Running this site has been as rewarding as playing the game itself. As I told my guildmates, I walk away from this game with no regrets and a wealth of life experiences. Thank you for reading, commenting and sharing this website with your fellow guildmates.

My hope is that you enjoy your WoW journey as much as I did.

Cheers,
Veneretio

But, what if: Glyph of Heroic Throw could apply Rend.

This solves the problem of chucking an axe at a target and it being accidentally re-shackled. And more to the point, it makes Blood and Thunder a whole lot more effective.

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

But first, here it is:

Heroic Throw Glyph
Your Heroic Throw applies a stack of Sunder Armor.

I pull the mob. It gets a Sunder Armor stack. Probably makes Heroic Throw do a bit more threat. /yawn

But Wait!!!

Since the rule is that anything that applies a stack of Sunder Armor inevitably will refresh Sunder Armor, I can use this to refresh Sunder Armor from range. Sweet!

Which got me thinking…

Gag Order (1,2) reduces the cooldown of Heroic Throw by 15/30 seconds. This reduces the cooldown of Heroic Throw to 45/30 seconds.

The Sunder Armor debuff lasts 30 seconds.

That means that I can apply Sunder Armor to a target then go tank another target and then use Heroic Throw to maintain the Sunder Armor debuff on a 2nd target! From Ranged!!!

Wait… no I can’t. A 30 second Sunder Armor debuff + a 30 second Heroic Throw cooldown = an axe flying through the air hitting the target just in time… to maintain nothing.

Sunder Armor debuff length +5/10/30?

As of right now, there is no combo, but why shouldn’t their be? Isn’t this exactly the type of little edge that’s suppose to exist between tanking classes? After all, we’d still have to rely on a dps warrior getting the 2nd mob started, walk over and start it ourselves or wait over a minute until the 3rd Sunder finally landed making the mob fully debuffed. (In case you didn’t know, Sunder Armor is going from a 5 stack debuff to a 3 stack debuff)

The question is what’s a good/realistic increase to the length of the Sunder Armor debuff?

+5 seconds makes the combo at least possible.
+10 seconds makes the combo convenient.
+30 seconds makes the combo possible with only a single point in Gag Order. (And really convenient)

All good options.

This is an EASY way for you to show us some love, Blizz

Just do it.

Then again, maybe I only need 39/41 points?

Oh, right… there’s 2 other trees to spend points in :/

Coping out

Yup, the best way to handle a flooded talent tree is to just avoid talking about it and instead we’re going to focus on what I think is one of the coolest new talents they’re considering for Cataclysm.

Incite

Yes, it already exists right now, but Cataclysm’s remake of this talent is pretty wicked. Let’s take a look at it with 3/3 points in it:

Incite
Increases the critical strike chance of your Heroic Strike by 15%, and your Heroic Strike critical strikes have a 100% chance to make you next Heroic Strike also a critical strike. This effect cannot occur more than once every 6 seconds.

Now ideally, the way this talent works is we’re spamming Heroic Strike #2 immediately if HS #1 crits. Otherwise, we just continue about our merry way with our regular rotation. That’s the hope.

So, what’s the worry?

Well it’s a fine line. If we’re spamming Heroic Strike constantly like we are this expansion then this talent is good, but it’s certainly not interactive. There’s nothing skillful about pressing a button you already intend on pressing anyway. (This is part of why I really don’t like Sword and Board, but that’s a rant for another article)

On the other hand, if we’re never pressing Heroic Strike then there’s never an opportunity for it to crit and proc the buff. The biggest worry of all though is that we crit with Heroic Strike #1 and it’s not always worth it to immediately use Heroic Strike #2. I’m all for rage management, but it’d be pretty lame if the coolest part of this talent didn’t get utilized.

Doom and Gloom aside this talent rocks and I wanna believe in it.

What do you think? Do you even like the new Incite?

p.s. 2/6/33

Here’s the version as of this post:

Hold the Line
Improves your critical strike and critical block chance by 10% for 10 sec following a successful parry.

So rather than stick with my gut, I decided to create a Hold the Line “Critical Block” simulator and see just how good or bad my gut is at reading this talent.

Simulator + Results

The simulator can be found here: Hold the Line “Critical Block” Simulator. It’s nothing sexy yet as you’re forced to stick with the variables I’ve provided, (and to run it again, you need to refresh the page) but eventually I’m sure I’ll get around to allowing user input to manipulate variables.

The simulation uses a 10% Parry chance, 20% Block chance and 2 second Boss swing timer for a 10 minute fight.

Sim 1
Uptime: 32.67%
Critical Blocks created by Hold the Line: 1

Sim 2
Uptime: 45.67%
Critical Blocks created by Hold the Line: 3

Sim 3
Uptime: 42.67%
Critical Blocks created by Hold the Line: 1

Sim 4
Uptime: 32.33%
Critical Blocks created by Hold the Line: 1

Sim 5
Uptime: 35.33%
Critical Blocks created by Hold the Line: 2

Sim 6
Uptime: 42%
Critical Blocks created by Hold the Line: 0

Sim 7
Uptime: 53.67%
Critical Blocks created by Hold the Line: 2

Sim 8
Uptime: 43%
Critical Blocks created by Hold the Line: 3

Sim 9
Uptime: 44.33%
Critical Blocks created by Hold the Line: 1

Sim 10
Uptime: 45.33%
Critical Blocks created by Hold the Line: 0

Demoralizing

…is the only way that I can describe the results. Why I feel that way is that the uptime is actually pretty good for the buff. (now granted, I’m assuming we’re fighting a boss that just auto-attacks the whole time) The problem is we aren’t dealing with a straight buff. Hold the Line’s Critical Block buff is basically a chance for a chance for a chance to happen. You have to parry then you have to hope you block within the next 10 seconds then you have to hope that that 10% extra Critical Block chance you gained was enough to turn what would have been a Block into a Critical Block. (Then you also have to hope that you actually needed a Critical Block at that time)

A Hail Mary pass doesn’t even begin to describe this talent.

Why it’s NOT likely to Change

As underwhelming as this talent looks, this simulation is only against a single target. Hold the Line gets a whole lot more interesting when you start thinking about how it’d fair against multiple targets. I’ve also glazed completely over the whole 10% extra crit chance for your attacks portion of the buff. 2 points for a ~40% uptime 10% crit chance buff would actually give Cruelty a run for it’s money point for point.

So, while I feel my gut was right that this talent isn’t impressive from a survival standpoint when tanking a boss. I’ve got to conclude that I’m wrong that this talent is just dead weight. It should offer a decent threat/dps boost as well as a considerable advantage survival-wise when tanking multiple targets.

Hard to ask for much more than that when it’s only a 1st tier talent.

Long ago when Blue posts talked about wanting to make every talent attractive come Cataclysm, I had my doubts and with the old 76 point talent trees my doubts were probably justified. Enter the new 41 point trees though and it’s a whole new ball game. Obvious talents exist certainly, but everything (other than Safeguard of course) looks incredibly attractive. (and who knows… maybe Safeguard will be good this time around) Cookie cutter specs will eventually arise, but the way things are shaping up, there will be cause to even diverge from those depending on the fight.

Yes, I believe the world of really specing for the fight is back and double Prot specs have never looked so attractive. Here’s a couple stabs at what I’m considering come Cataclysm!

1. The MT Spec: 2/8/31
2. AOE Silliness: 8/2/31
3. Single-Target Threat: 0/8/33

Mini-Boss #1: Baltharus the Warborn
My track record on this little fella is probably pretty similar to a lot of tanks that walked into the encounter without fully understanding it. On 10 man, I randomly died, but we still managed to kill him. On 25 man, I wiped repeatedly and was forced to actually learn how to do the encounter.

Ultimately, this fight is entirely about Enervating Brand.

The way it works is the brand is given to 1 player. That 1 player will have 2 debuffs whereas everyone else that thinks they have the brand will only have 1. Every time the brand pulses on the player with the 2 debuffs, Baltharus will gain a stacking buff for each player within 12 yards of the branded person. (And everyone within 12 yards of that person will gain a single debuff which is what causes so much bloody confusion as to how the actual fight works) So all you have to do is identify who has the true debuff and have them move away from the rest of your raid. That’s it.

Okay, maybe not. Also, this guy clones himself and the clones will cast brands as well. So when there are 2 clones up, you’ll have to watch out for 2 brands and when there’s 3 clones up, you’ll have to watch out for 3.

What does any of this have to do with tanking? When your raid members screw up this element, he’ll gain a stacking buff that makes him hit really, really ridiculously hard. Around the 10-15 mark, you should be okay surviving using just Shield Block. Once you hit 20+, it’s time to start using your major cooldowns. Once all your cooldowns are gone, it’s time to start praying.

Mini-Boss #2: Saviana Ragefire
One of those annoying drake type mobs that’s sometimes difficult to position properly. Face her away from the raid. Occasionally, she’ll fly up in the air and target a few people. Those people should not stand by other people as they’ll not only get conflagrated, but they’ll also do fire damage to anyone near them. If you get picked while tanking, then the other tank should taunt the boss off of you when she lands because the conflag causes you to temporarily lose aggro until it’s over. If your group forgot to bring an off-tank, they should simply run away from the dragon in terror until you’ve decided to stop being on fire.

Mini-Boss #3 General Zarithrian
A pretty straight forward encounter that really makes you thankful that you’re a Warrior. He’ll sunder you making you take a lot more damage. Once you have 2 sunders on you, you need another tank to taunt the boss off. (You can probably get away with 3 on 10 man) You’ll be swapping back and forth like this throughout the entire encounter. Adds are going to come from 2 entrances so just tank the boss at one of the entrances so that you can pickup the adds while tanking the boss. In 10 man, when you’re not tanking the boss, you need to pickup the adds on the other side. In 25 man, we just used 3 tanks because we’re lazy. Occasionally, the General will fear which you should immediately break. (You can probably preemptively avoid it since I found the timer pretty accurate although I’ve never been one to really trust such things)

It should be noted that the General doesn’t use weak ass WotLK fear, he uses the old school fear that causes the General to go all crazy and lose aggro on whoever is tanking him. So escaping fear asap is of the utmost importance otherwise this guy will randomly hack and slash a raider member to death.

Halion

I’ll be outlining what both the light side and dark side tanks are doing in this fight. So as to avoid confusion here’s what your 2 possible roles in the fight are.

Light Tank

• P1: Tank the Dragon
• P2: Do nothing
• P3: Tank the Dragon

Dark Tank

• P1: Do nothing
• P2: Tank the Dragon
• P3: Tank the Dragon

Phase 1: Give Halion a quick turn when you pull him so that your group can immediately start killing him. Don’t get hit by meteors. Don’t stand in fire.

Phase 2 (light): Stand around and wait for your raid to do the hard part of the fight. Make sure you snag a healer to give you company. (Only doable if you’ve convinced your raid to 3 heal it in 10 man)

Phase 2 (dark): Make sure you’re jumping through the portal first. Give Halion a quick turn otherwise you’ll lose half your raid to cleave. Watch the orbs so you, don’t get hit by the beam. You want the beam to be going through the middle of the dragon. Turn the dragon at a steady rate when the beam is active so that your raid members can learn how to dodge, dps and heal even during the active beam portion of this fight. If a raid member decides running in front of the dragon’s mouth is a good idea, let them die. It’s not worth moving the dragon to save 1 person so that the rest of the raid can be slapped in the face with a tail swipe. (That’ll knock them down and probably get them killed) There’s no reason to move the dragon during the portions when the beam isn’t active unless it’s the 1st one you’re setting up for. Once you’ve got the positioning down from the first beam, the beam is very easy to handle as all following beams will always start in a safe spot.

Phase 3 (light): The Dragon will reappear and start annihilating you. Use cooldowns so you don’t die. Don’t get hit by meteors. Don’t stand in fire. Monitor the buff and if it says your Dragon is doing 30% more damage, it’s time to start using cooldowns. (And also probably a good time to tell the other side’s dps that they need to stop dpsing for a while)

Phase 3 (dark): Same deal as Phase 2. Monitor the buff on your Dragon and use cooldowns if he gets too beefy. Keep turning the dragon at a steady rate when the beam is active.

Final Thoughts

The Halion encounter is a test of you and your raid’s survival. Other than the first 15 seconds of the encounter, threat shouldn’t be an issue and no taunting will be required. As a result, maximizing your gear/spec for survival at the cost of hit rating is the best approach.

MMO-Champion.com has been kind enough to supply us with an early Cataclysm calculator to play around with so here goes…

C01: 8/8/60

8/8/60
Major Glyphs: Shield Wall, Enraged Regeneration, Blocking
Minor Glyphs: Command, Thunder Clap, Charge

This spec focuses on survival with a slight emphasis on aoe threat.

3/3 in Blood Craze!?

Blood Craze’s tooltip currently states the following:

You have a 10% chance to regenerate 2.5%/5%/7.5% of your total Health over 5 seconds after taking damage.

Which makes it a very attractive talent for us tankie folk especially in an environment where we’re suppose to be dieing a whole lot slower than we are currently.

For this same reason, you’ll notice I’ve recommended Glyph of Enraged Regeneration to add some extra power to this cooldown. It remains to be seen just how much tanking will be about sustained survival as opposed to burst survival, but if it does convert more to the former then this Glyph could become a very popular choice.

What about Rage Efficiency?

While I did manage to sneak a couple points in Unbridled Wrath as well as max out Shield Specialization, it’s clear with the lack of Improved Bloodrage, Puncture and Sweep & Clear that I’m not overly concerned with rage starvation.

Maybe I should be? Only time will tell.

Improved Spell Reflection and Improved Disarm

These both fall into about the same category. They’re situational. Improved Spell Reflection gets the nod because of the 4% chance to be missed by spells. My hope for this talent though is that we’ll actually get mileage out of the reflect bonus as it’s really the fun part of this talent.

Improved Disarm seems to be doomed again and frankly, I’m hoping they’ll just remake or even remove this talent. I’d love to be enticed to pickup this talent, but an additional 10% damage against a target just seems too strong for it to play any major part in a raid encounter. (especially when you consider you’ll get a survival benefit as well)

Maybe these talents need to be merged? (Deflect & Dismantle has a nice ring to it)

Is it time to Enrage?

Curiously enough, Enrage only says it doesn’t stack with Wrecking Crew which means it might stack with Improved Defensive Stance. If that’s the case, perhaps the more dps oriented of us Prot types will find a way to dump 5 points in this talent. Such a build would naturally find room for the often awesome, Piercing Howl and maybe even Precision for the Warrior tank that’s truly obsessed with dps and threat.

The Depth of Rage

Even though the Protection tree is relatively unchanged, the specing options are already looking interesting and varied. It should come as no surprise though that a lot is banking on how successful the rage change is and whether or not it’s enough to motivate us (or even force us) to pickup some of the rage efficiency talents that are sprinkled across all three trees. If rage becomes an issue again then we’re going to have some very difficult/interesting choices ahead of us.

What are your thoughts?
What Major Glyphs would you choose?
Is Blood Craze for real?
Does a spec need to focus more on rage gain?
Will situational talents like Improved Spell Reflect be lackluster again?
If Enrage works, is it worth it?

You’re all wrong.

You don’t take “too much” damage

The reality is that when it comes to the damage you take (or should I say the damage you don’t?) there is positioning, there are a few debuffs and there is the timeliness of cooldown usage.

And that’s it.

The difference in gear and/or class is rarely significant. Execution is everything and yet, is so often ignored and shunned.

Understanding the Raid Environment

When things go wrong, most groups can power through it, but when things go really wrong over and over again, a lot can’t. And they’re looking for a scapegoat. Who you are at this point matters more than how you play. The reputation you’ve developed that’s whispered behind your back and to your face is everything.

Weakness is 90% Perception.

The difference between the tank that doesn’t take too much damage and the tank that does is often popularity. You’re playing a social game. How your raid “sees” you determines whether or not you take too much damage or not. It determines whether it’s the dpsers fault, the healers fault or your fault.

• Confidence Matters
• Expertise Matters
• Seniority Matters
• And Yes, Gear Matters

Because the gear you have backs up the confidence, expertise and seniority you have.

What if you don’t have the Gear?

Then you better have the confidence, expertise and seniority in spades. If you’re missing the seniority, you better have the other 3. If you’re missing the… well you get the picture.

You’re playing a social game.

Sometimes raiding simply is a popularity contest. So when you’re feeling like everything is going right and they’re feeling like everything is going wrong… ask yourself, “How popular am I?”

How you speak, (assuming you even do) matters. Whether you have to be explained the fight or not, matters. How long these people have known you playing this role, matters. And yes, the gear you’re carrying, matters. (but not so much because it makes the numbers the boss does to you slightly smaller)

When you’ve got “everything” figured out…

Figure out the rest.

Play the social game. Make the right friends. Be in the raid leaders good graces. Earn the respect of your fellow raiders. Appreciate that there’s more to the outcome of a battle than the gear you’ve acquired and the buttons you push.

So, I can tank ICC in Blues?

Probably not.

Weakness is 10% Truth too, after all.

(And yes, 83% of All Statistics are Made Up on the Spot)

What’s a Hybrid Tank?

All of the tanking classes are capable of being “Hybrid Tanks”. When I talk about Hybrid Tanks what I’m really talking about is a person that’ll dps (or heal) frequently with one spec and just as frequently tank with the other spec. And while sure, a Hybrid Tank was possible in Vanilla and done to a lesser extent then, it was really born with the creation of Dual specialization.

Hybrids or Alts?

What remains to be seen is how will Downshifting be utilized. Many guilds already run a single 25 man and multiple 10 mans right now. So, how is Downshifting different? The difference lies in how the raid changes or doesn’t change during the Downshifting process.

When a raid changes from 25 to multiple 10 mans, will those extra tanking spots be taken over by alts or will hybrids already a part of the 25 man change to their tank spec? (or do just brand new people step into this role?)

I’m banking on the Hybrids.

Once you start farming 25 man content, a lot of loot gets wasted (disenchanted). With Cataclysm’s approach to 25 mans being, “we’re going to throw a massive amount of loot at you” and with them offering the same loot in 10 mans, tanking loot is going to go to waste that much faster. Or more to the point, Hybrids are going to be geared up that much faster. Because of that fact, I’m banking on raids using Hybrid Tanks more and more.

After all, a raid would rather take tanks that are better geared than those that aren’t. And while players often push against this idea because they love gearing up their alts, when it comes to progress, the raid usually wins.

What this means for “New” Tanks

Whether it’s the start, middle or end of an expansion, there’s always a question of how does one become a tank. And while being amazing is a great answer, it’s just not practical.

The road to tanking often starts with dpsing for many players. Cataclysm looks to be encouraging this idea even more. You’ll get into your guilds 10 and 25 man raids by dpsing and while dpsing, you’ll collect your tanking set. If you’ve put in the effort in 5 mans, acquiring boe items and crafting, it won’t be long before you’ve got a quality tanking set to compliment your dps set. That’s how you’ll get the opportunity to tank your first 10 man. Your performance in that 10 man is how you’ll get the opportunity to tank your first 25 man. Your performance there (or perhaps your fellow tanks lack of performance) will determine whether or not you get to make the coveted change from Hybrid Tank to Full-time Tank.

Which isn’t to imply that this all will happen in the course of a few weeks. It can easily take months for even a single tanking opportunity to open up and it’s usually going to take far more than a single performance to even take over the 10 man tanking role. The 25 man tanking role is an even greater long shot.

I hate to admit it gang, but sometimes… you’re better off lucky than good. Of course, the idea is to be both lucky AND good. And since you cannot control the former, you might as well work towards the latter.

Best of luck.