Unholy Chinese Food

And so the world turns… | August 27, 2009

Apologies for the long break between posts, real life can nail your ass to the wall sometimes.

Tanked Heroic Culling of Stratholme last night for the second time, and I was scratching my head in amazement.  I had a Priest healing me, very geared and a good guy whom I’ve raided with personally for the past year…but he honestly was having trouble healing me.  I’m in mostly ToC ilevel 200-219 gear, and the only blues on me are the Essence of Goss, the Wyrmrest faction chest piece, and the shoulders from the quest in Halls of Stone. (Thankfully, the chest is being replaced by Tier 8.5 tonight, and the shoulders…well, if Heroic ToC ever drops them, they’re pretty much mine )

But more importantly, I’ve realized something and I honestly can’t believe it’s taken me this long.

Tanking is so much more of a responsibility than just holding mobs together on you….it’s about the full survival of your group.  And not just it’s survival even; it’s also relative to the enjoyment of the other four (or nine, or twenty four) people in your group.  I realized, finally, that as a (main) tank you’re responsible for a lot of stuff that can go wrong.  That many people can blame you for things that even may not be necessarily your fault.

And honestly, I love it.  Sure, it’s a little scary, but that’s what makes it fun!

I offtanked my first 10-man finally in the same night; regular ol’ Naxxramas 10man, and got a nice ring out of it off Anub’Rhekan, and even a nice 2handed mace off Heigan.  As soon as a I figure out how to link items in this damned blog, I’ll be sure to start doing that as opposed to saying “that mace” or “That chest.”  Everything’s still in progress.