Spooncraft

Here’s a collection of Blizzard Posts in the WotLK Beta forums regarding Warriors and tanking. We all know warriors were a little more than put off in Burning Crusade when they got replaced by two other classes for some content, with Death Knights coming in that worry has come back up again.

~Anticipation - Defense is usually a pretty easy stat to max out with gear, whereas you can’t really do that on dodge. We saw some tanks actually spec out of Anticipation at the T6 or so level because it just stops being as useful as your gear improves. Hit is another stat we don’t really like to hit in talent trees, since it’s possible to hit the cap with gear alone.

~Improved Shield Block - The problem with the old Shield Block was it was never a choice. It was available so often, and always so useful, that you could just about put a brick on the key you use for Shield Block. We’re trying to get Shield Block to feel more like a mini-Shield Wall. Use it when Something Bad is about to happen. We’re not trying to nerf it — we’re trying to make it more fun.

~Improved Taunt - This has always been a delicate talent to balance. The more you run with pugs and the more 5-player instances you do in general, the more useful it is. In raids, especially with people who really know your play style and manage their threat, it’s a lot less valuable.

~Stalwart Protector - We have to be careful with this talent because prot warriors are going to generate a lot more rage than before, just because their dps is going to be higher. A lot of tanking gear comes with strength now. Strength is a good stat, and even before the shield block change, it was probably the best +threat stat you have. I sort of feel that for too long we have all emphasized mitigation as the primary role of a tank, when in reality it’s only half the job. Doing more dps will let tanks be more fun when not-tanking, and for warriors, might make a lot of rage starvation issues go away.

I really like that last part a lot.

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