03-01-2005, 04:06 PM
Hi there. I just arrived. B) Nice to see an intelligent forum to discuss WoW strategy (not that the official boards don't have their amusement value, but let's be real). And now that's out of the way, I'm going to start babbling incoherently, because I need sane advice from strategically-sound individuals.
I rolled up to 60 with my warrior basically either soloing or grouping with the same four people, with a few random exceptions in order to knock out a quest (once with Bolty, amusingly enough). Our group composition was me, pally, priest, hunter, mage. The paladin always took the main tank role, arguing that since he had all those nifty paladin survivability tools and about 1000 more armor than me, it made sense. Having given up on EQ because I was sick of being the meatshield, this didn't exactly bother me; in fact, I had initially chosen my Arms build for precisely that reason. I was able to off-tank perfectly well, and on those occasions when it was necessary for me to take point... well, my priest has never given me any grief, and I've gone duo with him more than any other members of that group.
Around the time we started hitting Maraudon, the paladin started badgering me to go respec defensive. For various reasons I won't go into, I had started getting annoyed with him well before this anyway, and honestly being told how to play my character wasn't exactly going to get me to go make a drastic change.
So, anyway, once the pally hit 60, it took him about 12 seconds to go join a hardcore raiding guild; ever since he's periodically asked me two things which boil down to "When are you going to abandon the guild you're the leader of and come join me?" and "When are you going to respec?" The mage tends to take his side in this, but then the mage also left the guild to join him. Their argument is that I'll never get invited to raids if I'm not defensive specced, although I have been on 15-20 man raids to BRS where the paladins were tanking. The priest and hunter, both of whom have stayed, have told me I need to do what I'm comfortable with, although the hunter has rolled up a defensive warrior and loves it.
Now, I have to admit I'm pretty used to my "take on two mobs, sweep and cleave, rinse and repeat" strategy (I'm convinced that this is the Warrior's primarystrength, as a fight between a sweep/cleave warrior and two mobs actually takes noticeably less time than a fight between said warrior and one mob), and now that I've actually begin grouping with other people on occasion, I'm getting used to changing stances and using some skills I'd previously just never needed to bother with. I think that's just an inherent drawback in grouping with the same people for three months, but what's done is done.
It's obvious I'm going to have to respec to some extent, because I have wasted points in the Arms tree, and I don't have Piercing Howl. I led a group through Temple the other day, which was my first real experience being main tank for longer than a couple of fights since beginning my WoW career, still never went into defensive stance at all, and everything was fine -- but then again, Temple isn't BRS either.
I'm pretty sure I know Artega's stance on this one :lol:. But I'm wondering if I'm just being stubborn -- both about being pressured, and about having become comfortable with my style of play -- or whether this really is something I should do for not only my own benefit, but for the benefit of those who will end up grouping with me. The comfort level is actually a pretty large concern; I'm almost convinced that if I do drastically respec, I'm going to have to roll up a new warrior and keep him in defensive stance just to get used to playing that way, because learning at 60 is a quick way to make unfriends and disinfluence people. :P But I'm also concerned about the question of whether it's something I even need to do.
So the root question is... am I really a liability with an Arms/Fury spec, and if so what's the best way to go about adjusting my mindset -- or am I just being harangued by a disenchanted paladin who's decided he doesn't want to tank after refusing to even allow me to for three months?
I rolled up to 60 with my warrior basically either soloing or grouping with the same four people, with a few random exceptions in order to knock out a quest (once with Bolty, amusingly enough). Our group composition was me, pally, priest, hunter, mage. The paladin always took the main tank role, arguing that since he had all those nifty paladin survivability tools and about 1000 more armor than me, it made sense. Having given up on EQ because I was sick of being the meatshield, this didn't exactly bother me; in fact, I had initially chosen my Arms build for precisely that reason. I was able to off-tank perfectly well, and on those occasions when it was necessary for me to take point... well, my priest has never given me any grief, and I've gone duo with him more than any other members of that group.
Around the time we started hitting Maraudon, the paladin started badgering me to go respec defensive. For various reasons I won't go into, I had started getting annoyed with him well before this anyway, and honestly being told how to play my character wasn't exactly going to get me to go make a drastic change.
So, anyway, once the pally hit 60, it took him about 12 seconds to go join a hardcore raiding guild; ever since he's periodically asked me two things which boil down to "When are you going to abandon the guild you're the leader of and come join me?" and "When are you going to respec?" The mage tends to take his side in this, but then the mage also left the guild to join him. Their argument is that I'll never get invited to raids if I'm not defensive specced, although I have been on 15-20 man raids to BRS where the paladins were tanking. The priest and hunter, both of whom have stayed, have told me I need to do what I'm comfortable with, although the hunter has rolled up a defensive warrior and loves it.
Now, I have to admit I'm pretty used to my "take on two mobs, sweep and cleave, rinse and repeat" strategy (I'm convinced that this is the Warrior's primarystrength, as a fight between a sweep/cleave warrior and two mobs actually takes noticeably less time than a fight between said warrior and one mob), and now that I've actually begin grouping with other people on occasion, I'm getting used to changing stances and using some skills I'd previously just never needed to bother with. I think that's just an inherent drawback in grouping with the same people for three months, but what's done is done.
It's obvious I'm going to have to respec to some extent, because I have wasted points in the Arms tree, and I don't have Piercing Howl. I led a group through Temple the other day, which was my first real experience being main tank for longer than a couple of fights since beginning my WoW career, still never went into defensive stance at all, and everything was fine -- but then again, Temple isn't BRS either.
I'm pretty sure I know Artega's stance on this one :lol:. But I'm wondering if I'm just being stubborn -- both about being pressured, and about having become comfortable with my style of play -- or whether this really is something I should do for not only my own benefit, but for the benefit of those who will end up grouping with me. The comfort level is actually a pretty large concern; I'm almost convinced that if I do drastically respec, I'm going to have to roll up a new warrior and keep him in defensive stance just to get used to playing that way, because learning at 60 is a quick way to make unfriends and disinfluence people. :P But I'm also concerned about the question of whether it's something I even need to do.
So the root question is... am I really a liability with an Arms/Fury spec, and if so what's the best way to go about adjusting my mindset -- or am I just being harangued by a disenchanted paladin who's decided he doesn't want to tank after refusing to even allow me to for three months?
Darian Redwin - just some dude now