A little tip for a WAR trying to learn

[whiskeybravo]

Defiance only works with spells? If so, that seems like a big oversight from the devs and doesn’t really make sense from a balancing perspective. I take back my support for defiance.

Indeed. Pretty sure it's always been like that, but became a somewhat larger concern with the introduction of more off-GCD heal abilities post-50.

[Braven]

Actually warrior tank stance is almost exactly the same effectiveness as paladin’s shield oath. It is not just extra hp, it is the 20% healing modifer that increases survivability and healing efficiency and effectiveness. 20% healing boost (and more hp) provides basically the same benefit as 20% mitigation. What makes it worse than paladin is the fact the damage hit is 20% instead of 15%, though this is offset by abilities that ignore the damage penalty. Another downside is that it takes at least one heal to start being as effective (to fill up the higher max HP) so the benefit is effectively delayed a bit. This is to balance the fact it is oGCD, unlike paladin. You are basically using a healer GCD to activate while paladin uses their own to activate (when switching mid-battle). If you start out a battle in defiance, this is not really a downside (just like the GCD isn’t a downside for paladin out of combat).

The main argument for not using tank stance is that tank DPS is better than healer DPS. As a result, if you are not at risk of a wipe from the lost mitigation, it is better for the healer to be healing more and DPSing less, than for the warrior to DPS less by staying in tank stance. The trick is knowing if the healer is capable of keeping up (and if they happy with healing more often and DPSing less).

I think the vast majority of players are not measuring precise damage output. However, they will notice if your a pain to heal or you get KOed. Unless you are sure there is no risk involved or you need defiance for a specific beast ability or burst phase, it is probably better to stick with defiance most of the time when tanking. The actual DPS advantage, when factoring lost healer DPS, is quite small between the two and really not worth the additional risk for most players.

[Graiggy]

I have seen so many healers just walk through the dungeon and only heal. Im dabbling with a WHM and like to throw out aero if i dont do anything else. I know its not much but at least its a little extra damage. I can usually hit some stone on the boss or mob once in awhile depending on how well my tank is geared/how well they know how to tank... Its sad i switch to healer for a little bit and get so frustrated because then i have a tank who cant hold aggro and was causing us to wipe or causing me to actually hold aggro and heal myself as the healer (which never flipping works). Maybe if i found a good static group things would be different. but right now its my best friend and myself. he was my healer now he is my red mage and im using my DRK to 70.... sucks i cant trust anyone in these roulettes to be my tanks. I have ran into some decent tanks when we are doing the 8 man.... but i have no luck with the 4 mans

[whiskeybravo]

Its sad i switch to healer for a little bit and get so frustrated because then i have a tank who cant hold aggro and was causing us to wipe or causing me to actually hold aggro and heal myself as the healer (which never flipping works).

To be honest that's probably the best way to learn the game, by playing each of the various roles (or at least being able to see from their perspective). I actually started this game many years ago as a whm before eventually becoming a tank main, I can say without a doubt it helped make me a better tank early on because I was able to see how/where other tanks struggled. Though, I don't heal at all now because I find it quite terrible with a controller (compared to how easy it is to control tanks and dps with it) - but again maybe it's something I wouldn't have found out without trying them in the first place.

[Graiggy]

To be honest that's probably the best way to learn the game, by playing each of the various roles (or at least being able to see from their perspective)

Oh i have done all the rolls a little. I love healing. In WoW i main a druid healer. Healing is more my thing I have a blast keeping people alive and always scanning and seeing things that the DPS or tank miss. or see where they are making a mistake and help them correct it. but for some reason In this game I just have a hard time finding a tank that can either hold aggro or doesnt go off and pull the whole damn dungeon thinking that he can halndle it.... a lot the time they end up dead before i can even get my second heal off. I would love to run my WHM and get a good idea on how all the rolls are played.

[Anienai]

I have seen so many healers just walk through the dungeon and only heal.

Kick them....

[whiskeybravo]

I mean it's pretty common, no doubt. We have a lot of new players with expansion and new content, people leveling up their alts (characters or classes), people coming back from long breaks, etc. And you also have to consider people like me who already have all 3 tanks at 70, I don't run dungeons or even 24-mans on my tanks. I raid on tank so when I wanna do other stuff I just play as dps. So instead of getting pro tanks you're left with people learning or just leveling up lol

[Graiggy]

-snip-

Which isnt a problem if they take advice given to them. I try to listen to anyone who gives me a pointer during dungeons or trials because I know there are people who are better than I. The issue arises when they dont listen or get mouthy when you try to give them a pointer. I actually coached a brand new tank through a dungeon. Wish he would have been on my server so i could friend him and run more content with him and really help him out. he was taking what little advice i had to give and by the end of the dungeon he was tanking like he knew what he was doing. felt really good about helping the guy out.

[BluexBird]

Don't use Tomahawk in dungeons. Stick to Overpower. Like if you see a group of 3 monsters, don't use Tomahawk on one of them and then use Overpower. Doing this means you won't have agro on the other monsters for over 2 seconds. That's enough time to send the monsters to one of the DPS, and then you'll have to chase after them to get them back.

So just walk up, open with Overpower and try to hit as many as you can. Tomahawk is only for bosses or single targets.

As for rotations, every single dungeon is different. So there is no point in trying to copy what other Warriors might do. It also depends on your healer. With some healers, you won't be able to do the things you did on that one dungeon. You just have to kinda go with the flow. If you want to stay in Defiance the whole time and only use Deliverance for bosses, that's fine. It won't make that much of a difference.