It's a weird feeling to say it out loud, and I've said it before, but honestly, I think I might be done with it for good. The question remains whether I'll stick with my class or swap over to a different one, but still, as things stand now for me, I'm done with the role of tanking as my main spec after Pandaria (since it's pretty late for me to change roles at this point.)
The reasoning behind it pretty much split evenly between a fewfactors.
- I'm just bored with tanking, because honestly this is the second tier in a row where tanking is dumb and easy and with no real challenges or interesting mechanics to manage
- Tanking is such a core mechanic to the game that like healing, once you take on that role, it becomes very difficult to do anything else but be stuck in the role
- It is nearly impossible to find a tanking slot if you ever find yourself in a situation where you are looking for a new group, as most raid leaders will cut off their own fingers than have to recruit a new tank
- I'm honestly looking for a role that's more interesting and fun and dynamic than tanking
- Playing a DPS role also lets me be more flexible about my time. If a tank doesn't show up, raid doesn't happen. If a DPS doesn't show up, raid goes on
I thought about switching to Heals full-time but that's just not going to happen. Healing is something I enjoy occasionally, but it's never a thing that I love to do full time. And I also know it's very easy for me to fall into old roles too easily so I might wind up playing a class that's a pure DPS rather than a hybrid, simply to keep me on the straight and narrow, as it were.
My warlock has long been a dark-sheep favorite for me, often competing for my attention and even now she's my second-highest geared alt (which isn't saying much, but still.) But I'm a lover of melee overall, and would really love to play Retribution full-time, if not go dual-wield Frost (probably my favorite melee spec.) Choices!
I think it'll be good for me. Keep me playing the game longer, while switching to a more flexible role. Now, I just need to do something about pushing numbers and playing in a more competitive category...
I did the same thing towards the end of CATA. Due to my schedule and responsibilities at work I couldn't always make the raid nights and as a result I switched to DPS from tanking to give my guild more flexibility (after they calmed down from losing a tank), and frankly while I loved the idea of tanking DPS is a blast. It was always my 2nd spec, but it wasn't until I focused on it that I really began to understand the how much fun it can be. One strange thing is though, you never feel very important as DPS, not like being the tank, and that takes some time to get over.
ReplyDeleteEdgarrin
Yeah, I'm hoping to be a bit more relaxed about my schedule. I enjoy DPSing, should be fun.
DeleteMy dual wielding frosty belf totally overtook my sparkly ret belf this xp as my first choice melee dps. I'd never enjoyed melee dps previously, and I bet you'd be hard pressed to name any toon of mine that didn't stand at the back and pewpew or heal her way out of things, but 2H frosty belf is stupidly good fun to play and is definitely going to be the first one I level whenever the next xp hits :)
ReplyDeleteI've never really thought about going to a different role. I'm so weird like that I guess. Maybe in a few more expansions? HEALER FOR LIFE BABY!
ReplyDeleteHey, just realized you started that blog again, nice to see!
ReplyDeleteI was a little tired of tanking myself and I decided to go for the complete opposite from a melee tanking class, that mean a ranged dps, warlock like you.
I'm enjoying it a lot, he's not 90 yet though. I'm taking my time to lvl and go for Loremaster at the same time, nice way to relax and leave Zyl on the sideline a little ; P
Keep it up!