There has been a lot of WoW news hitting in the past few days, namely leaked information about the (still unconfirmed) upcoming expansion Cataclysm. I will do some write-ups about that stuff over the next few days, but rather than let the site sit idle until then, I thought I'd keep it rolling with some more (though admittedly less exciting) on my play style and my characters by answering some questions that I frequently get asked by other players. Join me, won't you?
How do you have the time to play so many alts?
The first part of this question is fairly simple. I just spent the last 4 years as a college student. As a college student, I had a lot of down time during the day, especially in between classes, which, to avoid taking a nap and sleeping through a later classes, allowed me to stay awake by knocking out a few quests. In addition, because I took the time to learn the class well and how to maximize output while minimizing downtime, I was able to avoid wasted time. That's the most important thing while leveling is to maximize XP per hour. So really, I didn't spend every waking hour of my life leveling, I just did it right, and used my time well.
Why do you play so many alts?
As a frame of reference, my Icecrown character list is full with one of every class. I have played each class to at least 40. My lowest level character is a 32 Warlock, who I rerolled when my previous lock hit 40. Why do I play every class? This goes back to wanting to learn any and all classes in the game. Fellow guild mates have always looked to me for advice on classes they don't play much or how to best utilize certain abilities/talents, so my playing alts is an extension of this. If I'm going to help someone, I need to know the class I'm helping them with. What better way to help someone with Priest mana issues than playing a priest in a Naxx raid? It also helps tremendously when leading a raid to know what you can reasonably expect from your players at their gear/skill level.
Why so many tanks?
I get this quite often (it happens when you play a Druid, Warrior, Paladin, and Death knight, all tanks, all level 80). Why so many tanks goes back to the previous question, but instead it's for my own assistance. I have always identified myself primarily as a tank (at least for raiding). I want to be the best tank that I can be, so to do that, I have to know what I can do to separate my Druid from the rest of the tanks. What do they have that I don't, and what do I have that they don't? I also feel like I have a responsibility to provide for the raid the highest threat producing, most damage mitigating, easiest to heal tank, so I keep up with the gear/skill of all my tanks, always watching for the day when it will be of best service to my guild to discontinue raiding on my Druid. Luckily, thanks to changes in feral tanking, staying on top of gearing, and the massive damage I can put out as a cat, I haven't yet had the need to retire my druid.
Which toon is your favorite/most fun?
I'll start of by talking about my tanks first. Each tank has a unique play style to it. The Paladin is very defensive, parking in one spot and keeping the mobs there. The Warrior, on the other hand, is a very offensive based tank, with a variety of melee attacks and capable of some pretty solid damage. The Death Knight fits somewhere in the middle, but is a very active tank, especially with Death Grip (you'll know a good DK tank when you see this used effectively). The Druid, however, doesn't really fit into these labels. It's a lot harder to spot a great Druid tank instead of a good one. Most people won't know the difference until they have had a truly great Druid tank in their group. The Druid doesn't really come alive until larger raid content, where the shifting aspect can really come into play. So to answer the first part of the question, my favorite tank is my Druid. It takes planning to be able to pop an Innervate or Battle Rez on someone while still main tanking a boss, or to squeeze out some extra DPS in cat form at the right moment.
As for most fun tank, I'm gonna have to go with my Warrior. Warriors are great fun to play. I actually enjoy running heroics as a Warrior tank. Warriors don't fall into the rotation tanking of the other three tank classes. They play more like a DPS class. You have a priority system, but you also watch for Revenge or Sword and Board procs. A warrior tank is like a Swiss Army knife where one of the attachments is another Swiss Army knife. There are so many abilities to utilize and they all have a purpose (and you will, more than likely, use ALL of them on a given pull). Warrior tanking really is a challenge, and a rewarding one at that.
Now, if I extend this to all of my toons, I have been having a lot of fun lately playing my Shaman. Enhance shaman are incredibly fun. Finally, with WotLK, WoW has a "Battle Mage". If you haven't seen them in action, a high end raiding enhance shaman will deal a large portion of their damage through spell attacks. It's really quite fun. Toss on the massive burst damage potential and you can really impress some people on a boss fight.
So that about wraps up this little Q/A session. If anyone has any questions about tank classes, tanking in general, or raiding, toss them in the comments and I'll be sure to answer them.
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