This guy gets it!
Never said it wasn’t worthwhile, those are your words. The simple fact is, if you think its required, you’re wrong. If you use TM to patchover problems, that’s on you. It really is as simple as that. Other people have said the same thing so the only horse being beaten here are the folks clinging to TM.
Thanks for your opinion.
Which is the very definition of situational. You do it when its available and when the situation requires it. The entire point of the OP is that if you want to learn how to tank, start with just the basics and then add the other stuff in. Never once have I ever suggested that after you get there that you don’t use Revenge as you need it.
And? People state this like they’re siting some holy mantra. It still has to pop, and used when the situation requires it.
I completely forgot about intercept.
Revenge should be popping all the time lol, even if you don’t have high defense. You should use revenge any time it comes up, it has higher priority than sunder.
The point people are making is that going into prot to get defiance is stupid and legitimately a crutch when you should instead be getting tactical mastery first, especially if you don’t know how to stance dance properly.
Also, these things aren’t “opinions,” you can have an opinion on whether or not you want to play the game efficiently, but there are certain rotations that are mathematically the most efficient ones. For example: mathematically, BS generates more threat than DS. Simple fact - not an opinion. DS is used to get the debuff on the mobs to reduce incoming damage, at least after its threat gen was fixed.
See the problem is you’re thinking of TM as some kind of crutch. It’s not. It’s an incredibly potent tool in our skill set and is a mandatory talent if you ever want to become a decent tank for the sole reason that it enables stance dancing–a core skill to learn.
Threat values are pre-defined by Blizzard, not me. That makes BS being a better threat generator than DS an objective fact, not an opinion. Your only counterpoint to this was that DS does more than add threat–which is true. And it is also why I suggest opening with DS, rather than spamming BS from the jump.
It is not situational, because it is always available, and the situation always requires it–at least in any situation where using Sunder is worthwhile.
Shield Block and Revenge share a 5 second cooldown. That means you can ALWAYS trigger Revenge, when Revenge is off cooldown.
Again, if you can’t get it to “pop” at least once every 5 seconds, you’re doing something incorrectly.
Edit: Dear god I missed this gem
You are literally advocating not going into Berserker stance as a tank–the stance you need to go into to go pop Berserker Rage when you know there’s a fear incoming, or just increase rage generation?
2 Likes
Look you don’t know how to tank vanilla most of your advice is poor like he said.
based on some people here who described their opening I made a macro for myself, feel free to use or change to fit your needs.
#showtooltip Charge
/castsequence reset=55 Battle Stance, Charge, Bloodrage, Battle Shout, Demoralizing Shout, Thunder Clap, Berserker Stance, Berserker Rage, Whirlwind, Defensive Stance
You can add in your equip change too from 2H to 1H+shield, but i have those in other macros.
have to keep mashing the hotkey to get off all the casts.
edit: need to be at least level 36 with appropriate skills learned from trainer.
i was grouped doing quests with another warrior, and he was ‘charging 2x back to back’, and I was like how the heck is he doing that. It finally dawned on me…intercept. I totally forgot I learned it.
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From reading your OP, your playstyle as a Prot warrior is extremely slow - and I really wouldn’t want to group with you because you’re so slow.
Tactical Mastery is your bread and butter as a prot warrior. It opens up so many different avenues and possiblities for stance dancing and preserving rage for utility and mobility.
I’ve seen tanks that shoot and LoS behind a corner on every single pull and its so annoying, you have charge and intercept as part of your toolkit for a reason.
This iteration of prot warrior is just like how I remember it - it functions very much like a “Stick-shift” version of retail prot warrior.
Can you drive stick? If so, you can play Classic Prot War.
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Pulls are usually limited by the mana… same as you, hoss. If the healer mana is there, the next pack is usually coming.
Why would I want a 25 max rage bar as a prot warrior? Why do you think a prot warrior works best when only working out of a quarter of his rage bar?
You still limit yourself to a quarter of your rage bar. Remember that. And I go to instances to tank, not dance like I was Michael Flatley.
Typically you want to fight them where you are, not where they are. Not that there aren’t opportunities to just rush in…
But really folks… the biggest single thing using the TM crutch does is cripple your ability to work out of the high-end of your rage bar. For a prot warrior that’s like tanking with one hand behind your back.
All I’m hearing is “Wahhhhh i use defiance as a crutch and can’t grasp stance dancing” and it’s hilarious.
Just because you retain 25 rage when stance dancing doesn’t mean you’re limited to that permanently.
2 Likes
Really? All I hear is Wahhhhh from you.
Of course you’re not limited to it permanantly. You’re limited to the next time you want to change your stance and then you either burned down the rage or wasted it.
And if you’re working out of the high-end of your rage bar… you have zero excuse to switch. The excuse to switch is you need the rage of a Charge or Berserker Rage.
The simple fact is the majority of the rage that you need will be generated during the fight, so long as you get agro early.
And if we’re going to use a car as an example, you basically can’t get the car out of first gear.
You have a fundamental lack of understanding of what having rage, and what saving rage does for you as a warrior - there are other abilities that can’t be used in defensive stance that you should be using as a prot warrior, thus why you would need to stance dance, and why you need Tactical Mastery.
So we know Charge and Intercept aren’t needed.
Which of these must use skills are there that you think should be so important that Dancing to kill 75% of your rage bar is demanded? What skill is actually worth doing that for a Prot Warrior?
Mobility. Plan your Bloodrage use accordingly.
Gotta say, tanking as a Warrior on Classic is a lot of fun. I haven’t been bored at all.
I use Bloodrage when my Rage hits like 25% 
Slapdashing around instances, particularly at a higher level… is a recipe for disaster. If the instance is now Trivial, ok, but at that point you don’t really need a full-on defensive tank and even the Prot Warrior should go DW.
Charging and using your abilities isn’t “slap dashing” its called being aware of what abilities you have and when to use them
Its playing it fast and loose, which is fine if the instance is trivial. But then if its trivial… you don’t need exactly need the full hoss and can go DW.
You obviously don’t have the mindset of a Defensive Tank.