If only #NoChanges applied to mentality of the community too, right?
Levelling a Prot Warrior in Classic is fine… but isn’t for everybody.
Instances readily available and questing is no issue(hint: go Dual Wield). If you have a hard time getting xp, the problem isn’t the class. If anything, I found I’ve out-levelled pretty much most of the people I’ve hung out with in Classic.
The biggest thing, though, is to always push forward when in game. If you aren’t instancing, you’re questing. If you’re not questing, you’re grinding mobs.
If you’re telling Chuck Norris jokes in the Barrens or taking hours to form a group… you’ll be a slow leveler no matter the spec.
I’ll give a slightly different opinion on this:
Warriors may be the most played class, but they aren’t all 60 yet. I think at least part of the reason it’s harder to find tanks right now is that warriors are somewhat difficult to level if you’re new to the class and a lot of players are taking their sweet time getting to 60 on them.
Conversely, you see tons of mages at 60 filling dps slots because everyone boarded the “spell cleave” train.
I’m constantly getting whispers from people to come rank dungeons at max level from people in all kinds of other guilds, so there’s a shortage of tank availability out there for sure.
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There’s a reason you don’t use Hamstring?
I think lots of new people are very intimidated because their first time turns into a bad experience from other party members. I’ve been tanking in wow since the game came out and been practically a career MT. The best advice I can give to newer people trying tanking is that:
#1 You can only do what you can do. If groups complain, either tell them this is the speed at which we progress or if they still arent happy either you leave the group or they remove you and you get in a new dungeon run in 10 seconds while they spend the next hour spamming for their perfect tank.
#2. Dont be afraid of letting people die. In my runs you spank it you tank it. Very easy concept and it teaches many people lessons, painful and expensive lessons. If group hates you for it repeat step one and/or get another group. My healer friends back me up 100% on this as well.
#3. Dont ever feel you need to stress, you hold all the power in the group, they looked 30min - 1hour for you, and you looked 10 seconds to find them. I’ve seen some tanks go on power trips using this logic, dont do that.
#4. Perhaps the greatest bit of advice I can give anyone, just run with your guild. I literally almost never tank dungeons for random people. You are a tank, guilds want you, so get in a nice guild and let the puggers fight with other tanks.
It sounds dumb but this logic is what I’ve used to tank dungeons since the game came out. Hope this helps someone. More than likely I’ll garner some criticism.
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Ill add onto this- almost all of the tanks I’ve seen at 60 are already running with relatively stable groups, aka their guild. I cant speak for other tanks, but I’ve also got a legion of dudes from other guilds that I met while leveling and are a known commodity, who I can whisper well before I start pugging.
Get my core group, if thats not possible I ask other guildies, if no ones down I ask good players Ive played with, THEN if I still need someone I pug.
Its pretty hard to get to that pug step in the first place, people are always looking for tanks.
Because people don’t like to be the one everyone is relying on, especially when DPS can’t keep it together, and pull aggro all the time.
That’s when you let the dps die and finish the pull or boss with the healer. They can enjoy the repair bills.
Being one of the higher DPS in the game is funner than getting hit in the face.
Tanking in Vanilla/Classic is uh…not very exciting.
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I have not done a single full PUG. Every dungeon run I’ve done so far has had at least two guild players, if not been a full guild run. (That’s also true on my priest.)
There’ve been a couple times I briefly thought about volunteering when I see “LF tank” pop up in general chat, but I might find the character name asking for a name distasteful or see them make a trollish comment separate from their plea for a tank, and decide I’m happier questing.
I have tossed on my tanking stuff to help others with a quest. That tends to be fun AND appreciated. Tanking a dungeon tends to be taken for granted AND not made easier by the group. Why should I put up with that?
Lastly, I have zero interest in the so-called “meta” which tries to turn WOW Classic dungeons into AoE zergfests. I do dungeons to enjoy them, not to get it done as fast as possible to maximize my efficiency or earn gold. I’ll be tanking more when I’m sure all “those” people are out of my level range permanently.
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Its probably because warrior is the slowest class to level. I would dare say that warriors have the lowest level 60 population compared to other classes right now. Of course its also true that some who intended to tank got tired of dealing with groups that go full ham on DPS before the warrior even makes melee contact with the first mob.
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You can easily tank lowbie dungeons as a warrior without being specced into prot, just slap on a 1h and shield and you’re golden. Hell, you can even tank with a 2h in the early early dungeons
People are lazy and/or scared of failing (the natural process of learning something)
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On my paladin I did SM with 4 dps and I healed/tanked/dps with a 2h. You dont need sword/board tanks until 50’s. Of course it’s all personal preference, but I’ve never seen tank actually hold aggro with sword and board at these levels
It can be an intimidating experience. You’re ahead of the pack and tend to be the shot caller.
When i tanked years ago these things popped into my head:
Am i pulling too quick
Am i going too slow
Where do I go?
Am i taking too much damage?
Why am I taking too much damage
I can’t keep threat
Dang i pulled too much
I think most go through that and then give up
As a Warrior player: Because tanking sucks 99.9% of the time, and is only fun for people in the group that aren’t the tank.
Why would I intentionally make myself miserable to benefit other people?
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I don’t really tank for pug groups. It’s often frustrating and way more work due to people not understanding aggro/kill targets/letting the tank pull/etc and I don’t feel like babysitting the group.
No. /10chars
Tanking is boring that’s why
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META broke the game from the start that’s why there’s no warr tanks.
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Knowing where to go in a dungeon is killing me the most right now. I havent ran these in literal years. And im about to the conclusion that I need to study maps before going in.
Last run i let a warlock be group leader bc he knew the way around. Big mistake. 2nd wipe, on last boss, hes on party chat: “well, let’s call it a night folks.” In the blink of an eye the healer is gone and the run is dead.
If that dont make you want to quit tanking…