Threat and TAnk Classes

[bonemage]

While for most tanks, waiting the second on Consecrate/Holy Shield will get you a very smooth 969 rotation that means that you can even macro your tanking into 2 buttons ( I wouldn't macro it personally ), it's not the end all be all of how to execute the rotation.

Why would you wait on Consecrate? It has already gone down prior to it coming up in your rotation. You get to it every 9 secs, but it is available every 8 secs. Waiting on HS doesn't work too well in practice either due to client/server disagreements. It generally is at risk of going down even when you're looking to jump on it as soon as you get off of GCD and it is up next. At best, there is some extra time there, but not 1.5 secs worth of it, and any time spent waiting to cast HS at the latest possible time before it drops off is time not spent continuing with the other abilities. There certainly isn't a free GCD anywhere in 969. When you need a Divine Plea or whatever else, you make room for it by dropping something out of the regular rotation.

Now, if you use Glyph of Consecrate (viewed as rotation breaking), you'll get a hitch in the 969 rotation that you could squeeze in an extra GCD, but then you're idling your top two threat abilities (the "sixes") for that "extra" GCD, or end up dropping Consecrate to get back to the "sixes" as one just came off of cooldown. Without the glyph, when you need something else, you just drop a 9 (this really varies on the scenario which one you should use) which ends up being the same thing as above, unless you prefer to frequently idle the "sixes" for a GCD while not dropping Consecrate, and that isn't a threat gain.

Macroing is not the way to go for the rotation either, I agree with you there. How you open varies on the type of pull, and macroing means you run it the same way, which isn't ideal. Plus, there are numerous types of interruptions (stuns, movement, etc.) that give you a choice on where to start again in your rotation. Macroing it removes that choice and limits how effective you can be. If you come out of Vortex on Malygos and use Consecrate as your first "nine" when really should have put of HS, or used Hammer instead of ShoR when both are off cooldown, then you're not maximizing your threat. In a similar multi mob scenario, you are more optimal to use Hammer first and then ShoR.