"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.
Defending the Bear
Posted 06-25-2009 at 03:37 PM by Thireas
"LF tank for H VH"
That's what I saw in the LFG channel while out farming herbs. "Sweet," I thought to myself, "I still need my Shroud of Darkness. I might as well give them a shout."
I do, and am invited to the group. Seconds later, I'm kicked from the group with no more than a "u cant tank" (and a comment that I was the only one not in plate). Huh... what the hell, right? I whisper the party leader, asking what's up, and get re-invited to the group with no real explanation. At this point, I have the feeling that either they honestly don't know that druids can tank as a bear, or they think my HP's too low. Being in flight form, I have around 21k.
The latter suspicion is confirmed when said party leader asks how much I have in bear form. I respond appropriately (27k), and am allowed to stay this time. But one of our DPS disconnects. While we're standing around in the instance, waiting to get another DPS, they ask about my lack of defense gear, whether I can hold aggro, etc. I explain appropriately, linking Survival of the Fittest (in retrospect I should have also pointed out that my gear is essentially DPS gear, so threat isn't a huge deal). I joke about "scaring off" that DPS, and another DPS leaves. The healer, who has expressed some worry, says that he's sure I scared that one off.
Over the several minutes that this process takes, I consider telling them they can find a tank they have confidence in, but I never say it. As we get the replacement DPS, and get buffed up, I start to feel like the pressure's on. The reputation of the bear tank, at least with these people, rests squarely on my shoulders. If I screw up, they will never trust a bear again. If I do well, they will be convinced that a druid can, in fact, be an effective tank.
It goes very well, I get my Shroud of Darkness, and we go on our merry ways. The honor of the bear has been defended.
About an hour later, I even ran another instance with the healer (an awesome pally healer by the name of Blist). We wrecked the place.
That's what I saw in the LFG channel while out farming herbs. "Sweet," I thought to myself, "I still need my Shroud of Darkness. I might as well give them a shout."
I do, and am invited to the group. Seconds later, I'm kicked from the group with no more than a "u cant tank" (and a comment that I was the only one not in plate). Huh... what the hell, right? I whisper the party leader, asking what's up, and get re-invited to the group with no real explanation. At this point, I have the feeling that either they honestly don't know that druids can tank as a bear, or they think my HP's too low. Being in flight form, I have around 21k.
The latter suspicion is confirmed when said party leader asks how much I have in bear form. I respond appropriately (27k), and am allowed to stay this time. But one of our DPS disconnects. While we're standing around in the instance, waiting to get another DPS, they ask about my lack of defense gear, whether I can hold aggro, etc. I explain appropriately, linking Survival of the Fittest (in retrospect I should have also pointed out that my gear is essentially DPS gear, so threat isn't a huge deal). I joke about "scaring off" that DPS, and another DPS leaves. The healer, who has expressed some worry, says that he's sure I scared that one off.
Over the several minutes that this process takes, I consider telling them they can find a tank they have confidence in, but I never say it. As we get the replacement DPS, and get buffed up, I start to feel like the pressure's on. The reputation of the bear tank, at least with these people, rests squarely on my shoulders. If I screw up, they will never trust a bear again. If I do well, they will be convinced that a druid can, in fact, be an effective tank.
It goes very well, I get my Shroud of Darkness, and we go on our merry ways. The honor of the bear has been defended.
About an hour later, I even ran another instance with the healer (an awesome pally healer by the name of Blist). We wrecked the place.
Total Comments 6
Comments
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As a healer myself i was always used to seeing Bears with ridiculous HP pools, now that blixxard have nerfed that to some extent some people get worried when they see a bear with similar hp to a warrior or pala.Posted 06-25-2009 at 03:58 PM by Mr.Winkle 
- Druids are good tanks the armour they get in bear is ridiculous i saw a druid tank with 39k hp unbuffed in bear form.
Posted 06-25-2009 at 08:28 PM by Gillbertwarrior -
The nerfs to armor & stam mean bears are much more in line with other tanks now. If you see a bear with massive hp they're probably stacking stam to the exclusion of all other stats.Posted 06-25-2009 at 11:30 PM by Tygorl - Ah, the sweet sweet smell of Vict-no...Vindication!
Posted 06-26-2009 at 05:24 AM by TiKrazeeeNeg -
Bears Rule. I have had the same problem. Since i can grab a quick 10 rage just by shifting into bear form i usually start in cat or caster and shift at last min. People freak out "you gona tank cat?"
"No"
"well your in cat form now"
"this is the beta for new 3.2 feral artwork"
"Oh"
I had to beg a VH run one time becouse they didn't want a bear. Pally healer was saying bears can't hold agrro and are way to squishy. After run they told me I was awsome and wanted go string a couple heroics together with me as tank. Had to break it to them. "Nah I'm going to find a group with decent dps so these dont take so long"Posted 06-26-2009 at 01:16 PM by Sylvaneart - All I have to say is.... berserk + mangle = godly TPS...
Oh, and tanking heroics in dps gear is doable with a geared healer. I just let them know:
"Hey, I'm tanking in my dps gear, if you want me in tank gear give a holler."
ALSO! Us bears can chain pull like none other, because if the healer is low on mana, just innervate them and keep going. One time my healer was at 5% mana and I innervated him and then proceeded to pull. He started spazzing out in party chat about how I need to wait for his mana etc etc. Was pretty comical. (And with the innervate changes, even paladins get more or less full mana from it)Posted 06-26-2009 at 01:21 PM by Insom
