Why I Dual Spec Prot?
Posted 09-22-2009 at 12:36 PM by Ewanar
**Disclaimer**
This is not directed at anyone, or at the guild, this is an opinion piece, and shares personal bias, and information I have collected through out my raiding career with guilds, there may also be some foul language.
-THE BACK STORY-
Ewanar is a warrior. Warriors since classic WoW till Wrath of the Lich King have been THE tanks, while also being a monster on the dps meters when properly geared!
Lately there is a lot of speculation on how someone should be geared, and have their talents spent. This is my side of the story and why I do what I do.
Since I started the game in patch 1.9, Ewanar has been my main. Deadmines to Uldaman, to Black Rock Depths. I tanked it all. I played with my talents half in Arms half in Prot. (Until I talked with General Hrothir and he described to me that by splitting the jobs I wouldn't be at my best at either!)
Looking back on it he was right. Of course at level 45 I had no idea what I was doing.
(Concussion blow AND Sweeping strikes OMG!!!) - Was my thinking.
Enter TBC, I joined up just around patch 3.1, missing the release due to school! From level 54 to level 70 I was an Arms warrior, doing my best to catch up to idolized Hrothir! Following gear and talent specs. (I ended up even ditching a better piece of loot because I had the chance at something that he had as well!)
Karazhan was the first step into raiding, and if I had to tank I would do it (But only to get DPS gear, was my plan). They told me I had to tank, so in preparation for the raids I sought out the best items needed to be a starting tank, learned what sort of abilities I needed to be using, and when I should use them. Ground out the Sha'tar rep for the shield, long quest lines for tanking weapons. I was READY! So I tanked, and I loved it. Off tanking, looking at what better tanks had, and what I had to do to get those items. I sought to be the best I could!
While listening to WoW Radio, people would talk about this guild "Nihilum" and their tank how he was some hardcore raider and one of the best warriors in the game! Kungen was his name. And if anything Nihilum was the NHL, and Kungen was my Patrick Roy! ( Hockey analogy, Patrick Roy is one of the best Goalies of all time, and I'm a goaltender as well)
Eventually I joined a guild that weren't all douche-bags, and began raiding half DPS half tank. As Tempest Keep and SSC was our goal at the time, I got my gear and I wanted to tank! So I sent a letter to the raid leader, saying: "I have the gear, I have the knowledge and I've done the fight review, I want to tank!" I was brought in as the third of six tanks! Two Warriors, Three Paladins and a Feral Druid.
Gear came, and I was mid T4, when Chaos had a tank opening. I applied to tank, I got in one night and began the role of Off Tank in Black Temple, and also was decked out in 3 piece Tier 6 in one night, as well as the best Tanking helm in game! Caulle, their warrior tank, brought me aside and started talking tank with me. Rotations, heroic strike, better talent choices, cookie cutter specs and WoW Web Stats. So this was the world of Hardcore raiding. I was almost to the level of Nihilum!( Also Sunwell just came out so they, yet again we're one step up!)
Shadowsong-
Since I wasn't up for anything on the loot list I was forced to sit out, more and more, I got tired of being sat out, and moved to Shadowsong, picking up as a Full Time Offtank in Black Temple and starting Sunwell.
-ILLIDAN FIRE TANKING-
The first raid week I was there, the Bulwark of Azzinoth dropped, and I was waiting outside of Sunwell since I couldn't rightly tank Illidan fires! The I spent all the next week getting the last bits ready so I could be in there ready to go!
Once I got my full Fire Resist, it was show time for Illidan.
The first night was a complete disaster. I had watched the video, I have the gear, but I would just fail. Try after try. Members were telling me what I had to do, that I was doing it wrong, people that had never eve tanked before had an opinion! I was furious! I was letting everyone down and in turn looking bad and preforming poorly on my own account! I wasn't prepared ( funny enough ), and I wasn't going to let that happen the next raid!
That night after raid, I turned on the video, I got into Black Temple, and I sat there, I followed every...single...move... I sat in Black Temple at Illidan, for about an hour, watching the placement of the fires, and doing the exact same thing. I was ready, and after 2 attempts, we got the kill. (Not their first, but first with me)
I have only been killed once a year later by an eye beam, and that's due to me reading chat and not paying attention. I've educated people probably about 6 times on how it should be done, and I'm proud that I can say, that I can tank Illidan's Fire Elementals!
We moved into sunwell, and were stuck on Brutallus. I would switch to Arms, for the DPS buff, 4% more from our physical dmg classes. I had no problem with it, as I wasn't confident tanking the fight. They enchanted me, got me set up and gemmed out. 2 weeks of Brut wipes, another guild disbanded, and we picked up 4 new raiders, all DPS. I was sat out for the next weeks and was fishing in Zangarmarsh when they downed Brutallus. It sucked. I was there to tank, and my DPS wasn't quite up to snuff but I didn't like being cut in the new players first week.
We killed KJ the week after patch 3.0 hit, and I got my KJ kill the next week. ( Same night Ellipsis on Feathermoon got server first). I seldomly got into Sunwell raids due to me hating them, and them putting me into a sub-raider spot after they sat me out for a month and a half.
Wrath of the Lich King was on the doorstep, and after staying up with tankspot.com and their articles, I was ready to level protection! I moved back to Feathermoon just before launch, and was ready for the midnight release!
-Wrath-
I leveled Protection. Tier 6 Gear, I soloed every group quest, and was able to tank high 70 instances (Gundrak) at level 72. Full tank gear I crossed the snow and picked up only 2 upgrades in leveling, Boots ( I didn't have BT boots) and an new weapon. I speced Fury for HALF of level 76, quickly hearthed and went back protection since, fury even in Tier 6 DPS gear wasn't as good as leveling protection.
I hit 80, and started the gear-up for Naxx!
Part Deux!
Ok so after an hour of typing my back story, lets get into the meat of WHY!?
RECAP!? Just kidding....
I want to do my job right, and to do that I need to know that for every situation I have an answer and a solution. There are 24 other people in the raid that you have to account for too when picking your talent choices, and your gear.
Talents and my reasonsing
15 / 3 / 53
Deep Wounds is my main build. It's used in 5-mans, and on trash, and some non progression fights. The threat I gain from this spec is unsurpassed by any other possible warrior spec right now. If people are starting to catch up on threat during the big fights, this is the spec I go to because it does the BEST job for the moment!
5 / 15 / 51
Improved shouts. This is used on bosses, new fights that need the cooldowns. Imp Demo shout, allows for bosses to hit for less, curse of weakness also does the same, but extra dps or a buff that only costs 10ish rage? When I last left Bravo, we had 3 other warriors, Mont, Hrothir, Aulustria. None of these warriors had imp demo shout, and Hrothir was putting up Imp Battle Shout, another no brainier if you ask me. Get the tank to give himself the most health possible, for 10ish rage, why not? This spec features different glyphs, and other talent choices that help me do my job to the best of my ability.
If I'm chosen to be your tank, the raid is going to get a focused tank who is dedicated to his role as a tank and to his group. When I see the choices of letting a tank do something extra for the raid, rather than having a dpser have to step in and do it, it's for the better of the raid.
I raid because I'm there to be the best; and to do that, I need to do my job the best that I possibly can. I choose to dual-spec protection because, if I didn't I wouldn't be doing MY job right.
So you can call me selfish, you can tell me that I only Dual Spec protetion because I want to be "THE ONLY MAIN TANK," and you can go on thinking all of that. But when I play, when I show up; I want everyone to know that you got a tank that knows their position inside and out, and is damn good at his fucking job!
-Edub -
**not pissed off, just emphasis**
This is not directed at anyone, or at the guild, this is an opinion piece, and shares personal bias, and information I have collected through out my raiding career with guilds, there may also be some foul language.
-THE BACK STORY-
Ewanar is a warrior. Warriors since classic WoW till Wrath of the Lich King have been THE tanks, while also being a monster on the dps meters when properly geared!
Lately there is a lot of speculation on how someone should be geared, and have their talents spent. This is my side of the story and why I do what I do.
Since I started the game in patch 1.9, Ewanar has been my main. Deadmines to Uldaman, to Black Rock Depths. I tanked it all. I played with my talents half in Arms half in Prot. (Until I talked with General Hrothir and he described to me that by splitting the jobs I wouldn't be at my best at either!)
Looking back on it he was right. Of course at level 45 I had no idea what I was doing.
(Concussion blow AND Sweeping strikes OMG!!!) - Was my thinking.
Enter TBC, I joined up just around patch 3.1, missing the release due to school! From level 54 to level 70 I was an Arms warrior, doing my best to catch up to idolized Hrothir! Following gear and talent specs. (I ended up even ditching a better piece of loot because I had the chance at something that he had as well!)
Karazhan was the first step into raiding, and if I had to tank I would do it (But only to get DPS gear, was my plan). They told me I had to tank, so in preparation for the raids I sought out the best items needed to be a starting tank, learned what sort of abilities I needed to be using, and when I should use them. Ground out the Sha'tar rep for the shield, long quest lines for tanking weapons. I was READY! So I tanked, and I loved it. Off tanking, looking at what better tanks had, and what I had to do to get those items. I sought to be the best I could!
While listening to WoW Radio, people would talk about this guild "Nihilum" and their tank how he was some hardcore raider and one of the best warriors in the game! Kungen was his name. And if anything Nihilum was the NHL, and Kungen was my Patrick Roy! ( Hockey analogy, Patrick Roy is one of the best Goalies of all time, and I'm a goaltender as well)
Eventually I joined a guild that weren't all douche-bags, and began raiding half DPS half tank. As Tempest Keep and SSC was our goal at the time, I got my gear and I wanted to tank! So I sent a letter to the raid leader, saying: "I have the gear, I have the knowledge and I've done the fight review, I want to tank!" I was brought in as the third of six tanks! Two Warriors, Three Paladins and a Feral Druid.
Gear came, and I was mid T4, when Chaos had a tank opening. I applied to tank, I got in one night and began the role of Off Tank in Black Temple, and also was decked out in 3 piece Tier 6 in one night, as well as the best Tanking helm in game! Caulle, their warrior tank, brought me aside and started talking tank with me. Rotations, heroic strike, better talent choices, cookie cutter specs and WoW Web Stats. So this was the world of Hardcore raiding. I was almost to the level of Nihilum!( Also Sunwell just came out so they, yet again we're one step up!)
Shadowsong-
Since I wasn't up for anything on the loot list I was forced to sit out, more and more, I got tired of being sat out, and moved to Shadowsong, picking up as a Full Time Offtank in Black Temple and starting Sunwell.
-ILLIDAN FIRE TANKING-
The first raid week I was there, the Bulwark of Azzinoth dropped, and I was waiting outside of Sunwell since I couldn't rightly tank Illidan fires! The I spent all the next week getting the last bits ready so I could be in there ready to go!
Once I got my full Fire Resist, it was show time for Illidan.
The first night was a complete disaster. I had watched the video, I have the gear, but I would just fail. Try after try. Members were telling me what I had to do, that I was doing it wrong, people that had never eve tanked before had an opinion! I was furious! I was letting everyone down and in turn looking bad and preforming poorly on my own account! I wasn't prepared ( funny enough ), and I wasn't going to let that happen the next raid!
That night after raid, I turned on the video, I got into Black Temple, and I sat there, I followed every...single...move... I sat in Black Temple at Illidan, for about an hour, watching the placement of the fires, and doing the exact same thing. I was ready, and after 2 attempts, we got the kill. (Not their first, but first with me)
I have only been killed once a year later by an eye beam, and that's due to me reading chat and not paying attention. I've educated people probably about 6 times on how it should be done, and I'm proud that I can say, that I can tank Illidan's Fire Elementals!
We moved into sunwell, and were stuck on Brutallus. I would switch to Arms, for the DPS buff, 4% more from our physical dmg classes. I had no problem with it, as I wasn't confident tanking the fight. They enchanted me, got me set up and gemmed out. 2 weeks of Brut wipes, another guild disbanded, and we picked up 4 new raiders, all DPS. I was sat out for the next weeks and was fishing in Zangarmarsh when they downed Brutallus. It sucked. I was there to tank, and my DPS wasn't quite up to snuff but I didn't like being cut in the new players first week.
We killed KJ the week after patch 3.0 hit, and I got my KJ kill the next week. ( Same night Ellipsis on Feathermoon got server first). I seldomly got into Sunwell raids due to me hating them, and them putting me into a sub-raider spot after they sat me out for a month and a half.
Wrath of the Lich King was on the doorstep, and after staying up with tankspot.com and their articles, I was ready to level protection! I moved back to Feathermoon just before launch, and was ready for the midnight release!
-Wrath-
I leveled Protection. Tier 6 Gear, I soloed every group quest, and was able to tank high 70 instances (Gundrak) at level 72. Full tank gear I crossed the snow and picked up only 2 upgrades in leveling, Boots ( I didn't have BT boots) and an new weapon. I speced Fury for HALF of level 76, quickly hearthed and went back protection since, fury even in Tier 6 DPS gear wasn't as good as leveling protection.
I hit 80, and started the gear-up for Naxx!
Part Deux!
Ok so after an hour of typing my back story, lets get into the meat of WHY!?
RECAP!? Just kidding....
I want to do my job right, and to do that I need to know that for every situation I have an answer and a solution. There are 24 other people in the raid that you have to account for too when picking your talent choices, and your gear.
Talents and my reasonsing
15 / 3 / 53
Deep Wounds is my main build. It's used in 5-mans, and on trash, and some non progression fights. The threat I gain from this spec is unsurpassed by any other possible warrior spec right now. If people are starting to catch up on threat during the big fights, this is the spec I go to because it does the BEST job for the moment!
5 / 15 / 51
Improved shouts. This is used on bosses, new fights that need the cooldowns. Imp Demo shout, allows for bosses to hit for less, curse of weakness also does the same, but extra dps or a buff that only costs 10ish rage? When I last left Bravo, we had 3 other warriors, Mont, Hrothir, Aulustria. None of these warriors had imp demo shout, and Hrothir was putting up Imp Battle Shout, another no brainier if you ask me. Get the tank to give himself the most health possible, for 10ish rage, why not? This spec features different glyphs, and other talent choices that help me do my job to the best of my ability.
If I'm chosen to be your tank, the raid is going to get a focused tank who is dedicated to his role as a tank and to his group. When I see the choices of letting a tank do something extra for the raid, rather than having a dpser have to step in and do it, it's for the better of the raid.
I raid because I'm there to be the best; and to do that, I need to do my job the best that I possibly can. I choose to dual-spec protection because, if I didn't I wouldn't be doing MY job right.
So you can call me selfish, you can tell me that I only Dual Spec protetion because I want to be "THE ONLY MAIN TANK," and you can go on thinking all of that. But when I play, when I show up; I want everyone to know that you got a tank that knows their position inside and out, and is damn good at his fucking job!
-Edub -
**not pissed off, just emphasis**
Total Comments 5
Comments
-
Amen to that, bro.
Either you are a tank or you are just DPS that happens to carry a shield.
If I want to do a job well I make damn sure I carry all the tools that might be required. And I won't rely on anybody else to do my job for me. Tried dual spec def/arms, hated it, went def/def.
So you and I are def with def and def and def. No compromise, no surrender no easily accepted defeat. After all, we'll be back. Again and again and again and again. Til the repair bill bancrupts us.Posted 09-22-2009 at 04:07 PM by Mačl 
- Hey I live in BC. That's three people on TankSpot from our great province!
Posted 09-23-2009 at 04:22 AM by Squeegiemama - Well, i started out DPS back in vanilla. I stayed dps even when people told me a warrior was a tank. I said "I just hurt stuff" and i was good at it. Fortunately, back at the time, it was possible to tank raids (MC and even partway BWL) in Arms spec. But as soon as i got the opportunity to go into MC i started learning all about tanking. I finally gave in & specced prot - voluntarily - after getting my face smashed in by Huhuran in AQ40. I've been prot since then.
To shame DPS warriors who couldnt deliver, i made dps'ing in prot spec into an art and regularly beat casual dps warriors on the meters. But i still tanked. I leveled TBC as tank. Except for half a level as fury at 63, i was always prot, always tank.
I tanked my way through TBC. I even became the tank class captain, trained many others. I leveled as prot through Wrath, i maintanked everything in Wrath. I still do. When it was time for dual specs, i got my second prot spec together. Be it a try of unrelenting assault or a threat build or a survival build. I was the "Main Tank" even after the concept had gone out of fashion.
BUT
My offspec is not dps. Know why? Because the damn pala beside me need only cast a glance and the 20 mobs halfway across the world will come running to him & stick like glue. He has better survivability with less gear. So whenever it's down to a 1-tank fight, i put aside my ego & put on my dps gear. /cry. WTB fix.Posted 09-23-2009 at 07:30 AM by Fledern - Having a dual spec as dps I tend to find is more of an asset than a limiting factor, while I agree 100% with the two specs you posted and the reasoning behind them. If one was needed more than the other, 50g is no longer that much of a limiter to get say improved shouts, or better TPS. (Changing glyphs might, but thats a different story)
AMEN to the tanks of old though... Sadly blizard has gone on quote that they like how encounters require 1-3 tanks and till that changes less we like the bench, we will always have to try and find ways of getting into a dps role sometimes.Posted 09-23-2009 at 07:45 AM by Captaincrab -
WoW, thanks for the comments and replies. Didn't expect to see that!Posted 09-28-2009 at 11:43 AM by Ewanar
