Ghostcrawler

Oh Blue, sometimes you say the craziest Things.

“I agree with the notion that there is less of a use for Mocking Blow in the toolbox these days where tanks generally maintain enough threat, at least relative to the ‘Wait for five Sunders’ days.”

Really now, you think there is “less of a use for Mocking Blow in the toolbox”? That must qualify as one of the great overstatements of the century.  There is no threat use for Mocking Blow.  It falls below Devastate on the priority rotation.

That is not to say, however, that Mocking Blow does not have a use.  It’s even a good use, albeit one that comes under the worst of circumstances.  Most tanks, by now, are accustomed to the “Tank Swap Fight;”  Gormok the Impaler is a good example, as is Thorim.  To put it simply, tanks need to taunt off either because of a debuff of some kind, or a very large hit on a cooldown that requires the use of something like Shield Wall.  In these circumstances, it is very important that the Taunt work.

Well, sometimes Taunt doesn’t work.

Welcome to the Mocking Blow Zone.

The Mocking Blow Zone is now the most important six seconds of your life.  What you do with those six seconds and when you use those six seconds can save you from a wipe.  The Mocking Blow Zone takes advantage of Expertise, something that seems increasingly in-abundance, unlike Taunt.  The Mocking Blow Zone is only temporary, however so you must use it wisely.

In the case of a fight like Thorim, where it is essential that you get him away from the Tank that has Unbalancing Strike as soon as possible, you will want to use Mocking Blow right away.  You can then follow it up with a Challenging Shout to get you to when your Taunt cooldown is up.  It is risky, because Taunt resistance can stack up, but because of the fight mechanics you can accept that risk.

In a fight like Gormok, you should wait.  The Impales are predictable.  They always come at the same intervals.  Wait to Mocking Blow him until the Mocking Blow Zone will overlap with the Impale.  That way, you preserve the longest amount of time you avoid using Taunt again, thus avoiding stacking the Taunt resistance.  You will have more than enough time (Impales every 15 seconds, Taunt resistance cooldown is 20 seconds) to be able to taunt before the next Impale.  Staying chilly and focused will save your bacon there.

It’s worth also mentioning that Mocking Blow can be handy if you need to get a mob’s attention while you’re silenced, but you will still need to Taunt after the Silence ends.

This survey is courtesy of Dämmerung of The Children of Wrath fame.  It is itself spawned from the mind of Miss Medicina or so I am lead to believe.  If you’re new to Warrior tanking, or looking to get more into it, it does say a lot about the advantages and limitations of the art.

What is the name, class, and spec of your primary tank?
Tarsus of Scarlet Crusade server is my Protection Warrior.  At the moment, I’m using the cookie cutter 15/3/53 build stolen shamelessly from Tankingtips.com

What is your usual tanking environment?
I do almost exclusively 25-man raiding with Axiom.  I do run the occasional 10-man and every 5-man into the ground when they first come out.

What is your favorite encounter to tank, and why?
Auriaya with a Warrior tank can be fun because if you do it right it’s essentially a one cow show.  That said, probably my favorite encounter is Yogg-Saron provided the DPS aren’t being retarded.

What is your least favorite encounter to tank, and why?
Faction Champions is probably the least fun fight to tank as a warrior.  You get practically no rage as the opposing team rarely targets you, meaning you need to conserve what you have to make sure your interrupts are available.

What do you think is the biggest strength of your class, and why?
Currently, the strength of Warriors is in three areas, snap AoE threat (Thunderclap and Shockwave), fear cancellation (Berserker Rage), and spell interrupts (Shield Slam primarily, but also Concussive Blow, Shockwave, Heroic Throw w/talents, and Intimidating Shout).  Outside of that, we can tank most encounters provided we know in advance and can swap around talents and glyphs as needed.

What do you think is the biggest weakness of your class, and why?
In order to put out the same kind of threat as other tank classes, warriors need to reduce their hands to claw-like appendages of pure pain, due primarily to the need to constantly spam Heroic Strike.  Frenetic button pushing is a feature of most tanks, Warrior tanks are just by far the the worst for that feature.

In a 25 man raiding environment, what do you feel is the best tanking assignment for you?
Because warriors can essentially do any tanking assignment, we often are assigned to being “Off-tanks” in fights where such labels are applicable.  Outside of that, for me personally, I prefer those tanking assignments that require me to quickly pick up adds using my high-mobility abilities (such as Charge, Intercept, etc.)

What tanking class do you enjoy tanking with the most?
Warriors and Paladins probably work the best together of any of the tanking classes.  Our snap AoE threat works well to control adds and bring them into a Paladin’s Consecrate, and our ability to break fear and interrupt spells make up for the obvious holes in the Paladin portfolio.  The ranged snap threat of Avenger’s Shield is also complements the weak ranged threat abilities of Warriors.

What tanking class do you enjoy tanking with the least?
Death Knights would almost certainly classify, as most of their abilities tend to fall under the “like a Warrior, but better” category.  This also means they offer little to diversify the abilities of the tank team when a Warrior is already present.

What is your worst habit as a tank?
I generally do not hit Shield Slam as much as I should.

What is your biggest pet peeve in a group environment while tanking?
People not reading strategies/watching videos, or otherwise using the resources of the internet before raid, thus necessitating long drawn out explanations and wasting time.

Do you feel your class/spec is balanced with respect to the other tanking classes?
I generally feel that there are always places the various tanking classes could be improved, but the one thing Warriors are still definitively lacking is sustained AoE threat.  While lack of snap threat in other classes can be compensated by holding off on AoE for a few, there’s very little in our repertoire available to increase sustained threat other than the old standby of tab targeting madly (see the above comment about claw-like appendages for problems with that).

What tools do you use to evaluate your own performance as a tank?
I use Omen to track on the spot threat stats and follow up afterward with the logs our guild takes of all raids.  Outside of that, using my own instincts and self-reflecting through blogging are the best tools I have.

What do you think is the biggest misconception that people have with your tanking class?
That Warriors are the best “Main-Tanks” probably ranks up there because of our legacy status as the only tank in Vanilla WoW.  In all honesty there is no more “Main Tank” and most raid teams are probably best off having one of every tank type available.

What do you think is the toughest thing for new players of your class to learn about tanking?
Use of Heroic Strike is probably the one thing that everyone trips up on.  There’s no tutorial that tells you “When your rage bar is full, hit this.”  In fact you would be forgiven for thinking Heroic Strike is something you’re supposed to use until you get Mortal Strike, Blood Thirst, or what have you.  Raid tanking, you practically cannot spam Heroic Strike enough.  If you hand doesn’t hurt at the end of the night, you’re probably doing it wrong.

If someone were to evaluate your tanking ability via tools like fraps, recount, and World of Logs, what tendencies would they notice?
Probably that I spend a lot of time adjusting and re-adjusting my position when tanking.  Anyone who has played a Tauren can tell you that our big models mean that mobs will dance around us using the patented NPC “walk through you and get behind you” maneuver.  Particularly if we have to move them during a fight (Twin Jormungar or Grobulus being good examples of that) that means we get hit from behind a lot more.  They might also notice an addiction to things like Savory Deviate Delight that help mitigate that problem.

Stamina or Avoidance, and why?
Stamina, stamina, stamina.  If Blizzard has taught us anything its that if you stack avoidance they will do their best to take it away from you.

Which tanking class do you understand the least?
Probably Bear.  They’re the only one of the tanking classes I haven’t messed around with even in the slightest.

What addons or macros do you currently use to aid you in tanking?
Deadly Boss Mods is essential to what I do, as is Omen and Item Rack.  Other than that, the add-ons I use are primary ways to manage data (Fortress) or keep my UI reasonably clean (Dominos).

Do you strive for a balance in tanking stats, or do you stack some higher than others, and why?
I definitely stack stamina when I get the chance, though given ToGC I haven’t had much choice.  Other than that, I try to keep my threat stats up as this is regularly my weakest area.

No doubt you have heard of the wonder that is the accidental pull.  Contrary to popular depiction this exciting new sport is a healthy alternative to the boring and stifling organized pull.  Moreover, clinical studies have been found to show that the sudden rush of adrenaline and heart-rate makes for great cardio, the foundation of any good workout.  Best yet, you will be easily able to tell the lions from the lolcats in your raid with a few quick clicks of your mouse.

But wait, there’s more!

“Accidental and Surprisingly Stupid Pulling” or “ASS Pulling” as we like to call it has proven to be fun for the whole family.  Why just go somewhere when you can…

Learn exciting new expressions!

Meet dangerous and strange natives!

…And their friends!

I can tell that you are excited to begin.  So why not?  The first step is to find a raid.

This one will do.  They look a little shabby though.  No worries, with ASS Pulling, they’ll be in prime shape in no time.

Now, you need a tank.  At least one will do, but three is ideal.  This sap seems like he’s up for the job.  Hi Tarsus!

Tarsus here is a real pro.  He’s been doing this since the wee old days of Molten Core so he’s going to show us a thing or two.  A skilled tank knows how to pick a good ASS opportunity.  Like the trash on Freya!

Large packs of mobs?  Check.  Wandering Patrols?  Check.  A dangerous demigod from before the dawn of time?  Bonus!

For the highest quality ASS Pull, observe these simple rules:

1. Always target the stationary packs first, never the pathers.
2. Use Charge to pull, or at least make sure you’re out of range of the healers, that way you can lead them forward into battle!
3. When considering timing and positioning, remember it is possible to use proximity agro to pull another stationary pack with your patrol.  The more the merrier!
4. Don’t forget the bosses, truly epic ASS pulling always have at least one.

What, you didn’t think these things could happen by accident, right?  In any case, let’s check back in with Tarsus and see how he is doing.

My, lying down on the job.  Tisk tisk Tarsus.  What use is a good ASS pull if you die before anyone else?  I mean, the Rogues will be able to get a vanish off and go back to slacking in the shadows at this rate.  You don’t want flabby Rogues, do you?

Oh well, at least the healers seem to have caught up with you.  Look, angels!

Dramatization. No healers were killed in the making of this post.

Don’t worry though Tarsus, I am sure there will be many more opportunities for you to improve your technique in the weeks and months ahead.  I would even imagine that soon you might even be able to finish that pull with most of your raid alive.  Seems crazy, I know, but with a solid ASS technique, anything is possible.

And now a word from our sponsor:

Axiom is Recruiting! I know there are a lot of guilds out there looking to add members for ToGC and Icecrown, but if you’re Horde, in a US CST-friendly timezone, and shopping for a guild, you should definitely check us out.  Current needs are All DPS of Any Type.  Just mosey on over to our forums to apply.

As I have mentioned before, Tarsus was the first character I made for World of Warcraft.  I had dreams of Hordes of Tauren armed with pole-arms tearing it up in PvP spamming /moo.  Though after I learned Tauren didn’t have access to the war totems they carried in Warcraft III he was neglected for a while, he will still be five years old in March.  That’s pretty darn old for a MMO character.

But it got me thinking.  At five years out, this spring, I will have been playing WoW for longer than I’ve played all other MMOs combined.  Everquest, Dark Age of Camelot, Anarchy Online, and Ragnarok Online all held my interest for a little while (up to two years in the case of EQ), but never for as long or sustained a period as WoW.  So, why is that?

Here’s my thoughts on the matter:

1. I get to play it with Jov – Playing with your significant other is pretty much better than anything you could ask for, but it’s only a piece of the puzzle (after all, Blizzard is now trying to keep up both of our interests).
2. The non-realistic graphical style has kept itself surprisingly contemporary – While most MMOs appear seriously dated 5 years out, Blizzard seems to have picked an style that has a certain amount of wiggle room.  Any updates that will be applied come Cataclysm will only likely extend its life.
3. Access to End-Game Content – I was lucky in some ways and thanks to great guild reputation and good references managed to get into the raiding thing pretty much right when my first character hit max level (technically a little before, I suppose).  Blizzard has clearly make it a priority to keep that content as accessible as possible and this would certainly explain why.
4. Fun and amusing leveling content – Giving me some reason to actually level my characters means I have something to do when not raiding.  It also means that if I loose my “Access to End-Game Content” I might still play the game.
5. A community of like-minded individuals – aka a guild.  For me, EQ only stayed worthwhile as long as I was with my guild (shout out to any “Holy Monks” that might be reading).  It’s demise when the end of my subscription.  So it might be said for WoW as well.  If Axiom ever kicked the bucket and failed to re-constitute itself (or I failed to find another guild), it probably wouldn’t be long before I was out of here.
6. The Warrior class – It should be worth mentioning that the actual class I play (and, at that, the one I play almost exclusively!) is a leading contender for the reason that I’m still here 5-years on.  I certainly never feel like playing a Warrior tank ever gets stale.  If it ever did, I’m not sure if I would be able to play something else.

Is there anything that you, dear reader, feel should be on this list?  What keeps you playing when other things might lure you away?

Allow me to rise to Amber’s challenge to match her “Blame Table“.  Just for tanks.

Or, perhaps, I should simply call it my list of “why every wipe is secretly the tank’s fault.”

1st Cause of the Wipe: Tank lost agro

Reasons why this is the tank’s fault:

• The tank forgot to get back into Defensive Stance/Frost Presence, etc.
• The tank is in their DPS spec.
• The tank is dead (this, contrary to some rumors, always causes agro wipe).
• The tank’s claw-like appendage sometimes called a hand has finally dropped off due to excessive heroic strike spam.

2nd Cause of Wipe: Tank is dead

Reasons why this is the tanks fault:

• Forgot to use the right cooldown.
• Used the right cooldown, but a the wrong time.
• Used the right cooldown, at the right time, but was fighting Gormok the Impaler.
• Attempted to start a land war in Asia.

3rd Cause of Wipe: Ignoring the tank to 1-shot squishes

Reason why this is the tank’s fault:

• Didn’t open with shield slam.
• There is no hit gear in ToC.
• Tank is dead.
• Prudery is no excuse for not humping the boss before it becomes active.

4th cause of Wipe: Healer is dead

Reasons why this is the tank’s fault:

• The only thing between the healer and death is the tank.
• The only thing between the tank and death is the healer.
• We live in fear of the healer mafia.

5th cause of Wipe: The adds are killing everyone

Reasons why this is the tank’s fault:

• Didn’t play a Paladin.
• Didn’t play a Death Knight.
• Didn’t Vigilance the Mage.
• The tank is dead.

6th cause of Wipe: DPS is too low

Reasons this is the tank’s fault:

• Not enough threat.
• Didn’t Vigilance the Mage.
• Tank is Dead.
• Didn’t swap to Berserker stance and start execute spam.

7th Cause of Wipe: Ignorance

Reasons why this is the tank’s fault:

• Assumed everyone had read the strat/watched the video on TankSpot/remembered to keep up to date on their Tanking for Dummies feed.
• Missed the tanking assignments because they were tabbed out playing browser games.
• “Close your eyes and think of England” is not a sufficient strat summary.

Don’t despair my fellow Tanks, just remember -  even if it is always your fault it’s not like anyone else can take the hits and maintain a stunning 31 Intellect.  That’s what we call job security.

First off thanks to those who send their good wishes.  To those of you who asked: No, it isn’t swine flu.

However, for those of you who have been paying attention, the Race Change service is now available.  Meaning that between this and the Faction Change you can swap your warrior tank to any other race in the game (well, except Blood Elves, but who wants them anyway?).

Why would you want to switch races?  Well, let’s be straight here – you want to be the best tank you can be so you want to seek out every advantage you can get.  There are different advantages that race options can give you.  Let me parse them for you:

Horde

• Orc – You have Blood Fury which will increase your threat and Axe Specialization that will increase your expertise with Axes.  The former can be a nice boost, but the latter is gimped by the parsity of tanking axes.  Boo.
• Tauren – More health from Endurance and an AoE stun on a 2 minute cooldown with War Stomp.  The former sounds better than it is in actuality, but I cannot even begin to say how useful the latter has been over the years.
• Troll – Berserking is a nice boost to threat, though given it’s dependence on your health it can feel a little gimped on a tank since you’re not wanting to go too low on that.  Other than that, there isn’t that much here… outside of pure mojo.  You have to respect the mojo.
• Undead – Will of the Forsaken used to be the great grand-daddy of tanking racials, but with the advent of access to Berserker Rage in Defensive stance, this is (at best) a good back-up in case you hit the button at the wrong time.  Cannibalize can also be very useful under the right circumstances, but again, you’ll rarely have the opportunity to use it.

Alliance

• Dwarf – Stoneform is one of those abilities that you think you won’t use until you discover just how often things hit you with debuffs.  The ability to remove bleed effects is also Godly, as the only other abilities to do so also drop you off the threat table.  Mace Specialization, however, is gimped due to the parsity of tanking maces.
• Gnome – While I have seen some great uses for Escape Artist, this is mostly to help in situations for anyone, not specifically for tanks.  Tiny Hijinks aside, you’re not going to find much more use in your tanking repertoire for gnome racials.
• Human – Every Man for Himself is probably the most powerful racial in the game right now, so it bears noting that it works for most things that you would want.  It’s effectively a PvP trinket that doesn’t take up an item slot.  If that were not enough to think that Blizzard has it in the bag for Humans, they also get Sword Specialization – which is pretty awesome considering that the vast majority of tanking weapons or swords.
• Night Elf – Quickness deserves a special mention here because bosses do not get expertise or hit.  This means that your Night Elf tank is going to just have better baseline avoidance – not to shabby.  Shadowmeld can also be useful when it comes to tank transfers, keeping you from accidently overtaking your friend who just taunted off you.
• Draenei – Heroic Presence is a great boost to threat.  It’s always on, and it works for everything you might equip.  It’s also no great surprise that Gift of the Naru is good for tanking, especially in smaller groups where the mobs don’t hit quite as hard.

That pretty much covers it.  So am I going to switch?

Heck no.

Tauren, forever.  For the Horde!

My apologies dear readers, but there will be no post today. I’m sick like a dog.

If I am feeling better tomorrow I will try and get a post up. If not, see you Wednesday!

This is no great surprise if you have been paying attention.  But for those of you who haven’t, let me point you at some linkage:

• Here’s some maps: The Entryway, Frostwing Halls, The Plagueworks, The Crimson Halls, and The Frozen Throne.  (No those aren’t entirely right… but there’s a lot of crossover.
• Here’s some pictures of the raid armor sets. Broken down by class:
  • Death Knight
  • Druid
  • Hunter
  • Mage
  • Paladin
  • Priest
  • Rogue
  • Shaman (Nope, not yet)
  • Warlock
  • Warrior
• Here’s some spoiler-ific boss text.
• And a spoiler-ific Lich King related movie.
• Here’s a boss fight.  And another.  And another.
• Oh, and some jazz about tanking trinkets.

No loot yet to parse and list for you, but you know it’s coming.

I’m on Twitter.

Or more specifically, I’ve been on Twitter, but I’m no longer behind a firewall that keeps me from tweeting.

Gormok has fallen.  The only update I’m going to specifically add to my original post on the matter was I have discovered that Last Stand is pretty much as effective as Shield Wall, and lets you save Shield Wall for more important things. However, having done it now dozens of times, I’m confident about the strategy I put forward otherwise.  It gets the Impaler down in a timely manner.

Acidmaw and Dreadscale are another matter.

Our strategy has one Tank always on Acidmaw, and two on Dreadscale.  DPS, regardless, focuses on Acidmaw.  When Dreadscale is mobile, the two tanks swap off, with whichever tank that has Burning Bile moving to clense the Paralytic Toxin.  When Dreadscale is stationary, it is the responsibility of whichever player(s) get Burning bile to free the Acidmaw tank.  If the Acidmaw tank becomes paralyzed, using a Guardian Spirit, Penance, or other healer cooldown may be necessary.  When Acidmaw dies, Tanks swap out tanking the enraged Dreadscale using Shield Wall, and DPS focuses down the worm.

Things we need to do better to make this strategy work:

• DPS performance needs to be 100%.  Needless to say, Trial of the Grand Crusader puts a real focus on individual performance.  This is our biggest issue.
• Ranged DPS and Healers need to spread out more when Dreadscale is stationary.
• Whomever gets Burning Bile needs to be on their toes.
• DPS with Paralytic Toxin need to keep DPS on and not move.
• Tanks need to be better about using some cooldowns (Enraged Regeneration, Shield Block, Potions, etc) if their healers become paralyzed.

Simply put we cannot get Dreadscale down before the presence of Icehowl destroys us (generally his via his frost breath).  DPS is insufficient mostly because people die, hence the need to spread out more, but we’ve lost just as many attempts because tanks die either because their healers bite it, or because the healers are paralyzed.

I’ll keep updating this series when breakthroughs occur.  Just remember, tanks who are in the same boat as me: it’s supposed to be this hard.  The problems are not because of tank ability favoritism (e.g. Vezax), no tank is going to be better at this than another.  Keep your individual performance high, and encourage the same in your other raid members, and we’ll all be talking about Jarraxas next.