This post is in response to this week’s Shared Topic over at Blog Azeroth. It was originally suggested by Wrathbringer from Metal up Your WoW. For additional takes on this topic, I invite you to read Runycat’s Recruit a Friend (or Yourself) and Megan’s New Rules, Part I.

You may remember a while back how excited I was when MMO Champion discovered the presence of unicorn-esque Zhevra mounts in the game files. I previously had reason to believe that these mounts would be acquirable through quests from the Hemet Nesingwary expedition in Northrend. It turns out, however, that these amazing ground mounts are only available to those who can convince a friend who is not already playing to play the game for two months or more. I find this incredibly, ridiculously frustrating for a number of reasons.

First of all, everyone that I know that would enjoy playing World of Warcraft already has an account, active or otherwise. This program should extend to encouraging canceled accounts to renew. Why should a friend who tried the game, became disenchanted with the leveling curve (or quests, or hair selection, or whatever), and canceled have to purchase an entirely new account? This new program should have been added onto the lackluster Scroll of Resurrection program already in place for renewals. A returning player should be viewed as at least as valuable as a new player.

I’ve been playing World of Warcraft since the first day of release. In City of Heroes/City of Villains, they issue Veteran Rewards at various playtime milestones, both to encourage and reward their long-term subscribers. While I thought that was really neat for CoX, I didn’t really expect for Blizzard to follow suit … until they implemented a new program that makes me think they value a potential new customer more than they value my years of past and future dedication. Every year that you play should afford a percentage-based experience bonus for alts that you create.

As you may know, I play with my husband. Shouldn’t we be able to "link accounts" to help us level new characters without having to buy a third account? This “linking” could be available to any two accounts from which character transfers would be allowed (same last name and/or billing information). To obtain the same benefits that a new player would, not only would we have to purchase a new account, but we’d later have to pay $25 to transfer the character onto one of our existing accounts or continue paying an additional monthly fee. I understand that Blizzard is in business to make money, but surely encouraging the creation and advancement of alts will make them money in the long term.

As it stands, Blizzard is essentially charging $X for 300% bonus experience, 30 free levels, and a special mount not available through any other means. In my mind, this puts them a step away from allowing players to purchase gear directly from them. All in all, it feels very much like receiving a fantastic pricing offer in the mail from my cable company/ISP but when calling in to switch to the new plan with all its bells and whistles, being informed that only new customers are eligible for the deal and that I shouldn’t have received the offer in the first place (true story).

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This is in response to the Blog Azeroth Shared Topic Top 10 WoW Memories from Cathmor of Eye for an Eye.

1. During the last few hours of the open beta, Phaelia was level 12 and fishing in the lake in Moonglade. I pulled up a Golden Pearl which sold for a whole GOLD to the vendor. I used the proceeds from my find to  buy a dress and some flowers so I’d “go out in style.”
2. Back when Scholomance could be raided with up to 40 people, I was there with my  first guild. In the last room with the balconies overlooking where Darkmaster Gandling eventually spawns, we were standing outside of the room with the ridiculous number of skeletons historically used by Paladins to pad the DPS meters. I had a cosmopolitan (cranberry juice and vodka) sitting beside my keyboard and, in the process of standing up from my desk, my leg bumped the keyboard tray, pushing it into my desk and knocking over my drink. Frantically trying to mop up the mess, I must have hit the autorun button on my mouse because before I knew it, I was charging into the room alone. I’m pretty sure we wiped.
3. I’m sure that most Druids would agree that one of their most memorable moments was turning level 68 and training Flight Form. Flying was (and still is) one of my favorite things in Warcraft. And the feeling of freedom from insta-cast Swift Flight Form is far better than the casting-time based mounts that other players get. They can’t jump off of Aldor Terrace and shift halfway down (just make sure you don’t shift into Tree form like I did earlier this week).
4. During my single season as a “hardcore” Arena player, my husband and I played a 2v2 game against a 2-Rogue team. Now, I know that some people say Druids are OP in Arenas (and they must have been for me to be able to reach 1915, to be honest), but that doesn’t mean that playing one isn’t incredibly stressful. Melees were the worst for me. I hated the feeling that someone was trying to kill me/not letting me heal my partner (yeah, I was definitely not cut out for PvP). Anyway so we play this 2 Rogue team and I’m terrified. Despite this, I think I played my best Arena game ever, keeping away from both Rogues, keeping Abolish Poison on both me and Mr. Phae, and rolling HoTs at the same time. When we won, we got 28 points from them, which means they were much higher rated than we were. I have to keep telling myself that they weren’t the alternates on a “farm team.”
5. Phaelia is a Tailor/Leatherworker. I was one of the first players on my server to craft the Primal Mooncloth set. I remember sinking 800 gold or so into buying enough cloth to craft the belt (I made the robe first) so that I could complete the set bonus. Putting all three pieces on was a huge accomplishment and set me belt and shoulders above most of my guildmates at the time.
6. For weeks, I diligently did the Daily Fishing Quest, hoping to get one of the cute little baby crocodiles (I’m from Louisiana originally, so it has sentimental value as well as matching my robe). I was beginning to get really discouraged as day after day I got the same junk: hooks, elixirs of water walking, and the occasional fishing knife. One Friday afternoon, though, Valenna was over to play poker with Mr. Phae. I turned in my quest, asked him to cross his fingers (which he did), and lo and behold out came Toothy! Now if only he could help me get a Fishing Hat! 
7. Like many guilds, Aegis Hestia stalled out on the Gruul encounter since it was really the first raid we tried in 25-man progression. I think we probably worked on him for 6 weeks before finally downing him, so that first victory was extra sweet. 
8. My very first non-combat pet was the White Kitten, given to me by my good friend, Fikus. I guess he camped Lil Timmy, Boy with Kittens enough times to get kittens for several friends. “The Abominable Snowball” is still in my bank’s kennel and retains her sentimental value.
9. I got my introduction to MMOs in EverQuest, playing for five years as a Ranger (ouch). My limited experience with healing in an MMO came in the form of raiding with Clerics. The raid content in EverQuest 1 was relatively shallow, with corps of clerics dedicated to casting their Complete Heal spell in regular intervals. So that other Clerics could keep track of their place in line, they would make simple macros like:
   

   /rsay ~* Casting COMPLETE HEAL on %t ~~ 10k HP in X seconds! Primadonna, you’re up next!! *~
   /cast Complete Heal

   When I first started instancing with my friends, I made similar macros for all my heals:

   /p Incoming Healing Touch on %t!! 500 hp in 3 seconds!

   I was promptly informed (by Valenna) that this was annoying and that if I didn’t stop, he would put me on ignore.

10. Last month I was standing outside of the Magister’s Terrace instance, waiting for my group to do whatever it is that group’s find to do while you’re waiting at the summoning stone and some random person of some random class came up to me and said, “/cheer I love your blog!” That made my whole evening.

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I’m writing this in direct response to the article "Synergies between Tanks and Healers" by SaladFork of Omen of Clarity in which he describes a special bond that he’s formed with a Holy Paladin frequently assigned to help keep him alive during raids. Be sure to read the whole article, but here’s a snippet for context:

Being a tank means you’re a constant magnet for heals (obviously), but it still sends a tingle down your spine when you see your health bar topping off and noticing that one healer giving it their all just to keep YOU alive. It’s almost an instant friendship, and it’s hard to describe.

As SaladFork is typically specced Feral for the purpose of tanking, he’s written the article primarily from a tank’s point of view. I’d like to share my own thoughts on the matter from a healer’s perspective.

I definitely think there is a sort of empathy that develops between tanks and healers, and that this relationship is even more pronounced when the healer is played by a female and the tank is played by a male. Typical gender roles hold that women are generally nurturers while men are generally protectors. I think this is one reason so many real life couples — including Mr. Phae and myself — often gravitate toward Healer-Tank pairs. In such a relationship, the female player will sometimes even make suboptimal choices in terms of talent spec and gear selection while leveling to further enhance her healing abilities (i.e., speccing more deeply Restoration and forgoing more damage-oriented talents in the Balance tree). This behavior is likely less pronounced in male players who tend to play more min-maxxed characters and have little reservation about "tanking with a 2-hander."

Real life relationships aside, a bond can develop between a healer and her tank(s) over time. There is something that feels very protective about being the healer to drop out of Tree form to cast a Nature’s Swiftness + Healing Touch for 9K hit points on a tank who you just know would otherwise have been so much Cream-of-Bear without you. Likewise, a tank that uses an addon that displays incoming heals and the person who casts them (with a threshold to prevent the overwhelming display of HoT-ticks), is likely to feel a special affinity for the healer(s) who consistently go above and beyond to keep him alive. I would like to think that this is especially true for Druids since rolling one or more HoTs on a tank represents a constant influx of healing and attention, almost like — at the risk of sounding corny — wrapping him in a warm blanket.

It is for this reason that I have developed and foster a relationship with one of my guild tanks in particular. I send him the Healing Potions, Protection scrolls, and Stamina food I come across, and he, in turn, sends me any Super Mana Potions, and Intellect or Spirit scrolls. And while I don’t frequently assign myself as his specific healer (since he is one of the better-geared tanks and can get by without my constant attention), I make an effort to keep HoTs on him even when I’m healing someone else.

Besides tanks, a healer’s frequent need-to-nurture can work to the advantage of DPS players. There is a female Gnome Rogue in my guild (with pink hair, no less) that SQUEAKS every time she’s hit. Even though I know she’s played by a male in real life (and a very nice one at that), there is an automatic "OH NO DON’T LET HER DIE SHE’S SO CUTE!" reaction the instant I hear that sound. And I’m sure I’m not the only one. If I ever did play a Warrior tank, I’d make sure she were a Gnome. Then I’d get all the heals!

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A thread topic that comes up over and over is “Where are all the tanks?”  They tend to come in groups, and I’ve seen them since at least the launch of Burning Crusade (prior to BC, all the threads seemed to be lamenting the absence of healers), with little sign of dissipating completely.

I read a lot of those threads and watch as people offer explanations and criticisms and just snipe stupidly at other people for little reason other than to push buttons.  There are accusations of elitist tanks, the inevitable bickering between Warriors/Paladins/Druids, and the random Shaman clown who thinks buying Toughness from Enhancement should secure him a ringside seat.

Whenever a thread like this raises its ugly head, one of the most frequently seen flippant responses is, “Re-roll a tank if you need one.”

It’s the same response that gets trotted out whenever someone laments the lack of healers, or the difficulty of what they do, or the lack of appreciation for their role.  “Roll DPS if you don’t like healing, nub.”  As with all stupidly brief responses to forum topics, the answer avoids the issue and indeed, exaggerates it should the target follow said input.

Oddly, it seems that their advice may have been followed to some degree.

Most Warriors in Burning Crusade seem to be DPS, ostensibly to PvP but also because of the “massive” buffs they provide to group DPS or conversely, the massive DPS output they can achieve with the perfect group.  The majority of Paladins are still healers, though a growing proportion are picking up a Warrior’s 2-hander, putting on Warrior DPS plate, and smacking things, too.  And Druids… well, foliage spec is still an amazing instance healer and remains our best ticket to 133t PvP stuffage.

So perhaps there really are fewer tanks because they decided to go dps either within their class or with another.  Perhaps two of the tanking classes have rediscovered that their DPS specs can be viable (as the player of both non-Warrior tanking classes, I can say with a fair degree of certainty that this is definitely a factor).  Everyone needs DPS if just to farm or do dailies, and many raid encounters are as much DPS checks as anything.  DPS climbs ever higher in the ranks of desirable traits and specs.

Some say that tanks, like the healers of old, are busy tanking for their guilds and won’t touch a PUG.  While there is some truth to this, I also find that I am in high demand even in my guild.  That isn’t to say that many tanks don’t feel this way.  Hell, I feel this way a lot, but given the level of demand I see for my services even within the comforting bounds of my own guild, there’s definitely something else going on.

Like many others who choose to tank, I really enjoy it.  It is without a doubt the hardest thing I’ve done in the game (I’ve done DPS and played two raiding healers at the cap extensively), but the payoff for doing it successfully is equally great. 

My success, though, is tied to the rest of the group.  “But so is mine,” you may opine, but the truth of this is simply greater for a tank.  No matter how tuned in and on my game I may be, 1-2 bad players can make me look like an idiot.  No matter my level of skill, my job requires everyone else to be part of the plan.  I can’t do it without the rest of the team pulling their weight and paying attention.  If my healer and I are the only ones on our game, we will fail.  It really is that simple.

Tanking is work.  I’m not going to say the other jobs aren’t because I know healing can be but my DPS experience is fairly limited.  But when you accept a PUG invitation you’re risking a lot.  It can be an absolute blast to tank, but it’s work, and it’s not unexpected that most people either don’t want to do it or don’t want to do it for people they don’t know and therefore, trust. Let’s face it, as the tank, I have to trust all of you even more than you have to trust me. Only the healer is in a similar situation. So if I don’t know you, I’m risking my playtime and I’m not always willing to do that.

But sometimes I will.  After all, I learned to tank by tanking for PUGs because my guild doesn’t challenge me to step up my game.  They’re really good and I don’t need to.  For a PUG, you’ll need all your skill to succeed.

Inevitably that begs the question, what skills are those?  What does it take to be a tank?  What if you’ve read all this and still think tanking sounds fun?  Well, that’s what I’m here for.  Rather than discuss the specific tools used to tank as a bear, I’d like to talk about what any tank needs to be successful, in no particular order.

Arguably the most important trait for a tank to have is situational awareness.  As a tank you need to be aware of everything.  During any given fight, you need to have an idea who is being hit and why, and if you’re not trying to lock them down, why you’re not.  It’s your job to enable the DPS.  Without you, they can’t do their job because…well, because they’ll die trying.  Just as important (and Phae would undoubtedly argue MORE important) is protecting the healer.  Without her, you’re dead.  Sure sometimes you can pull of something amazing with a few standing DPS and no healer, but that isn’t the norm, especially for encounters at your gear level.

It’s crucial to be watching for patrols, managing your positioning so that runners are handled effectively, pulling behind corners to corral casters and so on.  You more than anyone in the group need to be aware of everything that’s happening and understand why it’s happening.  Sometimes you can do something about it and sometimes you can’t, but every bit of information builds knowledge that paints the greater picture of conflict.  It is this picture of the tactical landscape that determines what you can, should, and will do.

You will also need cash.

Tanking is expensive business.  Sure anyone can make that claim but the reason I point it out specifically is because it is vital to any tank that they have the best gear they can obtain.  The best enchants and gems are also crucial.  The reason is simple: you want to give you healer the biggest cushion you possibly can because the easier you are to heal, the better able the healer will be to cope with the inevitable wandering damage all encounters stupidly sport these days.  That inevitably involves cash: cash to buy rare gems, cash to buy armor kits, cash to buy craftables to use until the drop you need comes.  You will find yourself at your most successful when you aren’t stingy with what you’ve made, when you are willing to dump it on gear, materials for crafting, and the right enchantments.

Your repair bills will be enormous.

A sense of sacrifice helps.  No, tanks are not altruistic paragons of self-sacrifice such that the Dalai Llama comes to us for monthly training seminars, but you do need to have a healthy dose of “team” over “self.”  After all, you’re the one getting hit in the face so the pretty DPS corps and the healers can use their fundage for vanity nose jobs and not reconstructive surgery.  You will often die while others live either by running out to reset an encounter, feigning death, vanishing or even the semi final application of Divine Intervention.  This is in part why your repair bill will suck, but it can also easily leave you with a sour taste in your mouth as you and your healer are running back while your Hunters and Rogues (and even Mages it seems, from time to time) slap each other on the back for living through the deadly pull — sometimes repeatedly.

If you can’t deal with that, maybe you should rethink your goals.

As I pointed out earlier in the article, you are utterly reliant on your team.  You cannot survive without them, you cannot succeed without them, you cannot kill without them.  Their performance will override yours.  Most often this means that if they stink, your run will fail, but it also means that if they’re good enough, they can carry you on a bad day or struggle through teaching you the ins and outs of your job.

It’s because of this reality that I believe tanking for competent groups, while helpful, is not ultimately educational the way it should be in order to hone truly impressive tanking skills.

Marking your targets is a skill every tank should hone.  Perhaps you don’t believe this to be a skill, but if that’s the case, you’ve probably never had to alphabetize anything either.  Marking targets is a carefully coordinated opus where you’re taking the resources you have (your teammates, their skill, their tools, their gear…) and comparing it to the obstacle at hand whereupon you prioritize targets, assign control duties, and discuss what to do when you have leftover targets.

This requires a knowledge of your class, a working knowledge of the capabilities of other classes, a knowledge of the mobs you’re dealing with and their capabilities… and most importantly, a willingness to listen to input.

Sometimes you don’t know what’s best and you need to listen to your team so they can tell you what they’re capable of or comfortable doing.  One Hunter may barely know what a trap is while another could chain trap anything you pointed her at.  The other side of this is that eventually, you have to make a decision, and that decision may fly in the face of what those people say they can do.  Ultimately, you’re the one that takes the fall for control and you’re the one that needs to say, “I know you don’t like trapping or feel you are best at this, but I need it done.”

It’s also possible to have someone else mark targets.  This is less than ideal because it means you have to react to someone else’s priorities and assumptions, ones you may disagree with.  You aren’t in control, and you need to be.  It can be helpful when learning an instance from someone who knows, though, and in that light, it’s an option to be considered, but learning to effectively mark targets is fairly critical for a tank.

Finally, you need to be something of an attention whore.  All of us are attention whores on some level, but the dirty secret of tanking is that it puts you firmly in the spotlight, and who doesn’t like to be there?  In a hard encounter, when the Main Tank goes down, it’s a wipe.  Keeping you alive is priority one for most groups because when you fall, so do they.

While there is significant responsibility to the role of a tank, there is also a significant amount of narcissistic self-indulgence.  You stand toe to toe with the biggest and the baddest with absolutely everyone there relying on you to do your job so they can do theirs and collect the magical treasure that comes with success.

I’m sure other tanks have other lists, and this one is by no means complete, but if none of this has turned you off and you have the requisite dash of prima donna, give it a shot and see if you can help minimize the tank shortage.

I’ll see you at the reconstructive surgeon between instance runs.

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I was super-duper lucky to nab an [Orb of Sin'dorei] from Magister’s Terrace this week, giving me the ability to turn into a pretty, ginger-haired Blood Elf Druid for 5 minutes out of every 30. (And thanks to afore-mentioned Ghost Pulse addon, I never miss the timer!) Unfortunately, this means I don’t use Tree of Life for that period of time, which deprives me of a certain someone’s beautiful shapeshift skins. On a related note, MMO Champion is reporting that several modified Zhevra mount skins have been added to the game on the PTR. Maybe it’s not very patriotic, but I’d love to trade in my [Reins of the Frostsaber] for one!

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