My thoughts on Tanks and trends

I was reading WoW Insider and they had a recent article up that caught by interest.  It was about tanking in the Wrath of the Lich King.

Supposedly, any class that can tank, can tank the regular up-coming five-man content, equally well, without being a tanking spec, except perhaps the Resto Druids and the Holy Paladins.  So says someone from Blizzard.

Only once you get into Heroics and Raiding will an appropriate spec/talent build be required.  And then there’s still going to be flexibiliy in such that there will be no “preferred class” that will do the tanking.  Guilds will be able to pick what they like, not be forced to hire a specific class for the task of Main Tank.  That’s their hope.

Are the folks reporting this stuff from Blizzard drinking the same koolaide as the folks handling the Blizzcon tickets?  I mean, once you’re raiding “progression” content, you will have your tank so refined, so appropriately geared, specced to a criteria package NASA would commend as “overkill”, be working on swing timers, calculating rage refresh rates, uptime on shield block, agonizing over +block versus +defense, the player of that tank’s very breath will be accounted for in the threat generation rotations.  You don’t win by “running what you brung.”  You win by being 100% appropriate to the task, buffed to the maximum extent, with the right elixir and flask and food buffs on, buffed with the right drums of battle, gemmed right, enchanted right, geared right, etc., etc.,.

Hey, I’m all for a more “flexible” approach to tanking.  I enjoyed tanking.  Up to, but not including, my entry into the Heroics.  There isn’t a day that goes by when I don’t consider going Prot mode again.  But it is, possibly, not quite the right time for me.  I am really excited about the news that in fact Prot Warriors are going to get a buff to their DPS in WotLK, meaning they’ll be more viable outside of the tanking job.  I want to be my wife’s Shaman’s hero again.

But I don’t think Blizzard can treat all tanks alike.  Prot Paladins handle stuff very different from Feral Druids and Prot Warriors.  And I’m sure the Death Knights will be a whole new animal.

But we’ve also seen indications of a “homogenization” going on in the game, haven’t we?  What things I see proposed for WotLK.  No more+Spell Damage and +Healing.  Now it’s just +Spell Power.  No more +Crit and +Spell Crit.  It’s just going to be +Crit for anything you do.

I’ve heard that Druids are a little worried that they’ll see more gear now appropriate for cat form rather than bear form.  I.e. Druids and Rogues in the same gear.  Just like the push to make +Agility figure into an Enhancement Shamans Attack Power.  Meaning Hunters and Shamans in the same gear.  So we’re going to see Caster Leather (Druids) and Melee Leather (Druids and Rogues).  Caster Mail (Shamans) and Physical Damage Mail (Shamans and Hunters).  Caster Plate (Paladins and Death Knights) and Physical Damage and Mitigation Plate (Paladins, Deathknights, Warriors).

The absurd end of the trend will be three stats:  1) How much damage to others you do (Rage, Mana, Power bar combined into one), 2) How much damage can you repair on others (Mana, but otherwise the same bar), and 3) how much damage you can absorb before dying. 

I might be missing the days of specialization.  And maybe I want a dazzling world where waves wash up on shores, and I can be dapper in my Haliscan outfit.  But then again maybe we need to be simpler in a more complex world.  Getting back to the basics if you will.

Anyway, just me rambling.  🙂