The maintankadin forums have been an excellent source of information as I learn the ins and outs of pally tanking. Now that my pally is 70, I'd like to start taking her to Kara and be able to MT. This requires her to be "Uncrushable." Easier said than done...considering the mind boggling variety of gear/drops/etc. that are technically "tank gear" and wearable by a paladin.
And then I came across this list: Eanin's Failsafe Uncrushability Guide
Now I know exactly what I need to collect, and I'll actually be viable in Kara a lot sooner than I thought.
I also picked up the "Pally Power" mod, which everyone says is a must have, can't wait to test it out!
Showing posts with label Tank. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tank. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Monday, June 9, 2008
On Tanking, Class Matters
I know it must seem crazy that I've got a prot pally coming up (68 and counting!) with a prot warrior already leveled and geared up...but what can I say, I'm spec'd for tanking ;)
Last night, Winter and I hopped in a group with some guildmates on their own "almost 70" alts and we hit Old Hillsbrad and Sethekk Halls. Winter brought his pally for uber heals so our party was: Pally(healz), Pally(tank - me!), Warrior(OT), Mage, Rogue. The warr was spec'd prot but was a couple levels lower than my pally, so he decided to OT and see if he could pull aggro off of me all night, a fun game. I worked hard to keep it (and stealthily salv'd him at one point, just to see if he'd notice - he didn't! :P ) and he worked hard to steal it. We had a lot of fun, and unlike similar runs with our geared characters, we actually managed to pick up some useful items along the way.
The run, as fun as it was, reminded me of my frustrations with warrior tanking. I've always maintained that warriors should be *the* tanking class, they can't do anything else better than other classes, so they should be able to do that. Prior to tBC, I tanked with my warrior, and LOVED it. Sadly with tBC, the three tanking classes sort of leveled out on the main tanking ability, with pallies and druids getting the benefit of utility, and better multi-pull control.
Having come from a warrior perspective, tanking all these same instances in 5-man groups, tanking with my paladin seems like cheating! It's too easy. I can handle a lot of mobs without much effort, in fact it's always feels silly to be fighting just one thing, when I can be wearing down two or three others at the same time, making less pulls later on. As a warrior, I had to struggle, especially with the multi-pulls. Thunderclap just doesn't hold a candle to Consecration, and now that pallies have a taunt AND a range pull (be careful with that!) there's really no reason that I can see not to take a pally in place of a warrior. Buffs, rez, better multi-pull tank...crazy.
Tanking is what I love to do, but I have to be able to do it well, the struggle with my warrior was just so frustrating, she went from uber tank, to second class OT so fast it left my head spinning. I'm ready this time though, my warrior is waiting at 70, ready for the rush to 80 when WotLK hits, but I also have my druid (currently resto) and now my pally ready and waiting. A DK is on my to-do list too, as soon as I get to 80 with my warr. I want to tank, but I want to bring the best class for the job to the table...I don't want a raid settling for me as a tank, because a different class wasn't available. It's a big project I know, but I'm an altaholic, it's what I live for.
Time for that last push to 70 with my pally...If she's this much fun now...I want to see what she really can do, at cap.
Last night, Winter and I hopped in a group with some guildmates on their own "almost 70" alts and we hit Old Hillsbrad and Sethekk Halls. Winter brought his pally for uber heals so our party was: Pally(healz), Pally(tank - me!), Warrior(OT), Mage, Rogue. The warr was spec'd prot but was a couple levels lower than my pally, so he decided to OT and see if he could pull aggro off of me all night, a fun game. I worked hard to keep it (and stealthily salv'd him at one point, just to see if he'd notice - he didn't! :P ) and he worked hard to steal it. We had a lot of fun, and unlike similar runs with our geared characters, we actually managed to pick up some useful items along the way.
The run, as fun as it was, reminded me of my frustrations with warrior tanking. I've always maintained that warriors should be *the* tanking class, they can't do anything else better than other classes, so they should be able to do that. Prior to tBC, I tanked with my warrior, and LOVED it. Sadly with tBC, the three tanking classes sort of leveled out on the main tanking ability, with pallies and druids getting the benefit of utility, and better multi-pull control.
Having come from a warrior perspective, tanking all these same instances in 5-man groups, tanking with my paladin seems like cheating! It's too easy. I can handle a lot of mobs without much effort, in fact it's always feels silly to be fighting just one thing, when I can be wearing down two or three others at the same time, making less pulls later on. As a warrior, I had to struggle, especially with the multi-pulls. Thunderclap just doesn't hold a candle to Consecration, and now that pallies have a taunt AND a range pull (be careful with that!) there's really no reason that I can see not to take a pally in place of a warrior. Buffs, rez, better multi-pull tank...crazy.
Tanking is what I love to do, but I have to be able to do it well, the struggle with my warrior was just so frustrating, she went from uber tank, to second class OT so fast it left my head spinning. I'm ready this time though, my warrior is waiting at 70, ready for the rush to 80 when WotLK hits, but I also have my druid (currently resto) and now my pally ready and waiting. A DK is on my to-do list too, as soon as I get to 80 with my warr. I want to tank, but I want to bring the best class for the job to the table...I don't want a raid settling for me as a tank, because a different class wasn't available. It's a big project I know, but I'm an altaholic, it's what I live for.
Time for that last push to 70 with my pally...If she's this much fun now...I want to see what she really can do, at cap.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Death Knight Changes Paving the Way?
Are the recent changes to the Death Knight info page a sign that change is on the way for all the tanking classes? Blizzard has removed the wording in the tree descriptions which specifies what tree is for tanking and which is for dps. It's quite possible that they may be doing this as a first step in making all tanks more viable with different specs. Will we see warriors (which should be THE tank class, imo) able to both tank and DPS with any spec? How will that change the pally and druid, will they be able to heal with one tree and tank/dps with the other two? Amazing how many questions come to mind with just a small change of a web page.
I really hope it's true though. Not only for the Death Knight, which would be awesome, imagine tanking with whatever combination of Blood, Frost or Unholy you wanted, but also for the other tank classes. Warriors might be more viable as off tanks now, not so easily replaced by the utility of a feral druid. Of course, I think they'd also need TC and their shouts to be buffed as well, but I'll take what I can get.
Back to Death Knights, when I first read about the change I was worried that perhaps Blizzard wasn't so sure they wanted DKs to tank after all, but a quick check of their page shows that their primary roles haven't been changed:
Instead, their talents tree descriptions have just been changed to remove the reference to tanking and dps from any one specific tree, making it sound like all trees just might be viable for either of the primary roles, with talents just allowing you to specialize in one of the three spell types.
Combined with the use of runes of each type...the possibilities seem endless, I'm actually started to get excited about this class. And if it means changes for my much loved, but sadly retired warrior? All the better.
I guess now all we can do is wait and see...don't break my heart Blizzard!
Source: WoW Insider
I really hope it's true though. Not only for the Death Knight, which would be awesome, imagine tanking with whatever combination of Blood, Frost or Unholy you wanted, but also for the other tank classes. Warriors might be more viable as off tanks now, not so easily replaced by the utility of a feral druid. Of course, I think they'd also need TC and their shouts to be buffed as well, but I'll take what I can get.
Back to Death Knights, when I first read about the change I was worried that perhaps Blizzard wasn't so sure they wanted DKs to tank after all, but a quick check of their page shows that their primary roles haven't been changed:
* Tank: The plate-wearing death knight is a capable tank for small groups as well as raids. His or her damage output while tanking will be respectable.
* DPS: The death knight can also spec and gear for a melee DPS role, which draw upon many debilitating disease effects as well as direct damage and instant attacks.
Instead, their talents tree descriptions have just been changed to remove the reference to tanking and dps from any one specific tree, making it sound like all trees just might be viable for either of the primary roles, with talents just allowing you to specialize in one of the three spell types.
* Blood: Talents in this tree focus on weapons, armor, and strikes.
* Frost: Talents in this tree focus on control, counters, and combos.
* Unholy: Talents in this tree focus on spells, summons, and diseases.
Combined with the use of runes of each type...the possibilities seem endless, I'm actually started to get excited about this class. And if it means changes for my much loved, but sadly retired warrior? All the better.
I guess now all we can do is wait and see...don't break my heart Blizzard!
Source: WoW Insider
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