I know Druids are Hybrids and that our value comes from our versitility. It's extremely beneficial to a raid to have someone who can deal good DPS, off-tank, off-heal, combat rez, and Innervate healers all in the package of one raider. And, I like getting to do different things.
However, my favorite is tanking. Up until about a month or so ago, I was THE off-tank on all raids. It was Baklor (our GM) and me, side by side, protecting the raid from all the meanies! And we had that awesome MT/OT bond thing going.
But, lately, I've been stuck in the DPS role. I guess I'm different from most people. It seems everyone wants to DPS and no one wants to tank...or, God forbid, heal. (can't blame them on the heal part) But, I like tanking. It's way more fun and engaging than DPSing. You have to pay attention to more stuff, watch out for the healers, and control the pace of the instance, etc.
So...what happened? Did I piss off our GM? :'( Did I let my kitty gear get too good? Do we have too many Prot Warriors? Do I suck at tanking and just not know it? Maybe a little of all the above?
Honestly, I think we do have a good complement of Prot Warriors and when it comes down to the decision of who can do better at DPS....me or a Prot Warrior...it's me and there I am in kitty form. I understand the reasoning...but that doesn't mean I have to like it. ;p
Sooo...what to do, what to do...
Do I continue with my whine campaign with the GM? Do I throw in some guilt trips? Should I threaten him? Bribe him with a non-combat pet? Change my primary role from tanking to dps and roll on Rogue gear? Roll on Boomkin loot and respec?
What do you all think? Any ideas for 'Project Get Mooire Back to Tanking'?
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13 comments:
I prefer tanking to DPS, but will DPS when required by the guild. It can be fun to rip faces off. =)
I think that you need to ask your GM why you've not been pulling the tanking assignments, and go from there.
You may also need to subtlety educate him in the competitive advantages a druid tank has to offer.
For example, you not tanking on VR is out-and-out gimping the entire raid.... you can generate way more threat than the off-tank warriors, and give all of the DPS more room to open up. You may do 300 more DPS than a warrior in kitty form, but if you're tanking you do 200-400 more tps when VR isn't hitting you, and that translates waaaaaaay more raid DPS.
Another good example is Tidewalker... he hits hard, and our warrior tanks simply cannot deal with his crushing blows since he has many attacks that burn shield charges. Druids, on the other hand, barely notice crushing blows - our armor is far too high to have us worrying about them.
While it's the right call to have a druid tank DPSing a single tank boss like lurker, there no reason that you shouldn't be in bear form for most of the raid, helping manage the trash, and tank the big bosses.
Like Karthis said, have a heart to heart talk with your GM to find out what's up.
Another example is Leo. We have a Bear tank for him so our prot warriors can whip out their 2 handers and at least try to contribute to DPS. When Leo switches to demon form, the Druid tank can switch to cat and do more damage while Leo's focused on the Warlock.
Our GM is a good guy and very understanding. I will talk to him and remind him of the benefits of having a Druid tank. I think he's just been letting the warriors have a bit of fun since I've been the #1 OT for so long. I was mainly just having a QQ moment. ;p
There's nothing wrong with taking a bit of a break from the tanking game. I've done it myself from time to time. However, it sounds like you are referring to the 10 man type instances (You say MT/OT, so I'm assuming there are only 2 tanks?). If this is still the concern in the 10 mans, is it possible to create another team?
And like Karthis said, you dpsing in kitty is more dps than a warrior, but you tanking in bear is also more dps than a prot warrior. More dps=more threat=win
What should you do? I dunno, but you could write about your feelings on a really public and well-read blog - your GM is bound to hear about it soon enough... ;)
Go Resto!!
I agree with those who recommended to just talk to your GM and maybe with those warriors as well. On the other hand you might like a respec to a casting role for a while if you don't enjoy the kitty role that much, have no chance to tank a lot and want to see something new.
In case you decide to respec to get a break from the kitty just take care not all the tanks decide to respec at the same time. In our guild there seem to be trends sometimes and all of a sudden we miss players for one of the roles.
A former guildmate told me this once:
We bring a feral because they can tank, because they can dps, and because they have more utility than another prot warrior. If we wanted just another tank we'd bring another prot warrior.
Don't neglect the kitty by limiting your gear or your role to tanking, but make sure they know you want to be a bear.
@ Imayliya
It started with 10 mans. He and I were the MT/OT when we began in Kara. But, I continued to be the OT in Gruuls and ZA. But, now, I do more DPS in those instances and 25 mans as we have more Prot warriors in the guild now.
@ Anonymous
pwned! ;p
@ Bulvine
-40 points! ;p
@ Yashima
I'm not gonna respec. I'm too stuburn. I'll wait it out...those prot warriors will get burned out eventually. ;)
@ Galliano
I don't neglect my kitty or bear gear. Both are at the 25 man level.
@ Everyone
I have talked to my GM and he's working on rotations for tanking so that no one gets left out. As I said he's a really, really good guy and I was having a public QQ moment. ;p I know that Druids and hybrids and our asset is our ability to change roles as fast as Outfitter can change gear and I like that about my Druid.
I will put it another way. There are items that a lot of melee will look at you like you are crazy for taking over them, but once you've moved on in raid progression certain items, most notably your non-dura items continue to be the best out there. Also once raid progression reaches a certain point your veteran raiders tend to resist going back to older content without some major arm-twisting (at least on their mains).
Hey you can main tank for Aquenzi and my heroic instances any time you want! We think you're an awesome MT.
It was weird we had like 1 prot tank, then BOOM we had 50. This is not a bad thing. Plus if the proties go down we have you to pick up the slack.
On a separate note, I think you are softening the ferocious point market by allowing people to complain out of negative points or beg into positive. Given, it is your own currency, so it is your prerogative...so CAN I HAVE MORE POINTS PLZ PLZ PLZ PLZ PLZ PLZ with Brady on top??!?!!!
XD
ZOMG NAE HATES ME!! QQ
LOL, the reason i get you to dps, is the fact that we have 4 prots with us usually, and you do absolutly sick dps. Prots having to dps is completely usless, whereas a druid can dps, dropping stuff faster and therefore clearing instances faster. The whole point is to maximize dps, support your tanks and healers. I know the benifits of druid threat while tanking, i do have one that was my 1st primary raiding toon.
Nae is still my most fav tank, but unfortunatly i'll hog the glory on all the 1st boss kills =P
or maybe i'll start raiding on my warlock instaed ....=O
<3 Nae
@ Cee
I'm always happy to do Heroics with you two. :)
And, you're right, I have softened the FB point market so I'll just have to resist your whining so as not to perpetuate the problem. ;p
@ Baklor
I don't hate you! I just miss being your right hand tank. QQ
I do understand your reasons for having me DPS rather than tank and can not argue about them. I was just having a QQ moment. ;p
Yes, you should always have fist boss kill glory!
Just say no to the Warlock. ;p
<3 you too! :D
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