I'm a career tank.
I've mentioned it in guild chat many times when chatting about tanking and tank alts and all of that.
Since my low 60s I've been a Prot Warrior. I have an Arms secondary spec that I bought with the best of intentions but have yet to really put to good use.
I quest in Defensive Stance. I PvP in Defensive Stance. I work the AH in Defensive Stance. I do the John Travolta Saturday Night Fever dance in Defensive Stance. I sleep in Defensive Stance.
I have no max-level alts. While other folks run around on their pewpew mains and grab their "Tank Alt" or "Healer Alt" to run an instance, I just bring me. What you see is what you get.
If the servers shut down tomorrow and we all moved over to the next big thing in MMOs, I'd pick me a tank class and keep running with it. It's what I do.
That's what makes me different than the majority of the WoW population. Most people level a flashy DPS main and then, as a backup plan, drag along a tank or healer alt. In some cases that tank or healer alt becomes their main by necessity, but they've always got their DPS character in their back pocket if needed.
Not me. I'm just Mis.
It's a curse and a blessing. The curse is that if somebody's tanking the instance already, I sure as heck can't go along as DPS and make much of a difference. I'll do moderately mediocre damage in my Arms spec and in Prot I'll be too rage-starved to do anything except auto-attack.
It's a blessing, however, because it makes me a specialist. I like to think that focusing so much time and energy on tanking has made me better at it. What some people with tank alts have to concentrate on remembering to do I can do without even thinking about it, which frees up my brain to handle the rest of what's going on: pull, get behind the mob(s), face them away from the party, cluster, move the camera so you can see if something's after somebody else, run the rotation, spam Heroic Strike, watch for Sword and Board, watch for Revenge, be ready to Taunt, be ready to Intervene, keep T-Clap and Demo Shout up, keep Commanding/Battle Shout up, be ready with a cooldown if the healer gets silenced, etc...
I'm not saying that someone with a tank alt can't be a good tank. On the contrary, I know plenty who are very, very good. I just know that my fellow career tanks (many of whom seem to be bloggers, incidentally) and I bring something unique and different to the table.
Tank LFW.
already do!
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18 hours ago
10 comments:
Mis, you are THE BEST tank i know. If it wasn't for you, my tanking skills would be horrible, just as the were before we met.
I became a tank out of necessity, but have since put all my effort to being the best I can be at it, but i'll never catch up to you.
And bless you for choosing the specialty!
You are my favorite tank to heal. :D
Nite is a very close 2nd
Keep up the tankage!
I totally know what you mean. My main is a tank and 3 of my alts tank too. I have leveled a healer alt as well but I feel that there is a very simbiotic realtionship between tanking and healing.
"I do the John Travolta Saturday Night Fever dance in Defensive Stance"
Are you sure? Because I'm pretty sure you can only do that in Beserker Stance...?
@Nite: Thanks, man. Your decision to tank is not just necessity, it's destiny. You're an absolutely amazing tank.
@Strumpet: I think it chose me :)
@Mill: And I'm grateful for every HoT you throw on me :)
@Mister K: I think, if I had to give up tanking, I'd go healer myself. I just have a hard time connecting to DPS characters.
@Tam: Glyphed it.
I have, unfortunately, gone over to the dark side.
I leveled, quested, and did all the rest as Prot on Chastity, but then at 80 I dual-specced to Retribution (to help my guild out, ironically, we had lots of people wanting to tank and I didn't want to hog the spot). So now I am, unfortunately, spending most of my time swinging a Titansteel Destroyer.
@Chastity: Did you consult Tam about this?
Nice post, I chose a healing class, but am specced for Shadow to level. But I will instantly start tossing heals around if someone makes their less than full health bar seen by me!
I think I will forever love my Priest, but I think that rolling up a tank is good, mostly because I need to know what the other player is dealing with!
@Voicless: I've heard a lot of people say that rolling a tank or healer alt made them better at the other role on their mains. I think that makes a lot of sense.
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