I've recently put my level 60 bear tank on the back burner until the swipe CD reduction, but I tanked 15-60 in the dungeon finder, and it wasn't, you know, unbearable (pun not intended). I did make use of some great addons (Tidy Plates: Threat being the primary one) to help me maintain threat on all my targets. Even with a multi-shotting hunter and a blizzarding mage in Stratholme, I was able to maintain threat with decent success by always using abilities on whatever target I had the least threat on. On the other hand, I don't think I would have been quite as successful without addons, which some people may consider a problem.

I will say that tanking in regular questing gear would likely be difficult. I'm currently decked out in a full heirloom set (head, shoulders, back, chest, weapon), so I can hold my own against the damage output of other people in heirlooms. If I was in a group of people without heirlooms and I was also without heirlooms, I would probably be fine too. But if I didn't have heirlooms and the rest of the group did? There would likely be a problem.

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