Tanking 101

[Amokk]

Going to have to read up on Druid tanking. When we started grouping I was holding aggro easily. Then as Ash geared up I noticed it was becoming harder but as I geared up the easiness came back. But tonight the aggro holding was darn near impossible. I Swipe at every chance for AoE aggro and I tab thru the mobs hitting each with Maul as from what I have read that is the Druid way of tanking. But that is not working. Also going to have to see if I should respec my tree as perhaps I am missing a couple of Tank skills that I should be picking up.

Thoughts and observations are welcome.

[Ashenfield]

Yeah it was a bit bad last night. Granted, perhaps I should have held back some and waited on the AoE, but I am very used to not having to hold back much at all with the other druid tanks I've been with.

Dizz's Power word shield may have been part of the culprit as that fellow said as I don't think your thorns
do damage when you are shielded, which would equate to less overall hate generated by you.
I'm wondering if this is what was happening when I was pulling agro after only one AoE.

I'm really not sure as I'm not too familiar with your tanking mechanics.

However, please don't hesitate to tell me to back off, as I get a bit trigger happy at times

[Amokk]

All I have read about Druid tanking is it basically requires 3 keys. Some guys even have it macroed. Swipe is our AoE taunt so this gets used at every opportunity. Maul generates threat on a single target. So between Swipes you tab then Maul each mob. This is suppose to keep all the mobs on you as tank.
Rotation is:
Swipe
Maul
Tab
Swipe
Maul
Tab
Rinse and repeat.
One thing I need to do is figure out how to see the threat on each mob. Right now I see the threat on my target but no others so I don't see the aggro shifting.

[Amokk]

Omen threat meter might be my answer.

[Amokk]

After some more reading it seems Bear tanks main aggro issues are in the first few seconds of the fight. Once we have the threat we can keep it.

Doh! I have not been Enchanting any of my gear lately. Oops.

[dizzarian]

Yah I've been researching this power word shield nonsense and from what I've read the rogue was an idiot (but we knew that right?) PW:S does generate threat but not enough to pull it off of you once you have the aggro, that's why if I don't do it before the fight and just as they attack I will pull all aggro but that's rare since I have been doing this for so many levels now. It doesn't affect rage generation either but if you're having problem with rage (which I observed last night you're not) then you should use your rage generating ability since I'll be protecting you anyway.

[Amokk]

Looking at making some adjustments to my talents. See if I can improve on tanking without hurting DPS as when I am in DK as DPS I usually end the run last. Second think I am seeing in my reading is I need a couple of seconds to lock the mobs down before DPS unleash. It is the first few seconds where Bears have issues. Once we get threat on a mob then typically we can keep it. Might have to keep Ash distracted for a few seconds at the start of a fight.

[Ashenfield]

Might have to keep Ash distracted for a few seconds at the start of a fight.

Should not be too difficult

One thing I did that helped a bit is I switched to a different buff. Instead of Molten Armor which increases my crit chance significantly I switched to mage armor. Keeps my mana up a bit and halves the duration of magic effects to me.

[Relinna]

I was aoeing everything since I don't really have to pay attention when it's going off and it gives me time to distract Dizz which is prolly why I died...once >.>

Either way..bang up job Amokk...even if you are undergeared! lol

Did I mention booting the rogue before he was rezzed was funny?

[Amokk]

Decided not to tweak my talents. Seeing as even though my gear is getting better but my DPS is still last place I don't want to make that worse. I think part of my problem is with trying to do both Tank and DPS with one spec. I have a hodge podge of gear, gems, and enchants. If I went either DPS or Tank and set myself up that one way I would probably be better off. But in DF I still prefer not tanking unless with the guild. Don't feel comfortable leading the group or with my tanking.

Edit: I am going to shift talents around. Looking at the talent calculator if I drop one that is really not doing me any good I can pick up one that will help my Bear. And by shifting a couple of points around I can actually boost my Cat and my Bear a bit.

[Ashenfield]

Cool. Maybe we'll have a chance to try it out again this week.

[Amokk]

Reset my talents. Dumped one that really was not helping me. Only benefit was shape-change cost. Two more that I could live without. Of the four talents I took instead two will help cat and bear so it is all a plus I hope.

[dizzarian]

After our rather poor performance last night I switched my other spec to discipline and trying it out in the hopes that it makes healing a little easier for pugs. So far with the little testing I've done it does seem to have helped I'll be interested in grouping up again soon and seeing what happens.

[Amokk]

Looks like Discipline will take more discipline.

Will see if we notice any difference with my tweaks. They mainly bumped my Dodge as well as a slight increase in armor and DPS. Beyond that I will look at changing what gems I am using.

[Ashenfield]

I am not sure of my schedule tonight.
Holiday tomorrow so may be on late, but may be going out for a late dinner.
If I catch y'all I'm game.