Exhibit 1:
My main is a tank. ... Was a tank.
Helv's tankiness started when he was level 27. At that point, he hooked with Derfla (the healer) and Draiven (the mage) and we went bang bang through the woods - killing much things. This kept up as we worked our way up in the Spelunkers and Helv was the 2nd tank as we worked through Karazhan (late, of course), and Naxx. Then we went to Lead Farmers, and Helv once again was the #2 tank for Naxx, Ulduar and most of Trial of the Crusader. Then Lead Farmers fell apart and the three of us went to Ka Tet where Helv was the #4 tank behind Napston, Cannibadude and Bubble-something. He tanked Marrowgar and LDW which is about as far Ka Tet got on the nights I was there. Then Ka Tet went belly up and we went to First Order of Hell where I tanked one ToC and one or two 10-man ICCs... and then I stopped logging in.
When Cata came around we formed Adrift and Helv was set to tank again - but we never got the critical mass in place to actually start raiding. Then we merged with another guild whose name escapes me at the moment and with Odoe, Helv was once again the #2 tank. That went pretty well until that guild went belly up and merged with Mushroom Stamp. I changed oceans and timezones and struck out on my own - back to Adrift. For about 8 months Helv didn't run a single Cata instance. I gave him a Ret spec two days ago and he's done 10 EoT heroics in the past two days.
Exhibit 2:
I was concerned that I simply didn't know the dungeons well enough to enjoy tanking them. So when Fayze/Draiven suggested that we join up with Dirty Rotten Scoundrels on Gnomeragan I went in and rolled a new Prot Paladin - Helver. He was tank all the way up to 85. I ran many Vanilla, BC and Wrath instances as a tank. In the Wrath instances, I felt exceptionally comfortable - I knew what to do and I knew how to do it.
Then the fear set in on my way from 80 to 85. I did a couple of instances, but I didn't feel like I knew them well enough to tank them and avoid getting harassed. So rather than tank instances to 85, I quested to 85. I did tank a couple of instances at 85 - non heroic. But I still wasn't comfortable enough with the Cataclysm instance mechanics to feel like I could handle tanking them - especially not when Cata had been out for over a year and the expectation was the tanks *KNEW* the instances.
Even in DRS, the couple of times I ran an instance with others from the guild, I wasn't tanking. In one case, I was there in Prot spec with Rigtheous Fury off... DPSing as Prot.
Then about a month ago I gave Helver a Ret spec. I ran a couple of normal Cata heroics and by then I was able to queue for EoT heroics. As Ret. I'm building up a Prot set by rolling for "offspec" pieces when I'm DPSing.
Exhibit 3:
Helver @ Vek is a warrior. He was born and raise about the same way Helv was - by running with Derfla's mage, Nekorb. He was an Alliance toon for a long time and then I faction changed him to get the extra help that my Horde toons could provide. He quested through BC and LK content solo. I think he ran two instances in LK content as a tank. I just didn't have a good feel for him tanking - even though I knew the content very well. But I just plowed on through waiting to get to Cata.
Then he hit 80. I had to spend a little time questing and mining just to get gear to queue for Randoms. Then I queued for a couple. I tanked... hmmm... four; five maybe. One BRC, two - maybe 3 VP and one Throne of the Tides. Once I was told I was pulling too fast. Once the run seemed damn near perfect. Once I was told I was VERY squishy. Once I was told I needed to learn the mechanics better.
And, of course, after running 5 DPS from 80 to 85 with lots of dungeon runs, I wanted to avoid Stonecore. Orzuk intimidated me - especially considering that I had never tanked him.
Exhibit 4:
My DK has a Blood spec. He hasn't used it since he was questing between levels 62 and 68. I don't want to be just another sucky DK tank.
As Frost at level 83, he's pulling over 8k dps for a full dungeon run. Why would I want to change from doing VERY well as DPS to potentially doing poorly as a tank?
Exhibit 5:
My druid has a Feral spec - kitty. He doesn't use it. He's Boomkin and I prefer it that way.
Conclusion:
So at this point I've got 7 characters at 85; 2 more at 83; 1 at 72 and 1 at 54.
I've now got 1 main spec tank - Helver @ Vek. And I just gave him an Arms spec. Tomorrow I"ll be running him on a couple of instances and try to figure out the Arms rotation.
Helver, Helver @ Gnomer and Helver @ Vek will continue to have Prot specs. I will use them to level with, quest with and run old instances with - but for level appropriate instances, I'll wait out the queues and do them as a DPS. Maybe at some point I'll be comfortable enough with the heroics to run them as a tank. Maybe at some point I'll get into a guild where my experience tanking will become an asset. Until then, though... It's tankers away.
