"How can you be a protection warrior at level one?" I hear you all asking. It's a matter of heart. Of drive. Of the mentality of a protection warrior.
Leveling from 1-70 while protection specced was a pain, but it allowed me to practice my tanking skills on the way to 70. I tanked everything from VC to Gnomer to BRD, on up through all of the Burning Crusade instances as I leveled through them. And now I find myself the warrior tank in my small guild of friends who is the best geared, and is one of the go-to guys when we do our ZA attempts.
Being prot at heart has its advantages.
Leveling from 1-70 while protection specced was a pain, but it allowed me to practice my tanking skills on the way to 70. I tanked everything from VC to Gnomer to BRD, on up through all of the Burning Crusade instances as I leveled through them. And now I find myself the warrior tank in my small guild of friends who is the best geared, and is one of the go-to guys when we do our ZA attempts.
Being prot at heart has its advantages.
The Problem With Charge
Posted 02-05-2009 at 07:39 AM by Thireas
A Disclaimer:
I've been playing a healer almost exclusively as of late. It seems every time I go into an instance with my warrior, something goes terribly wrong and we end up failing. Unless it's a guild run. Then we're fine (even if we don't get the timed event in CoS).
This post actually has to do with both healers, and my failed timer in CoS. It's inspired by my having played a healer, and also by the particular pull that caused a group I was tanking for to wipe and thus fail to get the epic mount in CoS to drop. It's all about Charge.
Charge is a great ability. It's free rage, it stuns the mob exactly where they are, so you can be tanking them exactly where you want them. If the mob is immune, it's slightly more problematic, but each stun-immune mob type seems to consistently cause the same reaction. Either you end up facing the mob from the opposite side of the location where you used Charge, or you end up in the same position, but not facing the mob. Like I said, this is consistent with each mob type. On bosses, who are generally stun immune, you will likely end up facing the mob. On trash, I've found that you end up with your back to it.
So, what's the problem, and what does it have to do with healers? Specifically, this bit:
If your healer's more than 5 yards behind you, it's very possible you'll be charging out of the range of healing spells. If you're already at close to max range for those healing spells, and then you charge, your healer's going to have some running to do. And if you die, it's not going to be your healer's fault. It's yours.
What Can You Do?
First of all, you can pull. Use your ranged attacks to pull mobs to you instead of charging to them.
Otherwise, you can simply pay attention. Take a look at the minimap before you pull. Take a look at the toons that are on your screen. It only takes a second, and it can save you a corpse run. If you need a little help, there are mods that are great for range finding:
I've been playing a healer almost exclusively as of late. It seems every time I go into an instance with my warrior, something goes terribly wrong and we end up failing. Unless it's a guild run. Then we're fine (even if we don't get the timed event in CoS).
This post actually has to do with both healers, and my failed timer in CoS. It's inspired by my having played a healer, and also by the particular pull that caused a group I was tanking for to wipe and thus fail to get the epic mount in CoS to drop. It's all about Charge.
Charge is a great ability. It's free rage, it stuns the mob exactly where they are, so you can be tanking them exactly where you want them. If the mob is immune, it's slightly more problematic, but each stun-immune mob type seems to consistently cause the same reaction. Either you end up facing the mob from the opposite side of the location where you used Charge, or you end up in the same position, but not facing the mob. Like I said, this is consistent with each mob type. On bosses, who are generally stun immune, you will likely end up facing the mob. On trash, I've found that you end up with your back to it.
So, what's the problem, and what does it have to do with healers? Specifically, this bit:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Charge
8-25 yd range
What Can You Do?
First of all, you can pull. Use your ranged attacks to pull mobs to you instead of charging to them.
Otherwise, you can simply pay attention. Take a look at the minimap before you pull. Take a look at the toons that are on your screen. It only takes a second, and it can save you a corpse run. If you need a little help, there are mods that are great for range finding:
- Grid - A favorite of healers, sure, but it can be useful for tanks, because it fades out characters that are out of range.
- MiniMapRange - My guild used to use this on Gruul, so people could tell if they were out of range for Shatter. Now, you can use it to tell if your healer is in range.
Total Comments 7
Comments
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Actually one of the better minor glyphs for warriors adds 5 yards to charge....so you're looking at 8-30. You can also prepare the warrior before he goes in with HoTs etcetera. If you are afraid that prep will cause you agro - then your tank isn't really very good at all. As a SW/Tclap combo should push any healer off the threat meter. (save a FoL pally with Righteousness up)
Anyways moot point. Yes, every tank should know where their healer is in relation to themselves and sometimes 'being out of range' leads to a death. However, I don't know the situation of it, but I do know that most warriors don't know how to use their abilities effectively.
For example, every lesser mobb in hCoS can be stunned. The charging warrior should immediately land a shockwave after a charge. This gives 4 seconds for you to 'catch up' and should be ample to cover the distance, but the warrior can do one better - he can start backing off towards you. (while heroic throwing to silence the caster to make them run too) Thus when the stun breaks, the mobbs have to run a bit, and straight into a thunderclap about 10 yards back. This gives you a good 50~60 yards of give without even considering the healer for 4 seconds. If the healer is further back, then the warrior shouldn't have pulled in the first place.
Ranged attacks are less effective on some packs of adds (especially spider casters and necros in the same pull.) and can leave the warrior rage starved enough that the mobbs start beating on other players - which I hear is another 'no fun' healer issue.
I'm not saying you're wrong. I'm saying that I think the issue is more about 'poor players' and less about a power mechanic. Above all - communication is the best solution. Both of you should be in a position to know what each other is doing.
Most of the guild healers I run with are pretty good, but sometimes they drag a little behind. They trust me that much that I can engage early with them barely on the corner of the minimap. Sure enough, when I need them, they're there.
...And yes, I charge.Posted 02-05-2009 at 08:34 AM by Conreeaght 
- Taking a weapon out of our arsenal because sometimes it leads to problems for inattentive groups is not a solution. Charging frequently serves to gather mobs so that a warrior can put threat on even the caster, who would otherwise be shooting the healer after five seconds if the group was "pulled". It gives rage to start the battle, so we can develop more threat. It stuns one mob briefly.
The point is that warriors just have to pay attention. Pull when it is time to pull, charge when you can charge, and always know where your healer is. I have been known to warn my healer that I am going to charge when she is lagging a bit. If everybody is paying attention, charge is a powerful weapon. I charge, and my healers do just fine.Posted 02-05-2009 at 10:13 AM by Myranmys -
In my case, I expect the healer to do what is needed to keep up with me. I usually charge forward or intercept forward in combat when a certain set of conditions are met:
1) Enough threat to drag the mob forward with me
2) A mob's hp is below 30%
3) My group is not made up of all melee dps.
4) The healer has greater then 30% mana
At this point it's then on the caster to keep up with me. Trash mobs should be routine and moot. When I am out of range of the healer I typically know it and I can correct to a point. Charge and Intercept are great abilities and if you can find an excuse to use them... its always fun to. =)Posted 02-05-2009 at 10:43 AM by Khue 
- I have macroed my charge to do a /rw Meep Meep. This was after a some similar comments from a guild healer about me being the Road Runner and having to run to keep up with me. And strangely it works. It forces the healers to know when I may be headed out of range. But then again I am also an oddball for some things.
Posted 02-05-2009 at 03:38 PM by Sangi - I had the same concerns with charge and healing range too.
Then I remembered that in 90% of the cases where I would charge without looking to see if everyone was ready, I could shockwave and give them 5 seconds to catch up.
That's pretty much how I do CoS runs now. And if all else fails we've got plenty of panic buttons =p.Posted 02-05-2009 at 06:08 PM by Muffin Man - I'm definitely not telling you not to use Charge, I'm just saying be careful about it. Careless use can wipe the group.
Posted 02-06-2009 at 12:21 PM by Thireas - I do 2 things at the beginning of a heroic. I put the green triangle raid marker on my head, and then annouce in vent or /party "keep up, I only stop for oom healers".
It's fun doing 2-3 heroics an hour like that
Posted 04-09-2009 at 04:27 PM by Shadevarr
