Daily Thoughts: Fears of Tanking – The Conclusion! (via 15 Minutes of WoW)
I always like to read about other people who share the same or similar experiences. This author puts into words what my return to tanking on my main was like.
I’m No Longer Anti-Social
If random Normal/Heroic Dungeon Tanking was rough, obviously the Pug Raid Tanking thing is not for me! 😦
I don’t like the randomness of the group. And I don’t mean classwise. I don’t like the random personalities you run across. You know, the 8-12 year old in the group that you’re unaware of until he throws a hissy fit about something dumb and actively tries to get the raid to whipe!
(at least I HOPE he/she was an 8-12 year old with that kind of behavior!)
So now I’m gonna go for something a little more stable..a guild!
I’ve gone guildless for the last 6 months because of guild drama. I had created a “bank” guild months back, so that I can horde all my useless stuff. That way, I could quest, explore, etc. without being asked to join a guild. But don’t judge me… I know many people who have done it or (at least) thought about it.
I have to admit thought, being in a guild has it merits, so I have joined a guild. It’s a casual guild that also likes to raid. That’s the best combination for me, because I like to raid but I can’t commit more than two evenings to it. Currently, the guild I’m in only has one “raid night,” but I”m sure that will change. I guess I will be Off-tanking for a while at least, but I will get to see some new content.
This tanking experience should be best of all. With a guild, you have others that want to help you progress your tune. If you progress as a character, the guild progresses. Then you pay it forward to new members so that the guild gets better! Everyone gets geared up and used to playing together and pwning content. My best experiences raiding or playing the game, in general, was when I played with friends. And it turns out that I already know a member or two from running with them in an earlier guild!
Should be some good times ahead!
One Goal Accomplished!… Next!!
When Zaren decided to tank again it was great, because the mechanics and world had changed! All my characters suddenly where new to me again!
Zaren could relearn tanking in an environment where basically everyone was learning or relearning how to play their characters. That makes for (in most cases) some good hearted fun and learning among strangers! There were still the impatient, unknowing know-it-alls, petty players; but these bad experiences made my good experiences even better!
So my first accomplishment was to tank every 5 man Cataclysm dungeon successfully as a Pug Tank to the point that I feel comfortable and confident of success! I feel I have reached that goal!
Although, I still get that little twinge when I see the Deadmines loading screen…but it goes away quickly! 🙂
Next, I will try my hand at Raid Tanking! Not sure I want to Pug a Raid. I haven’t tanked a raid since Karahzan in Burning Cruisade. Even then, I was in a guild. It should be an interesting experience!
A Night of Snotty Healers
As a Tank, I try not to be the stereotypical jerk that everyone seems to think some Tanks have become. You know, with there instant queues and setting the pace of the run. Who do I think…uh, they think they are?? I know there are some Tanks out there with bad attitudes, but not every Tank is like that.
While playing my Dps classes, I like to watch how the group’s tank handles the encounters. If he comes up with a good style of play, maybe I’ll use it myself in the next run I tank.
My favorite runs are when you get a competent tank. I have even had the pleasure of getting a well geared tank that also performed admirably! That was the best run of all!
The tank controlled the pace of the run.
We weren’t waiting forever to pull the next pack.
He/she kept the Dps in line and prevented a lot of QQing.
It felt good to follow someone else that knew what he/she was doing and we got done quickly and efficiently. Quite the fun experience! I shall always try to be that type of tank! 🙂
Heroic Throne of the Tides
Then I queued up as Tank/Dungeon guide for this random.
I like to do that because my TargetCharms addon gives me a “ready” button that lets my call a ready check before we start. TargetCharms also lets my quickly mark a mob for Crowd Control and Kill order.
Anyway, I get my dungeon group and as soon as I zone in, I find that it is a pre-existing group. The “dungeon guide” (who happens to be the healer) is chewing out one of the Dps, because his dps numbers are too low.
Now I understand the need to get your Dps to pump out as much as possible to down the boss or trash. However, what he said next bothered me.
Dps asked: “why aren’t you healing me?”
Healer said: “I’m not waisting my manna on you till you do more than 4k dps.”
I say: “Healer, just heal everyone. That’s your job. Let him try to up his dps without worrying about dying for pete’s sake!
The healer turns on me and says: “Tank, how about you stfu and tank?”
The Tank is the leader. He/she should set the standard (even in a pug) of what is acceptable. I believe in motivating a group member, but I don’t believe threats and intimidation work very well for long. And I won’t have it in my runs. So I tell the healer that if he feels so put out by any members, that he can leave and we’ll wait for someone more patient.
The healer retorts with some more (nerd-rage) cursing, so I port back to the capital city that I was in prior to the run and try to reason with him/her. That resulted in my being removed from group.
No good deed goes unpunished I see!
Seems to me that enough of that group had to agree to vote me out. Even the very person I was trying to stick up for!
Maybe some players like to be brow-beaten? I don’t see myself performing any better because of it. /shrug
The Grim Batol
I zone in with my TargetCharms ready to mark ’em up and light ’em up! Say hello to my group and proceed to get buffed up to start killing! 🙂
We breeze through the first two pulls with no problem, however I noticed my health bar was at 60% as I moved to the Red Drakes to do the bombing run.
No one had died, so I guess I assumed that the healer had just stepped away for a sec and would top me off after we got off the drakes. The group had done a pretty good job using the Drakes to wear down all the mobs we were about to kill.
Zaren was sitting and eating to regain his health when the healer says “Why it is taking so long to pull the first boss?”
Before I can say anything, one of the Dps says that I am slow to pull, “because of his lack of health.” The healer then says, “Well then he needs to stack more Mastery.”
The healer didn’t get what the Dpser was trying to say. He was trying to get the healer to understand that my health wasn’t at 100% to make the boss pull, because the healer was slacking on healing! Bravo Dpser! Turns out I wasn’t the only one that the healer didn’t bother to heal! Unfortunately, after the Dps group mate made his point..he dropped group. That was a shame, because he was topping the overall damage done. 😦 We got another Dps, (adequate, but not as good) and prepared to pull the first boss.
The first boss went down fairly quickly, and it appeared that the healer decided to start healing after being called on his slacking. I mean… if you go through 4-5 packs of trash and everyone is low on health at the end and the healer is almost at full mana, the healer wasn’t healing!
In retrospec, it’s my opinion that the healer was “on follow” with one of the unsuspecting group members and afk through the trash pulls! He was at 80% mana and 30% health, so he wasn’t even healing himself! Funny how the slackers seem to talk the most smack in pugs nowadays, huh?
Anyway, we fight our way through the next trash to the second boss and the healer seemed to fall back into his old ways of lackluster healing. After wiping on the second boss three times, he and two Dps decided to leave. That left me and a shadow priest who offered to heal for the next group.
Before he could make good on his offer, the dungeon finder found us the rest of a group. We somehow ended up with another Shadow Priest, a Hunter, and a Holy Priest as healer! Wow..three priest in the group. I don’t know about anyone else, but that rarely happens for me whether I tank or not!
We down the second and third bosses without any problems or a need to CC! Good times!! We actually did not have any problems until the final boss called his adds. But that was only due to a slight mix up with who was taking the right and left mobs.
We sorted that out. Everyone seemed very good natured about the wipe on the final Boss though. So we rushed back. Dropped the Boss. Collected the shinies! I thanked everyone for such a good group and hoped to see them again sometime.
At least the evening ended on a good note!
Now it was time to relax and pew pew on my Dps alts to get their daily Valor Points!
See??? That’s what I get…
Yesterday evening, I pugged a Heroic Grim Batol.
Zaren had done a bunch of random queues as “tank” that night with hopes that a set of ilevel 346 tanking shoulders to drop to replace my current shoulders.
However, it was the end of my evening and I just wanted to relax and do a little pew pew or BAM BAM! (Since he’s melee)
I queued Zaren as dps…RELAX…this isn’t another one of those “…and the piece I wanted dropped and I couldn’t have it” rants.
Over the last month, I have picked up quite a few dps pieces. When I’m tanking I don’t roll on dps pieces, but if I notice that the only plate wearing dps toons in the run have much better gear I will ask to need on dps equipment for Offspec. I had a pretty decent set considering the lack of time spent dpsing.
Anyway!! The reason I’m splattered on the ground like that is:
Seems when I dps, I have more time to see what’s going on around me. As the group was flying the drakes on the bombing run at the beginning of Grim Batol, I actually paid attention to the environment.
The lower level of Grim Batol looked so peaceful and serene! I wondered what it was like down there. It looked so much like Ironforge that I felt I knew the place like the back of my hand. (Yes, Zaren was originally Alliance..don’t judge me!) That’s when I had my wonderful idea!
After we finished the instance, all the mobs would be gone and I could stroll the concourses safely! It would be just like those older Tankspot.com videos where they would show you the dungeon layout and there were no mobs around!
So I said farewell to the pug and waited for the last one to disappear and headed for the railings!
I had been playing around with the Warrior’s Heroic Leap! I would have Zaren jump from very high places and use Heroic Leap to escape fall damage. Had been working pretty good too!
I would target the ground somewhere off to the side and cast Heroic Leap just before I hit the ground. I would land safely and with no damage…..Cool!!
I Even tried it after dismounting my flying mount from up high and it worked!
I positioned myself on the rail carefully…
I targeted the landing below…
And I jumped so my trajectory would make me land somewhere away from the lava …
I was a few feet from landing when I cast Heroic Leap, and the next thing I knew…
I was dead!
Apparently, they either hot fixed the “no damage” glitch on Heroic Leap..OR..the lower level of Grim Batol is all glowing red because it is extremely HOT down there! OR I just misjudged the distance to the ground… I don’t know!
Maybe I need read more Lore or Patch Notes, but hey…Don’t judge me!!!
Any that’s what I get for being curious!
DEADMINES??? Why does it have to be DEADMINES??!!
Deadmines???.....Why does it have to be Deadmines???!!
It was Saturday and I decided to spend that day this weekend chaining heroics. Its something that I could always do as a warrior, but didn’t because every now and then you get a bad pug or someone in a pug that doesn’t understand that everyone didn’t start playing the game the same time as him/her. I need some decompress time after that.
Jerks in a group really make the run unnecessarily difficult for all. ESPECIALLY if they don’t know everything. (wannabe Elitist Jerks)
Now, I’ve only done Heroic Deadmines a couple of times. Dungeon Finder has spared me the pleasure for so long. Even when I did get Heroic Deadmines, I’ve been so lucky (or unlucky) to have been thrown into a group as they are attempting to do the last boss. More specifically, the “nightmare” phase with all the spiders and such. Kill that Helix guy, I believe.
First Deadmines Pug:
Today, however, it seems like my gameplay is one continuos loop of the same dungeon. It’s like that cable tv show you always seem to come in at the same point in the plot.
Nightmare! I’m having a hard time because I try to set focus on the mob, but I can’t seem to do it fast enough. Then the spiders get in the way when I try to hit thunderclap accidently switch targets. I frantically try to target the marked mob amist a flury of animation, and it seems like I’m just flayling away mindlessly until the dps kills the required mob. (Maybe there is an addon that will solve that for me?)
Anyway, the dps was pretty good so we make it back to the ship to attempt to kill Vanessa VanCleef.
Vanny goes popping around all over the place. Wouldn’t mind that so much, but she keeps ending up behind me for some reason. Not to mention that I can’t seem to get my camera situated so I don’t have to keep adjusting it when I get next to a wall or structure. God I hate that place…
At around 66% and 33% health, the boss sets off explosions on the ship. The only way to survive is to grab a rope and swing away from the ship as the explosives go off. I (of course) died because the warlock in our group took the rope that I was heading for. I couldn’t make it to the only rope left (on the opposite side of the line of ropes) before that heffa Vanessa sets off explosions killing me instantly.
After that wipe, my rope was assigned before hand, however, I die again! I missed clicking the rope and ended up on a ledge on the side of the boat. There was nothing to do but kill myself in the flames surronding the boat and blocking any exit. I could not teleport out of the dungeon cause I was still in combat status. So it was listen to the puggers tell me how stupid I am for doing that while they continued to fight. Or die and come re-enter after they wipe or kill the boss. They still said missing the rope and sitting on the ledge was a bonehead move, but I’m sure I’m not the only one who has ever made that mistake.
Third time was the charm. Apparently all the mistakes had been gotten out of the way in the previous attempts and we killed the boss. But she is vindictive! She took me out with her as a final act of defiance. But it was all good!
Next Pug:
The next Heroic Pick Up Group was… Deadmines….yes, /sigh. This run is starting from the beginning, so I give my pug mates a heads up that this is the first time for me doing this dungeon and there was no “OMG” or exits. We go along our merry way as the healer tells me what to expect ahead and suggestions on how to deal with it. Suggestions are always welcome and I do try to follow them.
However, this pug has a Death Knight that was what I like to call a wannabe Elitis Jerk. He claimed to know everything about the dungeon. What his role is. What my role is. What your role is, etc. (or at least said he did) He would contradict the healer now and then, but since he didn’t step up earlier, I felt confident in my healer. (I’m a tank. I should trust my healer) The priest assured my of his/her strategy and they worked fine.
Everything was good until Fel Reaver 5000. With a group that consisted of the DK and me (plate wearers) and three clothies, he did not choose to pilot the construct to pick up the add on Fel Reaver 5000.
Mr. DK refused to do so, even though I and everyone else explained that a melee dps would be a better choice to pilot the vehicle. Mr DK was too worried about his dps and abilities that he would not be able to use, so he didnt even get into the vehicle before we ran down to attack Fel Reaver 5000. (despite our voting him to run the construct)
Needless to say we wiped when the adds came running up the ramp and killed us with the help of the boss. And after pointing out this flaw in his actions to the death knight, he promptly left giving us a piece of his mind. (something that he apparently should not be without)
We almost instantly got a replacement and the rest of the dungeon went without too much of a hitch. It was really fun actually!
I felt a little sad, because when you get a group of strangers that know how to play, you want to keep going. But you know the Dungeon Finder! Everyone was from a different server, so we bid each other farewell and I went off in search of another pug. Another day in paradise!
But I still get that little twinge when I see that loading screen.
Square…for the love of GOD! Square!
Yesterday Zaren pugged a Grim Batol heroic dungeon.
After the insta-queue, my group was ready to go. I’ve queued as dps myself sometimes and I understand wanting to go right at it after a 30+ minute wait.
We clear the group of troggs in the next room just off to the left and make our way out to the concourse to the first pack of Dragonkin.
My group consisted of me (prot warrior), a priest, a death knight, a warlock and a hunter.
The dragonkin went down fairly quickly after I marked the caster with a skull and heroic leaped into the middle of the group with my party killing them in short order.
Next group had a couple of humanoid caster types, so I asked the hunter to freeze trap the mob with the square marker. The hunter launches has trap and everyone starts running toward this pack of mobs!
The deathknight throws his death and decay out and the frozen mob breaks free and joins the attack against us. We survive, but that was pretty much how most of the trash pulled went.
Either the deathknight broke the crowd control on the mob and it would try to rape us along with the other mobs….OR (as I later found out) the hunter had to be told to ice trap the mob even though the square mark was established as his mark for the run and it was over the mob I wanted controlled.
Another reason crowd control didn’t work to well was because the group would start running to the pack as soon as the saw the hunters trap launch. They would get closer to the mobs. The mobs would aggro and the fight would be held to close to the CC and break the CC.
I guess I shouldn’t complain. I mean..most of the pugs I’ve been in consisted of people who didn’t want to crowd control the mobs. They just wanted to burn them down in a hail of aoe. But has the dungeons gotten that easy so soon?
As I said, its hard to get the group to go along with crowd controlling the mob. Heck, some of the puggers I’ve encountered didn’t even know what the marking icons were for and for which crowd control.
I saw a very good video from Hitmanblood at tgnworldofwarcraft.com on CC marking. It showed what these icons are and when and how to use them:
Back to Tanking!
Zaren, (my very first toon) started his existence in WoW as an Arms Warrior. To date he still has an Arms build, however, I haven’t had much time to explore it yet.
With the new expansion, I’m learning how to play my toons all over again. For me, that’s a good thing. I liked Tanking in
Burning Crusade, but didn’t get much opportunity to tank in the Wrath expansion. Now that Cataclysm is here, Zaren has been spending a lot of time tanking.
I try to read as much as I can about the new dungeons, but I work for a living and time is limited. Sometimes, you just have to “jump in and tank” as a friend of mine would say.
Forget that you may look stupid, unprepared, and get yelled at. A tank should be able to handle it and take charge. So.. I did!
Lucky for me, I’ve met some decent puggers on my first go around as tank in Cataclysm. Otherwise, I’m not too sure that I would like tanking as much as I do right now.
Seems that there must not be a whole lot of tanks out there, because I seen to get a dungeon group as soon as I click “find group.”
I can understand some tanks not wanting to tank, because of the abuse they get from the other toons that have waited for 30+ minutes for a tank to show up so they can play. GOD FORBID… you should make a mistake or not know EXACTLY what to do in any given situation EVEN THOUGH you have explained that you are still basically new to tanking at level 85.
I want to remind the Paladin, Death Knight, (etc.) that have dual specs that they could tank, but obviously want to sit back and not take any heat. It amazes me that these same players complain about the long wait times for dungeon groups, but they could have insta-ques like me if their skins where thicker.
Even with all the QQ’ng and jumping the gun some players seem to love to do, I enjoy tanking.
I love being able to set the pace. Identify and mark the mobs I want to kill and in what order. I also like looking out for my group and keeping them from being one-shotted by the big bad mob. I guess I’m a protector. That’s probably why I have a priest also at level cap.
Yes, life is good as a tank! Now, if I could only get my puggers to stick with the marked mob!
But that’s another blog…
Hello world!
Hey everyone!
I play a character named ,Zaren in the World of Warcraft.Â
I have many toons that I play. Zaren was my first! He started out as an Arms Warrior, but toward the middle of the Burning Crusade he became a Protection Warrior.
I’ve played Zaren here and there over the years since, but have decided to tank again in Cataclysm. Zaren doesn’t have a guild yet, so he has pugged to 85 and is now doing heroics.
Some of those experiences are interesting enough to me to want to write about them, so I will. Hopefully, you will like and/or identify with some or all of what you will find here.
Thanks for viewing!
The Rusty Shield 