BC vs. WotLK Tankadin

I spent quite a bit of time thinking about where to start this blog and in the end I felt that this was as good a place as any. If you are anything like me you often think back to the evolution of the prot pally. What it was like back in the old days compared to what we have become today. I will admit that for a while I was a bit unsure of Blizzards intentions for tanks in wrath as a whole. When I heard that crushing blows were to be removed from the game I was quite upset. A tad more background info on my toon will explain this further.

Many who know me think I've been playing WoW since day one. Sadly, this is far from true. I never had the chance to see what raiding was like back in the 40 man days. I started playing WoW a week before BC was released. So when I say the good old days, I mainly refer to level 70 end game raids. Since I had no experience with tanking, or instances, or raids when I hit 70, it was a huge pain to get myself ready for raids. Oh yeah, I had to get attuned to karazhan. Let me tell you for a scrub with hardly 10k health in blues and greens under defense cap it was rough. Not to mention that I had no clue what the hell I was doing. Shit, I felt like a lock, rolling my face accross the keyboard till big red letters spilled accross my screen reading, "Aggro." Anyway, The whole attunement and all the hard work that went into acheiving "Uncrushable, " meant a lot to me. It forced me to learn my class, my role, my job. And frankly, it made me damn good early on. Then a year later Karazhan attunement was removed and months after wards with the release of WotLK, Crushing blows are removed!! I hated it.

Tanking in my opinion is the most difficult thing you can do in WoW. I have healed, done DPS and obviously, I've tanked. Tanking takes a certain mindset...a situational awareness. Many think they can do it, few are actually good. Wow...it seems I've gone off on a ramble...

Anyway, back to the topic at hand. In Pre-BC tankadins were a joke. I was happy with what we were in BC until T5 content. Kara was a tease for us pallys. "Oh look, everythings undead." Of course we were high in demand for an almost entirely undead raid. It might have just been my server, but it seemed that a Pally MT was almost unheard of beyond Gruul's Lair. Everyone wants a warrior I guess.

As I geared up I found some specific issues with my ability to do my job. First was gear. Every class is gear dependant...but for tankadins...its an understatement. We had to balance and maintain more stats they any other tank in the game...HP, Armor, dodge, parry, block, spell power, hit, spell hit, expertise, all of these played a part in making a good pally tank back then. I also found in unfair that warriors need only hit shield block and they acheive uncrushable. Second, single target threat. I understand why Blizzard designed paladins to be AoE tanks...But where in the hell does it say we can't MT? Naturally if I cant out TPS a warrior or druid, how can I main tank?? Lastly, and much like my first point, is rarity of tankadin gear. It always seemed as though warriors had much more more gear to choose from. Some hardcore guilds wouldn't let tankadins roll on prot gear against warriors becuase they're the number 2! Now I know not everyone reading this had to deal with things like this, but even if you didn't...it still was happening to someone. And its not right.

I spend months reading MMO-Champion awaiting the release of WotLK. After having leveled my 80, and done quite a bit of raiding...This is now one happy pally :-D. Its almost as if everything I saw wrong with my class and spec was addressed and promptly repaired. To eliminate prot pally gear all together and simply find a way for us to benefit from warrior gear just as mugh as warriors do is wonderful! ZOMG I dont have to worry about int! HOLY CRAP Blessing of Sanctuary is HAX. Undoubtedly the best buff for any tank. We can single target TPS just as well if not better that other tanking classes. Shield of the Righteous..FUCK YEAH!

Whoever sat down one day and thought up the changes made to tankadins in WotLK...I want to buy you a drink good sir! These changes have opened a whole new realm of possibilites for us. Whew...I think I got a bit excited there for a minute. Anyway, So that I don't spoil all my ranting in one long post, I will end here for now...

Stay tuned for much much more folks!