Defensive Stance

[Artega]

Conclusions
Issues of free will aside, if Spangles were raidmaster she would demand that all warriors spec defense for the raid environment. This is not practical, of course. Nevertheless, it is much easier for Spangles to cooperate with the other defense warrior in our group than those in other stances, and this may have implications for the more difficult dungeons in the end game.

Much of the advantage of defense stance in the raid environment applies to 5 player groups also. It may be that in this context, total commitment to defense reduces damage output to unsatisfactory levels, and a more balanced assignment of talents is necessary. Spangles needs more experience before deciding.

Defense stance is great fun to play. The graphic shows a savage and unrelenting attack that is very satisfying. The real fun is talking to the mob, teasing it and frightening it and spinning it around, a game within the game. The statistic of 10% damage reduction to the warrior understates its effect. The defense warrior is very tough indeed, and with good healing, can play whole raids without checking his health. These benefits will bring more warriors to stance defense when they cap, I am sure.
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On a pve server, sure. There's really no excuse for not being Protection spec in the endgame, since pvp events tend to be organized from my experiences. In the pvp setting, however, it's foolish to be Protection.

Protection only marginally increases your survivability in the endgame (mostly from Last Stand and Improved Shield Block, along with Toughness), while causing a massive reduction to the total amount of damage you can do (in the form of opportunity costs.) Since you don't really NEED to do much damage, Protection is fine for PvE, but is a little gimped for PvP (you have Concussion Blow and Improved Shield Bash, and that's about it.)

As for Defensive Stance being necessary to tank, that's utterly not true. I've tanked (main tanked, not offtanked) UBRS, both ogre and undead sections of Dire Maul, Scholomance, and Stratholme in Berserker and/or Battle Stance. It requires a significant shift from the normal styles of play (wherein the warrior sacrifices damage output to become the proverbial immovable object and the healers heal the warrior while everyone else knocks the crap out of the target), but it's very viable. I know the Druid that was our main healer in the Stratholme group and one of the Dire Maul groups is 31 points into Restoration, but I can't say anything about what spec the Priest was, but I know he Silence-pulled occasionally, so I'm guessing Shadow/Discipline.

For pretty much all pulls, you don't even need a shield; I was perfectly happy using my two maces and Doomsaw to mete out damage and maintain aggro. You WILL need a shield for major bosses (and it's advised for minor bosses, too), like Drakkisath and such, but you don't need to do Defensive Stance for that, either (though I usually do, anyway.)

Key to effectively tanking in Berserker or Battle Stance is effective use of CC methods (sheep, freezing traps, hibernate, banish, shackles, etc.) and proper use of /assist macros.

As for Charge: I'd use this whenever possible. Have someone else (preferably a Hunter or Rogue, since they have methods of instantly shedding all aggro if things go bad) pull for you, and Charge when they get close to your group. If you don't have Tactical Mastery, burn the rage with a thunder clap or demoralizing shout before shifting to Defensive Stance.

There is a problem, however: both Charge and Intercept work on the same stun timer as Concussion Blow, which means that you MUST use Concussion Blow first (or wait 30 seconds after your Charge or Intercept) if you want to get the full five seconds.