As a warrior who has tanked everything up to ZF with primarily 2H, there are a couple of reasons why I am capable of doing this in Classic and did not do it in Vanilla. Back in Vanilla I was a scrub, probably pretty terrible at the game, and also we were not playing on patch 1.12 where many changes had taken place and made most classes stronger and certain instances easier. Additionally, other players (my party members) were in the same boat as me (terrible, didn’t know how to gear, etc.). So, overall as a party we were most likely pretty terrible at the game, and as a result dungeons were a lot more difficult. Thus 2H back then was less utilized as the primary go to tank method.
Now, in Classic I can 2H for many reasons: I am so much better at the warrior class than I was when I first leveled my warrior back in 04-05. My group is more or less significantly better than the average group back then, the instances are a decent amount easier because we are playing on patch 1.12, and we have a depth of knowledge about the game (at least most of us do). So, inherently, the game is easier now than it was back then, and warriors now can afford to tank with a 2H.
Here’s the thing, I’ve ran many instances, and I would like to clarify one thing. Just because a warrior can 2H tank an instance does not make them a good warrior. I have seen a handful of warriors in instances that only play with 2H, and I can immediately tell that they are just trash at this game, and at the class.
The thing is a warrior’s role is to tank, and if your healer can keep you up with a 2H then its more fun to play with a 2H (bigger numbers, more dps, etc.). However, you still have a tanking obligation to get mobs off your healer (primarily), and do your best to ensure your dps do not die (it’s okay to let them off tank a bit, so long as they do not end up dead). Also, as a warrior playing with a 2H, you should know how to equip your sword and board when it gets dicey, aggro too much, or your healer is oom. So many times I see warriors just die with a 2H, never switching to defensive, never equipping a shield, etc. (These are your trash warrior players-avoid them.).
So overall, we tank with a 2H because its more fun, the game is easier, our knowledge is greater than 15 years ago, but a 2H warrior should also resort to sword and board, shield blocking, taunt, protecting the group, and if they can’t do that then they flat out suck.
