The Camera Man never gets Enough Credit

May 28th, 2010

After 3 years, I’ve covered and rehashed an uncountable number of topics. It’s truly a testament to the art of tanking and this game in general that I can still click these keys. It’s especially surprising to me that I’ve never took the time to pay tribute to the camera man. Sure, we’ve hinted at the help he offers, but we’ve never really stopped to say thank you.

No one asks about him.

The Taken for Granted

Hold down your left mouse button and start moving.

Hi, I’m Specing Impale/Deep Wounds.

May 11th, 2010

Whether you’re specing for the fight or just putting your personal twist on a spec, it’s important to understand what makes up the core of a spec and what points you’re allowed to be flexible with. The Impale/Deep Wounds spec has definitely been the most popular Warrior spec of this expansion so it’s only natural that we take a look at how to properly customize it.

The Deep Wound-less Impale Spec

The Impale spec is probably the ugliest version of the Deep Wounds spec because it’s missing the spec’s namesake. Sadly, it’s also been one of the most popular Warrior threat specs all expansion. As I said almost a year ago, the rule of thumb for Warrior specs is 5 or 15 points in Arms. No more, no less.

ICC25… Not an Upgrade

May 5th, 2010

Along the twitter streams, I got hit with the signature line “10 mans are easier for 25 man geared tanks”. Now, had we been talking about Naxx, Ulduar or ToC, I maybe could have agreed, but we weren’t.

The ICC25 Edge?

The reality is the difference between an ICC25 geared tank and an ICC10 geared tank is negligible. The difference between the 2 gear sets boils down to…

  • 1 gun if you’re too cheap to buy it off the AH
  • 2 set pieces

The ICC10 Edge?

Consider if you avoided, ICC10 as an ICC25 tank. You’d miss out on…

The Removal of “On Next Attack” Abilities

May 3rd, 2010

It’s no big secret that Heroic Strike won’t be an “on next attack” ability in Cataclysm. There’s a very good chance that Cleave is going to get a similar treatment. Which begs the question…

To GCD or not to GCD?

Will Heroic Strike and Cleave be on the Global Cooldown (GCD) or not? One might make the debate that by being off the GCD (like Shield Bash) that they’re more powerful, more convenient while being on the GCD (like Concussion Blow) they’re less powerful, but I don’t see it that way.

It’s all about balance.

Specing for the Fight: Taking on the King

April 22nd, 2010

Easily the most popular spec this expansion has been the Deep Wounds spec (15/3/53 being the current iteration I’d recommend) offering Warriors a strong boost to our damage and AOE threat. That doesn’t make it the only option though and certainly not the correct one in all cases. The Lich King himself being a perfect example of this.