Choosing tank class. Help needed.

[Glowstix]

Heres the deal:
So, I decided to rejoin WoW after being gone for half-a-year. I've noticed a lot has changed.
I would like to create one of every role. Healer is my priest, Melee is my rogue, Ranged is my mage; But besides all that... I'm COMPLETELY stuck on tank!! I would love to start to level and work on tank, possibly converting it to my main depending on how much I've liked it.
-Leveled a Warrior up to level 43.
-Leveled a Paladin up to level 45.
-Leveled a Druid up to level 32.
-Leveled a Death Knight up to 68.
*Each character that was leveled was not straight played, it was over long periods of on-and-off playing on those characters, and it was over a year ago since those characters were touched.
"When I think tank, I think of a beefy plate wearing hero with a shield." But, that doesn't have to stop me from trying something different. I have pros and cons of each class unfortunately, and I am indecisive.
To me, the warriors pros is that its the 'original' tank for me. They are challenging, considering there is so many different skills to use, and lots of different rotations. Also, they fit my thought of a tank (stated above). The other pro, is I'm the kind of player who likes to be original and different at times. Its rare to see a female troll or female orc warrior, so I've read. So that's a simple enjoyment to me. The cons are the fact that when I work on this character for a bit, I tend to get really bored. But, I was told that they get better as you get higher leveled.
Druid pros are that they look extremely fun. The fact of changing from a cat, to a bear, to a bird definitely catches my eye. Also, the quest lines are some of the best in the game. But, the cons, once again I read up that its boring tanking as a druid. One button spam, so I've heard. They don't exactly fit the 'tank build' that I think of, but the animal changing does make up for that quite well.
There's always Pally, and the pros which I did have fun working on every now and then, but there's sooo many of them! The fact that now you can be a cow is awesome though, and once again they fit that plate-wearing-shield-wielding-beastly-look. The cons though, hearing that its not really a challenge, and learning from leveling that it's not at all--- it disappoints me. The fact of having mana as a tank is a bit odd for me, but I can always take a chance and try it again.
DKs, don't even get me started. The pros are that they do get some awesome looks, and the quest line is quite fun once again. Some of the skills are just amazing. But, the cons are that this is the one character that I can't really talk myself into playing due to trying to level one during the release of LK and all that madness. I remember when they were targeted as the 'noob' class. The fact that you start as level 55 makes me lose some interest too. There's so many of them also.

When it comes down what I will be doing-- its basically everything haha. I'd love to PVP on free time, but raid and do heroics. Also, I'm a major achievement person.

So much has changed, and I can't really judge these classes without trying them. It's been a long time since I've tried a tank. But so far, my main interest is between Warrior or Druid. I was told by my guild that Druid is the preferred tank these days, also DK. But then again, people say Warrior is the best, and Paladin is most fun. I know its just opinions, but I just don't even know where to start now. I'm basically torn between Warrior and Druid, but DK and Pally are still in the line-up too! What the heck should i do? I'm being too indecisive. Please give me some insight, opinions, and some help. Much is appreciated!!

[Mustache]

I personally think a warrior is still the funnest tank class to play, but right now I feel that paladin is the best, follow by DK, then warrior, then druid, just in a general tanking sense. There are of course always exceptional players that make a druid look like the best tank ever, or a paladin that has absolutely no idea what he is doing. If you can get into it, the DK class is also exceptionally powerful in PVP as well, along with being probably the premiere class to go back and solo old raid achievements. My DK is only up to 70, but he is a powerhouse atm, even without the mastery to provide what I believe is the bulk of their mitigation.

[dhunt91]

Well i play a Dk and the reason behind its is simple its literally the hardest to play and live in alomst every fight u can tell very quickly wether u have a good dk or a bad one. U just have to know when to pop ur cool downs and ur rotation, one slip up and even with the best healers u might find urself face down on the ground

[Charon]

I have one of every tank (85 DK, 82 pally, 27 warrior, 23 druid). Dks have great AoE but terrible avoidance for trah, so it's cds or dead. Pallies have decent AoE, plenty of cds, and with a decent healer they're damn near invincible once you know how to deal with what situation. Warriors are like mack trucks with no brakes but the AoE isn't great (Heroic leap, thunderclap, shockwave, and cleave.. not TERRIBLE, but nothing compared to a DK). Druids are kinda like warriors, but fat. And they have swipe, which is a 360 hit everything in range cleave. Sexy. However, they can't even parry so their avoidance is pure dodge.

All four are incredibly fun, but as they stand (and have since the Horde got some) Pallies are the preferred tank class. Just hope you don't have a resto shaman healing you in 4.2 at level 80+. Unless they're super geared, you WILL die without using cds.

[sifuedition]

If a resto sham isn't near op in leveling cata five mans, there is something wrong with that player.

Sorry to hear you must have had some bad experiences but my shaman Never felt underpowered and actually felt like I had an answer for ANY situation which wasn't true when I leveled my pally and druid as heals.

[Charon]

Interesting. I'll agree with the druid feeling little lacking while leveling (I also have a 56 resto/balance druid besides the bear) but my pally is off-spec holy and OH MY GODS HE'S INCREDIBLE. My resto sham was great until cata level content, then I actually had a bit of trouble keeping pally tanks up. I didn't notice them using cds at all though, so that may be the issue itself rather than my healing. Not saying I'm the bestest ever, but I rarely have issues.

Lesson drawn from this post: "If you roll a tank, use your cds. Don't give your healer a complex!"

[sifuedition]

Yeah, in leveling content never underestimate the noobery potential of tanks. They have spent 80 lvls now being so op it's rediculous and the game suddenly asks them to use half a brain for 81-85.

[Fetzie]

All four are incredibly fun, but as they stand (and have since the Horde got some) Pallies are the preferred tank class. Just hope you don't have a resto shaman healing you in 4.2 at level 80+. Unless they're super geared, you WILL die without using cds.

Tank balance is close enough to not make a smidgen of a difference (DKs are a bit spiky). The class you like the most will be the one you perform the best with.

There is also nothing wrong with shaman healing. You will not suddenly start dying because a shaman is healing you.

[captanmurdoc]

i got an 85 of every tank class and the survivability aspect of each one is about even although DKs health can spike a bit and most druid tanks glyph away their only self heal. just something to keep in mind. Warriors can be alot of fun since there as so many different abilities to answer for different situations. Pallys are pretty fun but can get fairly boring if you play it too much due to its simplicity. Dks i find very fun because you always have to watch your runes and manage your cds with the damage thats coming properly or your going to drive your healer insane. druids get very boring very quickly, i find myself looking more forward to fights where i can go kitty and put a little dps in down phases than actually tanking anything. but as said before they are all fairly close in survivability and its completely up to your play style. if you want a challenge go with warrior or DK, if you want something simple but still good, go with pally or druid.

[Destruyen]

i swapped from a warrior to a bear this xpac because it's more engaging to play. it isn't really one button spam, i think it's more fun being able to actually dps and tank with one spec. i'm currently leveling a prot pally but it's less engaging than the bear rotation, warrior is basically shield slam then devestate spam to try to proc shield slam again. i haven't played my dk in a few months but i didn't really like the changes from wrath.

it's all personal preference honestly, it won't benefit you to follow everyone's opinion on what their best tank is and it winds up not fitting you.

[Crittable]

I, like Destruyen, changed to my bear as my main tank from my warrior. What they say about warriors having an answer to every situation is true. The mobility of a warrior is what I like the best. The rotation is very simple, as Dest said, only add in Revenge when it's available and thunderclapping to keep rend up.

A lot of people who don't play bear tanks regularly are under the impression that the rotation is a simple Mangle spam. It's not. Like warriors spamming devastate in between larger abilities, bears spam lacerate as their filler. Bears use Mangle every time it is up just like warriors and their shield slam / revenge, but they also try to keep up their pulverize buff to improve their chance on their mastery procs.
Another thing that some people believe about bears that I don't agree with is their lack of avoidance making them "squishier" or "spikier" tanks to heal. Ok, the spikes sometimes happen but so do unmitigated hits on a non-CTC-capped warrior. The difference is that the armor on the bear is oh-so-much-higher than any other tank, it's ridiculous. Bears also have a static magic reduction from talents, making them the only tank to have that static reduction. So, with the magic reduction, high armor, a mastery shield that is up most of the time, and extremely high dodge, druids can be the easiest tank to heal.

I can't say much about dk tanks since I'm really not a good dk tank. I've tried, I've geared my dk tank up through heroic 5 mans including zandalari's, I've brought my dk tank through BWD a couple times, but I just can't seem to get the hang of watching my runes and properly timing my death strikes. I feel too squishy even when I use my cooldowns often, but I will say that it's just me not being used to the playstyle. I have seen amazing dk tanks and sometimes I'd rather heal them than any other tank.

I agree with Dest about everyone's opinion not helping you much if it doesn't fit you personally, but here are my ratings from most favorite (1) to least (4):

1) Druid: Most fun; highest threat; the option to dps when not tanking and having very high dps in bear while tanking; not the "norm" on tank gearing, but unfortunately there are more classes to compete with bear gear than there is with plate tank pieces in a group/raid.
2) Warrior: Very fun; semi-low threat compared to other tanks but more than enough to keep agro on all mobs if done correctly (and sometimes even when not done correctly); fits your idea of the ideal tank; critical block makes the warrior seem the least spikey of all tank classes; an answer for every situation; extremely high mobility; vigilance making taunt have no cooldown if put on the correct target while giving you a portion of the vengeance stacks to get a head start on tank swap situations.
3) Paladin: Extremely boring using the same move over and over to generate holy power but using filler abilities while waiting on the cooldown of that move; many cooldowns and great group/raid utility; the easiest tank to get CTC capped; can be as easy to heal as a warrior if played correctly.
4) Deathknight: Fun but irritating if you can't get the process down right; fairly spikey but with excellent self healing; can last longer than other tanks without a healer; many many cooldowns; arguably the best soloer for old achievements; excellent aoe agro.


I wish you the best of luck in your choice but my advice would be to get them all to 85 and give them a shot. Find out what suits you the best. I know that's a lot of work but most of the aspects that make these tanks shine don't come into view until after 80 or so. Mastery is by far the main reason I say this, but also thrash for bears, heroic leap for warriors, and paladins get another cooldown (guardian). I would hate for you to choose something early on because it feels right but, come 80, you can't make it work. So... level all of them and then decide