I just came back to classic and decided to level the same class i played back in the day: Warrior!
I’ve been reading up on tanks and it seems to be that warriors are the least desireable tanks especially in dungeons. I was just wondering how bad is it exactly? For comparison’s sake, I leveled a druid to 70 and to be quite honest i hated tanking because i had the hardest time holding threat on multi targets. Is Warrior about the same story? Are paladins just that great at generating AoE threat?
I have no desire to play Paladin but was just wondering what you guys thought the leveling experience is like.
It’s aoe threat. People want fast clears and avoid cc when they can. Warriors can do just fine if you bring some cc, but you will will be just fine as a warrior in wrath.
Warriors are majorly gear dependent… They are wonderful solo tanks and needed for shield reflect for bosses like RoS… Will always be viable to some degree. Prob best choice for fighting Archimonde. What you need is the best gear tho and if you are new… good luck!!
Now that we are in the final phase of TBC, people prefer a Feral Druid MT and Prot Paladin OT.
But with WotLK around the corner, the AoE capabilities of the tanks becomes normalized. Warrior is going to probably be the best heroic dungeon tank, and they will be highly mobile, which is just fun game play.
The meta min/maxers will probably still pick prot paladin as MT and DK as OT in wotlk, but all four tanks should be much closer.
For TBC starting a Warrior tank will be difficult as you need to be very geared to keep up. Just go Fury and pump until WoTLKC.
In Wrath I think Warriors will be fine for Heroic dungeons - maybe even bis. They have okay AoE threat in Wrath (worst of all the tanks but serviceable). Warriors need to work harder at it but do fine in Wrath. AoE threat won’t be an issue. Their weakness in AoE threat compared to other tanks is made up for by excellent control and mobility options.
The problem for Warrior Tanks will be mid to late tier hardcore raiding where they will not be as survivable as the other Tanking options. Mostly due to lower EH (effective health). Whether this becomes a defining issue or not depends on how difficult the content turns out and how meta locked the community are. Back in the day Warrior tanks got through Wrath raid content fine.
So, for now, don’t bother with a Tank if it’s fresh. In Wrath you will be fine Tanking Heroics and Nax. Heck, you’ll probably even see novelty tanks like Boomies and such in Nax as it will be super easy.
From Ulduar on you may find it hard to compete for a raid tanking gig with Druids, DKs, and Pally who will be flat out better, except on the ICC final boss where Warrior Tanks have a niche. You’ll be able to do all of it fine but the others will likely do it better. You’ll be fine if you network with others and secure a spot in the earlier tiers - unless the community goes meta crazy.
We’re going to wrath soon where warriors are much better than classic/crusade so you don’t really need to worry about this anymore. There will also be dual spec so you don’t have to sit in protection all the time.
For tbc you will struggle and it won’t be fun no matter your gear level. But for that get leveled up for wrath and yes pali/dk are better tanks for raids but you can do any encounter.
I’ve been reading up on tanks and it seems to be that warriors are the least desireable tanks especially in dungeons.
There are Warrior tank builds that will be doing ~50% of the total party damage in a dungeon. Whomever you are listening to is misinformed or simply trolling. Prot or Arms/Prot is great for leveling, dungeons, and pvp. It’s the progression main tanking in latter raid phases where top guilds will want another class in that spot, but by the time we get there, fury will gradually be developing into the #1 dps in the game.
They are the least desirable dungeon tanks in TBC, they are arguably the BEST dungeon tanks in Wrath. Best AoE threat with the reworking of Thunderclap (scaling, no target limit, and unlike consecrate you don’t have to keep standing over an orange circle), best mobility, and best damage (if anyone cares about that).
You’re coming in at the end of TBC. Level that guy up and witness his awesomeness when you do dungeons in Wrath.
Also with the reworking of SVB (that is way bigger budget) they mitigate physical damage better than anyone for big packs (pally possible exception).