Getting in a Guild as a Tank?

[Haps]

Without being in an existing guild where you can slide into a spot you first need to do a lot of work. Basically you need to do everything you possibly can to maximise your gear/gems/enchants. This means everything you can do yourself. If you apping to a guild and they see that you've done everything you can outside of raiding then that shows promise.

I had a guy asking about getting into my guild the other day. He hadn't ground out shoulder enchant rep. Was missing enchants on cloak and gloves etc. Just minor things but it adds up. I don't care that you are going to be replacing an item soon. If your too lazy to spend a few hours farming/doing dailies to enchant you current gear then I don't want you.

Once your maximized unfortunately your gonna have to join a guild as an OT and wait for your opportunity to show your stuff.

[orcstar]

With a bit of luck and dedication I think current times are good to get your tank into raiding.

As a tank you'll have to go the long road though: heroics, nax10, nax25 and only then begin thinking about Ulduar.
Luckily on my server at least, Nax 10 and 25 are pugged on a very very regular basis. Also the tanks of the raiding guilds doing Ulduar won't do Nax anymore because being fed up with it and those PuG raids are often filled with alts of said raiders.

But.......it's gona cost you.......it's time to get the cash out and get all the crafted epics (and blues if needed, the crafted epics from runed orbs might be too expensive), get enchanted to the teeth and get everything from heroics you can (tier tokens last if you even need them and also make sure you wear the right tabard so you can get the headenchant) and dive into raiding. The pvp stamina shoulder enchant is very good, so even without hodir rep you should get them enchanted.

I'd advise to primarily focus on heavily stacking stamina while being critimmune because healers these days won't go oom. Good starters are obsidian sanctum and then Nax. (I would have said VoA previously but Emalan can be a bit hard.)

Good luck..............but be prepared to run into the Horribad PuGs once in a while. Don't let it get your spirit down though.

[Daavos]

Pug heroic 5s and 10s. You will meet more players and they'll add you to their friends list.

If you join a pug 10 Nax/Uld ask if they run it on the same night/time every week?

Join a guild as a dps, and offer to tank when ever needed. Guilds are more likey to externally recuit dps (and healers) and internally recuit tanks.

[Uslock]

Thanks for all of the replies guys, great advice. Seems like the few key terms are:

-If you don't invest the time in yourself, why should a Guild?
-Keep on truckin. Don't get discouraged by horrid PuGs
-If the Tank dies, its the healer's fault. If the healer dies,it's the tanks fault, and if the DPS dies, it's the DPS fault. (this last was an obvious joke )

I'm pretty motivated actually to gear up preNaxx. I've read some great guides on getting AH/Quest reward blues to start out, which heroics to pug to try for some drops. I also read a few guides for instances (tentonhammers has a great UK heroic guide), boss strats etc. I started watching some Naxx videos but decided to hold off for now. I'd rather get heroics on the mind first and work my way to Naxx ready. Once I learn the fights for heroics, I'll move over to Naxx videos/guides.

Plus, with the proposes faction changes soon, that opens up a whole new side I could transfer to, to fill a tanking need. Some view it as bad (which it can be), but regardless, if Blizz wants it to happen it will. Might as well make the best of it and view it as a glass half full Blueberries in plate could look nice

[Tankasaurus1337]

I had the same problem as you about a month ago.
My first 80 toon. an 80 protection warrior. I had no guild and no gear.
Really all you can do is get all your pre-naxx gear as fast as you can. And then sit in guild recruitment and wait for that one guild that JUST started raiding and what-not. that way you can come in and swoop up the MT spot over a little bit of time.

[minrog]

Naxx 10 is easier than any heroics and a more efficient way to gear up. Spend 1kg on some crafted tanking gear and find a Naxx 10 PUG. See if you can get into a PUG that is being led by a player from a decent raiding guild so the run won't suck. Just skip heroic dungeons unless you are practicing rotations or need some reputation for an enchant.

I have gotten 25 epic drops from Naxx 10 in 2 runs. Admittedly some of those are off set stuff for a Paladin (holy/ret gear). I was nearly fully geared as a tank on the first run and would have been able to tank Naxx 25 if I had felt like it.

[Snippy]

Sooo everyone here is happy and optimistic. I don't want crush all that but I do want to tell you the reality of things.

Feel free to armory me: Steph on Lothar. I have pretty nice gear, I know my class, I have a nice dps set as well. I've been looking around at guilds for a few weeks now, I've had 2 bites, and neither is a fit for me. Getting into a tanking role in a guild is hard. Even when you're well geared and know your class, you will be hard pressed to find an opening.

Many guilds do recruit internally (as was noted). They'd prefer to have someone they know is competent do it, rather than take the chance on someoen who might not be so competent and give them headaches.

Also note that there are ALOT of people who want to tank. As such, they're lurking around as an offspec gathering their tank gear as tanks don't need it and will be ready and able to fill a tanking role with a higher gear score than you have. This is appealing to alot of guilds. "Oh look both are newer tanks but this one has gear... we'll take that one!"

You are going to have to start at the bottem! Have perfect attendance wherever you go! Be ready and able to offspec into dps at a moment's notice! And you have to already be a born leader. If you can't help direct things and don't have the balls to do the pulls on trash yourself, your guild is gonna get frustrated.

Network! Alot of high end guilds pug their alts through Naxx 25. Get a reputation for yourself that you're a competent leader. LEAD the group, start it yourself and fill it out appropriately. If you can do this, you'll catch attention.


And lastly, be ready to server transfer to get into a guild. Tough beans there, but there just aren't tanking spots all over the place...

[Inaara]

I would say that getting into a raiding guild as a tank is the hardest position to go for. Most guild have established MT's and OT's that have been in that position for a long time. The MT is usually also an officer or the GM of a guild. Speaking personally as the MT and GM of my guild, I am VERY critical of tank apps that I recieve and will usually deny an app if I see one thing that I don't like. If you're improperly gemmed, chanted, specced or lazy with your gear it's an auotmatic denial as I believe it shows a lack of understanding of your class.

Since I have a few alts, one of them being a healer, I'll usually take a prospective recruit to a heroic, then have them come on a alt raid to judge DPS, TPS and reaction time. If i'm not impressed then it's a no go.

Keep in mind that many people share my mentality. My best suggestion would be to get into a fresh/casual guild that's still running Naxx/OS/Maly and getting their feet wet in Ulduar. Get the gear to make yourself more appealing to a bigger more serious guild and if you like your current guild, you can always stay with them. Not every player has the same expectations/desire for what they want out of the game. You need to find a guild that suits you best.

[Chasey]

I read through this tread and from personal experience like most others who have posted here I can offer a few pointers.
-Being fresh to lvl80 you need do YOUR best to gear yourself up. You can count on your guild for a bit of help but hit the LFG and pug to get gear if you can.
This will do 2 things, help improve your skill because we all know pugs are totally willing to let the tank get aggro and pull at the tanks pace, right?
It will also allow you to network your skills and pick up on guilds looking for a tank or even melee DPS which will get your foot in the door.

-Grab DPS gear if you can and when you can it will allow you to be more versatile, putting out good dps is a plus to allow you to run, even if you aren't tanking you can get the "stuff" the tanks at the time don't want.

-Stick with it. Check out your realm forums, mmo-champ forums, WOW recruitment forums and sooner or later you will find the guild you want.

Being a tank is fun, what you choose to do but if you want to get the spot you covet you need to put in some time on the bench or in a differnt spot.

Best of luck!