I have played wow on and off for years…never really got into it…but this time around I am really feeling it…I want to play warrior or pally…I want to MT for a guild and lead/co lead raids, on a weekly schedule…Obviously I have to become an expert and it takes time and proving myself…I’m cool with that…but I am torn on which protection tank to really put the effort into…I’m going to play both warrior and pally but I like the warrior a lot better. Let’s assume I master both classes, which one do raid leaders prefer? I have read a lot, but some stuff is dated. From what I have gathered both pally and warrior can MT raids…there are a few encounters that would favor the other tank but not impossible. I really don’t want a back and forth of why x is better than y…I want to know from raid leaders what tanks they prefer and if it really matters… I want to guide the raid through the zone, pull the trash, direct dps and tank the majority of the bosses…I assume raids carry two tanks, one MT one OT…the OT is in dps mode till they are needed…
I am not an expert, not a RL, and certainly not at high-level play, but I don’t think you’re seeing this the right way.
Blizzard take great pains to make SURE that all Tank classes are viable in all raids - that is, in your words, that they can MT all raids, at all levels. That is never going to be an issue. But you are not going to get anywhere near high-level play in your first Tier/Season, because nobody does. So your choice of class matters much less in Normal or Heroic.
And again, this will be much less important in Normals, which is where you will be starting.
Definitely in Normals, and usually in all bosses of Heroic, all tanks are more than adequate. Only in Mythic will the differences become significant. And those differences will largely be by boss, rather than by class. For example, if a particular boss has a mechanic where a zillion adds spawn quickly, a DK will have an edge with Gorefiend’s Grasp. If, on the other hand,a boss needs to be kited, then a DK will have the hardest job on that specific boss.
Also, while the idea of MT and OT still lives, it is not nearly as important in modern WoW as it was during the Classic era. Nowadays, the devs mix mechanics like a demented bartender at a New Year’s Eve party, and a raid that is focused on progress will be sure to have all classes of Tank available so that they can switch for those bosses where the specific advantages of a class give a big edge, so that each tank can handle different jobs. It’s no longer just a case of two interchangeable tanks taunt-swapping.
Take a look at
https://www.warcraftlogs.com/zone/statistics/35/#class=Tanks
and ignore the damage numbers. Instead, look down the screen at the Parses.
You will see that DK is by far the most popular tank in the current raid. That says nothing about what the Flavor Of The Month will be in the next Tier.
You will likely want to look for a Heroic guild with one or two Normal teams, and you will want to be prepared to also serve as a DPS.
You will also likely be spending a lot more time in M+ than in raids.
This will be a good time to get a foot in the door, with summer, low activvity, ppl playing Remix, all that.
Your focus should be on levelling and at least partly gearing your characters, and finding a guild who will take you, before the end of August - and that is much more about social interactions and persistence than it is about class.
Check out the Guild recruitment forum here
and the recruitment tool at Raider IO, and set your parameters accordingly. If you want to start and climb, you might be well served by looking for Multi-Team Guilds.
https://raider.io/search?type=guild&mplus.season-df-1.top20[0][gte]=&recruitment.guild_raids.languages[0][eq]=&recruitment.guild_raids.tags[0][eq]=&recruitment.guild_raids.schedule[0][eq][endTime]=&recruitment.guild_raids.schedule[0][eq][day]=&recruitment.guild_raids.profile.published_at[0][gte]=®ion[0][eq]=us&sort[recruitment.guild_raids.profile.published_at]=desc&page=1&pageSize=20
As a Raid Leader for a mostly Heroic Raid focused guild - I don’t really care what class is tanking. They are all capable of tanking the raid, and the choice of tank RARELY maters.
Considering the raid composition: every raid requires Exactly 2 tanks, 4-5 healers, and then fill in with a mix of ranged and melee dps. This means most guilds have pretty established main tanks. Breaking into the tanking role can be difficult for new raiders. So for me, when someone applies to the guild as a tank, I have to tell them “Your tank status is not guaranteed, so you’ll have to DPS sometimes”. Because the simple fact is: if 3 tanks show up to raid, one of them has to DPS. So with that in mind, my biggest recommendation would be to pick a class you don’t mind DPSing on. So like if you hate Retribution, but enjoy Fury - definitely go with Warrior.
Mentally, I split the Raid Leader job into two categories: Raid Prep and Shot Calling.
Raid Prep is not just scheduling and inviting everyone, but making sure your composition is good, and ensuring that everyone knows the fight and is comfortable before the pulltimer starts. Raid Prep can be done by anyone and is more about the type of person than the spec.
Shot Calling is about the moment to moment decision making. It’s not just repeating what your raid timers are saying (although sometimes it is), but it’s making calls like who to Battle Res, adjusting to mistakes and compensating, as well as calling “just burn boss” or something like that.
I’ve found it very difficult to Tank and Shot Call at the same time. Mainly because it’s hard to see what the raiders are doing when my camera is under the boss’s skirt. I vastly prefer to Raid Lead from the healing role, because my vantage point is in range and my attention is on the raid-frames. That being said, having a “Melee coach” be a tank is often fine. You’ll be able to see if melee is making mistakes or out of position much easier from your perspective.