Gnollguy,Sep 30 2005, 06:50 AM Wrote:I'm thinking about this because I'm pretty sure that a fury warrior will be a better tank than a protection warrior, even in Motlen Core. I can't really test this easily on the test server unless I get a bunch of other people that I've played with before to go over there with me and spend time on test that quite frankly is probably better spent on live servers. I would be interested in your thinking on this theory as I've often contemplated the same thing.
Having deathwish's 30 second fear immunity for phase 2->3 in the Onyxia fight would be a very nice way to get that transition to go smoothly, short of respeccing blacksmithing for a mithril insignia.
Then there is the aggro factor.
At 15% crit (tank gear), you've got about a 39% chance of any hit being flurried (except for the first couple hits which have a lower chance). I figured the following raw DPS/Aggro #s (840 attack power 5/5 flurry vs. 5/5 1h mastery with Eskhander's claw):
Base DPS with crits (no talents): 118.8
DPS with Flurry & crits: 132.6 (11.6% relative increase)
Aggro equivalent DPS with flurry + defiance: 152.4
DPS with 1H mastery: 130.7 (10% relative increase - big shock)
Aggro equivalent DPS with 1H mastery +defiance: 150.3
Basically - in white damage and the aggro from that damage, the two specs are a wash. Then you have to remember that 1h mastery is always on but Flurry is sporadic (almost never on at the start) - giving prot spec a very slim margin in "initial aggro" buildup.
Then you have aggro from specials. Since raw DPS is similar, rage will be similar (and often greatly outfactored by rage from incoming damage), you're left with Bloodthirst (if you choose to use it) aggro vs. Shield Slam aggro - something not well tested to date. We know Shield Slam was boosted, but bloodthirst has a heal component that likely generates hate if it's not overhealing. Rage boosting talents (unbridled wrath, anger management, imp. zerker rage, shield specialization) might vary rage availability (and hence specials use) a bit in some situations - likely giving fury a little edge in rage-scarce tanking.
The other factor to tanking is mitigation, and I would probably give the edge there to protection, but not by a lot. Bloodthirst's healing can be after-the-fact mitigation of spell damage, something that protection offers nowhere besides the extra seconds of shield wall. With a 5 arms / 31 fury / 15 protection build that also includes defiance, you have 10 points to spread around shield specialization, anticipation, and toughness (mitigating talents) but protection builds have the option of picking them all up. Flurry & concussion blow is nice (I should know, I spent months with the spec), but not nice enough to lose deflection from an end-game tanking standpoint IMO.
My thought on the "better" tank spec is that protection builds still come out a little ahead, but for the slight difference you can get the option to DPS with Flurry and a 2H (for overpowers and WW), which 1H spec doesn't help at all with. With 31/5/15 you get a still reasonable tank spec (behind prot & fury/prot IMO) and a distinct PvP advantage.
edit: The fury spec I keep getting tempted to try: link