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“Downshifting”, Another step towards more Hybrid Tanks?

Posted by unoksmofneefe in Tanking & Cooldown Rotation Tips on 06 13th, 2010 | no responses

Unless you’re one of those people that doesn’t enjoy following along with the hype of a new expansion, you’ve probably already read Wowhead’s coverage on new Cataclysm information. The highlight for me was Downshifting. The ability to take a 25 man raid and break it into multiple 10 man raids. I’m not only excited about this because it gives casual guilds that raid like mine more options, but also because it’s pretty big news for hybrid tanking.

What’s a Hybrid Tank?

All of the tanking classes are capable of being “Hybrid Tanks”. When I talk about Hybrid Tanks what I’m really talking about is a person that’ll dps (or heal) frequently with one spec and just as frequently tank with the other spec. And while sure, a Hybrid Tank was possible in Vanilla and done to a lesser extent then, it was really born with the creation of Dual specialization.

Hybrids or Alts?

What remains to be seen is how will Downshifting be utilized. Many guilds already run a single 25 man and multiple 10 mans right now. So, how is Downshifting different? The difference lies in how the raid changes or doesn’t change during the Downshifting process.

When a raid changes from 25 to multiple 10 mans, will those extra tanking spots be taken over by alts or will hybrids already a part of the 25 man change to their tank spec? (or do just brand new people step into this role?)

I’m banking on the Hybrids.

Once you start farming 25 man content, a lot of loot gets wasted (disenchanted). With Cataclysm’s approach to 25 mans being, “we’re going to throw a massive amount of loot at you” and with them offering the same loot in 10 mans, tanking loot is going to go to waste that much faster. Or more to the point, Hybrids are going to be geared up that much faster. Because of that fact, I’m banking on raids using Hybrid Tanks more and more.

After all, a raid would rather take tanks that are better geared than those that aren’t. And while players often push against this idea because they love gearing up their alts, when it comes to progress, the raid usually wins.

What this means for “New” Tanks

Whether it’s the start, middle or end of an expansion, there’s always a question of how does one become a tank. And while being amazing is a great answer, it’s just not practical.

The road to tanking often starts with dpsing for many players. Cataclysm looks to be encouraging this idea even more. You’ll get into your guilds 10 and 25 man raids by dpsing and while dpsing, you’ll collect your tanking set. If you’ve put in the effort in 5 mans, acquiring boe items and crafting, it won’t be long before you’ve got a quality tanking set to compliment your dps set. That’s how you’ll get the opportunity to tank your first 10 man. Your performance in that 10 man is how you’ll get the opportunity to tank your first 25 man. Your performance there (or perhaps your fellow tanks lack of performance) will determine whether or not you get to make the coveted change from Hybrid Tank to Full-time Tank.

Which isn’t to imply that this all will happen in the course of a few weeks. It can easily take months for even a single tanking opportunity to open up and it’s usually going to take far more than a single performance to even take over the 10 man tanking role. The 25 man tanking role is an even greater long shot.

I hate to admit it gang, but sometimes… you’re better off lucky than good. Of course, the idea is to be both lucky AND good. And since you cannot control the former, you might as well work towards the latter.

Best of luck.

The rest is here: “Downshifting”, Another step towards more Hybrid Tanks?

Over Taunting isn’t just Bad Manners anymore

Posted by kissulyanka in Tanking & Cooldown Rotation Tips on 08 5th, 2009 | no responses

If you’re somewhat aged in the craft of Warrior tanking, you’ll remember that Taunt isn’t what it once was. Once you had to stand beside a mob and then suddenly, unexpectedly, you didn’t. Which, of course, led to abuse and is why now we’re forced to deal with this lovely term known as Diminishing Returns.

Diminishing Returns is unfortunately the logical solution to anything abusive in the Warcraft world. What’s confusing is how it diminishes things seems to differ from one ability to the next.

What does Diminishing Returns on Taunt mean?

It means that if you Taunt a mob too many times in a particular period of time that it’ll become immune to Taunt. To be exact, if you Taunt a mob 3 times in 18 seconds, it’ll become immune to all following Taunts until 18 seconds have passed from the last Taunt.

Which is impossible to do on your own, but far less than impossible with a friend or two around.

From Bad Manners to just Bad

Taunting off a fellow tank used to be something forgivable and among tanks not used to each other it was often frequent, but now that frequency very well could be fatal to your raid. Clearly, making a mob immune to Taunt is a bad thing especially if it’s a boss that you need to be Taunting back and forth.

The Importance of Defining #2

I’ve come to realize though that the mistake is not in the tanks themselves, but more so in the raid leader for not stating who’s 2nd in line specifically. (Of course, now that you know this it’s your responsibility to ask :p )

By defining who is #2, we know that if the Main Tank dies exactly who is expected to Taunt. Last week, I made this mistake as an unorthodox raid flooded with tanks walked into Ulduar. I died, chaos ensued and many a dpser died to a Taunt immune mob. I knew who I wanted to Taunt the mob, but the other tanks didn’t. As the leader, the mistake was mine.

The 4 Quick and Ugly Steps

If you’re not the one assigned to Taunt, don’t. You may think you’re helping, but you’re not. This scenario turns ugly in 4 quick steps:

A bunch of Tanks taunt.
The wrong person gets the mob.
The healers don’t know they should heal them and they die.
No tank can Taunt anymore and DPSers start dieing from aggro.

It all comes down to trust. You have to trust that the people who’ve been assigned to do a task are going to do it. You have to be willing to accept that if they don’t do their job, you will wipe. If you can’t accept that, you’re going to wipe your raid more times than you’re going to save it.

Read the rest here: Over Taunting isn’t just Bad Manners anymore

The 1st thing I Command you to do!

Posted by Hemaseeffag in Tanking & Cooldown Rotation Tips on 08 4th, 2009 | no responses

When you log on today, there’s going to be all kinds of things to do. Here’s something easy to start with, get this:

Glyph of Command

…and if you’re wondering what other Minor Glyphs to combine it with, they should be Glyph of Bloodrage and Glyph of Thunder Clap.

Happy Patch Day

Read the original: The 1st thing I Command you to do!

The Upgrade that 15% of you can’t even afford

Posted by girlsround in Tanking & Cooldown Rotation Tips on 07 27th, 2009 | no responses

How much gold do you have?

Definitely one of the most enjoyable aspects of this site is just how involved you guys get in the polls. It’s a great way of seeing just where the tanking community stands on a particular issue or in the case of the above poll, what the average tank’s day-to-day life is like. (By the way, if you’re ever curious about a particular poll question feel free to ask me to put it up) After this poll was up for a while, a friend of mine commented on just how poor tanks are. Personally, I’d like to think it’s just that we actually spend our gold to improve our characters. Which brings me to today’s tip…

How much is 6 Stamina worth to you?

With Patch 3.2 will come a series of new epic gems, but what many of you may not know is that we’ve already been able to use 1 for a while now. Stormjewels are acquirable through the Fishing Daily available in Dalaran. As expected, the odds of getting one from the quest are horrible. The odds of getting the one you need are even worse. Of course, the simplest solution is to just buy one off the Auction House.

Solid Stormjewels sit around the 500 gold mark on most servers which unfortunately means a few of you can’t afford them. It also means probably 11% more of you won’t be able to justify it to yourselves to do it.

The rest of you, there’s really no excuse. An upgrade is an upgrade.

But, I might replace whatever I put it in right away!

Well the trick is for that not to happen! Let’s take a look at some of the best pieces available to you to put a Stormjewel in.

Indestructible Plate Girdle
The current best-in-slot belt has a blue slot just asking to have a Stormjewel in it. The best part is that even if you aren’t doing Ulduar25, you can save up some runed orbs among other things and pay someone to craft this for you. Between the jewel and the belt, it’s a big price to pay, but that’s the price you pay for longevity.

Saronite Plated Legguards
The majority of the community won’t be killing Algalon25, so these are your best-in-slot legs and thankfully, they drop early in Ulduar25 off Kologarn. They feature an unnaturally large amount of armor that makes them the perfect non-set compliment to your 4 piece set and as a result, are many player’s favourite place to put a Solid Stormjewel.

Armor Plated Combat Shotgun
For those of you not venturing into Ulduar25, the shotgun is the obvious choice to sport your Stormjewel. Even if you do manage to acquire Veranus’ Bane, for the Stamina stacking tank, this gun is still superior.

The Philosophy of Spending for Small Upgrades

There’s a lot of you out there that I know wonder how people afford stuff like this. You make excuses to yourselves and your friends that it’s a waste and that anyone that has such small, expensive upgrades has way too much time and money on their hands. What you don’t realize though is just how easy it is to maintain the “rich” look once you’ve got it.

Yes, it sucks when you’re first starting. It’s not cheap to get the best enchant on every piece and it’s not cheap either to get the best gems in every slot. If you’ve been raiding for a while though, you’ll notice it’s very rare to get more than a single piece in a week, often it’s even less frequent than that. It isn’t expensive to gem and enchant just 1 piece which really is what it’s all about once you’re set.

So, start grinding gold. Set yourself up. Then go back to being cheap again.

The rest is here: The Upgrade that 15% of you can’t even afford

First you must Follow

Posted by nelli in Tanking & Cooldown Rotation Tips on 07 23rd, 2009 | no responses

A while ago, Namthe wrote about a humbling experience healing as an undergeared druid. He talks about first doing 5 mans and it being cake and then doing 25 mans and it being overwhelming. (and challenging and fun) What does it have to do with tanking? Nothing and Everything. His post reminded me of just how important it is to develop your personal skill set in stages and how I recently made the mistake of not doing that.

The Important of Learning in Stages

I’ve talked about leading as a tank in the past, but what I forgot to mention is that we all have to start somewhere. Can you imagine what would have happened to Namthe if he’d not only jumped into healing that 25 man undergeared, but also had to lead it at the same time? (you know kinda like what you and I do when we switch to Fury without having played it in the middle of a raid)

He’d have failed.

But more to the point, he’d have overwhelmed himself so much that he’d have hindered how quickly he could learn to heal a 25 man. (or in my case, DPS) Which is where we find the point.

Which isn’t to go back on what I’ve said in regards to leading 5 mans immediately in order to improve your tanking, but it is to say, don’t lead a 25 man. Or more to the point, don’t expect to hit 80 and assume that because you’re a tank that you’ve got the god given right to lead. Don’t test out a spec that plays dramatically different than you’re used to when you’re the one that’s got to lead the raid. Don’t switch from DPSing and just assume that you’ll magically be able to tank a 25 man and learn to “ride a bike” again. You have to be comfortable in the most overwhelming situation for your character possible and then you’ll be ready to lead.

There’s no one else

And there’s the rub, I suppose. Sometimes that just happens. It happened to me at 70. You’re the leader whether you like it or not. How I survived it was playing, a lot. When you aren’t raiding, you’re mastering your class. Don’t fall into the trap of overwhelming yourself in a raid and then running the easiest instance possible on an off night to de-stress. You don’t have time for that. Do things the hard way on an off night because come game time, you’ll have to do things the hard way and lead.

Simply put, do what you loathe until you don’t.

Yes, it’s stressful for a while, but the alternative is getting into the habit of doing things the wrong way because you never took the time to learn to do things the right way when not leading. A Warrior can tank without using Concussion Blow on a boss, without using Heroic Strike while moving, even without catching every Sword and Board proc, but that still doesn’t change that that Warrior is playing the wrong way.

So, what are you going to do?

You’re going to do 5 mans especially the ones you hate instead of just expecting to lead some pug raids and “gear up” there.
You’re going to do 5 mans with your UA spec even if it’s terrible for that before running it in a raid. (I’m talking to you, Vene)
You’re going to do 5 mans with your tanking spec especially if you haven’t tanked in months before leading.
You’re going to do 5 mans with your Fury spec before running it in a raid. (I’m talking to you, again, Vene)

Read the original: First you must Follow

7 Things I’ve learned about Specing

Posted by H@IL in Tanking & Cooldown Rotation Tips on 07 17th, 2009 | no responses

I’ll admit it. I’m an Armory addict. There aren’t many people never mind many tanks that I haven’t Armoryed before. I’ve always been fascinated with how people play and how we all take such different approaches to this game. Specs especially are an interesting one to look at because there’s really no excuses for a bad spec. Your spec isn’t the way it is because of bad luck or lack of gold. Your spec is your own doing and you have the exact same choices as I do.

I feel that we’ve now hit the point where we’ve got a lot of it figured out though. We’ve tested a lot of things and made a lot of mistakes not just as individuals, but as a community. From the trials of time, here’s some things I’ve learned about specing.

1. 5 or 15 Points in Arms. No more, no less.
Which is to say, Impale is not a huge Stop sign. You really don’t put 10 points into Arms in order to get Impale. You put 12 points into Arms to get 3/3 Deep Wounds. On the other end, there’s really no spec that should have exactly 8 points in Arms. If you’re going for less than 15 points, you’ve got better options in the Fury and Protection trees than a few extra points in Arms.

Of course, the one exception to this whole rule is that the Unrelenting Assault spec features 37 points in Arms. Suffice to say, it’s in a dramatically different category than traditional specs and the regular rules of specing just aren’t going to apply to it.

2. Gag Order buffs Shield Slam, always.
The text on Gag Order, I must admit, is not only very poorly worded, but also poorly ordered. That said, here’s the facts. Gag Order increases Shield Slam damage by 10%. It does this all the time. Take it.

3. “I have plenty of rage” is not a reason to skip Focused Rage.
The most common conversation I’ve had over the past months is,

Me: “Why aren’t you taking X?”
Bob the Tank: “I’ve already got plenty of rage.”
Me: “If you’ve got too much rage, you’re not Heroic Striking enough.”
Bob the Tank: *random excuse* -or- “Oh.”

Focused Rage is an amazing talent. The reason that so many people are excited about Rage on Avoidance is the exact same reason why you should be excited about Focused Rage. It allows you to go all out sooner and reduces the chance of Rage Starvation.

4. Puncture isn’t worth it.
Which is funny because isn’t it just a weaker version of Focused Rage? Yup, it is. But that’s the problem. It’s weaker than Focused Rage, a lot weaker. In a Protection tree packed with options, it’s just not worth reducing the cost of a skill you’ll be using only half the time when there’s so many better choices available.

5. Incite is one of the Last things you should drop.
Now, I’ll freely admit that a very focused Survival spec can exclude Incite. However, it really should be one of the absolute last threat talents removed when choosing a Survival spec. Simply put, if your spec is anything other than 5/15/51 then it should include Incite.

6. Armored to the Teeth is your first 3 Fury points.
Cruelty was a great threat talent in the Burning Crusade. We’re not playing that expansion anymore though. Armored to the Teeth since it’s conception has always been a better use of talent points than Cruelty. Outside of that, Booming Voice isn’t worth taking unless one is going to venture deeper into the Fury tree. As a result, no matter what your spec’s orientation is going to be, if it’s walking into Fury, the first 3 points should be in Armored to the Teeth.

7. There’s no reason to skip Improved Heroic Strike if you’re already there!
This ones an oddity. The mistake I’m cautioning against here is putting 15 points in Arms and not taking Improved Heroic Strike. Essentially, if you’re doing this you’re assuming that those 3 talent points are better spent in Iron Will or Tactical Mastery. I can’t help, but feel like this approach to specing is a symptom of #3. So, I think it’s worth repeating:

“If you’ve got too much rage, you’re not Heroic Striking enough.”

What have you learned?

We’ve all tried things and continue to try things, but the reality is that the standard specs are the standard specs for a reason. They all have room for a bit of a personal touch, but be cautious with how you make a spec your own. It’s very possible you’re not personalizing it, but instead nerfing it. And, I don’t think any of us want that.

Original post: 7 Things I’ve learned about Specing

The ONLY way to Spec: 2 Protection Specs or 1?

Posted by riverstonecamp in Tanking & Cooldown Rotation Tips on 07 13th, 2009 | no responses

Like most, I absolutely loved the idea of Dual specs the second they mentioned it would be happening. Unlike most, I was pumped about it because I wanted to use 2 Protection specs. Why shouldn’t I?

1 Spec to Protect

There’s no denying that if you’re utilizing a single Protection spec with a DPS spec then you’re giving your Raid more options. You aren’t forcing them into using you as a tank nor are you hindering them by doing inferior DPS when you do have to DPS. It makes a lot more sense to be able to Tank well and DPS well especially since Protection DPS when not tanking is pretty ugly.

It takes 2 to Tan(k)go

On the flip side though, 2 Protection specs gives you more options. You aren’t forced to make the decision to spec exclusively for progression or to spec in such a way that’s okay at everything. Your DPS is going to be bad, but you very easily could end up tanking a lot better than “well” due to more options. You’re also able to test any kind of Protection spec you want because you can always fall back on your other spec.

Wait… aren’t you only using 1 Prot Spec, right now!?

Yup, but I’m not always.

That’s the beauty of being the raid leader. I know what role I’m going to play during a raid ahead of time. I know every fight we’re going to do and I know who is going to tank and who isn’t going to tank and I can spec accordingly. Which isn’t to say that 2 Protections specs is only for raid leaders, but it is to say that if you aren’t the raid leader that you better have a pretty great relationship with your raid leader so that you know what you’ll be doing too. (and so that your raid leader knows how you’ll be specing)

What has been lost in the Debate?

Spec for the Encounter.

Just because you have access to 2 specs doesn’t mean that you should only be using those 2 specs. Just because you are only using a single tanking spec doesn’t mean it has to be a general, “average at everything” spec.

Spec for the Encounter.

Spec for the Encounter?

Whatever fight your guild is focusing it’s progression on, that’s what you spec for. This may mean that some of the farm content you’ll be doing won’t be quite as easy as you’d like it to be or it may mean you’ll have to carry multiple stacks of different Glyphs to cater your spec to even the farm content you’re doing that night. And this may all mean that you spend a whole lot more money on progression than the average tank, but then…

We really aren’t doing this to be Average. Are we?

9 Questions to ask yourself before Specing

Do you have any idea what you’ll be doing today?

If no, talk to your raid leader.

Will I be DPSing today?

If yes, settle on 1 Protection spec.

Is there a Progression boss today?

If yes, spec for that boss.

If no, is there a farm boss you have trouble with?

Spec for the tough farm boss.

Are you going for a Speed clear?

Spec to accommodate clearing trash faster.

Do you have a crazy spec you want to try?

Make sure you have a 2nd Prot spec that potentially doesn’t suck to fall back on.

Are you doing a fight that requires a lot of threat today?

Have a spec that can do a lot of threat.

Are you doing a fight that you’re worried about dieing on today?

Have a survival oriented spec.

Do you have time to Spec?

If no, don’t do it. Nothing unfocuses a raid more than having to wait on someone respecing. It’s even worse when it’s you because you’re the tank. People have to trust you and believe they you’re always ready because you have to always be ready in order to do your role properly. Not to mention, the last thing you want to do is rush the respecing process and end up forgetting something you really needed. That said, I’m not endorsing walking into a raid with 2 non-tanking specs and trying to tank. Just do yourself a favour and always allow yourself enough time to respec.

Where’s the Specs in this Article!?

Yes, I could link you a 15/5/51 build and say that it’s the greatest single Prot build you can use. (even though that’s not true) Or, I could link you the combination of 15/3/53 and 5/10/56 and tell you that’s the best 2 Prot specs together. (even though that’s not true either) But, I’m not going to because that’s not the point. The point is that you could use a 15/5/51 spec, a 15/3/53 spec, a 5/10/56 spec, a 5/15/51 spec, a 37/0/34 spec, a 37/2/32 spec, a 5/0/61 spec or any of a million different specs with different talent combinations.

The point is that it’s about communicating with your raid leader so that you know how to spec for the encounter.

And if it makes sense, you use 2 Prot specs. And if it makes sense, you use 1 Prot spec. And that’s it.

Go here to see the original: The ONLY way to Spec: 2 Protection Specs or 1?

Totem Talk: Getting into the Spirit of the thing

Posted by Uncorolic in Featured Articles, Shaman, Tanking & Cooldown Rotation Tips on 07 11th, 2009 | no responses

Each week Matthew Rossi lovingly hand-crafts Totem Talk from a single switch of aged Barrens scrub pine. This week, we try and calm some fears and discuss what changes we’re still hoping might make it into patch 3.2.

This week’s image comes from Protein, a restoration shaman on Bladefist (he didn’t specify US or EU realm). Before we get rolling on the changes that shamans haven’t seen yet in the various notes to patch 3.2, let us take a look at what notes we have seen, especially the most recent ones.

Shaman

Earth Shock: Redesigned. This spell no longer interrupts spell casting, but rather reduces melee attack speed by 10% for 8 seconds (exclusive with similar effects such as Thunder Clap).

Wind Shock: Has been renamed Wind Shear and no longer shares a cooldown with Flame, Frost or Earth Shock.

Maelstrom Weapon: Now also has a chance to reduce the cast time of Hex. Hardly massive changes, but at the same time pretty welcome.

The fact that ES gives a form of Thunder Clap is weird since pretty much every tank has or will have that debuff in patch 3.2 (Thunder Clap, Icy Touch, Infected Wounds and the incoming paladin ability) so it seems odd from a PvE standpoint to give it to a non tanking class. If this is intended as a PvP ability… well, it’s not terribly impressive.

If your choice is between ES or Frost Shock against melee, you’re probably going to try and snare them instead of debuffing their attack speed. Still, not having to use ES as an interrupt will be a positive boon for elemental shamans who saw their DPS nosedive every time they had to keep that cooldown open for Earth Shock instead of Flame Shock, and it’s not going to terribly impact enhancement in PvE at all.

So I’d definitely call this one, on the whole, a positive change. And having Maelstrom affect Hex is just hilarious. Hex is kind of the poor man’s poly in PvP, a combination snare and disarm that can be trinketed out or dispelled. Continue reading Totem Talk: Getting into the Spirit of the thing

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