Tanks are incredibly hard to find, need more classes with them, should have been an evoker right from the beginning. Such a waste.
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The numbers have shown that the tank population remains generally the same when new tanks come out, so they wouldnât really be creating a whole lot more tanks in the long run.
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I would have really preferred it, donât really vibe with the current tanks but its a role Iâd like to fill more
If there wasnât so much toxic behavior when a tank accidentally pulls too much or for shame, doesnt know the optimal route maybe more people would play tank. I FEEL the tank has the most pressure on them in the game even more so than dps and heals.
I would only want an evoker tank to better take on delves lol, but yes tank seems to be a natural fit for the class with dragon armor and all.
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I can certainly agree with that, theres so many mechanics that tanks (and healers) can try to adjust for that theres not a lot of reason for dps to learn certain mechanics. In the pug space, on average makes it a daunting task to tank for randos.
Taking a small page out of FF14âs book, a âdont stand in bad mechanicâ that only lowers damage and doesnât impact healing or anything else might be a good way to âteachâ a certain subset of the player population to pay attention. Cause then in general, it becomes a personal issue for dps to handle rather than something tank/healer need address for pugs. Still, plenty of nuance to address with such a solution.
But yeah, still astounded the dragon class doesnât have a tank spec. Its like the biggest missed opportunity from a theming perspective at least.
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The tank population has always been small. This reaches back to the beginning of the game. Iâve played several tanks in several expansions (tanked from wrath to legion)
My experience is that (at least until M+) as huge as the tank shortage appears to be, the actual demand for tanks in end game content is very low. In 5 mans you need 1 tank. In a 20 man raid or higher you need 2.
In a guild your raid functions around the tank corp. usually 2-4 people who enjoy the role. If you build a character to tank, and the guild doesnât need/want and you feel like dung. Why did I build and a gear a tank if Iâm just gonna sit in the bench.
M+ has had a very toxic mentality of go go go and low tolerance of anyone trying to break into role.
So, evoker as a tank spec would not change the number of tank. Iâve experienced launch of; viable Druids and Paladins (the were not viable before TBC), Death knights, Monks, and Demon Hunters.
Small surge as people try the new thing. Then it settles back into the same shortage for lfg. The last 15 years mid expansion the wait time is on avg 10 minutes.
Lore wise it actually makes sense. The Dracthyr were created to be soldiers to compliment and enhance Netharians army. He had scores of dragonkin casters, melee masters and Tanks. His goal was soldier that could counter or reinforce dragonkin with Dragon magic. They were created to be mobile dragon sorcerers. He didnât need/want tanks.
But he was also a complete nutter, our lack of a tank spec could have been design flaw purposely put there so he could take his super soldiers out.
Gameplay wise. Maybe Blizzard was simply tired of building tank specs, they have a hard time balancing the ones we have, and what unique mechanics can they add that doesnât steal from the other classss
Well, to be more accurate, the evokers filled that role while dracthyr at large filled multiple purposes within the army. Even so, while I see where youâre comin from I have a hard time buying into that line of thinking. Black dragonflight power beingâŚshared? Seems a stretch used to retcon in the supportive nature of Augmentation.
Between Neltharion himself, Onyxia, Wrathion, etc⌠the dragonflight has historically been rather withholding of their power while using agents to serve their will. Until personally threatened in which case respond with overwhelming power and force themselves. A case to be made for Ebyssion, but even then he only supported advisorally. I think in any conflict of the highmountains past where he was directly involved it was as a dragon with overwhelming power and force to take the majority of the threat away from the highmountains themselves.
Gameplay wise, I canât believe that for a second. It was harder to make a tank vs a completely theoretical spec to cover a ânewâ playstyle cobbled together with the wishlist asks of dev/pres players from beta at the time? Nah, Aug was 100% a proposal for a theoretical new role to be playtested on the latest class. Possibly even the case for delay, originally was gonna be the tank spec but then someone (who doesnât work at the company anymoreâŚ) pushed to try out this new idea. Part of that coming from, during the patch when Aug was coming out, Blistering Scales was marked as a tank ability in the historic build files of the patch.
So Aug probably was gonna be a tank, but then someone pushed for a âsupportâ spec idea, and we got what we got with lore being rewritten to justify the nature of Augmentation. Though maybe rewritten is the wrong term as the line about Emberthal being an Aug wasnât out until that patch. Which also seems really weird, given Emberthal being described as fighting on the front lines with a spear in one of the books.
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The desire for a support spec has always been in wow. As we can see in classic, enhancement shaman as an example was brought more for their totems than their dps. Itâs true they could do good numbers, but it was more important for them to buff warriors and rogues with windfury.
At some point they moved to the concept of a support class to the shelf and all dps being self contained. Still had hybrid taxes, till we didnât. I remember in the old forums players calling for a bard class (some as a joke towards performances, others wanting the option of a support class) the desire was there.
As to the black dragon magic being mostly for supporting, I agree that it was a head scratcher. But Netharian wasnât right in the head. Plus he created the race, and sealed them away before he betrayed the aspects. The black hadnât fallen yet.
I got the feeling the Dracthyr were a hopeful superweapon concept that failed original expectations. But they were a power source of draconian magic that could be tapped. Hence stuck in stasis and drained of black magic.
I truly donât believe the devs ever had intentions of making a tank spec for evoker. Hence why it was released with only 2 specs originally. Aug was an interesting surprise.
Those wanting dragon tanks are getting access via the new class options next patch, so itâs something
The neat thing about many of the NPCs of various races and classes. They can do things we canât. Emberthall used sword and spear at one point in the books. Yet all of her race use magic primarily.
Anduin is a priest. Or a Paladin? Heâs a warrior of the light that does both as neededâŚâŚokâŚ.I know a few priests that would love to wear armor.
Thrall is obviously an Enhancement shaman, until he needs to be an elemental shaman who can entomb people.
A few big NPC warlocks can open portals and move between dimensions and places at will. Nethergate feels limited compared to that.
Many more examples. Our iconic heroâs can do class breaking things. Which sucks when we want those things, but canât have
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I was thinking that now that people have gotten used to augmentation, they could add a talent caused their abilities to generate threat while changing Ebon Might to grant the buff to the evoker only while keeping most of the abilities the same. We could still provide unique assistance to the rest of the party/raid without over balancing the damage of having 3 dps, a healer and a dragon tank. Those who are nervous about tanking wouldnât experience any change and those who would like to have a dragon tank could, without having to relearn the class.
I could still see it being an awkward and difficult spec to tank as, but hey, we DID have to type, what was it, âadvancedâ or something to start the class?
But that would be way too cool, so probably not gonna happen.
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The desire may have been there, but for modern game systems personally would rather it be left in the past. Its a concept that can be utilized in older systems, but modern focuses on skill expression over pure numbers really negates the design space in which bard-like supports can operate. Enhancement becoming what it has was probably for the best, though I wouldnât have minded a moment in its history where it truly leaned into the tanking aspect.
As for the âimportant to buff warriors/roguesâ thing, the necessity for that was mostly with try-hard groups. You get a raid together of mostly competent people in any comp and the raids were crazy easy to finish. The bigger numbers was just to satisfy parses, and frankly the focus on such things only exacerbates the toxic aspects of parse culture. It turns an entire subsection of the playerbase into subservient buff totems so a different subsection of the playerbase can feel good about their numbers on warcraftlogs. Really donât want to enable that sort of thing.
I canât begin to describe all the ways in which dracthyr getting warrior doesnât even kind of satisfy that desire, its like asking for a glass of water and getting an empty cup while being told âtechnically its full of water, its pretty humid outâ.
Iâm not sure about abilities changing the role of a spec, but under those circumstances, change Ebon Might into a buff that procs a bit of damage instead of providing primary stat and attribute the damage back to you with a big aggro bonus attached. Then tanking becomes both needing to damage enemies and maintain Ebon Might to hold aggro. Throw in âObsidian Scales provide 100% spell pushback resistanceâ and you got a weird but interesting way to tank.
Like you said, did have to type âadvancedâ after all.
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Ion already stated that the next class (Tinkers) is likely to get a tank spec. Evokers are not getting it because weâre casters.
You got a source on that? Cause Iâmma be hype for tinker mech tanking
I get where youâre coming from. I do. I hear you. Please understand Im not-arguing, just saying what Iâve seen over the years.
That being said, Iâve seen a lot of garbage in the designs over the years. When I had a younger friend who started in MoP go all excited over the classic experience and ask me to play I quickly noped out. I remembered the level 25 wall, barrens chat, and the south shore and Terran Mill zone PvP fest that crashed my system and the server. The fields of dead was so think it was white from rez bones.
I thank you for the interesting debate, I enjoyed it. Good hunting!
Not sure if itâs funnier that you came up with this long-winded nonsensical analogy or that your actually believe itâs accurate.
Evoker tank is never happening.
Please donât be boring.
Humidity is a measure of the water content in the air around you, which is a gas that expands to fill a container thus filling an empty cup with a water filled substance. Though so little water, that a thirsty person could never find it satisfying. Dracthyr may be the warrior class, but theres no fire breath/deep breath/hover abilities associated with it. So its a lizardfolk tank, not a dragon tank.
I like lizardfolk, but its not what Iâm after for dragon tanking. Whether itâll ânever happenâ or not, still hold evoker should have gotten a tank spec
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Yeah but itâs never going to happen.
Whatâs âboringâ is to continue to make redundant requests you know will never come to fruition because of some childish sense of entitlement to have whatever you want.
Your analogy still makes zero sense in the context of your argument, by the way. Please explain more 3rd grade science and how it applies to an imaginary dragon tank specđ¤Ł.
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Pulling the ripcord was never gonna happen.
Turning frost dk into a dps and blood dk into a tank was never gonna happen.
Turning survival hunter into a melee spec was never gonna happen.
Demon Hunters were never gonna happen.
Priests getting shadowform back was never gonna happen.
Many things were ânever gonna happenâ, right up until they do.
If youâre gonna attempt to contribute to a conversation, please have a point to make.
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