I have no useful input, but I would VERY much like to heal a bear tank to see what it's like. The only bear I've come across since Cata dropped group before we started the dungeon. :( I feel like they're rare atm.
Kind of makes me want to respec my kitty to bear and see what it's like. I haven't been a bear since ..level 35 I think? I'm not sure why I stopped. I tried again at 80 but trying to gear up was kind of overwhelming at that point (long before lol!t9) and I gave up again haha
The good thing about going Cat-To-Bear is that much of your gear is the same. It's the accessories that differ. And gems/enchants. But the basic Leather and weapons are the same for both. Slightly easier than other tank classes going dps to tank, at least. And right now everyone's trying to gear up, so you're less likely to run into 'gear snobs' in randoms.
You're a night elf, right? Another possibility is the Night Elf racial Quickness (reduces chance to be hit by 2%) could be factoring in. It's currently the best tanking racial in the game and makes Night Elves ahead of the other races when it comes to tanking stats. So perhaps its a combination of the racial, your dodge, and your mastery all coming in to play. The racial and your dodge makes you avoid attacks all together, while your Savage Defense absorbs some of the damage from the attacks (and that's usually always up anyways depending on how much crit you have) so I'm not surprised you're easier to heal.
Interestingly prior to Cataclysm I noticed that DKs were particularly difficult to heal whereas Paladins were amazingly stress free. With all of the frost DKs forced to switch to tanking in blood and a slight loss in the self-healing that blood received in Cata, they took a while to catch-up. Now, well... I've had the dubious pleasure of being the only 85 healer in my guild with 85 DK, bear, and protadin tanks. The DK is the guild's MT so my view might be biased but once the changes caught on, I'd say the DK has been the easiest to heal. I suspect that it has a lot to do with the tank player's timing and willingness to use cooldowns and self-heals. Alpha-strikes seem to be the worst to heal through right now and both the DK and bear tanks have better alpha-strike mitigation (e.g., barkskin) they can pop to reduce that damage than the paladin (they are more reactive).
I agree paladin's are generally more reactive. However most of our 2 min+ cooldowns are preemptive if used correctly.
I use Divine Guardian, Ardent Defender, Word of Glory, and trinket cooldowns all the time, usually when I know there will be incoming damage.
And I still feel distinctly like I'm taking a lot of damage compared to other tank classes. I don't really feel like it's a lack of willingness to use cooldowns/skill =/
as a dk tank, i've been using my self-healing cooldowns as much as i can. I know i'm a little squishy right now becuase my dodge isnt up where it should be with all my new gear (eventhough i've reforged and gemed for it).
but did you notice that the parry and dodge of dks has gone down a lot since wrath? i've been looking at a few of my dk tank friends who are raiding already and they only have about 11-12% dodge and parry whereas in wrath we had around 20%. maybe that's why we are taking so much more damage than normal?
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Maybe you'll get lucky and encounter a good Bear soon. I promise our fluffy butts are fun to run with...provided we know what we're doing.
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And right now everyone's trying to gear up, so you're less likely to run into 'gear snobs' in randoms.
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Interestingly prior to Cataclysm I noticed that DKs were particularly difficult to heal whereas Paladins were amazingly stress free. With all of the frost DKs forced to switch to tanking in blood and a slight loss in the self-healing that blood received in Cata, they took a while to catch-up. Now, well... I've had the dubious pleasure of being the only 85 healer in my guild with 85 DK, bear, and protadin tanks. The DK is the guild's MT so my view might be biased but once the changes caught on, I'd say the DK has been the easiest to heal. I suspect that it has a lot to do with the tank player's timing and willingness to use cooldowns and self-heals. Alpha-strikes seem to be the worst to heal through right now and both the DK and bear tanks have better alpha-strike mitigation (e.g., barkskin) they can pop to reduce that damage than the paladin (they are more reactive).
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I use Divine Guardian, Ardent Defender, Word of Glory, and trinket cooldowns all the time, usually when I know there will be incoming damage.
And I still feel distinctly like I'm taking a lot of damage compared to other tank classes. I don't really feel like it's a lack of willingness to use cooldowns/skill =/
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but did you notice that the parry and dodge of dks has gone down a lot since wrath? i've been looking at a few of my dk tank friends who are raiding already and they only have about 11-12% dodge and parry whereas in wrath we had around 20%. maybe that's why we are taking so much more damage than normal?
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