I’ve mained a feral tank in classic, and had a lot of fun. I’ve got to mt bosses I didn’t think a feral could. Going into bc, Ferals just seem to get stronger, as well as the only tank that can dps effectively as well. But prot pallies look extremely fun, kings of aoe threat, buffs, and just looking cool. My question is if you had to decide between these 2 tank classes, which one would you pick and why?
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Bear
But I might be a bit biased 
Both are great choices! Personally I’m going prot paladin because the gameplay is more fun and I like the class fantasy, but you can’t go wrong with a bear either in tbc
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I have both classes. Both are fun. However, if you already have a druid and you’re enjoying it, why change?
Also - you’ll get flight form… Just sayin’.
Fixed that for ya!
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Thanks. I forgot the level… But yeah, I was super jealous. Especially since I was always broke!
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Both have strengths and weaknesses. Both are great fun though!
Having played a lot of Druid already, you’ll have even more fun with TBC Druid since we get more buttons to play with, gear sets that actually work for us, a nicer set of talents, and overall we feel better to play.
That being said, Paladin is super fun, very strong, and provides you access to one of the single best solo gold farming classes in TBC.
I have both ready to go but I will favor the Druid.
Druid because I already have one and don’t want to level a Paladin. I was a day 1 Horde Paladin in Original TBC and I am not doing that again.
Prot pally was fun and there’s even some fights designed around it (Felmyst, M’uru) but I didn’t play Feral or Prot Warror so don’t have anything to compare it to.
I played druid tank in tbc but had pally tank partner it work real well fights that were more magicked based pally did and physically i did we worked well together.
Really depends on if you want to tank primarily dungeons or everything.
I am going Blood elf pally mainly cause i love the sword and shield with holy and I want to try and tank everything I can. Now i dont exspect to do it all in 1 shot or even be able to and I will step down for a druid or war to tank when needed But I am just going to have a blast trying. Very happy about getting both seals as well.
I have mained a feral druid since I started playing, so there is some bias in my comments.
That said, something to keep in mind is that the tank balance in TBC was nothing like it has been before or since. Each tank had a role it excelled at.
Warriors were very good single target tanks.
Paladins were extremely good AoE tanks.
And ferals, you were the perfect off tank. You could start a fight tanking an add until it goes down and then change to cat and give better dps than any other tank could when not tanking. You could pickup and handle adds, then go back to dps’ing. Outside of Shattered Halls, you can tank the heroics with no real problems and once you know them well, there are ways to safe weave in cat form to take things down quicker.
So yeah…, I think you can see my bias. It comes down to the play style you want. I remember my pally alt being an amusing bugger to AoE grind with and easy to do dungeons with, but I have been and expect to remain a feral main.
Blizzard realized that druids were a weak and defenseless class so they gave them a free flight form at 68 so they have a chance to run away from pvp.
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I’d like to add my input. As mained Feral from PreTBC launch through to WotLK. Clearing all content pre nerfs, minus M’uru nerf where they removed push back.(But don’t think more then 2-3 guilds cleared him with the pushback still in via class stacking)
Druids, scale really really well, especially at end game Sunwell. We get so powerful, that we can shrug off crushing blows as nothing due to armor cap and massive avoidance.
BUT…
If I had the chance, I’d have probably rolled Paladin for tanking. They can tank all content, vs Ferals limitations. e.i. Kaelthas fireball nuke of wtf doom, Shear in early gear levels, etc. Paladin also does very well in AoE tanking, and have almost as much threat as a dr00d.
The plus side to Feral, is good DPS if you build an offspec set, when you’re not tanking. You can even ignore certain mechanics once hit a gear threshold where Warrior and Paladins could not without blocking(Sheer from Illidan, but was in Sunwell gear)
In Arenas, Paladin has more options to earn rating as well, and world PvP they counter many benefits a druid has.
So, if I did play TBC again, I would personally pick Paladin, since Vanilla warrior tanking drove me nuts for so long, got tired of it oddly.
I’m going paladin but only cause paladin has always been my favorite tank and I play horde which is why I’m not one in classic. All 3 tanks have their uses. Warriors have amazing cooldowns, druids are massive meat shields that push alot of threat, and paladin are AoE tank specialists. They can all main tank and you’ll probably want to take one of each to a raid anyways. Some fights like illidan require 3 tanks, 2 for the flames in fire resist and one for him. Feral tanks will end up DPSing alot because they are the only tank that can do really good damage because they can go into cat form without having to respec. So if you want to tank and only tank then go paladin. If you like being able to dps some fights and tank others then go druid.
Bear butt is really big
Thats funny coming from a mage, who gets absolutely wrecked by ferals.
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https://youtu.be/excCiQqjx10?t=35
That bear is 1400 pounds…Wow.
What a chunky legend.
Truly an idol to look up to. 747 Bless.
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