So Cataclysm has been out for a while now and on top of being the only reason why I made my triumphant return after a year long break it is a breath of fresh air to a game that was quickly becoming a 12 year old face rollers wet dream. Cataclysm's changes are to many for me to go into here but the one thing everyone noticed is that dungeon and end game content was actually hard which sent the face rolling population into a fit of anger while the rest of the old school gamers found that it reminded them of the olden days of vanilla.
So you just got 85 and got your fill of the normal dungeons and you want to toss your hate in the heroic ring, good for you! You may have noticed that even the normals seemed more difficult and some of the fight dynamics were more than just stand in one spot for 5 minutes and move on. Before you Q up for a random I am going to give you 5 tips to keep in mind. Follow these and so long as everyone else has half a clue you will profit.
- Crowd Control-If you are the tank mark something, anything, and at the very least ONE thing to be CC'd. You will always have at the very least one person that can CC and you should utilize them every pull. If you have the ability to CC again use it, you will most often get it marked for you but if your type of CC doesn't show up before the pull it should not stop you from adding your own to help out.
- Anger Management-As a tank you should be aware as the most effective way to gain and retain hate. If you need to let the group know to give you a second before they go balls out SPEAK UP!! DPS don't be retarded, you all have abilities to wipe or reduce hate so if you find yourself gaining threat USE IT. Don't make the healer work any harder then he or she is.
- Mana Management-This one is kinda touchy. When I tank the pulls continue until I figure the healer would like to drink, in other words if my healer is below 50% after a pull I wait however if DPS casters are at 50% I tend to keep going unless told otherwise. So as a tank be mindful of those who need to drink and as a healer feel free to speak up you know what you are capable of better than anyone else in the group!
- Ask Questions-Keep in mind that most Heroic fights are different than the normals, add to that there are Heroics that do not have a normal version you may have been too, for example Deadmines. That being said if you are unfamiliar with the fight speak up and ask how it goes, no matter what your roll is. I guarantee you at least one person will explain it to you and people would rather go over the fight than wipe because you have no clue.
- PROFIT-If you follow these basic guidelines you should do fine, keep in mind you may die or even wipe but no biggy rinse and repeat.
