theck. A member of WOW's community so highly thought of, Blizz even named a poorly stated tanking ring after him. I say that with a smile on my face because maybe it was a sign of things to come. The statement went to the "Theck doesn't know what the hell he is talking about" due to the use of haste as a stat that Prot Pally's want to use. The thread went on to say that they knew the he was wrong because none of the top guilds in the worlds tanks were doing this. Which BTW is flat out wrong. (Dream Paragon's top prot pally Fraggoji). My counter rebuttal was, we causal's can't look to the very elite due to several reason and just do things that they do. It doesn't work that way.

But this got me thinking.

Now, in that post I put I'm not Theck fan boy, but looking back on it, I guess I am. I know for a fact I wouldn't be the player I am, or was with out the time he devoted to ALL of us knowing what it took for use to be built as tanks. Other than maybe Ciderhelm, I had no clue who to look up to as tanks. He laid the foundation to my career as a solid WOW tank.

The reason not everyone can do it.

Here is what I came up with - I always loved raiding from the minute I walked into Kara and got chased out due to a face pull. Raiding is or was the best thing about this game to me. As a raider I thought I knew what it meant to be a min/maxer and top of the line. I had some run in with greatness. In fact I hit top 300 for a few days in Wrath.

I also seen some drama that being towards the top created. I've logged on to see my guild was no longer going to be a guild. I was asked if I could switch professions to get an extra 400 HP's. I've been sat for certain fights because prot pally's weren't a solid choice on a given fight and been brought in as a 3rd tank because of my PoJ skill which made me move faster to kite adds. Oh, I was also ported out and hearthed in so I could go as an extra healer in certain fights. All in all sounds reasonable, it was what you did to be good.

Just like in real life there is a point in wow where your skill won't take you further. You hit a wall, and it could be from a multitude of things. Can you take the hours of raiding and wiping? Can you devote the time to running your rotation with your eyes closed? Can you take the yelling that goes on? Or losing out on that ONE piece of loot that you needed to complete your threat set because the loot master gave it to the new tank to help get him closer to the rest of them? On top of all that are you willing to do whatever it takes to be number 1? It isn't easy.

Visual proof -

Oh I thought it was! I watched this - The Race to Number One a professionally done movie about the top few guilds in the world racing to get the top spot. They do some crazy shit. I could never devote that kind of time or life to this. Its sad and awesome at the same time.



Race to World First from Looking for Group Productions on Vimeo.

People that get to where these people are in game are no different than any other 1% in the world. It isn't easy and takes a special kind of person. They log out in different gear so you don't know what their spec was for a fight. They walk to rope of just outside the rules every way they can just to get that kill.

And on top of that, they do it better than you or I could ever do it. See I thought I was good. I really did. After watching that movie it proved to me I'm not. I'm not bad. There was also that other incident I had that made me realize I might not be ready for prime time. This goes back to mid wrath.

In person proof - we've all seen it - 

It was just after LFD come out. T9 was still the top of the line gear due to gating. 258 Was heroic 25 man T9. I qued up with my hunter to get some VP/JP. I entered and the tank had zero gems or enchants but was fully 258. I always looked at the tank, just to see his build he was a prot paladin. I looked no further, because we were off to the races. A bit into the dungeon I seen the healer (tree) and the tank were in the same guild. From start to finish it took us 8 minutes. That entire place was done in 8 minutes. Now, most of you can remember that Wrath style AOE fest were pretty common, but not the week that LFD came out and not with such grace and perfection. This guy was off spec, not set up correctly and pulled that whole place in about 4 pulls. We didn't skip one boss. I looked later to see where they were from. It was a guild called Exodus on Ysondre at the time they were top 15 in the world in progression.

So yes while the guys who put spread sheets and blogs together to make us better, we normal casual players have no clue what it takes to be sitting up high on the pecking order of WOW raiders, let alone staying there. They just get it. Because Theck or EJ puts out a post on how to do it, doesn't mean you can do it like them. The thing that makes the really great theroycrafter so good, is  they do it and then write it.

I've said this before, anyone could run a 969 rotation, but to really understand why you did it and what came up next separated the great from the best.

Sorry for the length. I really wanted to get this out. We all think we can do IT but really not many of us can, it is why one guild has for patch after patch, time after time been at the top. It ain't easy, and if anyone could do it, why hasn't anyone else done it?

Watch the video Race to Number One if you get time. It will open your eyes.

The art of the pull!

Pulling a pack of mobs or a boss is the first step of any fight. The first time you put on the shield and 1h weapon and que to tank, making sure you handle your pulls runs thru your mind more than once. For some its second nature and for others they never quite get the handle on it.

Just a few ideas to make the pull easier and help those who are worried about that contact with the mobs you are going to say hello too. This simple act is and can be the biggest issue on how others perceive you as a tank. If you don't nail it PUGs will torment you. If you don't pick up your target fast enough it can lead to a wipe and if someone can prove (on any given fight) that they can do it, you might lose your spot as the tank.

This comes from a Paladin POV and the reason why is because its what I know best. I have dabbled in Warrior and DK pulls but I'm not nearly as good or as comfortable with either of these toons to want to raid or speed pull. I would rather take the 5 extra seconds in setting up the pull with my non main toons than wipe and cost us minutes to corpse walk, buff and bio after the wipe.

First allow me to give you a tad of background on how I learned to pull. The very 1st pally I played with was tirelessly slow and methodical. He could make a 1 hour H-Botanica run into 2 hours. Learning to play in TBC ---> A L.O.T. of your success was dependant on your pull. Ave Shield (AS) was a 1.5 second cast, didn't silence and in general Pally's were not pull friendly at a distance. Now...consecrate would gather EVERYTHING up then but if you had a caster...oh my how it sucked. Til this day I'm a tad uncomfortable running and pulling with my pally because of my early play time. When Wrath came out I thought I was good at the pull. Shortly after LFG came out, I que'd with my hunter and seen a world class player pull H-UP in 258 ilvl gear pull and finish it in 8 minutes. Now as ICC gear came out and 277 ilvl gear was all the rage, this was easy. As I watched this dude pull this place with precision and grace I knew I had alot to learn. I worked at it, it took some time but after a bit I got better. Here are some tips...

This will help with bosses or trash. It might even help you when a pat gets you are you have a tab targeter who like to help speed the run up.

Pre pull things:

• Is Rightous Fury on because you switched spec's?
• does the healer have full or near full mana?
• Know your enviroment, if this is your 1st time in this place DO NOT speed pull.
• Watch you pats (caster or melee) is it a watcher who will summon more?
• Pull the healer 1st, other casters 2nd and melee last. If you have a ranged (hunter) CC them.
• Will pulling this set pull the next set or special mob?
• Can LoS help you make this pull easier?
• What is the first thing this mob does? stun, cc healer etc. Pre-pop CD.
• Put second caster or secondary target as your focus, this makes switching fast and easy.

On pull:

• Mark a target, let the group know who needs the DPS 1st. Mark CC's and make sure who CC's who.
• NEVER PULL with HoR, if you do that ability is on CD, it does ZERO damage if someone pulls mob or boss off you, get top aggro until you can fix that. Its never good. just. don't. do. it.
• Exorcism or AS from range. On Boss or Melee, Exorcism is great and allows As and hammer to be used for more snap. On casters go with AS it silences them and brings them toward you for that extra bit of space in close quarters fighting.
• KNOW how your shield bounces, if there is more than one caster, did it them all? If not silence, CC or Rebuke on caster that is blowing you or your healer up.
• Plan what o do before the pull in case you miss with AS or you get a pat that is too close.

Directly after pull:

• Are all mobs on you? If not, you can HoR or RD them.
• How fast did your primary mob die? Do you need to get extra aggro on your secondary target?
• Do you need to lesson damage so your healer can keep you up?
• Can something bad happen now or in the next few seconds? Have CD ready.

As you see the last of the health leaving the last mobs bar, look to the next group, pat or room.

• Start this whole process again. Before the next set of pulls do  you need CD's to come up?
• Does the healer need mana? If not...go.
• If they do, wait a until what you need to come up.

I hope this helps those who need a bit of help on the pull, pull smoother. If you have any comments or questions. Let me know.

You too can be Better.

The party  you are with deserves it!

This is in response to a wonderful post to a brilliant blog. Vosskah over at Sword and Board is a brilliant blogger, well spoken guy and just by his hints, tips and ideas he must be a hell of a tank and WoW player. Please go check out his blog and I know you'll be back after reading once.
I'd like to in a way, mirror Vosskah's  post and make suggestions to fix someone you know that could do the job better. This probably isn't for a pro tank, raid tank or tanking officer but I guess it could be.

What can you do to help your tanking?

• Gem - Right now superior gems are a must! Mastery is KING! Put a gem in that empty SLOT!
• Enchant - if you don't have an enchant on it, go do it.
• Glyph - Why don't you have your glyph slots filled?
• Spec - Learn to spec. Bad placement = unspent points. As tanks we can now add to dps, TBC is in the past. DO IT! um, most specs are cookie cutter but once you your mitigation talents....add to the group dps.
• Gear - you have to know EVERY tank must have more than one set of gear. Switching trinkets and other types can go a long way to helping others in your group for a fight.

Those are the basics. As tanks we get an insta que, please go spend 10 minutes finding out the info on the above if you don't know it or send them to Righteous Defense, Sword and Board or Maintankadin.com, or have them email me. ----> there is a ton of great blogs to the right!

We all know every tank MUST generate threat. Even with the buff to tanking threat, you still have to work if you are outgeared by DPS. To me, if a DPS passes me I want to know why. You have to make sure your threat talents are in place. Make sure RF, Defensive Stance, Blood Presence or bear form are where they need to be. Next look to spec, (only pally) Rule of Law, Wrath of the Lightbringer and Crusade are almost a must. If you don't have them, GET THEM. If you are still getting passed in threat, you need more (as a pally, warrior or DK) Expertise, if you have to go this route, you might be playing with people that way outgear you or you need to be more aggressive.

You have to know how and WHEN to use Cool-downs. Here is a marvelous post from Mel on how and when to use cool-downs. As a pally, with trinkets and HS, we can almost have some cool down going all the time. NEWS FLASH WOG is no longer an acceptable talent cool-down at the 5 man heroic or regular raid instance. You don't need it, lose the talents and the glyph. If you need it your healers are not regular healers and don't know how to play the class. Just saying...

The one most important rule for any tank in a busy fight is preparation! (thanks Ciderhelm)
If you can answer these questions, you know you're in good shape:

• When is the bad thing going to happen?
• Who is the bad thing going to happen to?
• Where is the bad thing going to happen?

Know your weaknesses, fix them. Vosskah mentioned kiting, if you are a bad kiter, go find a mob that can harm you and kite it. Any good tank needs to move, if you have issues moving work on it. Here is a great video and post about kiting. I was once a clicker, I worked hard at keybinding and button pushing. That was my biggest weakness. If one of your weaknesses is not doing something someoone tells you because your way is "fine" thats lazy and unacceptable. If you are just coming back into game or not a regular raid tank, take the advice of someone else. Give it a shot, who knows those wasted talent points you put in a worthless talent might help your raid or even that brutal heroic you are in as a pug.

Work on your strengths and make it work. I hate to DIE, omg do I hate to die. I solo tanked Arthus from P2 to the end of the fight. I was determined to kill him. I will do anything I can not to die, including not mess up two times in a row (fixing a mess up). I'm also a great chaos tank, when things go to hell,  I'm at my best. I take pride in not dying, I take pride in trying to out DPS my DPS. Sorry this was all about me but I'm just trying to give examples.

If you are unsure of these, ask someone, get some feedback. As your raid leader, tanking officer or take the advice of a blogger you trust. I'm going to be they'd bet willing to have a long conversation about how to make your runs just a bit better.

Top 100!

Kind of a BIG deal!

The duality of this post is crazy! This my friends, this is my 100th post and I also wanted to brag a tad about something I set out to do.

Goals are different for everyone in this game. This was the kind of goal that you can work at and not hope for, like say...a piece of loot dropping from a boss. I'm not sure why I wanted to try and get ranked, maybe boredom, but I wanted to try this.

I did some looking and seen what kind of DPS I needed to pull and I was very...very close already. I put in a hit trinket, switched a glyph and added some expertise. There is no secret on what we need to do for damage output. At one point I was at 14.8K DPS but things got a tad hectic at the end and I needed to pop CD's.

A few things I noticed while doing this fight in a pure pure selfish way, when it comes to ONLY worrying about numbers.things seemed off and  I didn't like tanking this way, hell I didn't even like the feeling after the kill was complete. I won't lie, I'm slightly happy I accomplished my goal but I felt selfish. Here is what I noticed; My health meter was low ALOT! I became much more tunnel visioned, I only knew what I was doing and didn't have a firm grasp of the raids position. I never worried about WoG on anyone and my CD usage was delayed to say the least, it wasn't proactive. Would I do this again? Probably not, it wasn't fulfilling, that's just my opinion. (Source)

Personal -

Life has been crazy and hectic and I don't want it any other way. I'm helping coach my kids softball team and my son is playing T-ball for the first time. The sun is out and I think....SUMMER is finally here. These days and times make me me happy I'm in a casual yet competent guild.
If posting is erratic and a tad small on the content side, hang in there with me. The rest of my world is getting my attention.

Fixing the soft spots!

How do you really improve as a tank, a raider and a player? I think you need to discover your weaknesses as a player and a person. Now, I know that sounds pretty deep when we talk about a game. Until you realize your weakness you won't know what you needs to be fixed.

I think I'm a good tank-
Lets look at what a good tank is for a second. We can loosely say this is subjective but the very basics of a good tank is:

♦Knowing your class (cooldowns, taunts, high threat).
♦Knowing the fights (boss ability, enrage, adds).
♦Knowing the pull (who gets CC'd, who dies 1st).
♦Keeping a decent pace but not out pulling your healers mana.
♦Knowing the limitations of your group/guild. (is threat gear ok vs. pure surv. gear)

As you can see all of these are in one way or another associated with knowledge. That in essence means, you need to tank; to get better, to keep your reaction up, to understand your class and others around you, and to hold threat.

So I just told you want it takes to be at least a competent tank. How do you get better? You have to figure out what you are doing wrong, or at least what you could do better. How? How do we go about that? Listen!

Yes, folks, talk to your tanking partner, healers, DPS...get a feel for what is going on with your pulls, your survivability and your reaction time.

After that is figured out, its time to hit the books or, um, the web. The game of Warcraft changes so fast, you have to get on the web and google it.

Brush up on the basics-

A classic video from Ciderhelm, a good watch and very informative.

The most important rule for any tank in a busy fight is preparation.
If you can answer these questions, you know you are in good shape:
1.) When is the bad thing going to happen?
2.) Who is the bad thing going to happen to?
3.) Where is the bad thing going to happen?

Find what works and make it better-

I don't know where your weakness lies but here is what I have done recently to fix my flaw...

By nature I'm an instinctual guy, I play by feel more than a robotic rhythm in nature. Once I learn a fight or that little light bulb clicks I have it down and rarely do I ever make the same mistake again. I'm not perfect but once I know it, I do it.If I do make a blunder...LOL it is usually EPIC and giggle worthy.

My progression as a tank has gone from keyboard turner (arrow keys) to ASDW key and clicking to all key bound etc...

I've worked on fixing my weaknesses-
♦ Forced myself away from the arrows, to a more comfortable area of the keyboard.
♦ Found a keybind blog and read it, I put my keys like that and talked to my guildies about how they do it. Then I went and praticed doing that forever.
♦ I'm now to the point where I don't keyboard turn in a fight at all, I drive my toon with my mouse and basically type all my spells. Well, wait, I'm a paladin, I don't think there is enough keys on the board to do that so I still click a few things.

Moving it along-

My next biggest area of concern is fight knowledge, sadly it is. If you don't have to raid lead you get complacent and allow the raid leader to do the work for you but...you are the tank, our work is different.

I'll admit, tank spot has a place in my heart and seeing Aliena every now and again isn't the worst thing. That givea you a basic overall just of the fight but it isn't the be all end all of fight knowledge.

So what have I done? I went back to when I had to raid lead our Algalon kill.I spent a lot of time figuring that fight out. Not only did I know his abilities I took into account the limitations of our group going in. Here is an excellent post on what it takes to figure out a fight.

At the minimum you should be-

♦ Watching the fight POV from your class or role in that fight.
♦ Reading Wowwiki or Wowhead and what will happen when the boss casts it.
♦ Watching a video with instruction (Yogscast, Tankspot or Cynicalbrit).

We wear plate-

Thicker skin is the theme here. As a tank, we are the front line of getting our heads kicked in. We need to stop incoming damage and there are other things that get put on us. We are offically the unoffical pace car and scap goat in most situations. Look, I'm not here to talk about pugs, and all that nonsense about who's in charge or whatever. At heart most of us like this responsibility and take some damage at home, behind the key board as well as in a raid/group setting. Its something that just happens.

Not everyone is going to like your tanking, your style or how you pull. There are people that are going to look to call you out as a tank, for various reasons it happens. It could be because they want to tank, want to make you look bad or just don't have a real understanding of the game. You have to move past this and understand, do your job and it will work itself out. Understand you are the pivot person of a raid, with that good or bad you will get attention, wanted or unwanted.

How to counter this-
♦ Understand where its coming from and counter it, is it a warrior or kat that wants to blow all its DPS cool downs on the pull. You could pop a salv. on that player before the pull or if it becomes really overboard, BOP them.
♦ Work on one of the above mentioned areas of concern. Faster movement, fight knowledge...etc.
♦ Communicate with the problem person or people.
♦ Keep doing things the right way and looking to improve, the problem doesn't lie with you.
♦ If you have done all of the above and the problem isn't fixed, Move on....

Call to Arms: Tanks!

Is this the fix we need? I'm not sure, but one thing is certain, having a shield is going to make the tidal wave of tears much easier to ride, heck I can even use my mace as a paddle for when it slows down.



In patch 4.1 we'll be introducing Dungeon Finder: Call to Arms, a new system intended to lower queue times. Call to Arms will automatically detect which class role is currently the least represented in the queue, and offer them additional rewards for entering the Dungeon Finder queue and completing a random level-85 Heroic dungeon.

Any time the Dungeon Finder queue is longer than a few minutes for level-85 Heroics, the Call to Arms system kicks in and determines which role is the least represented. In the case of tanking being the least represented role, the "Call to Arms: Tanks" icon will display in the Dungeon Finder UI menu where class roles are selected, and will also display on the UI when the queue pops and you are selected to enter a dungeon. Regardless of your role, you'll always be able to see which role currently has been Called to Arms, if any. (source)

I don't know what to think of this. I can see on the "we are trying to fix it front" that is could be a good thing. After spending just a few minutest browsing the web, I can see resentment and angst.
 
Reason for LFD tank shortage:
-Blizz has still designed fights with minimal tanks. Of course there is a lack of tanks, most 25 man encounters only requre two.
-The /2 LFG for random heroics is gone, now everyone thinks, due in part to anonimity, they can act like an asshole while in said dungeon.
-Gear is not tank specific any longer, if something has mastery on it, a tank and a DPS can use it. This makes gearing tanks up harder. DPS still need on tanks gear.
- CC is past its need now. Very few pulls need CC even at this stage of the game. If you mark a mob for CC, you are lucky if the DPS does it, you can almost guarntee someone is going to break it early.
 
Again, is Call to Arms going to fix the tank shortage? it might lessen the blow of some of the long ques, but I can say that most good tanks are geared up and don't do randoms. I don't think this is going to put an influx of your "real" tanks back in ques. It will however put those w/duel specs and others racing to get their tank to 85 now in ques, causing more agravation. What I mean by real tanks is those who care about the tanking job, those who want to tank for their enjoyment in the game, not those who "OS that for muh tankz set" and only do it to que faster.
 
Lots of posts I've read say tanking is easy and shocker, these are posted from DPS toons. Is tanking hard? Not really, what is hard is dealing with the 12 year olds who join a group and make everyone elses life hell. As a tank you need to set the pace, mark, CC and control the group. You have in mind your healers mana and your cooldowns. You also have 3 others who's sole job is to put up big numbers and tell you how to do your job. Thats the hard part.
 
Thank you Blizz for trying, I'm not sure this will help and from the out cry it seems that this is not what others want but at least you are giving it a go.
 
What is your impression of this change? Good or bad? What would you do to change the shortage? Tanks, are you going to que?

The Cataclysm Dungeon Hero!

Thats me!

I am now a hero! and it feels pretty good.

I had que'd for randoms (with or without) my guild. I had downed all bosses besides Commander Springvale in SFK. LFG is totally random or so they say. I had only once got The Stonecore, the group fell apart on our 2nd wipe on Ozruk. I ate shield spike and it one shot me. I had that silly monstrous fight explained to me and I didn't get out of pound. Bad tank is bad, or so they said. Group fell apart and I started looking that fight up.

I got Vortex Pinnacle and finished it off. It was fun aside from the boss that throws you all around which is at best a dumb mechanic. I had one place left to do. A place I loathed, a place that made me nervous...

I'm a tank, am I supposed to say that? Do you guys have places you dread to go? I had to face my demons.

I knew the fight, I knew what I had to do.

One shotting a tank-

It seems that The Stonecore is Blizz's big FU to Wrath. Lots of movement, and mechanics in every fight that will one shot you. All bosses in there are capable of killing the tank or anyone else if you don't have total focus. In one shot.

Lets not forget the stupid ass trash that jumps, twirls and cleave everyone! oh, lets not forget the crystals that allow you to take more damage per stack.

The more I looked the more I seen tanks and groups in general having issues with this boss and this place in general. Now don't get me wrong, its not undoable or even luck its lots of awareness and movement. I have never, even most raid bosses are not as brutal on tanks as this 5 man heroic.

Ascared?

I had to face my demons, or stone asshats. I wanted to tell Blizz FU for the FU to us. I want to concur my past failures.In its essence its not a hard fight, I can do it. Cuz, I am not a fail tank...I think.

Well I have had my past issues with others failing in heroics. I mean hard, see my last tanking adventures post to see my 17 death run or my first time in Tol'vir were we wiped over and over on the Croc. I'm good at this game, not AWESOME, not PRO but good. I take pride in my play style and know my class.

We wiped a few times on Coborus due to bad dps or low dps. We one shot the 2nd boss and move do Ozruk.

I was nervous and this was pure pug! I had little room for error, the group was snide and edgy as it was but I wanted to get this done. BAD!

Ozruk-

In case you don't know, he has 3 abilities: Ground slam, Shatter and Paralyze, oh a few other lil dandies but this is not a guide on how to do the fight.

1st pull (oh we didn't one shot him) Got him to 2%, really I did this pretty well. I got caught by Ground slam standing between his legs. I thought I was far enough behind him but I guess not.

The DPS was asking if I knew how to do the fight. I said yes, I got it but I made a mistake and said sorry. The fury warrior, a blood elf pulling 4k dps said, l2side step that and it won't be an issue.

2nd pull, I did the most pro move ever, I pulled the trash and we wiped. The DPS was really giving it to me, I said sorry and told them I made the mistake and it won't happen again.

3rd pull, got him to 20%ish and caught ground slam again between his legs. I really thought I was under him enough but again. WOW this fight is brutal. I was feeling the pressure, and the DPS was killing me. It got really bad and I told them, "look I'm learning the fight I've mad a few mistakes but either kick me or keep it informative".

4th pull, I'm nervous now big time. I'm shaking not out of being scared but pure wanting to get the boss in my past. I really IRL need to accomplish this. It sounds weird but its a hurdle I have to get past in my tanking career and life. I don't remember a fight were so much relies on one tank to do so much. I mean, hold aggro, move around him, not pull extra mobs and keep the boss in range and oh, manage cool downs and make sure the healer is ok to heal after paralyze.

I throw my shield and grab this brute up! I'm going to do it this time. I noticed his timer is off, at least in my head he is a few seconds off. DBM is off too.This is going to require my total concentration of position, and awareness to get my job done. Things are going smooth so far he is about 50% and I'm still middle of the tunnel.

I got this!

25% he enrages, IDC I pop guardian and hope I can make the movement in sync with him and his shabby casting.

DOWN GOES Orzuk! I got him and let these silly DPS know it. Yes, I was overboard! but I did it, I slayed my dragon.

The DPS gave me gratz and then bagged me for being a baddie.

Last boss, I say watch the adds and stone throws. I get one shotted by a stone hitting the ground. HEY, give me a break its my first time. I seen the graphic and knew what I was looking for now.

We pull again and:

Not bad for my 1st time in the place and I don't think I'll ever go back again. Yes most have this done now but I'm pretty proud of this due to the fact it the fight bothered me so much outside the game.

Can anyone think of a fight so brutal on a tank, other than maybe Brutallus or a very progressed raid? In a 5 man?

Tanking Adventures: Cata Edition.

VoA Version 2.0.

I went in with my guild and 1 shot the new Argaloth on 25 man. We tried last week but ran out of time on TB starting. This boss really is a face roll, the only real chance to not kill him is slow DPS. When we had our kill I was to pull the boss. Even in guild runs you have those who need to newb it up...lol Our "lockstar" face pulled the boss which in turn got me yelled at for not having him in a proper position. He was in fact killed so we DPS'd him with 24 and still had a good 20 seconds before the enrage timer.

Now time for me to brag a second. My DPS is on the low side in raids right now compared to 5 mans. Well, yes I know there is the Vengeance thing but tanks I'm tanking against seem to have me riding the treat line with them so I either have to auto attack or stop attacking all together. I guess I will take a low DPS number to get a kill no doubt. Not really sure why, I've never been the "big" threat guy like some of my other tanks but so far in Cata its been like this. I'm proud of that. Here is the bottom line thou, as long as the DPS doesn't catch me or my Co-Tank it really is no issue.

Blackwing Decent

We had a few who had to leave after killing Argaloth. We broke into a 10 man group and picked Blackwing Decent for a run at the bosses. We had no real raid leader in our group so it was done by committee.

We took a run at Magmaw 1st. OH MY is that trash annoying. How can a mob switch targets, stun you for 5 seconds and do 95% of your health as damage? I felt useless as a tank. After a few wipes on said trash (one at 1%) we killed it. What an amazing feeling to have no trash to pull the boss...lol

Our group set up for Magmaw wasn't great. No hunter or mage and we couldn't decide which way to do the boss. We did get hime to 65% or so but after three wipes we took a shot at Toxitron and his crew.
By compassion that trash is cake!

We watched the vid, had a bit of discussion and started the pulls. We did manage to get the fights rotation and got them down to 40% and wiped. After a few more hours it got no better so we called and are putting said we'd give it a shot later in the week. About 20 mins later invites were out and a whisper was sent, we were going on Thursday for another shot.

The Bastion of Twlight

Again no raid lead and no one with a clue other than "tankspot" and another Youtube vid that we all watched. According to the "experts" we had the bad set up. Our opponent? More Whelps and the Slate Drake.

My impressions of the fight? The debuff the boss puts on you is FAST, DPS really has to allow you to get time on the drake that gets MC'd and only real problem with this fight how fast the raid wide damage goes out.

Our strategy? We pulled the Boss - Slate Drake and Whelps. After the first minute of doing that the fight is cake. Raid damage is non existent and all it takes is a tank swap.

We gave the twin drakes a go for 3 or 4 attempts and our best was 50%. Its pretty fun, lots of movement and totally doable. Again the raid damage is pretty harsh and I think Blizz has said "tanks learn how to use cooldowns and Heals learn how to manage mana" with this 1st tier of raiding.
All in all it was a fun week, raiding is slightly ramped up compared to what we seen in Wrath.

So you want to tank...

I found this link on the official forums. Not always a great place but its very informative at times if you can get away from the QQ and Trolls.

I would love to thank Sceilence from Yesera for a wonderful post. Its a tad bit of a long read but really hits the mark. Please take a moment to read thru this its really well writting and hits the mark HARD!

I have played this game since launch, and I have played this character since Blackwing Lair was endgame content. I have never been in a server-leading progression guild, but I have led raiding guilds working their own progression, usually a tier behind the curve or so. In Wrath, I had all three plate-wearing classes at the level cap, specced and geared for tanking. I am a self-admitted idiot at DPS or healing; for some reason, my brain just won’t function properly in those roles. But so far as it goes, I’m pretty well versed in tanking in this game.


I have recently noticed a number of instances, in-game and in the forums, where 1) people are asking for advice on tanking because they’re new to it, 2) DPS or healers are complaining about tanks because they are being bossy or dictatorial, and 3) tanks are complaining about DPS for…being DPS. Several of these questions and comments have been addressed from the perspective of mechanics, but only rarely do the responses really touch on the theoretical foundation of tanking, or what I have come to call the Tao of Tanking. This post is intended to address this gap.

I am not a Theorycrafter. I leave that kind of thing to much more dedicated and talented individuals. I would recommend Elitist Jerks and Tankspot for guidelines on mechanics-related specifics, should you have questions on exactly how to maximize your threat or what the best tanking build is for your class. I am also not God’s Gift to Tanking, and frankly, I would question anyone who tried to tell you they were. From my perspective, tanking is a mindset, much like political affiliation; nobody is ever actually right (no pun intended), but people can certainly be wrong.

The purpose of this post is to put into writing some of the philosophy behind tanking. I expect that it will be exceedingly droll for people who have been tanking for quite a while, because they’ve probably got this figured out. It could, however, provide some insight for people new to tanking, or to DPS/healers who would like to understand why tanks act the way we do.
 
On Leadership
The tank’s role in 5-man content is, in my opinion, the most critical role in the group. Now, I understand (and agree with) the argument that without a healer, there is no victory, and without DPS, there is no victory. No tank is going to solo a level-capped instance or Heroic. However, the complexity for any given role in a group is largely determined by the amount of responsibility the player has to take for other people in order for the group to succeed.

The DPS player has only to:

Do any CC they’re asked to do

Do damage to the appropriate target

Stay out of the fire

The DPS player does not have to take responsibility for any other member of the group (though really exceptional players will find a way to do this - these players are truly treasured gems that should always be appreciated).

The healer, on the other hand, has to:

Do any CC they’re asked to do

Stay out of the fire

Make sure that nobody’s hit points get to zero before the pull is ended
The healer takes responsibility for other people by healing them when they take unnecessary damage (taking cleave hits, standing in fire, pulling threat from the tank…I could go on and on here); in this way the healer is taking up some of the slack created by poorly performing DPS (or tanks).

By comparison, the tank has to:

Assign CC targets based on mob type/group composition

Make sure everyone in the party is ready for the pull (particularly, the healer has mana)

Pull the group, often in some elaborate fashion that creates separation between the CCed mobs and the active mobs

Establish and maintain threat on all active mobs

Position the mobs to reduce splash damage to alleviate healer’s workload

Apply appropriate defensive debuffs to alleviate healer’s workload

Pick up broken CC before it WTFPWNs someone

Pop defensive cooldowns at the most appropriate time, usually to lower the healer’s blood pressure

Direct the other party members through those “oops” moments (i.e., the infamous hunter “Where’s My Pet?” scenario)

If you buy into this model, generally speaking, a DPS player takes responsibility for him/herself, the healer takes responsibility for the party’s health, and the tank takes responsibility for everything else.

And even if you don’t buy into this model, chances are, your tank does. This is why the tank starts looking through the combat log after a wipe – they want to figure out what happened, so they can appropriately address any apparent issues and avoid another wipe. This is also why the tank asks the one question healers hate to hear after a wipe: “So, uh…what happened?” The inevitable response is: “Uh, you ran out of hit points?”

Of course I ran out of hit points. But why? Were you busy healing one of the DPS because he was standing in fire? Was there some debuff that needed to be cleansed but wasn’t? Did you run out of mana because you were spamming flash heal? Where other members of the party may be willing to dismiss the causes of a wipe or a bad pull, the tank refuses to do so, because all tanks know this one fundamental truth: “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, but expecting different results”. Loosely translated, this means that the tank doesn’t want to repeat that horrible experience again, and is looking for input on avoiding doing so. So give your response some thought before pointing out the obvious.
 
On Threat, Crowd Control, and DPS  
One thing everyone needs to understand, and this goes for the tanks, the healers, the DPS, everyone, is that trash is no longer a speed bump between you and the boss mob’s loot table. This is no longer the WoW that has been played for the last two years. The Wrath model for the game was discarded by Blizzard, and AOE grinding instances is a thing of the past. Yeah, at some point tanks will have the gear to survive pulling the entire group without CC, and healers will have the gear to heal through such pulls, but even under those circumstances it will be more efficient to single target than AOE DPS, because Blizzard doesn’t want AOE DPS to actually do anything anymore.


I think what really needs to happen in the game is a paradigm shift. Everyone needs to step away from the view that being a good DPS player is represented in the numbers posted by Recount, and embrace that a good DPS player is someone who avoids taking unnecessary damage, does a good job with CC (both performing and not breaking it), does respectable damage, and has the ability to think outside the box. Honestly, this is the level of expectation placed on tanks and healers, so why have we allowed DPS to be gauged solely on their damage output?

I have a mage and a ret paladin that I group with regularly. The pally has been playing since launch, and the mage just started in Wrath (3.1 or so). For nearly two years I have heard them arguing constantly about overall damage done according to Recount. With this expansion, they are having a hard time beating my damage output when it comes to overall instance damage done according to Recount. This has caused absolutely no end of argument and frustration for them, which in turn frustrates me, because I just don’t care about overall damage done for an instance. Show me your l33t skills by not dying to your own stupidity, by be a benefit to the party rather than a hindrance, and by doing some decent measure of DPS. DPS players that do this are like liquid gold.

The fixation players have on damage meters is probably one of the single largest causes for the ineptitude encountered in random groups. DPS players want to prove their worth in the group. As established previously, it’s not hard to prove the tank’s worth, or the healer’s worth. DPS have to work at it. Enter, the DPS meter. Now we have PROOF of how important we are to the group! We have numbers to back it up!

Yes. And sadly, Recount provides me with some equally interesting numbers. For example, I can see that I’m still at the top of the chart in interrupts, because I’m the only one doing it. I can see that the healer is spending entirely too much mana healing your stupid ass. And if you keep playing like an idiot, I’m going to start seeing you climb the charts in total number of deaths as well.
 
I tank with the understanding that many DPS characters can pull agro off of me whenever they really want to. This is less of a concern at this point in an expansion, where the gear differential is not significant. As that gear difference becomes more pronounced and as DPS players in Tier 18 epics start showing up in your random daily heroic run…you may notice some threat issues. Do not be discouraged by your lack of ability to maintain threat in this situation, for Blizzard has granted you a tool for dealing with such inanity: the repair bill. It really is OK to let the DPS die, as long as you save the healer from a similar fate.
 
On the Successful Group
The successful healer understands that communicating with your tank is important. You need to be willing to speak up if you need a minute to drink. Again, without heals, the tank is not going very far. Complements should always be extended to a good healer, and patience should always be extended to a new healer, for this one thing is true: healing sucks. Just as being a good tank is a thankless job, being a good healer is even more thankless.


The successful DPS player understands that they can be replaced instantly, or that the tank’s queue time is pretty much immediate. While DPS wait in a queue for over 40 minutes, a tank waits less than a minute most of the time. So if you’re unwilling to play by the tank’s carefully laid plan, don’t be shocked when you’re booted from the group. It’s no problem for me to replace a DPS who is breaking CC, or AOEing all over my sheeped and repented mobs.

The successful tank understands that the game is social in nature. Goading your DPS by linking your top-of-the-meters-in-overall-damage-done performance is not only insulting to the DPS players, it shows your own ignorance of the game’s mechanics: congratulations, you’re the top of the meters in a useless stat. It’s like being top of the meters in mana regeneration. You’ve also alienated the rest of the party, and while you may not care (yay, anonymity), you’re also not going to improve anyone’s performance by doing that kind of thing.

The successful group will accept that there may be some deaths, and that you may actually have a repair bill after a heroic run (contrary to most of Wrath). Every expansion since Vanilla has increased the amount of gold available in the game, and Cataclysm is no exception. Commenting on your repair bill after a wipe shows only one thing: you are a lazy tag-along who wants to get carried to your gear.

The successful group will understand that being respectful of one another is preferable to a more egomaniacal approach, and that teamwork is required in order to avoid a wipe-fest. The successful group will understand that the tank’s goals are the same as everyone else’s goals: to finish the instance.

How to Tank in Cataclysm ~

Important questions -
Times, they are a changing. Go look in the mirror and ask yourself, do I really want to tank? Seriously, go ask or at least turn your monitor off and look into it. Now, let me ask, are you ready for the coming changes? This might sound crass but looking at the beta vids, hearing Blizz talk and the fact the changes we have now in 4.0.3a tanking will be different.

Oh, I have a bit of a gift for you all, more on that later.

Back to the future -

*This is something we must all make the adjustment with but if you have only tanked in cataclysm please re-read this.

I am not going to sugar coat it this should be a guide to point us that way. Wrath was easy on us all, if we make adjustments, play smarter and play with in our toons limits it will make the runs easier for all involved.

Back to the basics -

Mark your adds - Allow the DPS to see what you need dead first. Tell them to target your target with cute little icon over the NPC's head.

Use CC - You have it, use it. This will help your group as well. All accounts Cata is going to be harder on us all, healers will have less mana to play with and less damage makes their life easier.

Pull smarter - Learn to LOS, let your group know you are doing it. Use the body pull as well. If CC goes off and you throw shield or holy wrath you could break CC and we don't want to do that. It’s why we used CC. This body pull thing... learn how to do it, its a controlled face pull.

Give instruction - Tell the DK, Hunter, Mage you need them to kite. Let the lock know you need seduce and make sure no one is to far bomb the group.

Take suggestions - Regardless of our queue times, we are not the royalty of the group that we think. Yes, Cata DPS will not be able to do a heroic without you but it doesn't mean you need to be an asshat. You are there to take damage and reduce damage to others, let them know you know what you are doing and if someone says "hey I seen it work this way" do not rage quite or tell the group, kick me or GTFO. Your heroic wrath gear will not say what a big shot you are any longer.

Improvement -

Know your toon - Put a bit of time into learning your toons. What do I mean by this? Know cool downs, heals and damage reduction. Be liberal on your Cool downs and use stuns. Is this a caster group? Have Resistance aura up instead of Devo. You have hands for a reason, know when to put a hand on someone in your group.

Know your enemy - Sure there will be an adjustment period, a time when no one in the group can find their behind with both hands. But have an idea of what you are facing. Expect on pull a burst of damage. Know when a special ability is coming and let the group know. In other words, things will be dangerous never underestimate your opponent.

Assist the group - This goes back to healer’s mana and you soaking damage, oh and using tools. If there is a dot on you; cleanse it. If the healer has one on him, cleanse it. LoH, Salv and BoP all work wonders at helping the group. Let them know you know how to tank. I believe that a well-placed hand or LoH's sends the message, you are the go to guy/girl in this place.

Don't be "that tank" - Know what classes have what CC, what buffs and by all means allow the healer to have mana. Don't ask a mage to sheep undead, it won't work. You will look like a fool!

Use buffs - This is no longer Wrath; you cannot zone in and pull. At least initially, use some consumables. Pots, food and buffs will help you along. There was a time when a tank was not in any way shape or form part of DPS that has changed. Do what you can to speed the run by taking a second to use your toons potential.

TL;DR - Use common sense as the tank; mark your adds, use your tools and don't be a tool. But I suggest you read this, its not really that long.

There is a great post on MMO champion along these lines. Good read and well, its MMO Champ so you know the responses you get but the OP gave a more detailed all role break down.
 
My Gift -
 
Some might know this, lots don't but here is my gift to you as a reader...Clear your quest log out, everything, clear it out. Go grab 25 dailies and do them until December 7th. You should by now have your hearth set to your home city. As Wrath goes live, spend the first 10 to 15 minutes turning in your 25 dailies and you now have 1/3 to 1/2 of a level and some extra gold...FREE! Hearth to your home city and start your journey to level 85!!!

The adjustment.

Wrath, YOU won't, be, missed.

Welcome to Wrath 2.0 or better know as 4.0.1. When we all log back on we will find, totally different rotations, skills, feel for the game and overly inflated prices. This is all going to lead to a total adjustment in about everything we do. Not to mention, time to reset up your UI and download all your mods again.

I know most of you don't come to my site to figure out pally mechanics, the ins and outs of the class, rotation info or just about anything that is theory crafting related. This doesn't hurt my feelings in the least, nor does it make me bad. There are far more knowledgeable people out there in WoW that devote time and set up programs to allow us all to understand this info that is coming to us really soon.

Up and coming...

So with the glut of newness and our new holy combo point stacking ability, I'm going to link you a few sites of worthwhile info. Please check these out and read up on the new mechanics of game play for prot pally's. After all this is what my blog is about, trials and tribulations of a prot pally.

Here are a few things we are going to have get a grip on: Mastery ~ avoidance ~ stats ~ glyphs ~ talents ~ rotation ~ cool down management.

In other words folks, if we were a foot ball team we'd have new offensive and defensive coordinators, hell from the looks of it a new coaching staff.

But we will make the adjustment!

How do I know? Well, yes we were at times OP in Wrath, but the BC tanks, adjusted and became the great tanks, the tanks the most of us strove to be. The Naxx and 3.0.1 tanks made the adjustment. The F.O.T.M tanks made it work to. So I have no doubt that the tanks or Paladins for that matter that take time to read a blog will make this work.

Sources-

Here is what we have had removed:

Removed Talents

•Redoubt has been removed from the tree.
•Combat Expertise has been removed from the tree.
•Spiritual Attunement has been removed from the tree.
•One-Handed Weapon Specialization has been removed from the tree.
•Improved Devotion Aura is gone.
•Divine Sacrifice has been removed from the tree.
•Improved Righteous Fury has been removed from the tree.
•Stoicism has been removed from the tree.
•Guardian's Favor has been removed from the tree.
•Anticipation has been removed from the tree.
•Divine Strength has been removed from the tree.

MMO's Paladin section Before I get into the list of the places I find my info I just wanted to say, the enitre time I was typing this my downloader was running, so...wow...ya...this is a big patch.

4.0.1 Guides:

Knaughty basics to 4.0 pally tanking

Rightous Defense guilde to 4.0.1 need to know

Glyphs - make sure you click on the pally hammer to see all the spec's glyphs.

Mastery and Runeforging - great discussion, I'd say probably a work in progress (WIP)and more to come.

Gear and gem/enchants - still WIP

Here is something every tank should read!!! Its Barathon's "Entry lvl to ICC tank" in the age of GS and what he went thru to pull this off.

Know any good tanks?

Do we know them when we see them?

-I was in que for a short time, ICC just hit and I was farming frosties on my alt to get my tanking boots made. As we loaded, it was the normal don't talk, just start pulling. LFG was also new too, so I was seeing different realms all the time. By the time I realized it we were done with the 1st hallway and pulling fast as lightening. I stopped DPS'n to inspect the tank. OMG he is unenchanted and ungemmed. He was in 258 gear and has the healer and another DPS from the same guild with him. At 4 minutes we were at Skaldi and done in 8 minutes.

I tell this story because, as the run went on, I know I was with a good tank or a good player or both. The group was amazing. The tank was the leader! He set the pace and the tone and the group followed.

So is it about leadership?

You have to move the group along, set the pace and motivate where needed via extra effort or a small tell saying "hold back for a second". No one moves past you in a raid or dungeon. There is alot on the tanks plate when working with a team via 5 man or raid. Mana issues, aggro and cool down management to name a few plus you have the others so they are following your guidelines on staying behind you and not pulling mobs for you. I've heard the sporting analogy of "the tank is the quarterback of the raid" and I guess you can say that to an extent.

Oh but I also forgot another key thing, you need patience! And a ton of it!

Is it about respect or trust?

What a loaded question! I will talk about both sides of my head with this one. Both. You don't as a guildie or raider need to like the person playing the toon, but you do have to trust him but not respect him for whatever reason. You have to know that he will do his job and like clockwork be ready to play that toon if sh!t hits the fan. You don't look upon your tank the C.E.O of the company but they are the foundation of the raid. Bad tank, poor aggro or wrong gear and its a wipe.

Respect in each other.

There is a certain amount of respect that must be levied upon any tank be it pug in a 5 man or raid. If there isn't its a quick tell saying, we need to replace you or a vote kick in the heroic.

Easily Rreplaceable?

Well, once again Wrath is a different beast. In TBC or Vanilla it was impossible to replace a tank mid progression tier. Wrath we have dual specs and lots of epics flowing around. But... even with that gear that is flowing around and swapping out your main spec to help the raid. Is that continuity? Does that always work? Not really. People want to go back to their main spec or toon and that trust factor might be gone with the old tank that left/quit.

In fact its hard to replace a tank as a guild. The reason you don't see tons of LF Tank on the forums or trade is because there is a fit or balance that guilds have with the tanks they have, there is not a ton of tanks needed and there is an investment that is unspoken between a tank and a guild. Tanks usually get gear priority, fair or not.

But what really makes the tank good?

With all this said above, what is it that seperates the good from the great? The lets pass him to OMG did you see what they just did?

• The know the toon. They know how to spec, gem and glyph. They min/max and do everything for that toon that needs to be done.
• They have an understanding of the raid set up and can read whats going to happen with the raiders.
• They know boss/trash mechanics. Use of abilities and can manage cooldowns. IE bop/salv a dps that has hit a string of crits early.
• They put some work into the game, by reading and watching encounters and hitting the training dummies.
• They limit mistakes, see other mistakes and adjust.
• They are allowed to fix problems and make comments that will fix whatever it was that caused the wipe.