I want to play a warrior to tank dungeons, raids and do some pvp in classic. The problem is most places on the internet seem to suggest that playing a warrior requires an above average time commitment. So much so that some people suggest only the most hardcore of players should even consider it.

I’ve got a wife and 2 kids that need attention. Most weeknights will look like 1-3 hours of wow time depending on how busy I am that particular night. (I could probably add an hour or two extra one night for raids). Come Friday/Saturday nights I’ll likely have closer to a good 3-6 hours, again depending on the night and how late I care to stay up.

So here’s the issue, am I just being scared out of picking the class by the min/max crowd? Or is it genuinely a crazier time commitment than I can imagine? Could anyone who didn’t play at an extreme level back in vanilla weigh in on this? How many hours a week did most of you warriors put in and how far were you able to get in raids?

Warrior is more gear dependent than most, but I think the main issue you will run into is not necessarily tied to the class but what your goals are.

You can't PvP effectively with tanking gear, so you're looking at having to compile two sets of gear, which will indeed carry with it additional time commitment. Once you get into raid territory your gear & spec will largely determine whether you can be a main tank, offtank, or DPS. If you focus on being a DPS Warrior then at least your PvP and PvE gear will largely overlap, but DPS Warriors aren't in short supply so you'll have more competition for raid positions. In addition, if you can't commit to raiding regularly you will likely not be prioritized for a spot in an average raiding guild, unless your friends run the guild. ;-)

The good news is that tanks are always in high demand for dungeon groups, so you'll spend less time LFG'ing and there's a good chance you'll be able to pick up tanking and DPS gear on the same runs since there aren't many plate wearers.

Based on your goals I believe that you will indeed require higher than average time commitment. However, if you temper your expectations on the raiding front I think you'll be fine.

Vanilla was a crazier time commitment then current wow to begin with regardless of class just on the road to 60 alone. Warriors aren't alone in this. Also this same min/max crowd are shooting themselves in the foot since they will be the ones wanting 5x prot warriors when it's time for MC.
I got as far as BWL myself back then but that was more because of some bad choices in guilds and being an utter tool in terms of skill at the time. I could have gotten further and I wasn't part of the extreme crowd at all but I'm just one example.
It's the difference between activity and goal. You can for instance pvp for as short you have time for but if your goal is marshal, well...

I believe you could find a more casual guild that would suit your goals.

rijndael wrote: ↑

5 years ago

Warrior is more gear dependent than most, but I think the main issue you will run into is not necessarily tied to the class but what your goals are.

You can't PvP effectively with tanking gear, so you're looking at having to compile two sets of gear, which will indeed carry with it additional time commitment. Once you get into raid territory your gear & spec will largely determine whether you can be a main tank, offtank, or DPS. If you focus on being a DPS Warrior then at least your PvP and PvE gear will largely overlap, but DPS Warriors aren't in short supply so you'll have more competition for raid positions. In addition, if you can't commit to raiding regularly you will likely not be prioritized for a spot in an average raiding guild, unless your friends run the guild. ;-)

The good news is that tanks are always in high demand for dungeon groups, so you'll spend less time LFG'ing and there's a good chance you'll be able to pick up tanking and DPS gear on the same runs since there aren't many plate wearers.

Based on your goals I believe that you will indeed require higher than average time commitment. However, if you temper your expectations on the raiding front I think you'll be fine.

Abannon wrote: ↑

5 years ago

Vanilla was a crazier time commitment then current wow to begin with regardless of class just on the road to 60 alone. Warriors aren't alone in this. Also this same min/max crowd are shooting themselves in the foot since they will be the ones wanting 5x prot warriors when it's time for MC.
I got as far as BWL myself back then but that was more because of some bad choices in guilds and being an utter tool in terms of skill at the time. I could have gotten further and I wasn't part of the extreme crowd at all but I'm just one example.
It's the difference between activity and goal. You can for instance pvp for as short you have time for but if your goal is marshal, well...

From my experience from vanilla I'd say yes. For classic I can't really say for sure since there's bound to be differences in how this'll work a second time.

> So here’s the issue, am I just being scared out of picking the class by the min/max crowd?

No, it's the fact that tanks are probably the most important part of the raid. A bad/new damage dealer can simply follow what the others are doing and do just fine for 95% of the content. A tank needs to know what to pull, when to pull it and how to position it. They entire raid depends on them not dying and knowing what they're supposed to do more than anyone else there.

Tanks ARE in high demand for dungeons but for raids, any decent PvE guild will have tanks sorted out because it's definitely the first thing you look for when making a raid team. Nobody wants to sink in gear in more tanks than necessary, and the bond between tanks and raid teams is legendary. I've seen guilds/raid teams fall apart due to 1-2 tanks leaving. Raid leaders will definitely look for people they can rely on during raid times, especially if they are using consumables to stack raids - which will become a thing for most guilds once you have 3-4+ raids to do in a week.

I am no min-maxer by any chance but I don't see how this profile could fit you. A damage dealer or a healer leaving because of urgent business is no big deal - I can tell slackers to get off their asses and give me aneurysms on the threat meters to compensate for damage, or pass around some Healthstones to compensate healing. If one of the tanks leaves in the middle of a raid because his kid is screaming, I can't do much. I can't tank with Voidwalkers or expect a Fury Warrior with a shield to tank the rest of the raid.

Best case scenario you're looking at 3 hours x 5 days + 6 hours x 2 days = 27 hours / week. Say you're a good player and it takes you about 8 days of /played time to even get to 60, that's about 7 weeks on your schedule. I guarantee you it will take you at least another 2 weeks of running dungeons and quest lines (UBRS, Onyxia attunement, In Dreams, Princess Saved, etc.) and leveling professions to be geared enough to tank and a lot of guilds will have their tanks sorted out 2 months after launch.

You might get a stroke of luck tanking for a semi-hardcore guild but by all predictable prospects, I think you're looking at an OT position in a casual guild. I don't know/have never heard of semi-casual. There's semi-hardcore, which is between casual and hardcore - as in "we're actually trying but we're not selling our souls for it" and then there's casual where you just do whatever, whenever and hope for the best.

I mean no bad intention or disrespect, but I'm just saying that raid leads will generally want tanks they can always rely on. Even if you can do it 3-4 months from now, you'll have to find people playing on the same kind of schedule as you to make it as MT - not gear wise but commitment wise.

Fortunately, I've read many, many threads with a lot of people in your position and I definitely think you can stick together. The problem with them is that they want their cake and they want to eat it too - family, friends, job, wife and kids as well as nice, decent progress in WoW and all the PvP, questing, raiding and social side that it has to offer. I don't think you can have all of them.

Look at it this way MNO - until you are level 60, you can do whatever you want as a Warrior and still have a LOT of fun. It may take a long time to reach the stage at which you are beginning to consider preparing for raids.

Don't worry about the bridge until you have to cross it I say. If in the future you do begin preparing for raids, I would take Nymis' advice to heart if you are in a serious raiding guild - they may expect a lot from you as a player as the tank is such a pivotal role.

Being an off tank isn't all that bad though. Sure you might not get Thunderfury first but you'll still be geared up and play an important and fulfilling role in the raid where the mechanics require an OT. Also seeing as you have RL commitments by the time you are ready to go into MC it's likely that the main tanks in your guild are already suited up in their T1 leaving the good stuff for you!

Thanks for the answers. I don’t know what to do at this point. I just want to tank and also complete AQ level content but that just apparently isn’t going to work for me. Oh well.

MNO wrote: ↑

5 years ago

I want to play a warrior to tank dungeons, raids and do some pvp in classic. The problem is most places on the internet seem to suggest that playing a warrior requires an above average time commitment. So much so that some people suggest only the most hardcore of players should even consider it.

I’ve got a wife and 2 kids that need attention. Most weeknights will look like 1-3 hours of wow time depending on how busy I am that particular night. (I could probably add an hour or two extra one night for raids). Come Friday/Saturday nights I’ll likely have closer to a good 3-6 hours, again depending on the night and how late I care to stay up.

So here’s the issue, am I just being scared out of picking the class by the min/max crowd? Or is it genuinely a crazier time commitment than I can imagine? Could anyone who didn’t play at an extreme level back in vanilla weigh in on this? How many hours a week did most of you warriors put in and how far were you able to get in raids?