druid bear tanking heroic dungeons

[lordviper2300]

hey all. so i have been working on my druid bear tank so i can start doin heroic dungeons. for the past 2 weeks or little bit more i have been doin nothing but dailies and getting my rep up with all the factions. i have to admit i am not a great tank. i havent really tanked any dungeons before at all. but i am sick of the wait time to get into any dungeons as a dps. so i want to start doing tanking.

i do have enough ilvl gear on that i can get into heroics now. so thats not a problem. what my main problem is, is all these new dungeons and not knowing the boss fights. i do have the dbm addon but that only gets you so far.

is there any videos or something that i can watch to show me how to do the dungeons?

i will admit i have tried doing a cpl heroics. and some groups are ok with me not knowing the fights but most groups i get into just kick me out after i tell them. (i like to prewarn people so they know ahead of time. i think its the right thing to do.)

so just in case there are anyone who has read all this. my characters name is muliya and im on mal'ganis server.

[Bovinity]

Nope. Totally the WRONG thing to do. All it gets you is kicked, as you've learned.

5-man heroic bosses are mostly pretty straightforward, and on most of them you can fail the mechanics anyway and still be fine because of how undertuned they are. Just walk in and stomp them.

[lordviper2300]

so your saying just join heroics and not say anything and just fight.

[Bovinity]

Pretty much! Doing the "right thing" by telling people that you're new or inexperienced assumes that they'll do the "right thing" and help you out by explaining fights.

This probably won't come as a shock, but....no one will do that. They'll just go for the votekick button. No point in being on the moral high ground in this case, really.

And just to put things in perspective, most of the trash and many of the bosses are completely soloable by a DK in 450 blues. Most of it is very, very undertuned. Just have some confidence that you can handle it, avoid obvious bad-things, and follow your basic tanking strategy.

[lordviper2300]

and on a side note. i dont know how most feel about this but i use a castsequesnce macro. i know its prob not the best thing in the world to use but as most of use know we have to use what we do know. and i find just spamming 1 button is alot easier then having a bar full of skills.

im sure most of you who read this will tell me that might be my problem as well. lol

[Aggathon]

im sure most of you who read this will tell me that might be my problem as well. lol

You are correct. This is going to sound harsh but you should learn to play your class and learn to use keybinds.

[Tielyn]

The Dungeon Journal is your best friend. Check the book icon along the bottom row of the screen, look at each of the dungeons in turn, and those will help you more than anything we can say because you can look at it before queuing for a specific dungeon.

YMMV on telling the group you're new to the dungeon -- I've had groups help me out before, when I was new to it, but it's better to let them know (and have them kick you) then to wipe and have them scream at you and kick you anyway. Pick your poison, and whenever someone tells me they're new, I _always_ stop and explain each boss in turn before pulling.

Check out www.icy-veins.com for an explanation of each of the dungeon bosses if you have downtime at work/school -- it'll give you the skinny behind the DBM warnings.

About the ONLY bad mechanic bosses you can be responsible for screwing up as the tank are:

Armsmaster Harlan in Scarlet Halls:
a) when you see the warning for the adds, drop what you're doing and peel them off the healer.
b) when he starts doing his Blades of Light whirlwind, run up to the lower landing, wait for him to pick a direction, then jump down into the lower floor area.

General Pav'alak in Siege of Niuzao Temple
a) don't stand next to the bombs unless you know you can pick them up
b) pick up the add pack heading for the healer before they reach him/her and drag them under the shield

Xin the Weaponsmaster in Mogu'shan Palace
a) tank parallel to pillars to avoid getting shot by spears from the walls
b) face the boss away from the raid for the most part

Otherwise, it's pretty much 'don't stand in fire/blades/breath' stuff.

As far as castsequences go, they can be a good set of training wheels as long as you don't stick with them forever. I've been known to use them from time to time if it automates a fast-tap sequence (like Nature's Swiftness+Healing Touch or Nature's Vigil+Incarnation) and the only reason I haven't put any macros in my guide to bear tanks is because you don't want to rely on them blindly -- Blizz is infamous for changing things out from under you. Knowing your class is always better in the long run.

Personally, I'd like to know what you're using as castsequence macros -- it's possible you might have something good there _especially_ if it works for you. And I might be able to suggest some improvements for you, too. If you can write a /castsequence macro, you can write a keybind.

-Tielyn

PS. +10 style points for actually grinding faction and dailies. I checked your Armory and you only have ONE pvp piece -- so it shows you give a damn about your gear. I've seen bear tanks who felt it was perfectly okay to kit themselves out with all PvP gear and jump straight to heroics -- or MV/LFR.

[Tengenstein]

If he's just spamming one button then its prolly;

/castsequence Mangle, Lacerate, Thrash, Lacerate

Edit: and the adds on Harlan have a damage reduction until they've recieved 60k damage which makes holding the aggro agains the healer difficult. Picking them up straight away is silly, better off waiting for them to be naked and then holding off the healer. they don't hit that hard anyway,

[Tielyn]

(waggles a paw) While on my warlock, I've seen tanks completely ignore the adds on the healer -- and so do the rest of the DPS sometimes. End result is a dead healer if they're not in plate - first person eyewitness account through eight wipes in a row with three different healers -- we eventually lived because I camped my warlock in tank mode on the healer and pulled them off of him. For bear tanks in particular a couple of good Mangles is bigger than 60K -- and I've got a personal twitch thing about letting things munch on my healer, too.

-Tielyn

[Tengenstein]

Its a DPS issue. DPS swap Blow the armour off in one GCD, it will take a tank a couple of GCDs at least to stip them down. which allows everyone to AOE properly.

[Fetzie]

Those adds run straight into melee cleave anyway. They have never been an issue.

[lordviper2300]

this is the cast sequence macro i have been using. i didnt make it myself. i got it from wowlazymacros

/castsequence [mod]Faerie Swarm;reset=3 Lacerate,Swipe,Thrash,Mangle

/cast Incarnation: Son of Ursoc
/cast Mangle
/cast [combat]Berserk
/cast Maul
/cast Enrage
/cast Wild Charge
/castsequence reset=10 Savage Defense,Frenzied Regeneration,Survival Instincts
/startattack

[Fetzie]

You won't see much of an improvement until you trash that macro and play properly.

See here: http://www.tankspot.com/showthread.p...ardian-Tanking

[Tengenstein]

Maul before any other rage dump is bad. very bad. That macro is an invitation to mediocrity.

[Bovinity]

Wow, when you said you used a macro, I thought you just meant like...Mangle + Lacerate or something.

Yeah, thats a little excessive. At least put SOME effort forth.

[lordviper2300]

thanks for all the help guys. but i think its just time for me to say screw it trying to tank. i do hear where you guys are comming from and using a macro like this is really dumb. but it is the only way i know how to play. im not 1 of these hard core type gamers that can do these amazing things with there hands and keyboards. im just a casual player that just likes to have some fun. for someone like me a macro like that is the best way for me to play. so ill just stick it out with doin dailies and rep grinding. and just get the valor point gear. i dont have the time to try getting into any raids so valor and exaulted gear is the best gear i will be getting.

hope everyone has a good time playing and who knows maybe someday ill get some guts and try tanking. lol. have a good day all.

[Fetzie]

So instead of trying to get better you're just going to quit?

Using keybindings and being a "casual that just likes to have some fun" isn't mutually exclusive.

for someone like me a macro like that is the best way for me to play.

Letting a macro play the game for you isn't really playing the game.

[Tengenstein]

Unless you only have 1 finger, no it isn't.

[lordviper2300]

i dont know anything about keybindings. as far as i know a keybind is just whats in my action bar button 1.... etc i have tried this way having all these skills in each slot and then next thing i know im darn near smashing my keyboard. i have the spellflash addon so it flashes all the time on the skills but 1/2 the time if im having to move or something i cant get my fingers back where they need to be for pressing the correctr button. thats why i chose to go with a lazy macro.

[Fetzie]

Move with the mouse, abilities with the keyboard. Or at least turn with the mouse.

Muscle memory comes with practice. I used to have to watch the keyboard while I typed, nowadays I don't. But you've got to take that leap and do it. You will be rewarded in the end. Playing the game properly is so much more fun, and that is what you play it for, isn't it?