“Is the healer AFK or what?”
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“is the healer a bot?”
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I personally love the idea of a clothy tank.
I don’t even care about the specifics, just the novelty.
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Not to break up the “more tank specs won’t help literally at all” folks but…
If mages had a tank spec, I’d play it. If I liked it, I might very well main it. I’m not adverse to tanking. My main alt this expac was VDH. I just like mages, a lot. Not just the WoW Class, but mages/sorcerers/wizards/spellcasters in general. They’re probably my favorite fantasy archetype. Plus I’ve been playing this mage since TBC.
I like tanking, I just like playing a mage more. If mages could tank, I’d give it a shot and the game could very well end up with one more tank in it.
That said, I still agree that the number of players that might take up tanking if more specs/classes were available would just be a drop in the bucket. I believe MOST people that don’t tank now don’t tank for reasons other than the available tanking specs.
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Yeah…truth is majority of the pugs go fine, but when you get some dps-tard it has a disproportionate effect. I just timewalked to get my 500 badges out of the way (which i basically dont have anything to buy with anymore so blizz please add some new things…) and sure enough some boomkin running ahead “helping me”.
That’s like 5 potential tanks not queuing because I was reminded why pugging is awful.
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There really is no need for additional specs.
The problem for a good percentage of players is doing randon content with random players is a headache thats not worth it, dps pull, if they cant pick everything up and players die and blame the tank, they get flustered and stop.
Garbage dps that makes the content go way too slow, afk players, healers who cant keep up or want them to pull more and the player isnt comfortable.
Timed content, where you have to make pulls frequent and efficient and player cant keep up.
Raiding theres only 2 spots for a tank, so naturally there just wont be a need for a lot.
Just a few examples really that adding more specs wont help.
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OP I really like the fact that your thinking out of the box to create options that are cool. (upvote given) Sadly I don’t think “not enough classes” is at the heart of the tanking shortage.
I think the heart of the tanking shortage lies between, the demand for them, How they are treated and lack of training time allowed by the public. That and some general interface between targeting and taunting could stand to be improved.
Mostly it’s the training. Tanking is such a important role however nobody really wants the new guy, they want the already trained tank. Tanks have no means to practice. Perhaps a shadow mode where they can tag along in a group as a undead ghost and observe with a program that points out what the other tank is doing.
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This is kind of the point I was getting at. There was still a tank shortage after they added Death Knight, and that was 1: a whole new class, and 2: possessed 3 different tanking specs, since it could tank or do DPS in Blood, Frost, or Unholy at the time.
Basically you got a handful of brand new tanks that liked tanking on their DK, and the rest of the ‘new DK tanks’ shifted over from the existing Warrior, Paladin, or Druid tanking population. I’m sure we got much the same with the addition of Monk, and from what I recall the same for Demon Hunter.
Yes, there are a few ‘I would if I could’ players. But accounting for them is kind of like me peeing in the Chesapeake Bay and claiming I’ve measurably impacted it’s salinity levels. Technically the claim is correct, but on such a scale the impact is essentially zero.
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I mean, they manage it in GW2.
Whoever is wearing the most Toughness stat gets aggro in raids. I’ve used my Elementalist (clothie class) to tank plenty of times.
Of course, classes are set up very differently, but the same idea could apply.
I’ve though it through. I’m not blanket disagreeing with you, but I feel like there might be people who want to play a hunter, not a “DPS”. I think there might be people that are into the aesthetic/class fantasy for specific classes and they ‘would’ tank if it was an option on those classes.
Example, I just don’t get into the DK aesthetic so I dont’ play one. even though I love tanking and have leveled, raided, and even PVP’d with pretty much every other tank spec in the game other than prot warrior and DK. I love my hunters as well (this one is a boost when I swapped to alliance), I’d love to tank on my hunter even though I have paladin, druid, and monk all at 120 with decent gear.
I don’t think my idea would resolve all the worlds tanking issues, but I do think it’d help.
Adding the dk, dh, and monk did nothing for the tank shortage, adding new specs to classes would make no difference. It wouldn’t change how terrible tanking for pugs can be.
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In classic we had basically 1 tank class and we had a shortage of tanks.
Now we have 6 tank classes and we still have a shortage of tanks.
Hmmmm
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I dont’ disagree, but I do think that adding specs to traditionally all DPS classes might help some. I’ve mentioned it in multiple responses, but there ARE People who pick classes for the class fantasy/aesthetic and not the role specifically, they aren’t tied to the role and would try other roles if given the opportunity in their favored class.
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You are right. But I am sad to say it would make too little of a dent in the tanking problem for Blizzard to invest the manpower into doing. As much as I would actually like to tank on my warlock.
The easy fix would be to add another DPS to the basic line up, but even that has it’s flaws that needs to be mathematically adjusted.
With 6 tank specs already that cover imo a wide range if game play options I don’t think accessibility of a tanking spec is how problem.
People just don’t like responsibility
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I’m all for Shamans having a tank spec, but the issue in LFD is that DPS don’t die when they pull. If the DPS could only survive one hit before being killed, we’d have a lot more tanks in dungeon.
Currently, all tanking is in LFD is a baby sitter. As a tank I’m asking to manage the shat show that is the current attention-deficit starved DPS folks who never think we’re moving fast enough.
If that’s the job, I’ll wait 10 mins and go DPS.
Yes, the DPS who aren’t responsible enough to let the tank pull.
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It’s more complex than who slaps the mob first.
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Mmkay, so…which spec from Hunter, Priest, Warlock, Shaman, Rogue, and Mage would get the axe to provide tanking specs? Because we know Blizzard dosen’t want 6 more specs to try and balance. And will it be worth enraging ~%18 of the game’s population (assuming all specs are equally played, we know that’s not the case so there is room for damage control here however slight) when you’ve butchered ‘their spec’ to gain maybe %6 more tanks (in the short term, remember liking a class doesn’t mean liking a spec, and many will try it then go onto something else they enjoy more).
Shaman tanks should be a thing. They should be able to coat themselves in earth, stone, water, even electricity and each defends better against certain types of attacks. They can swap their Elemental Armor at will, NO cooldown. Their totems would be designed for tanking, some taunt, some stun, some even pull things in to them. It would be hella fun and I’d be all over it.
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But not by much. Tanks are herders. DPS actively try to prevent them from herding effectively. It’s stressful because the DPS never takes responsibility for the tanks failure.
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