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That’s probably a little tough to see.

That’s my hotkey for Shield Wall. When the Yeti hit the wall, I couldn’t hit it fast enough. I recognized a while ago that I wasn’t fast enough on my Shield Walls so I mapped it to that. The muscle memory isn’t there yet though. Next week though, next week it will be.

But, it’s not my fault!

Now you can play the blame game all you want after you’re all dead about how so-and-so shouldn’t have got hit by the Yeti, but in the end, you’re the one who didn’t Shield Wall fast enough. If you had, you’d have lived. What else were you saving Shield Wall for in this phase anyway? Yes, you shouldn’t have to use Shield Wall, but then you shouldn’t have to do a lot of things. You’re either being compensated for or you’re compensating for someone else.

So, when the Yeti hits the wall, are you fast enough?

For Icecrown Citadel, we are implementing a spell that will affect every enemy creature in the raid. The spell, called Chill of the Throne, will allow creatures to ignore 20% of the dodge chance of their melee targets. So if a raid’s main tank had 30% dodge normally, in Icecrown Citadel they will effectively have 10%.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post’s poll.

How’s my spec?

15/3/53 is the current all-inclusive spec, I recommend. It’s high damage/threat, but also makes room for 2 minute Shield Wall. The major glyphs that best compliment this spec are Blocking, Devastate and Shield Wall. The minor ones are Bloodrage, Thunderclap and Command.

How much Defense do I need?

540 Defense is the minimum amount you need. It’s okay to get more than that, but extra Stamina is going to benefit you more when you’re first starting. If you’re struggling to hit 540 Defense skill talk to a Blacksmith, get Wyrmrest Accord rep and run regular Halls of Lightning over and over again until you get Seal of the Pantheon.

What gems should I use?

Blue: Stamina (blue)
Yellow: Defense + Stamina (green) or just Defense (yellow) if you’re under 540 Defense
Red: Expertise + Stamina (purple) or Dodge + Stamina (purple)

If the set bonus isn’t great, just ignore the colour and throw Stamina in it.

Meta: Austere Earthsiege Diamond (Yes, I realize Eternal Earthsiege Diamond exists and no, you should not take it instead even if you’re under 540 Defense. Find the Defense elsewhere. No, it’s not worth the little bit of threat it gives you either.)

What enchants should I use?

Head: Arcanum of the Stalwart Protector
Shoulders: 30 Stamina or 20 Defense / 15 Dodge
Back: If you need Defense, 16 Defense rating, otherwise, 225 Armor.
Chest: If you need Defense, 22 Defense rating, otherwise, 275 Health.
Bracers: 40 Stamina or 12 Defense if you’re poor/cheap.
Gloves: 240 Armor
Belt: Get an extra socket.
Legs: Frosthide Leg Armor or Jormungar Leg Armor if you’re poor/cheap.
Boots: 15 Stamina + Run speed or 22 Stamina.
Shield: If you need Defense, 20 Defense rating, otherwise, 18 Stamina.
Weapon: Blood Draining or Mongoose. If you’re cheap/poor, Titanium Weapon Chain.

If you need Defense, it’s best to enchant your Back for Defense first then your Shield and finally, your Chest. (source)

What professions should I take?

Any 2 of Mining, Blacksmithing, Leatherworking, Jewelcrafting and Enchanting.

My Hit and Expertise are really low though!

Don’t worry about that stuff. Survive first, generate crazy amounts of threat second. If you’re struggling with threat, it rarely has anything to do with gear. It’s usually because you aren’t pulling fast enough, you’re pushing the wrong buttons or you’re pushing the right buttons too slow.

How do I generate Single target threat?

Heroic Strike, a lot. You can Heroic Strike at the same time as your priority system.

The priority system is: Shield Slam > Shockwave > Concussion Blow > Revenge > Devastate
When you’re first getting started, it’s okay to use this as well: Shield Slam > Revenge > Devastate
Or even: Shield Slam > Devastate

The easier the rotation gets though the less damage you’re doing. If you find you’re not Heroic Striking enough, consider binding Heroic Strike to the wheel on your mouse. Spin to win.

How do I generate Multi-target threat?

Shockwave, Thunderclap and Shield Block.

When those are on cooldown, generate single-target threat except try to move to a different mob for each ability in the priority system. Cleave also replaces Heroic Strike in multi-target threat situations. If DPSers don’t wait a bit and your Shockwave is on cooldown, sometimes, you’re going to lose aggro. That’s just the way it goes. This can usually be solved just by pulling faster. Not only will this get the run done faster, but it’ll also force DPSers to use their mana correctly rather than nuking and drinking. Never wait for a DPSer to get mana back unless it’s a boss. Challenging Shout and Taunt should also be used aggressively if things feel like they’re getting out of control.

A final note on Shockwave: If you don’t need it for a pull, don’t use it.  A lot of tanks get in trouble because they constantly keep it on cooldown. This is the wrong way to use it especially during a multiple wave fight. The event in Halls of Stone is a perfect example of this. Save Shockwave for when you know you’re about to lose aggro or for when Thunderclap is on cooldown and you need AOE threat.

What instances should I do?

Halls of Lightning
Do it on regular until you get the defense trinket. Loken is also an important boss to learn to do. Don’t use the cheaty method of standing in for his nuke. If you find your groups always insisting on doing this then start doing it on heroic to learn it the real way.

Halls of Stone
The wave event is an important fight to teach you how to properly use Shockwave in multi-target situations. If you’re struggling with this encounter, you are probably wasting a lot of Shockwaves by overuse or just missing with them. Don’t forget about Challenging Shout.

Utgarde Pinnacle
You’ll probably be told to go here because of the sweet tanking sword. Lucky for you, this instance will actually teach you something as well. The gauntlet is another great multi-target tanking test. If you’re struggling with it, you’re once again probably Shockwaving too much.

Violet Hold
There’s an ugly pull late in this instance that splits 4 mobs in two groups of 2. You need to learn to handle that situation.

How to handle it #1
Thunderclap the mobs closest to the entrance while using Heroic Throw on one of the far mobs then Taunting the final one. Once the Taunted mob is in range, be sure to hit it with a Shield Slam. Now that they’re all bunched up, you can backup and Shockwave them all followed by Thunderclap.

How to handle it #2
Thunderclap the mobs closest to the entrance then run over and Shockwave the other 2. Thunderclap as soon as it’s off cooldown. This is easier, but generates less threat.

This instance also has the chance for you to fight a boss named Xevozz. The best way to tank him is kiting him away from the spheres he spawns ensuring to keep those spheres out of his line of sight. It’s a great fight for learning how to generate threat on the run. It’ll really test how well you can generate threat while paying attention to something else. You can find an excellent visual guide on it, here.

Occulus
The most hated instance in WotLK which really just means it’s going to test you more than any instance in WotLK. It’s got a number of challenging boss fights and add packs, but probably it’s biggest test is not having a mental breakdown when your group mounts up on dragons and runs in 4 different directions. Your whole group being on Ventrilo is a huge bonus for this instance.

How do I know if I’m ready to raid?

Complete all of the Heroics multiple times. 3 is a good number. Yes, you will have the gear to raid before that, but you won’t be comfortable with your character yet. I highly recommend watching all of the Naxx videos at Tankspot.com and then leading your own Naxx run. Yes, you’re going to get called a noob because frankly, you are one, but you’ll also learn a lot as you struggle your way through the raid. It’s not the easiest or fastest way to get gear, but it is the fastest way to tanking end-game content. It’s the experience you need, not the gear. You learn far more from your failures than your successes.

You haven’t really talked about Gear

You’re right. I haven’t. Tanking is more about how you use your gear than the gear itself. So, training yourself in how to tank, how to enchant, gem and spec are all more important than how to find the loot you want. The reality is once you start raiding, you aren’t going to get exactly what you want. You take what you can get and you make the best of it.

As I commented on Kadomi’s post, I was skeptical. I’m not anymore.

What did I do?

I just used the spreadsheet. I got the same information. However, I interpreted the results differently. Yes, Devastate is a lot better than Revenge, Concussion Blow and Shockwave for threat.

But.

Devastate is not better than Revenge, Concussion Blow and Shockwave for damage.

If.

You have 2 points in Improved Revenge.

Put 2 points in Improved Revenge

As long as you do this, even if you’re using both the T8 and T9 2-piece bonuses simultaneously, Revenge is still more damage with 2 points in Improved Revenge. Even if you’re using a 2.00 speed weapon. So, for your “threat” build, Revenge is still a higher priority than Devastate.

However, if you don’t have any points in Improved Revenge and you have either the T8 or the T9 2-piece bonus then Revenge becomes less damage than Devastate. Which means that for those of us that are well-geared and running Survival-oriented builds, Devastate has surpassed Revenge in today’s near infinite rage environment.

It’s all about Damage, isn’t it?

Most of the time, yes, which is why you should read through the above carefully and see how your spec plays. There are some fights though where Threat is still relevant. Fights like Malygos and Hodir where strong DPS can challenge you even surpass you. If you’re holding anyone back, Devastate is unquestionably the better choice.

The Bottom Line

DPS is only better than TPS as long as your TPS is not holding anyone back. Sometimes, Revenge is going to be the right choice. Sometimes, Devastate is going to be the right choice. It’s up to you to learn when.

I don’t agree with this mindset, but I know that some of you are going to feel this way. It’s difficult for those of us in established guilds to empathize with those not. I’d be lying if during my journey to where I am that I did everything exactly how I wanted to. I made mistakes. I wasn’t always honest or honourable. I do have regrets.

Raiding can be a dirty business.

Where it all starts

We’re going to assume that you’re either new to the game or new to your tank being your main and that you’re looking at seeing a lot of content as your tank.

Path #1

You join a new guild filled with inexperienced players.

Pros:
A new, inexperienced guild is a great way to get gear and offers the best chance for you to get experience Main tanking. You’ll very likely even have the opportunity to insist upon yourself, the Main tank, getting all the upgrades first. They might even insist on this without you saying it. Gearing the Main tank first is a big mistake that a lot of new guilds make.

Cons:
Upon leaving, your reputation will be destroyed, but the beauty is that the realm community rarely cares about the opinions of new, inexperienced guilds. However, this transition is likely going to land you in a guild as an offtank as you’ll likely still lack the reputation, gear and experience to Main tank for your new guild.

Path #2

You join a new guild filled with experienced players. The leadership of this guild has usually broken off from an established guild due to drama.

Pros:
A new, experienced guild is a great way to gear up fast as well as gain you reputation. They want to do high level content immediately so they’ll go out of their way to gear you up quickly via run-throughs, crafting or buying stuff off the auction house.

Cons:
You probably aren’t going to get any experience as the Main tank and if you under perform, they’ll toss you to the side just as quickly as they geared you up. Even if everything works out, the guild is likely to disband sooner than later. The nice thing about that scenario though is that if you’ve managed to not get on anyone’s “noob” list then you’ve got a big name to use to help you get to the experienced, progressive guild you crave.

Path #3

You join an established, less progressive guild filled with a mixture of inexperience and experience players. Your stereotypical casual guild.

Pros:
An established, casual guild is a great way to gain reputation with the realm community. There’s a good chance you’ll even get to try your hand at Main tanking occasionally.

Cons:
You’re not going to gear up as fast as you would in a new, experienced guild (Path #2). Just like a new, inexperienced guild, there’s always a chance when you leave all geared up that your reputation will get scorched. The issue with this is that unlike a new, inexperienced guild, an established guild even if it’s a casual one can often have influence over whether or not you get into your next guild. Basically, if you don’t know how to leave with some grace, don’t bother with this path.

Path #4

Established, progressive guild with only experienced players.

Pros:
They’re everything you want in a guild.

Cons:
You’re nothing they want in an applicant. Lying can sometimes get your foot in the door if you’ve managed to get a few choice epics that make you look like you know what you’re doing, but high performance will be immediately required. Getting into this guild when you’re new will label you as not only a noob, but also a liar and remove them as a possibility forever. Established guilds have long memories.

The Skinny

Your ultimate goal is to land yourself in Path #4 with the gear and experience acquired from either Path #1, #2 or #3. Your fastest path there is definitely a new, experience guild (Path #2), but that route will require you to be a fast learner, be able to sell yourself effectively and above all, have a thick skin. Your 2nd “best” stepping stone is a new, inexperienced guild (Path #1) as it’ll offer you decent gear with a lot of the experience you need. You’ll probably have to take on some leadership roles and learn some patience yourself in the process though. You may want to consider going from Path #1 to Path #2 before trying to get to your end goal of Path #4. This, of course, will take longer though.

Finally, the slowest route is an established, casual guild. You’ll get some quick, easy gear, but nothing too impressive. You’ll have to walk a fine line of organizing stuff yourself in a guild like this while not disrupting the established systems. Ambition is easy to smell and casual guilds are often wary of it since it’s pretty much the exact opposite of their philosophies. However, if you are patient and play your cards right you should be able to leave this guild with some friends in high places, decent gear and an easy acceptance into Path #2 or Path #4.

Wrap Up

It’s difficult to just place guilds into perfect, little boxes like I’ve done in this article. No matter what path you choose, you’re going to make mistakes, you’re going to be misled from time to time and you’re going to have to make some tough decisions. Reputation, gear and experience all matter. How much they matter is as much luck as it is anything else when it comes to getting into a guild. After all, the same guild could have 2 different recruitment officers with 2 very different recruitment philosophies.

Overall, a good combination of reputation, gear and experience is always the best approach if you’ve really got your sights set on a particular guild. Which means, be patient and respectful of even the lowest and newest of guilds. Do everything in your power to gear up yourself even if you’re getting a lot of free handouts from others. And above all, do a lot of runs. Be they guild events or pugs, 5s, 10s or 25s, everything has something to teach you. The best tanks out there didn’t become the best by being lazy.

The Truth, again.

You are new and inexperienced. In order to quickly find yourself tanking in an established, end-game guild is going to take luck. You’ll need to have just the right kind of recruitment officer looking for a tank for a guild that rarely looks for tanks. The stars are pretty much going to have to align for you.

So, the truth is if you’re rushing to see all the content, you’re on something of a fool’s quest. For every success story a tank might tell you about how they dinged 80 and a month later were doing the hardest content in the game, there’s thousands of tanks that put in their time and are doing the hardest content in the game because they’re so damn good that no one would deny them that content. They’re so good that they’re not being carried to that content, they’re helping carry others to that content.

My point is you’re either carrying someone else or you’re being carried. Consider the former.

I’m not surprised.

At Tankspot, some apparently are, they’re mad about it and the debate has began.

Why aren’t I surprised?

A year ago, raiders everywhere were lost and had no idea what to do with their time with only a few months until the expansion that we enjoy today would be released. The gear those raiders got in those few months wasn’t going to help them in Wrath of the Lich King. Sound familiar?

It’s not about gear.

It’s about Experience.

Blizzard gets it

The fact is guys, I’m not a special snowflake and most of you guys aren’t either. Yes, Blizzard could remove Emblem gear altogether, but that still wouldn’t change that most of us aren’t getting world firsts. Yes, many of us have rightfully earned every single piece of loot we got at exactly the appropriate tier of content, but that still puts us a long ways behind those besting content days after it comes out.

Is it really worth holding back our new guild members, our alts and ourselves after a break from the game in order to look cool to those that have never stepped foot in a raid. If the only thing that separates you from those that haven’t raided is your gear, do you really deserve to be special?

It’s about accessibility and it’s a damn good thing.

Keep doing what you’re doing

News that every heroic or lower raid you run after the patch is going to work you towards superior gear to that of every heroic or lower raid you run now, should not stop you from doing them. Never mind that gems can always be bought with these Emblems, I can’t emphasize enough how valuable the experience is.

Do me a Favour

Be Happy.

Don’t ignore the experience you’ve acquired. Don’t devalue the joy you felt for getting the loot you got. Don’t forget about the contributions that the gear you acquired made for the time you had it.

And especially don’t throw a fit like a child and be pissed off because anyone will have an opportunity to show whether they’re actual good at the game. I’ll say it again…

If the only thing that separates you from those that haven’t raided is your gear, do you really deserve to be special?

Alright, what’s her loot?

10 man

• Gleaming Quel’Serrar
• Runed Ring of Binding
• Faceguard of Wrath
• Eskhandar’s Choker

25 man

• Burnished Quel’Serrar
• Signified Ring of Binding
• Helm of Wrath
• Eskhandar’s Links

Head of Onyxia: Purified Onyxia Blood Talisman

But, what about…

• Vis’kag the Bloodletter
• Deathbringer
• Shard of the Flame

Too slow, too slow and not a tanking trinket.

Back to the Task

The Quel in both it’s 10 and 25 man varieties leaves something to be desired. You cannot count on them for Defense rating to make you crit immune. They are slow so they’ll generate less threat than similar level, faster alternatives. Which is to say that they’ll best items that they’re a few tiers ahead of, but similar or close items will be superior. They also aren’t exactly an ideal starter weapon for those struggling to hover around the 540 Defense minimum mark.

For example, I’ll be sticking with Anub’arak10’s Ardent Guard over even the 25 man Quel.

The ring, however, is on the opposite side of the spectrum. Both the 10 and 25 man versions are fantastic. Outside of Hard Mode loot, the combination of the 25 man version and the Emblem reward, Clutch of Fortification are your best bet. The 10 man version is very strong too though and will finally give those tired of looking at The Leviathan’s Coil a reason to take it off.

The helm falls somewhere in the middle. It’s a tad bit behind items on the same item level, but it’s certainly a fantastic upgrade for those wearing anything a tier or more below. While the 25 man version of this piece doesn’t trump the Emblem’s Headplate of the Honorbound, acquiring it will certainly force you to rearrange your priorities when determining which Emblem piece to pick up next.

The neck, like the ring, is an excellent piece. It is not without having some competition though. For the 10 man raider, it’s fairly obvious that it falls slightly below Lord Jaraxxus’ Endurance of the Infernal. For the 25 man raider, the dilemma will be whether to use it or Legionnaire’s Gorget/The Arbiter’s Muse to which I recommend the latter for most situations. (Ony’s neck being the better if you’re in need of some extra threat/dps)

Finally, the Head of Onyxia. If you don’t need the Defense rating, skip it. It has no usage nor any Stamina making it sub-par to most trinkets out there. Basically, the item is far better given to another role that’ll benefit from the alternative rewards.

Thoughts

As critical as I am of Onyxia’s rewards, I’m approaching it from the perspective of someone that’s been raiding a while. If you haven’t, you’re going to love any piece that comes your way from her loot table. She’s very puggable especially on a 10 man level and with her dropping you Emblems of Triumph, I encourage you to kill her, often.

Easy pick for all fights involving physical damage (most fights):
Glyph of Indomitability
Black Heart

There’s no better option.

I was kinda wondering where Vene was coming from when dissing the Indomitability, and when I read his article “There’s more to a trinket than Stamina” it makes me wonder even more tbh.

The Glyph of Indomitability is by far the strongest trinket in-game atm, followed by Black Heart.

Now, I don’t agree with everything he has to say here, (ie. about The Black Heart) but what’s he’s absolutely right about is wondering what’s going on. After all, how can I hate on the Brewest trinkets for not being good enough because they don’t have a strong usage and then hate on the trinket with the best usage in the game.

I’m talking, of course, about Glyph of Indomitability. Here’s what I had to say about it before:

Glyph of Indomitability begs the question, how good is armor? I place this item a bit better than Essence of Gossamer which is why it places so far down the list. If you manage to get this far down, you’ll be coupling this trinket with The Black Heart. If you’re a Jewelcrafter then just skip this piece and use a Monarch Crab instead.

The above reads like I glazed right over the trinket’s usage when I wrote it and the reality is, I did just that. It’s also pretty clear that I’ve forgot to factor in just how strong Armor is when you’ve got a lot more Health than Armor.

So, where are we now?

I’ve moved Glyph of Indomitability up considerably on the Emblem of Triumph pick order. The Armor it provides puts it on a similar level of passive survivability to that of Heart of Iron. The clearly better usage puts it over the top. Basically, once I manage to wrangle up the badges you’ll see me coupling it with Heart of Iron for many fights and with Juggernaut’s Vitality (Satrina’s Impeding Scarab for you alliance folk) for many others.

The Beauty of running a Website

It’s funny that when I set out doing this whole thing, I wanted to share what I had learned and in doing so help you avoid making mistakes. Little did I know that it would all come full circle and you guys would be helping me too. Thanks to you, I’m always under the microscope. Thanks to you, I triple check what I have to say before saying it. Thanks to you, I correct what I say when what I’ve said wasn’t right.

Thanks.

Unfortunately…

It’s not all about Stamina.

Wait… WHAT!?

Yes, you’re still reading TankingTips.com. The reality is though we aren’t playing the Stamina game. We don’t gear to appease pugs. We gear to live. My Heart of Iron isn’t going anywhere. 8 Stamina is not worth losing the ability to gain 432 Dodge rating for 20 seconds on command.

The Real Question

What do these new trinkets beat for the Stamina stacker at heart?

Certainly Heart of Iron and Royal Seal of King Llane beat them. The mighty crab trumps them as well. Clearly, they beat old blue. Which leaves the tricky part…

Brewfest vs The Black Heart

You lose a lot of Stamina (44) for an amazing proc. An amazing proc that’ll be up about 10 seconds every minute. It goes against everything I stand for in the way of consistency, but I’m choosing The Black Heart. It’s proc won’t always be up, but when it is, it’s the best kind of proc since it’s guaranteed that it’ll have an impact. It’s up-time is going to be even better on fights like the Northern Beasts, Thorim or anything else where you find yourself taunting back and forth with a fellow tank. For those fights, it’s simply better so you should have it available.

For fights that don’t fall into that category though like Anub’arak, Patchwerk or anything else where you’re stuck tanking the same mob the whole time, it’s a toss up. Certainly, the heavier the magic component to the fight, the more you should lean towards Team Brewfest.

When appeasing pugs matters…

These trinkets aren’t a must-have if you’ve been fortunate enough to get your hands on some of the higher item level Stamina trinkets from raids, but for those that aren’t raiding yet or aren’t lucky, I’d definitely recommend picking up at least one of these. For those having to put up with the pug scene where Health trumps all, don’t be ashamed to throw on both long enough to snag an invite to Vault of Archavon.

After all, you lose 100% of the races you don’t run.

What this Wall-o-Text is about

Block value currently determines the static amount that you block. If you have 1000 Block value, your blocks will block 1000 damage. Your critical blocks will block twice that amount.

1. Block value was okay in TBC.
2. Block value kinda sucks in WotLK.
3. Block value is gone in the future.

Block rating determines how often you block so stacking it will increase your percentage chance to block.

1. Block rating sucked in TBC.
2. Block rating is okay in WotLK.
3. Block rating is changing a lot in the future.

Where it all began

Now we could go way back and talk about all manner of silliness in Vanilla as to WoW, but the past is something more to just give us some perspective so we aren’t going to focus too much on completeness in telling this portion. Block value items first saw real representation in the Naxx40 days which started the rise of this cool idea of ridiculously big Shield Slams. The idea continued into The Burning Crusade (TBC) with the Zul’Aman instance especially dropping a lot of Block value/rating pieces to support this gearing ideology.

Block value was pretty decent for a lot of TBC. Block value kept it’s value well into Tier 5 content, (Serpentshrine Cavern and Tempest Keep) but started losing a lot of it’s flare after that as a defensive stat. It should be noted that Block value never has been and to this day still isn’t a better threat stat than Expertise or Hit rating. It looks nice on Omen because you’ll see high threat spikes, but for consistent, high threat, it’s sup-bar. Block rating was terrible in TBC because Shield Block gave Warriors a 100% chance to block against all, but the fastest of hitting Bosses.

Jump forward to Now

Today, we enjoy Shield Block as a nice cooldown that can give us a big burst threat boost early on or act as a solid defensive cooldown for scenarios that aren’t so dangerous that they warrant the usage of our true cooldowns. (Shield Wall and Last Stand) What this has done is switch the places of Block value and Block rating in terms of usefulness. With blocking far less reliable than in the past and with bosses hitting for significantly more damage, Block value has become pretty poor. Block rating on the other hand has gained a little bit of punch. You’ll notice that Block rating is especially useful in Heroics and early raid content like Naxx10/25.

As a result, whenever I’ve been discussing itemization here over the course of Wrath of the Lich King, I’ve placed extremely low value on Block value items. I also rank Block rating pieces pretty low because they aren’t strong in Ulduar10/25 or even on the Malygos10/25 fight.

What the Future holds

As of this moment, block is getting a reworking for the next expansion, Cataclysm. Block value is going to be removed from the game and with it’s removal, block is going to shift away from a static reduction to a percentile one. (So instead of blocking 1000 damage, you’ll block 10% of an attack) Block rating will still exist in some capacity either to improve how much of a percentage we block, how often we block or both. This is concerning.

In the past, what made block work is that Warriors had 100% uptime. What has made block less desirable throughout WotLK is that Warriors don’t have 100% uptime. Come Cataclysm one of two scenarios is going to occur:

Scenario 1
Warriors have 100% block. Block rating in this world only improves the percentage that is blocked. This basically makes Block rating another stat that does the exact same thing as Armor. Not a very likely scenario as it’d make Block rating totally redundant.

Scenario 2
Warriors don’t have 100% block. Block rating improves our chances to block and may even improve the percentage we block a small amount. This makes Block rating just a really bad version of Dodge or Parry rating. It’s difficult to even guess at what they’d do with Shield Block in this scenario. This is the more likely scenario and it’s also what causes me some concern.

Currently, 5 things can happen when a Warrior is attacked.

• The attack hits.
• The attack is blocked.
• The attack is critically blocked or blocked with Shield Block up.
• The attack is critically blocked with Shield Block up.
• The attack is avoided.

Bosses hit for so much right now that the difference between a blocked attack and a regular hit really isn’t that different. What is concerning is when block becomes a percentage the difference could be huge and I fear that balancing Warriors around this is going to be troublesome. Either Warriors are balanced to have similar Avoidance, Armor and Health to the other tanking classes and block is considered a nice bonus (which means we’d be too strong) or being able to block decreases one of our Avoidance, Armor or Health numbers. Avoidance, Armor and Health are all a whole lot better than “Percentage Block” and giving up any of them means that Warriors are going to take damage more erratically than classes not balanced around this. Not good.

OMG THE SKY IS FALLING!

Hehe, easy guys and gals I’m not saying that I’m just laying out the current state of affairs. The expansion is a long ways away and there’s a number of things that could happen before then. All of the other classes could get a similar “Percentage Block” mechanic. This is a very appealing idea to me. They could also do a complete 180 and remove Block rating and bring back Block value and give Warriors 100% block. This makes the “nice bonus” scenario more likely as Warriors would be a lot less crazy awesome with the bonus. (This is basically where I feel Warriors should be right now in case anyone is keeping score at home)

Maybe the Sky is Falling and It’s Okay

There’s one final outcome that I’d like to run by you that has been hinted at on the WoW forums. In this scenario, Tank health becomes extremely high. So high that even the hardest of hitting bosses needs 3 solid swings to kill us. (Like if we all had 70,000 health right now) In this scenario, Healers would need 3 of their biggest heals to get us to full. What I’m talking about is going back to the idea of Tanks not falling off the face of the Earth in a fraction of a second. A world where mana management trumps haste stacking, button spamming and blind luck.

This is a great world.

In this world, if we’re balanced around block and not given it as a “nice bonus”, that’s okay. Yes, sometimes we’re going to drop fast, but drop fast doesn’t mean dead in this world. It just means that Healers will have to give us a bit more attention for a moment. It also means that during our Avoidance/block streaks that Healers will be able to heal other people more than if one of the other tanking classes was tanking instead of us.

A lot to digest

Yes, it certainly is. My advice is take joy in the future. Get excited about the appealing changes coming up. Don’t worry about the unappealing ones. They’ll get fixed. I can’t tell you how foolish it is to quit your character now over how the game might be (probably won’t be) 6 or more months from now.