Thoughts on Pally Tanking: by a Fluffy Bear

  I got a wild hair yesterday and decided to start tanking on my Paladin. I had a whopping 5 pieces of tank gear in the bank with none of them gemmed or enchanted. I had Rimefang’s Claw for a weapon, the tank cloak from the midsummer boss, a blue ring from DTK (I think?), a chest from H TOC, and Ick’s Rotting Thumb for a trinket. I had enough Triumph badges for T9 shoulders and legs and the 245 off set helm. (I really do love those walnut shaped T9 shoulders.) I found some crafted boots in the guild bank. I bought the crafted Titansteel shield from the AH along with the 245 bracers. I found a blue neck and some blue level 78 gloves on the cheap, about 30 gold each on the AH. This left me with just needing a ring, a trinket and a new libram.

I had amassed 520 something defense just from about an hour of working the AH and turning in badges. If I can coble together a tank set in about an hour that is almost def-capped, anyone can. I spent around 2900 gold total. The bracers were pretty expensive at around 2k and the shield was around 700. I made some +def elixirs and made it to 550 something defense with just that. My tank set had a massive 4300 gear score when I was done; way down from my Holy set at 5500 something. I hoped the dungeon finder would be kind to my baby tank. 

I watched some You Tube videos and talked to Krakkle about the rotation. I was really concerned about the 69696 rotation. It was confusing to me on paper but in the actual doing of it – it flows quite nicely. I made my way over to the training dummies in Stormwind and decided to give it ago. 

I have to say that I love Avenger’s Shield! I giggle whenever I get to use it. I think I just stood at the dummies for a few minutes hitting it and then waiting for it to come off CD so I could hit it again. Bears don’t really have anything like it. We don’t get a cool animation when we pull nor do we get a taut that hits multiple targets on a reasonable CD. 

The training dummies made it painfully obvious that I was well under the hit cap. I was rocking a hit rating of 63. Oh, shit. Hit cap is 260 something and I am way low. I bought some +hit food and made the +hit elixirs so I wound up at 160 something after changing some gear out. It would have to work for the time being. My expertise is at 34 since I glyphed Seal of Vengeance (24 without). No worries there. I ended up with around 27K health and 26K armor. 

I played around with the rotation and got pretty comfortable with it. I hoped getting healed would help with my mana problems. It is the pits to go from 32K mana to 7K since I still had my +128 int healing trinket on and my 251 healing ring on. I got a friend to heal me through the first one I attempted. 

The first instance I ever tanked with the Pally was Violet Hold. Oh nice! Thank you, dungeon finder! Here I go, running up to the portal. My sword bounces around my hip as I run. (Pursuit of Justice FTW!) I get to the portal, lay down my Concentrate like a boss and wait. The mobs come right at me. Woot! I take my first swing with Hammer of the Righteous! Where the hell did my mana go?! Divine Plea is super weak sauce! Oh, shit… There’s a new portal up. Run over and Consecrate again. No mana at all! OMG this is bad… Must remember to drink between pulls. 

We made it to the first boss and it was the guy you have to kite. How the hell do I kite as a Paladin!? Damn, hadn’t thought about that until just this second. As a bear I just strafe and swipe, run backwards and Faerie Fire. Well, I tried to stay in melee range so I could smack him but that ended up being too slow and I lost almost all of my party to the orbs. Note to self: ask Krakkle about kiting as a Paladin… 

The rest of the dungeon went really well. My healer friend went back to his Ret spec for another one and that one went just fine. By then, Bright came on and we did some more. (Even Halls of Reflection! zomg) 

I have learned that mana does not equal rage. I really didn’t know how different the tanking classes were from each other until I actually had some hands on time with each. I thought since I’m a Bear I could also be a Tankadin because I had “tank” experience. I know all the pulls and the patting paths for every dungeon. I didn’t think it would be a glaringly different as it has been. 

Ways Paladins are NOT Bears: 

* Paladins need mana to tank and it does not regen as quickly as rage. You cannot make chain pulls the same way a Bear can. 

* Paladins do not have a swipe like ability. Hammer of the Righteous is kind of like Maul in that it hits a few targets. 

* Paladin “oh shit” is Ardent Defender. You do nothing to proc it other than getting your ass kicked. There is no Paladin equivalent of Barkskin. Lay on Hands has no Bear equivalent. Tranquility is not really something Bears use and that hits the whole party and not just yourself. It also has a much shorter CD. 

* I could sometimes butt pull if I didn’t have any rage and that would give me rage from taking hits. If my Pally runs up to a mob and smacks it, I still don’t get mana unless I have Seal of Wisdom up. Rage is much more “instant” where mana takes a long as time to regen. 

* Pally tanking is more “fluid” and well designed than Bear tanking from the standpoint of an actual “rotation”. If done right, the things come back up all in order and you just repeat the same thing. Bear tanking is about priorities and not rotation. Do I have FFF up or are all stacks of lacerate on the target? No? Let me do this. Crap, the lacerate fell off… 

* Paladins generate a crap ton of threat. I was shocked to see it. My Bear has to work her ass off for that kind of threat. It’s pretty lame if you ask me. I think a big ass, snarling bear is way more threatening than a beautiful Draenei girl with a bouncy pony tail. I am wrong, apparently, according to the Bliz Devs. 

All in all – Paladin tanking is boring. There, I said it. I am bored to tears tanking on my Pally. The Bear has so much more going on. People who just spam Swipe are doing it wrong. Bears are really dynamic and force you to think about what you are doing. While it is nice to see the battle text telling me X-ability is up and then I just push the button as a Paladin. But, it’s freaking boring. I can just press the number keys in order and I have all the hate in the room. I do and don’t like it, all at the same time. My Bear weeps for this kind of threat but at the same time there’s no challenge in it.

Am I an Elitist?

Early this morning, I was in H UP with Bright and Krakkle on my Holy Pally. I still needed my Daily Heroic so off we went. Bright was on his Boomkin and Krakkle on his ‘Lock. We got a PUG tank with around 23K health. No problem, I thought. The first pull he gets hammered… badly… I look at his gear – all blues and quest rewards. He evidently just turned 80 since he only had 2 pieces of level 80 gear, which is fine in itself. I know that everyone starts somewhere. Not everyone has a rich main that can outfit a new 80 in all purples right off the bat. He was nowhere near def cap and normally I would have told him to leave but I was tired and wanted to get to bed. I knew between Bright and Krakkle the mobs would die very quickly. I just had to keep this baby tank alive long enough for them to kill the mobs. The tank spoke mostly in gibberish consisting of the letters D and T and F. I don’t know if he didn’t speak English or couldn’t type or what. But, that’s what it was.  

I had to make sure I had 100% uptime of Sacred Shield. If SS dropped, I (and the tank) was in a world of hurt. I nearly lost him a few times when my SS went down for a split second while I healed another party member. We got through Skadi with Bright’s Boomkin tanking most of it. He survived the whirlwind better than the tank could have, I think.

I had to BOP Bright a few times and spam heal Krakkle a few times. I actually lost Bright on a pack of mobs that feared everyone. Stupid tank kept pulling as I tried to rez him. I had to tell the tank to stop and hope he knew what I was trying to say. His response was “my bad – dead guy” followed by some gibberish.

I asked the tank to please gem/enchant what gear he had in the future. His response was “Fuk that” and something about gems being 200g apiece. I get that but he could have gotten some cheap blue gems, they go for around 20-30g on my server, sometimes less.
Do these things make me an “Elitist”?

Proper Spec and Glyphs

Proper gear – meaning gems, enchants and stats in order

I think these are things everyone should strive for. Gems and enchants aren’t optional when running with a group. If you are out questing on your own, go for it. I know I’ve run around Hellfire with gear missing gems/enchants but I was by myself… I didn’t inflict myself on a group of people who took the time/money to better themselves.

Yes, I raid. I enjoy raiding and put a few good attempts at the Lich King last week. I take pride in my toons because I spent a lot of time on them. We did an alt ICC 10 run the other day and I healed it as a tree. I was able to pick up a few really nice upgrades for my Resto set. I am not ashamed of my Resto set anymore. I actually healed it without Innervate on constant CD like I was before. My spell power is a lot better and my regen is easily twice what it was now. I learned to calm down on the HOTs and let them roll. Wild Growth really is awesome but I kept looking for my Beacon.

My point is: you get what you put into it. I can’t imagine the groups after mine will be as lenient on that tank as mine was. I can remember quite a few healers that let me have it when I was a fresh bear tank. I did nothing wrong but aggro was difficult for me and I was a bit slow at times. I was very unsure of myself and lacked a certain “air” of a tank.

Tanks are the default leaders of parties – like it or not. They are the ones charging ahead and taking the hits – physically leading the group into battle. The rest of the group looks to the tank for guidance on what pace the run will take. I think a lot of new tanks don’t realize this. If the tank is in disarray, the rest of party starts to fall apart. The DPS aren’t able to do their jobs at the best of their abilities due to the fear of pulling off the tank and dying. The Healer struggles to keep up with the mass damage the party is taking and to keep the tank up. Then people get forced into survival mode and tempers flair – making for an unpleasant run for everyone.

Anyways, if making my characters be the best they can be with what tools I have available makes me an elitist, sign me up. I refuse to inflict myself onto a group of total strangers just trying to have fun the way they want to – by not having to worry about the little things like if the tank is def capped or if the healer has enough mana or regen to run a dungeon.

PVP and the Pally

I love my baby pally! But, PVP’ing with her is kinda frustrating for the Priest in me. I keep looking for my fear and my mass dispell the most. Druids are much easier to deal with once you have dispelled their HOTs – same with Paladin bubbles. My Pally can do neither of these. I was in a 1v1 with a Resto Druid the other day in AB and very nearly lost because I couldn’t dispell or damage through the HOTs. I was pretty much begging the WOW gods to grant me just one mass dispell!

Things I wish I could do on the Pally in PVP:

1) Mass Dispell. Stupid Tree Druids! AArrghh! I do have a lot of respect for them, tho.

2) Fear. Shit just pounds on me and I can’t get rid of it. Ret Aura and Beacon on me seems to help but not as much as making everything run away.

3) A HOT like Renew. Lots of peeps die before I can get a heal off if Holy Shock is on CD. I don’t really have anything to pad incoming damage.

4) Fear Ward. Fuck you, Warlocks – with your chain fears.

5) Spam AOE Holy Nova to find pesky Rogues and feral Druids. Consecration just doesn’t have the same effect as bouncing around and Holy NOVA! Kapow!

6) no Shadow Fiend to annoy people with. Pallies have no summonable pet thing. Can’t wait until Cata and I can have something to whip out and annoy people.

7) Levitate. I can’t just run off the side of Lumber Mill to Blacksmith anymore. 😦 Unless a Mage Slow Falls me.

Things I like about the Pally in PVP:

1) Lots more armor when I actually have plate pieces on. Caster plate is kinda hard to find. The shield is nice for extra armor.

2) Beacon myself + heal everyone around me = profit. I cannot wait to get some more haste and spell power! I have seen 12-13K Holy Light crits when I can get one off before the person dies.

3) Crusader Aura! Lumber Mill is always mine!

People can be such dumb-asses in BG’s, too. I have been doing Arathi Basin because Alterac Valley refuses to pop. I get in AB and people are just running around and killing each other in the roads. We loose Stables almost always right off the bat. I do not understand what is so hard for people to grasp about holding three bases. They just want to cap and cap some more without defending what we already have. Force Horde to come to us. There is no excuse to loose Stables. Get Stables, Lumber Mill and Gold Mine – keep them and win the game. It is really not that difficult. I know it’s not as sexy as a big turtle capping everything, but, it works. I want the max honor and xp here. We get that by winning and not being complete idiots.

There was a Warrior complaining that I wasn’t healing him the other day. No, asshole, I’m not coming away from the flag to help you fight like a tard in the middle of the road. People, the space between the flags doesn’t count for shit. The roads and all that grassy scenery out there are just that – scenery. Would you rather control the road leading up to Lumber Mill or the Lumber Mill itself? Pretty easy if you ask me. These are the same idiots who sit in the middle at WSG instead of going for the flags.

ICC screenies and lowbie dungeon hell

Of course I got screen shots of me in bear form with the rocket on my ass… I got lots of screen shots actually but these are the best…

Druid Powah!

Get down... get down... jungle boogie!

I hope this doesn't burn my bear butt

I got the Blue Drake from Oculus the other day! Squee!!!

He looks a little cross eyed

I have a brand new baby Holy Paladin. I wanted a Pally so I could understand the way they heal better than I do now. Sometimes I have to remind myself of my ultimate goal when I meet some of the crazy people in lowbie dungeons. A low dungeon can either be a shit ton of fun or alarmingly noobtastic. I love the Pally – I’m already getting 2K Holy Light crits and have been since level around level 32. I just really wish the goodie bag was more helpful and gave me more than tank gear… /cry

This tank in DM was quite bad but he was level 23 and clearly still learning. I wouldn’t have been this harsh on him. I tried to give him some suggestions but he didn’t take them and the hunter go pretty pissed off at him:

glad I'm not on the business end of that

My brain hurts… Tankazoolu is a pretty epic name, tho… And I love the hunter in a guild called <I Only Raid Pre Cata> Already hating and it’s not even out yet…

Scalaclet Monisteryt! I love that instance!