Breakfast Topic: What's your calling?
by Chris Clow 
Oct 28th 2011 at 8:00AM
Some people who play this game find themselves attracted to a specific calling. I find it interesting to see who's devoted to a specific spec, class, or role.
Me, I tank. I've been tanking since level 10 on my first character. I've got all four tanking classes at level 85. I love the idea of being the tip of the spear in any given group. While I wish I could say that these tanks were born from the desire to trade blows with the enemy rather than simply nip at their ankles, this isn't specifically true. While my paladin is always a tank, my DK was started as a character I could explore DPS potential on. Eventually, alt runs in my guild needed a tank, so my DK became a full-time tank. To compensate for that, I rolled a fury warrior. It was good for a while, but to paraphrase Sartre, "hell is other tanks." It was quite painful to stand in the back in raids only to watch the tank make mistakes with encounters that I'd done in my sleep on two different tanks.
This came to a head in an ICC PUG when a tank bailed on us, and rather than wait for the raid leader to dig up another tank from trade chat, I started rummaging through my bags and manifested a tanking set from the assorted detritus I had acquired in previous runs. Boots from Mimiron hard mode, trinket from Yogg, shield from Gunship, and so on and so forth until I had a complete tanking set on. With it, we cleared seven bosses in ICC.
Cataclysm comes, and I finally get around to rolling a druid. I embrace the inevitable, and he's been a bear since the beginning.
What do you find yourself attracted to with your toons?
Filed under: Breakfast Topics, Guest Posts
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
viciouspen Oct 28th 2011 8:05AM
Dps and Tanking.
Or as I like to point out "smart dps"
As there's a difference in that many of the recount junkies don't always get :P
Like "hey, dinkwad, you're killing the raid by locking eyes on your rotation so much that you're not where you're supposed to be".
"yeah but I do 3k more dps than you!"
"yeah but I'm still alive"
Love tanking too, very good at it in dungeons and heroics, but, haven't actually done much raid wise yet.
Jamie Oct 28th 2011 8:06AM
I'm a tank, plain and simple. I love being a leader and being first in and first out of the fray. Melee DPS is okay, but really I don't feel comfortable unless I'm tanking the problem and whacking it on the shin with my shield.
I do have an Arcane Mage & a Shadow Priest, but the concept of spell casting is pretty foreign to me.
You need protecting. I've got your back. Sword & board to the end! *Additional filler buzzword to show how extreme I am for tanking.* EXTREEEEME!!!!!!
drysta Oct 28th 2011 9:46AM
Interesting point that you just realized in my own mind - and only noticed some six years later - I don't play melee DPS. Okay, so obviously I've always known that but, thanks to you, I've only just connected the dots (harr harr) as to why: If I'm in there, I want to be hit feel the need to tank.
With the Monk class coming out, that I will most definitely be rolling, I wonder how I will cope with the mechanism of being in the middle but not tanking. This should be very interesting!
My main group of toons for raiding are healers (Pally, Drood, Shammie) and my second group are tanks (Pally, DK, Bear). I also almost always tank dungeons with the exception, obviously, of my shaman, who heals. My DPS toons - all ranged - are for PvP encounters only.
Thanks Jamie, interesting that I never realized why I have always done something for so long until now! :)
Literaltruth Oct 28th 2011 10:10AM
@drysta
If that's the way you feel, why wouldn't you tank on your monk? They can tank, DPS or heal. It's just everyone seems to be focussing on them DPSing just now...
Jamie Oct 28th 2011 10:18AM
The concept of defending the world WITH MY FITS. Is interesting, but I can't be a hero with a shield.
Ever since Legend of Zelda, I've always seen a hero with a sword & shield. That's just how it is for me.
Swifteye Oct 28th 2011 8:08AM
I'm attracted to the *idea* of tanking, but I've never really had the courage to dip my toes in the water... I'm hyper-critical of my own mistakes, and I don't know if I could take the deluge of abuse that new tanks are prone to receive while still learning.
Really, my "calling" is just melee in general. I adore my Unholy DK (perma-ghoul forever; I don't care if Frost does better DPS!! *thrusts fist in the air*), and I have a lot of fun messing around with my Rogue, Paladin and Enhance Shaman alts. Ranged is just so boring and uninvolved to me; I like bashing things in the face!
I do have a full tank gear set on my DK, and close to a full one on my Paladin... now if only I could work up the guts to actually USE them...
Jordan Oct 28th 2011 9:50AM
There's nothing to be afraid of. I tank almost purely PUG's, and have a blast. If people are rude I drop group and tell them "enjoy your 20 minute queue", while I find another group instantly.
Tanking really isn't that hard so long as you show some assertiveness and pay attention. Pull carefully, and watch your healer's mana and health.
Mature players know that it's a wise investment of their time to be patient with a struggling beginner tank and coach them through it, rather than flame the tank and drop group.
In the end, dungeons really aren't that hard, and as long as you are careful it's unlikely you will be wiping groups.
And in the end you aren't hurting anyone by being a being a beginner tank. Finding a tank is almost always the limiting factor in forming a group, and players should celebrate that others are taking the initiative and extra responsibility. Because after all, more tanks means dramatically shorter queues.
My mains are tanks and heals, and I do nothing but pugs. I have that stupid pug reward on several characters! While there have been nasty flamers occasionally, I up-front tell them to behave or I'll drop group and let them linger in the queue for another 20 minutes. In the end YOU have the advantage because as a tank you are a commodity in high-demand.
Zachariahs Oct 28th 2011 11:41AM
I find that the people who are the most critical of their mistakes make the best tanks. Just be sure to tell the pug you're new and are willing to take any constructive criticism they may have for you.
ugoticedbro Oct 28th 2011 11:59AM
One thing to try: do dailies in your tank spec and gear. Pull like 4 mobs at a time or more. It teaches you how to survive and use cooldowns. Everything will slowly become second nature.
Won't teach you everything, but it is a start.
Byron Oct 28th 2011 4:11PM
Best way to learn tanking is roll a new level 1, and tank all the way to level cap. From 1 to 15, spec tank, gear tank, and play like a tank. From 15 on (or whatever the min level to dungeon queue is), always be in the dungeon queue when you're online.
It's much easier to start as a tank at low levels, than to start tanking for your first time at lvl 80/85/90. Dungeons are easier, fights are simple, you have fewer abilities to wrap your head around or remember during combat, etc. etc.
Also, become good friends with TankSpot, read their intro guides, and watch their intro videos:
TankSpot's Critical Articles & Guides
http://www.tankspot.com/forumdisplay.php?200-TankSpot-s-Critical-Guides-amp-Articles-Library
TankSpot Video Guide: Positioning & Movement
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmOPuziOWuA
TankSpot Video Guide: Awareness & Camera Control
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uf1pWQhJdhQ
jamie9966 Oct 28th 2011 8:09AM
Healing! Specifically priest healing!
I'm currently levelling my 4th priest (undead) and I have two level 80 priests (draenei and nelf) on some realms somewhere, and a level 85 goblin priest (that started as worgen) on my last server.
Now I'm on a new server with my boyfriend, so I obviously need a new priest! :)
erknost Oct 28th 2011 12:19PM
I'm a Healing too. My main its a Holy Paladin, but I have a healer for each of the specs, and in each of the factions. I like the idea to be the purest, and the idea of other lives depent of my performans. I actually enjoy have the power over live or death from my camaradas and with the gear neglect the contest and keep everybody alive, all the time, always top off.
cyanea85 Oct 28th 2011 2:48PM
Yet another for healing. Everyone keeps telling me how awesome bosses look, but they look the same in every fight for me: your green bars.
I like it that way. I feel like I'm playing a kind of metagame. With the wealth of information coming from my raid frames as well as the perspective I get from standing with the ranged, I generally have a sense that I'm a general/observer. More often than not, I'm the one calling shit out on Vent because the Tanks can't see past the boss' knees and the DPS are doing their DPSiest.
jl-smith79 Oct 29th 2011 8:20AM
Same here, I've been a healer since launch and have loved it all along. I've tried tanking and dps-ing a few times but never got into, for me the fun is in the challenge of keeping people up and I usually love the challenge of healing through mistakes and low gear.
In response to cyanea85 about all bosses being green bars, they could be multi colored bars. =o)
I usued to only stare at bars when I started healing (especially an add-on I remember in vanilla that ordered people from most damaged to least damaged and you just clicked the 3rd guy on the list and cast flash heal rank 1 over and over) but after seven years of healing now I have inadvertently developed watching bosses out the corner of my eye (as well as gaining amazing reflexes)
Revnah Oct 28th 2011 8:11AM
I tried out every role but I keep coming back to healing. I just love being mistress over life and death, so to speak, being the one with the power to reverse mistakes to an extent. As a holy priest I rarely tank heal but when I do I enjoy this special cameraderie between a healer and "their" tank, the "sorry, I wasn't fast enough!" or "Sorry I ran out of range" whispers, followed by "no worries, sh*t happens :-)" etc
Best of all, when *I* make a mistake I don't have to cost any other healer's mana to fix it. Makes me feel a little better about sometimes screwing up!
zinckiwi Oct 28th 2011 8:11AM
I can't help but heal. Of the healers I've played to the cap, which is all but the priest (currently in attempt #217 for that), the druid's style most fits me. I had a brief dalliance with bear tanking late in Wrath when anyone with the right emblem gear could tank with both paws tied behind their back, but it never came naturally.
I'm looking forward to trying a monk and maybe, if it's two-hundred-and-seventeenth time lucky, seeing what a priest is like at 85 before the expansion hits.
Every so often I'll roll a pure DPS, to force myself to not heal. "This is my new main!" I say. "Twelve years of MMO healing, time for something new!"
Never sticks.
paulmewis Oct 28th 2011 8:12AM
I'd happily dps, but the queues for randoms are so terrible that I just spec tank on the classes that can tank.
Its fine until my raid group needs a dps, because I just haven't the practical time in heroics to learn the spec, and raid dummies are no substitute for real mobs. So I just grab one of my pure dps (atm its the hunter =P )
Only thing I've never done at max level is heal, idk why I never have but thats it. I healed a few normal runs on a pally to get into the general feel of healing, and it was idiot tank/dps after another, so I kind of abandoned that project.
Maybe I'm just sick of people making mistakes, as fun as brezzing, as a dk tank, someone who gets gibbed to the same mechanic again and again. But having to heal through such idiocy is not my thing.
Zhee Oct 28th 2011 8:13AM
I play all 5 healings specs, my main being a holy+disc priest. I do have dps-classes and specs, but when I play them I'm constantly checking on healthbars and will cast the occasional heal when things get rough. I will never be able to fully focus on dps-ing. Healing is just my thing.
Erebos Oct 28th 2011 1:18PM
Same here. Main's a holy/disc priest, and I love being able to come into a raid, looking at what healers we have, and switching my spec to be a tank healer when we don't have one, or a raid healer if that's what's needed. My "main alt" is my resto shaman, and I have a resto druid (my main from Wrath, who I've pretty much abandoned...druid healing isn't really fun to me anymore). I'm working on getting my holy paladin to 85, too. I have a warlock at 85, too, but I'm not very good at DPS, for whatever reason.
priestessaur Oct 28th 2011 1:53PM
Healer4Life here. With 5 lvl 85 healers, I have just come to accept my calling. I, too, keep "trying" to dps. I can do a respectable job of it, but I see too many encounters through the eyes of a healer rather than a dps to do it really well.
I can't wait to try the monk healing style!