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03-08-2009, 02:59 AM
(This post was last modified: 03-08-2009, 02:59 AM by Bob the Beholder.)
With wrath's release, I switched my main from mage to warrior. I levelled to 80 and all that. My focus is on pvp, and smashing things. This being what I'm used to, coming from just under 4 years of magery. But I don't feel like being one of those warriors. You know, the "AAAAAAGH I'M A ROGUE IN PLATE I DON'T TANK AAAAH" (I always imagine warriors talking like that. You know, fuelled by rage and all) guys, so I've put together a tanking set, got myself defense capped, skilled up my one-handers, etc..
But, should I feel required to spec prot to jump into a 5-man as a tank? How willing would you be to run with someone who is, I suppose you could say, working underpar? Is it just the gear that matters (and not particularly good gear, but still, plate, and uncrittable), or do the talents make a large difference? Or is it that the talents mean that the player is more wililng to tank, and thus likely has more experience with it? Would you have to make sure the healer is skilled enough to keep him up?
On that note, offspec pretty much anything. I've got a boomkin that murders people with many a space laser. Commonly I'll spam lfg offering to 'DPS or heal' and get some weird tells from it. But I've main-healed everything in Outland and the first few Northrend (still levelling) without respeccing, no problems. I'm confident in my abilities, so that's that as far as I'm concerned.
What sort of things do you guys do that doesn't necessarily fit with your current class/spec role?
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On my pally I've tanked, healed, and been top DPS in heroics in the same day all as ret spec. All guild runs so a bit different than PuGs.
But it's a lot simpler to tank or heal a heroic spec'd for it (as I've done that as well). There is a lot more margin for error, the runs generally go faster as well. Though when you have an offspec healer or offspec tank you actually want to use CC and stuff like that at times. :)
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Quote:What sort of things do you guys do that doesn't necessarily fit with your current class/spec role?
BGs as prot paly:PI've also healed as prot spec in both leveling dungeons and BGs... nerve wracking sure, but it worked to a degree.
Decent gear + personal skill will mostly trump talent spec, within sane limits... I remember a spectacular fail 1 time healing heroic BM:mellow:I learned my lesson that night
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As long as you are confident and your group trusts you, there's absolutely no reason why you shouldn't be able to tank as a different spec than Protection on a warrior. Know your limits -- you can't tank in the same manner a Protection warrior can. You lack certain tools, which cause you to lack threat. You will take more damage, by a large margin.
You will need crowd control. You will need focus from everyone, killing the mobs quickly and efficiently without pulling off of you.
Do that, and you shouldn't have any problems. I still wouldn't want to go with a random group that had a non-Protection warrior as their tank, but if you know the group and they know you...
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I have ret healed heroics, and I'm putting together a tank set so that I can ret tank a heroic if we need a tank.
I would agree with GG (Because of the personal experience) double off spec on tank + heal is going to require a lot more work, and in the right place could still work.
I try not to PuG, as I hated it on my old server, and I still mainly hate it. I was turned down to heal a normal (yes normal) VH run the other day because I wasn't heal specc'd. (I have a very respectable healer set).
Try it with a guild group or a group of people you know first. Once you get comfortable at how to do stuff as a non prot tank, give it a whirl.
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The big difference will be when AoE tanking, and low rage times. Mortal strike and blood thirst require a ton of rage when compared to shield slam and devastate. The loss of the thunder clap talents, and shockwave will make AoE tanking harder. Incoming damage will be higher, but not by a massive amount, so it should be manageable. As long as the rest of the group assists, and the healer knows what to expect you should be fine.
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Shield Slam is trainable rather than talented these days, so you can completely overlook MS/BT if you want to.
Earthen Ring-EU:
Taelas -- 60 Human Protection Warrior; Shaleen -- 52 Human Retribution Paladin; Raethal -- 51 Worgen Guardian Druid; Szar -- 50 Human Fire Mage; Caethan -- 60 Human Blood Death Knight; Danee -- 41 Human Outlaw Rogue; Ainsleigh -- 52 Dark Iron Dwarf Fury Warrior; Mihena -- 44 Void Elf Affliction Warlock; Chiyan -- 41 Pandaren Brewmaster Monk; Threkk -- 40 Orc Fury Warrior; Alliera -- 41 Night Elf Havoc Demon Hunter;
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03-10-2009, 03:58 AM
(This post was last modified: 03-10-2009, 03:59 AM by Bob the Beholder.)
Quote:The big difference will be when AoE tanking, and low rage times. Mortal strike and blood thirst require a ton of rage when compared to shield slam and devastate. The loss of the thunder clap talents, and shockwave will make AoE tanking harder. Incoming damage will be higher, but not by a massive amount, so it should be manageable. As long as the rest of the group assists, and the healer knows what to expect you should be fine.
I actually just finished a pug wherein I tanked. And this is pretty much how it went. The healer claimed incoming damage really wasn't that nuts in comparison to your average pre-naxx tanking warrior, but AoE was the big problem. When just left to myself I could pretty easily just keep a few mobs off the healer. But there was an AoE happy mage and ret paladin who ended up tanking a little more often than I like.
Successful run, though, so all good I guess.
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