Hi, Hello. Welcome back.
Back when I played VDH in BGs I would go back and forth with SB, but at the moment the survivability it offers is still not enough to keep you up vs a rDPS, or even a melee who knows what they are doing. On the other hand, the DPS boost of NOT taking is also not going to be enough to overcome the specs atrocious DPS in PVP at max level. I dont think it’s going to play that much of a difference either way given where VDH is at, and where the game is at. (More specifically, where the BG PVP game above level 80 is at):
I’ma be real with you chief, the road ahead is going to be harrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrd.
Below level 80 you have been protected by low level PVP scaling, and protected from the more skilled and experienced PVPers who play above level 80. What comes next for you at 80 is going to be a shock, going to be frustrating, and will require a monumental quantum leap in your skill level if you hope to succeed.
That being said, if you love a challenge, you are going to love what comes next.
Your problems are manyfold:
Tanks inherently tank more damage in PVP. Blizz put a hidden modifier on tanks that makes them take 40% MORE damage.
Tanks are tuned to do far less damage than dps specs. Even at your very best you arent going to be near FOTM dps spec dps, and even vs B tier specs, they will inherently out dps you by a significant margin.
Tank BURST dps (the critical factor that lets you kill a player before they can react/press their defences/run away and reset the fight) is very, very low. Even if you manage to out dps an unskilled player into 20-15% hp range, they are going to just walk away, and you, as a VDH in particular, are going to have o deal with that because of your specs particular weaknesses:
Vulnerability to snares.
Melee range damage AND healing.
You might think ‘hey, I’ve got lots of extra movement speed, and some charges of jump/trample, I’ll be fine. I have so far sub level 80’. Post 80, people know how to use their buttons. They will kite you (use a snare, limiting your movement speed while they do damage from range, or just reset the fight, or even just wait on their burst CDs to come back up). This will be a true pain for you, and the majority of what combat will be for you come level 80 → trying to reach the other player so that you can not only do damage, but heal.
I was going to say more, but I’m just have flashbacks now of the last time I PVPd on VDH, and it was, like I said, just a huge CC/snarefest. You offer no threat, so you will simply be CC’d or ignored entirely. Where you get melee uptime you will be ineffectual. Your damage will be outhealed.
As a Flag Carrier specifically, sure, if its 2-3 unskilled and uncoordinated melee who come to wail on you and instantly break each others CC’s, DRing them til you are CC immune, you will feel like a god… right up until the FC debuff ticks high enough, or a, 1, (one) single rDPS shows up to safely burst you down from afar. But even making it to the Flag Room at all isnt the given it once was for a VDH. Mobility has been given to every class in fistfuls since Legion.
Anyway, like I said, many challenges ahead.
I wanted to write this for you so that you might be aware of just how much of a challenge you’ve given yourself: there is a reason why absolutely no one plays VDH in PVP.
If you stick at it, then good for you. If you perhaps last a week or two before rerolling to something more… effectual, there’s absolutely no shame in that.
Welcome Back,
and Good Luck!