Will there be too many tanks early patch?

Hi, what do you think?

I got 2 characters.
Paladin - prot/ (ret interest for Wrath too)
Druid - resto.

While my paladin has all reps to exalted, all profs maxed out, ZA bear/MGT Chicken, all tabards, I have a fear that there will just be too many paladins… but then will my druid be useful as resto/boomie? Ya know?

What do you think?
How many of you are NOT going paladins and sticking with pure dps?

There can never be too many tanks.

That being said… there will be a billion paladin tanks.

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now that we will have dual spec there can literally not be “too many” tanks cause they can spec into tanking for easier content and then spec into healer or dps for harder content if their guild needs them to.

that said, it is still highly likely people will still not have a tank spec set up and won’t solve the major issue of lack of tanks (even on retail with free spec change and DKs, Monks, and DHs all having a tank spec there is still a tank shortage)

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I’m not going Paladin but I will have a prot off spec on my Warrior and will be tanking 5 mans. I do think it’ll be much better in Wrath as the parity between tanks shrinks. Right now in TBC, it’s more difficult to complete a heroic with a non Paladin tank. In Wrath, they are all more than capable of clearing any dungeon and the skill level to do so lowers so we should, in theory, see more tanks.

Anecdotally from the very limited time I played on the beta, healers will be most sought after

No such thing as “too many tanks.” That said I’m taking my paladin to northrend, or warrior, or shaman. I’m taking my DK, rogue, warlock, and new hunter.

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Are you new?

There will be a tank shortage (after 3/4 months). Dual spec wont help that, never has.

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if you read the next sentence you would see that i literally said it won’t fix anything as even on retail with 3 extra tank specs there is still a shortage.

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Too many… tanks?

U wot?

Raid tank position is one of the most contested spots in good guilds. If you’re looking to raid as a tank in wotlk, think again.

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The vast majority of tank-capable players do not tank, and the number of them or the ease of respeccing does not alter this.

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Considering how many DPS warriors there are for TBC Classic compared to how rare they seemed during actual TBC, and how most of the guild recruitment threads I’ve been seeing seem to be full on paladins, plus the addition of DKs and dual spec, it doesn’t seem like it should be difficult to find tanks for early game content.

There probably will be. But that doesn’t mean that there will be no spots for paladins. If you are a paladin main, and have a guild group to run with, you can probably stick with that.

I’m planning on maining DK, and most likely will keep my pally as my main alt.

I think there will probably be a few more tanks, but there will still be a slight shortage. Most of the people rolling Paladins are not going to tank. The lack of tanks is more about the roll itself and the reluctance that goes along with doing it, not about how many viable tank specs there are or how many people are wearing plate.

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I hope so. Only because I don’t have to wait 15 years for a party.

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I had to finally switch back to ret just to get into heroics. On benediction there are a looooot of tanks and even healers.

Bulletin board is spammed at all hours with LFM DPS

oh wow.
bless dual spec

Going to guess even less tanks around, or nothing changing at all. Players are meta chasers and that means only two viable tanks, Paladins and DKs. That’s only 1/2 of the roster. No one will want Warrior or Druid tanks. The only saving grace is a lot of people want to play DK, and so many may reroll DK. Course many may roll Paladins too since they’re the true heroic class of the expansion with several viable/broken specs.

It’s less about people being meta chasers in this case.

As 5 mana warrior tanks are meta they are your best 5 man tanks, so any dps warrior should tank but they won’t. But come raids there not as good.

The issue is always the fact there is a set amount of tank raid spots and always the least amount vs any role. Wrath makes this worse in tbc you have 3 tanks in most raids at least 2 true and one suto tank. In wrath there is never a time you need three the few fights a third is usefull for just needs a plate dps. This means tank raid spots are cut by 50 percent. This is a massive cut to the total tanks needed and as such LOWERS not raises the likly hood of tanks being there.

While yes duel spec allows dps to tank eaiser and this offsets the issue a bit players that don’t want to tank don’t this has already been proven. So while you may see a bit more tanks in wrath you will also see the avg tank is worse as there is less players that are “main” tanks are more that are offset tanks that want faster groups. Wrath those ease of heroics makes dps tanking far more common via eg a dk just tanking in dps spec as it works well.

10 man raids also do the same 10 man raids in tbc you want 1 tank for with a dps in tanky gear at least. Wrath even thou they added more 10 man raids you still only need one tank the 2nd is not needed often and a dps in tanky gear is all you need if even needing the tanky gear. This is a cut of 50 percent vs retail for example where 10 mans atill basicly need 2 tanks as a rule.

Wrath is the worst xpac for tank requirements making true tanks not often needed so less are found but easier to multi spec into one so pros and cons.

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OP, retail has 6 different tank classes and there’s still a tank shortage

no, there will never ever be “too many” tanks.

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Very true and agree 100% with what you said, but would still add that players do chase metas hard which will make a bad situations even worse. Any tank that isn’t a paladin or DK is going to get chewed out, it is going to happen. People will easily be able to handle a prot paladin and DK for heroics if it means no Druid or Warrior tanks in raid. It is even already happening now in BC with warrior tanks being excommunicated from tanking in raids, and paladin tanks being sought the most for heroics, and 10 mans for aoe speed clears.