The path to tankhood.

Ok, so I realize many people are taking advantage of the looking for group system for faster leveling, I myself am one of them. But while anyone can DPS and a mediocre healer will do for a 5 man, the tank is the make and break point.

Last night on my hunter (lvl25) I had to use my pet to tank because or Paladin tank (lvl25) could not generate enough aggro to hold my auto shot /sigh. He later tried to reprimand my use of pet to tank and proceeded to tell me how to play my class (or so he thought). For one I have my pet passive by default, and at this level I keep all his tanking/solo questing abilities on his bar ready to save a healer or myself, the DPS loss is not that crucial.

The problem though was not me at all, yes I pulled aggro but after waiting 3 secs and having my first attack pull aggro is surely not my fault. I realize as DPS its my job to watch my aggro, but Omen does not work until you attack or heal a target that is in combat or puts you in combat, so until my first shot I have no idea where my aggro or the tanks is at (hence the 3 second head start). The situation gets worse as he was still yelling at me to turn my pets growl off, (its worth noting at this point my pet was still on passive and sitting beside me) when he could not generate aggro fast enough anyway.

The tanks of this upcoming wave are not something I want my Shaman (lvl80) to be healing, seriously there are a lot of people rolling these classes for these roles and having no idea how to play it. So here is a run down.

Tank: Keeping all targets in FRONT of you is an important trick to learn, it's hard to defend attacks from behind so learn to position them. TAB targeting is another great trick for tanks as many players still prefer to AOE down mobs than single target so make sure to stack threat across all with a TAB or mouse targeting rotation. Aggro, Taunts, Cooldowns, these are cornerstones of your class and many require you to be in a situation to warrant there use, so remember what talents you have and do not be afraid to use them when needed, 2minutes -3 minutes there not long times at all. REPAIR YOUR GEAR!! seriously there is nothing worse than a certain paladin screaming at you for saving the party when his weapon has no durability and he cannot hold aggro.

Healer: You stand somewhere away from possible patrols or other mobs, and you heal. Remember to be stocked up on Water (mana re-gen drinks) each time you sign up, and do not be afraid to do what I call *combat re-gen*, the art of drinking right before the pull and still be drinking in the middle of combat, you can usually squeeze out enough mana before your single big heal to the tank. As with most roles remember to use ability's like fade if your a priest to keep aggro low, as not all tanks are created equal and just because he has 4 mobs hitting him, does not mean a healers aggro will not peel it off.

DPS: Seriously, you know your job, you kill and you do it fast, but for the love of good stop posting the charts up no one cares if you pulled 13k but because you didn't sheep a mob we wiped, and in my case at 25, did not frost trap it, did not off tank on the pet, you may be a Damage toon, but your also a utility when played right. The difference between trash wipes is often not a DPS issue, but which class did not use a crowd control, or Off tank, or heal when the priest went OOM, or innervate etc. Stop comparing your E-peen and realize we are a unit of 5-10-25 or 40 players... and that you are part of a group, yes you signed up to kill, but you can still kill and you can save the day with traps or sheep, and banish etc. While we are the damage dealers and more damage is better, saving the group at the cost of a few seconds on boss is nothing. If you can save the healer then do it! do not wait around for someone else to do it. The list for DPS is to massive the do's and dont's is an article alone.

So I will leave you with that, remember what your role is and think of what else you can do, PVP skill can be used in PVE when it all goes to hell. Crowd control is still valid and necessary, offer to OT something if your plate or a pet user, offer to sheep anything they mark with X. If the tank is having a hard time with 4 mobs use 1 or more of the above to make life easier, all tank classes should now where there taunt is so picking up a CC or pet tanked mob is no great task.

Bringing you more as I get to it, but please add to this as I'm sure this is global and not limited to my battle group.

Egamad.