Like yourself, I didn’t start playing Guardian Druid until sometime in Legion. Actually, I didn’t start tanking until sometime in Legion.
I started playing WoW during the Wrath of the Lich King. Back then, my main was an Arcane Mage. During Cataclysm, I started to branch out a little: I made a healer alt - a Holy Priest; however, my main was still an Arcane Mage. This was a big step for me, in that I was moving away from DPS and, progressively, into the roles that I personally considered to be more accountable for failure, that had more responsibility.
At the start of Legion, my healer alt became my main as I pretty much shelved my Arcane Mage. I found myself enjoying the increased responsibility and the effect that I had on the battlefield in PVP: a good healer can really turn the tides of battle, a good healer can turn a sure loss into a win.
Part way through Legion I became even more bold. I began to think, “Perhaps now is a good time to try tanking?” Admittedly, I was terrified of tanking. I was so used to just following a tank around, killing mobs or healing the party - I wasn’t really sure that I could play the part of the de facto party leader; however, I was willing to try. At any rate, I’d start out easy, tanking Ragefire Chasm anyways. I could get a taste and see if it was for me. The only real question now was: which tank? I definitely wanted something easy to play, seeing as I had a lot to learn about the dungeons already.
I levelled a couple of toons to level 15 and jumped into Ragefire Chasm. Protection Paladin was my first go. It went well enough, but I just wasn’t feeling it. I levelled him up through dungeons until about level 25 and then dropped him. My next go was Guardian Druid. I loved it. Guardian Druid was perfect: simple yet effective. The rotation wasn’t complicated, there was always something to do - a button to press, and I could focus on learning the dungeons, paying attention to nasty mechanics, tricky mobs, positioning, and being the de facto party leader I had to be.
I levelled my Guardian Druid up to Legion content via dungeon spamming so that I could walk confidently into the new content having a fairly firm grasp of what my toon could do and could not do - his strengths and weaknesses; also, so I could become familiar with all the spells in his toolkit. There would be no surprises, outside of the new content. Of course, it didn’t really take too long to level him: tanks, as I understand it, have always enjoyed practically instant dungeon queues precisely because they are the least played role in the game - not least of all because of the immense accountability they hold, their responsibilities to their party members and teammates, and the fact that they are typically made the de facto leaders in dungeons. It takes a little getting used to.
I still remember the first time I queued up as a tank. I remember how it slowly began to sink in: these people here with me were waiting on me to make the first move. They could do nothing without me. These mobs would just kill them. I was no longer sitting in the back seat, playing my toon on cruise control - the speed dictated by whatever tank we had; rather, I was in the driver’s seat. There was no one to wait on. There was no other leader. I was the leader. It was go time - I had to boldly throw myself into the fray like a tank does.
My love of Guardian Druid is pretty strong - hence why I feel a need to try and help make it a better spec going into SL. It was my first real tank. I’ve done dungeons, Mythic+, raiding, Arenas, BGs, RBGs, and WPVP on my Guardian Druid - more than I have done on any other toon. Legion Guardian Druid felt really good by the end of the expansion - perhaps it was a little over-tuned and needed a slight nerf, but then that was Legion “Balancing”; however, we lost a lot when BFA dropped. All the things that made Legion Guardian Druid feel so good were unceremoniously stripped away and we were left with the stark reality: a poorly designed base spec. BFA Guardian Druid was practically unplayable until 8.2.5. I mean, you could play it, but it was sub-par and certainly not enjoyable outside of questing and WQs.
I just don’t want SL to be a repeat of BFA. I refuse to switch mains or play a different tank just because the devs do a terrible job. I don’t do “Flavour of the month.” I won’t let Blizzard dictate what I should play. Honestly, if SL is going to be a repeat of BFA, then I’d much rather just quit the game, like Blizzard decided to quit Guardian Druids. In the meantime, I hope.
Thanks for your time,
Barespanks
