Patch 5.3 interview with Ghostcrawler
Mystery of the Unborn Val'kyr
The latest patch 5.3 news
All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsAsk the Devs Round 9 wants your tanking questions
by Matthew Rossi 
May 25th 2011 at 3:00PM
Whatever your questions are, now is your chance to answer them. So go! Go, my legion of the tanks, go and get the developers' aggro and do not let it go until your questions are answered!
The news is already rolling out for the upcoming WoW Patch 4.2! Preview the new Firelands raid, marvel at the new legendary staff, and get the inside scoop on new quest hubs -- plus new Tier 12 armor!Filed under: Druid, Paladin, Warrior, Analysis / Opinion, News items, Death Knight, Cataclysm
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 4)
coville May 25th 2011 4:40PM
So I guess you all would rather have an under-geared tank wipe groups until they get the gear they need instead of pugging to try and earn it.
I tank also and if a dps rolls need on a tank gear and I loose the roll, thats fine with me. Thats what the random roll is for. And if a tank can roll need a dps trinket and they win the roll, thats fine with me. It's only a game.
Sterb May 25th 2011 5:20PM
That one piece of gear isn't going to make or break you as a tank. If you don't have the gear to tank heroics, keep tanking regulars. If you can't tank regulars, the problem isn't gearing.
omedon666 May 25th 2011 5:21PM
http://blue.mmo-champion.com/topic/176784/to-the-developers
madfigs May 25th 2011 5:28PM
You can easily, easily build up an adequate tanking set for heroics without ninjaing gear as a dps. There are plenty of reputation/JP rewards and craftable items to get you part of the way there, and you can definitely tank normal dungeons to get the 333 versions of anything you're missing. Rolling need out of your spec is horribly rude and is a great way to get yourself vote-kicked.
Noyou May 26th 2011 5:26AM
@coville
Should be no such thing as an "under geared" tank if you are using tank gear and your ivl says you can do heroics then you are geared enough. Sure people want the pro tank who knows every fight never loses aggro and saves everyone from their mistakes. Now you can be under geared for a raid but that's a whole different ball of wax.
Stray May 26th 2011 1:32PM
Once I tanked heroic Shadowfang Keep with my boyfriend healing and three pugged DPS from RDF. At once point our healer had to go afk, and we started making smalltalk. The DK specifically commented that I was the best tank he'd had in SFK, and I took the compliment to heart, as I was fairly new to tanking at that level of the game (prior to this toon I had only tanked pre-Wrath content).
This compliment somehow didn't last when we downed the final boss, the tanking bracers dropped that I'd been trying to get, and he rolls need on them and wins. I made a comment and he immediately dropped group, as well as the other two DPS shortly thereafter. At that point it wasn't about losing gear. It simply shocked and stunned me that someone who was grateful for the way I performed my roll to immediately turn around and seemingly knowingly ninja from me.
I can understand not wanting to go into a PuG as a tank when you are DPS-geared, but there are so many alternatives to rolling need on a piece that a main-spec player also needs that I can't justify it. I had a full Holy set on my tankadin at 85 simply because I held on to quest rewards and drops, and never had to go out of my way for a single piece of it. Even if you don't think ahead on this, you can craft, buy, or even ask a well-geared tank friend to run with you so that you can openly roll on pieces he or she already has or outgears without competing with anyone's main spec. Hell, I've been running a ret pally and a DK through regs on my prot pally, and they're rolling in gear. And I benefit too, as I still need heroic-level trinkets and rep/guild XP is always nice.
TL;DR: If you can't play as a team, and be considerate...don't play massively multi-player games or do the unsuspecting strangers a favor and queue up with other people who don't care about/need loot.
jfofla May 25th 2011 3:42PM
Personally, I just want to see the Dev team answer Rossi's questions. He can speak for all Tanks!
Sterb May 25th 2011 5:21PM
After some of the stuff he wrote about and has said about DK tanking, I'd rather he just talk for warriors.
biggjudicem May 25th 2011 3:45PM
"So go! Go, my legion of the tanks, go and get the developers aggro and do not let it go until your questions are answered!"
I LoL'd
talkingmike May 25th 2011 3:54PM
Devs: can you create some kind of visual feedback that indicates which secondary targets my blood strike hits, similar to a warrior cleave?
talkingmike May 25th 2011 4:17PM
Oh hell. Not Blood Strike... Heart Strike.
Noyou May 25th 2011 4:23PM
You mean other than the little numbers floating by them when they take damage. Actually that would be a neat effect if they could swing it. Maybe have their color on their faceplate blink from red to something else then back to red?
Jabadabadana May 25th 2011 6:12PM
I'm surprised they didn't just steal the cleave animation, and just make it red or something.
Parrin May 25th 2011 4:00PM
Lemons, rogues can totally tank! We were in the Scarlet Monastery: Armory and my brother, the tankadin, loses his connection. One of the DPS chalks it up as a lost cause and drops. I’m healing on a priest, and the rogue asks if we are going to re-queue. The shaman says, “Nah. Go get him.”
So he does!
Anytime I couldn’t keep a shield on the rogue, the shaman would switch of f lightning and help me heal. It took a little longer, but it was absolutely the most fun I’ve ever had in a boss fight.
Parrin May 25th 2011 4:02PM
Whoops! Glitch. Sorry.
Astoreth May 25th 2011 6:17PM
Once did VH sans-tank when the tank DC'ed on the second wave of trash. Some of the most fun I've ever had in a dungeon.
j0ust May 25th 2011 4:05PM
Given that hit rating is basically useless to any given tank right now (taunts and interrupts can't miss, after all) what are the plans for this secondary statistic going forward?
Deathknights aer currently the only tanking class with tangible benefits attached to hit rating as it ties into their survivability (a missed Death Strike doesn't heal), but hit hardly matters for threat since the introduction of Vengeance for all tanking classes; added to that, expertise is worth about twice as much as hit rating up to the dodge cap (26) for threath and damage purposes.
So my question is: what's happening to hit rating for tanks?
Allison Robert May 25th 2011 5:23PM
Actually, bears are in the same boat with respect to +hit exercising an impact on mitigation and survivability: We don't get Savage Defense shields from abilities that don't hit. But I think there's a pretty cogent question there about expertise and hit as they relate to tanking specs, and how Blizzard sees the present situation with two tanks with largely passive mitigation (paladins/warriors) and two tanks with active mitigation (death knights/bears). It's no mistake that the latter two are markedly worse for the purpose of AoE tanking.
jayare187 May 25th 2011 4:04PM
If you keep dps from rolling on tank drops you will see many more tanks in que since they cant ninja a off set. Make all the ninja's man and tank an instance not profit off another tanks hard work.
omedon666 May 25th 2011 5:19PM
http://blue.mmo-champion.com/topic/176784/to-the-developers