Ehm… what were we talking about?

I’m a female wartank, with a resto shaman alt for comparison, and want to contribute a little bit on this topic… pardon the necromancy, I just discovered your blog today. Through wordpress’s tanking tag, btw.

See the weird thing to me is that you think of tanking as being a protector. Oh sure I know that’s ultimately what a tank is doing, but in combat, that’s not really what you’re actively engaged in. In combat, I’m thinking about the enemies, not the party. (Even if I were thinking about the party… I’m not really sure what I could do to help them survive. Vigilance, I guess.) I really love getting into a gigantic boss’s face and just haranguing them and aggravating them but no matter how much damage they try to pile on me I just won’t die. I laugh and laugh and then, when he finally dies, I grind his face into the floor with my heel. Dominated.

Which I suppose is a form of control; I control the enemy and his movements. On he other hand, one of the things I like about tanking, especially on a warrior, is that ultimately my life is out of my hands. It forces me to have faith in my healers. When I pop a cooldown, I’m not thinking, “I’m going to live longer!” or “I’m going to take less damage!” I’m thinking, “This will make it easier on the healers.” So in this way, I find tanking fulfilling because I give up control and have to trust others for once.

Just some thoughts. I may write on this myself, it bears thinking on.

It’s a bit like an Oreo cookie; top layer (tanking), squishy middle (DPS) and the bottom layer (healing). Without one of them, the cookie either doesn’t taste right or is just a mess.

Luckily the last couple of raids with my guild have been nothing short of awesome, including a one-shot on our first heroic Saurfang kill tonight, plus my first successful heals of hc Marrowgar and Dreamwalker. Healing’s become fun again, and especially as it’s on my first and true love, my holydin. And to log off and read a post championing the things about healing I fell in love with in the first place? Best nightcap ever. Thanks

Knowing us, it’s pretty obvious why I feel better as a healer and she’s very comfortable* tanking: I’m more the team worker type, I don’t like responsibility, I’d rather give advice to “powerful” people than be “powerful” myself (in IRL and in game); she’s the bossy type, “if you want something done, do it yourself”, she doesn’t have any problem being “mean”** to people.

It’s been working out find so far, since she’s our RL/acting GM, and I’m the sidekick she can bounce ideas off.

* Her main is a tank, but she’s got healer alts she enjoys; my main is a healer, but I don’t enjoy my tank alts very much.

** Not mean per se, just honest – “you can’t raid because you stand in the bad”, “we won’t promote you because you don’t sign up regularly”. She doesn’t have a problem with this, I cringe just at the thought of having to tell “bad” stuff to people.

“A lot of people say that tanking lets them be in control, but I can’t see that. Maybe it’s a personal thing. As a tank I feel very much out of control; ”

For me I feel very much in control when I tank but also a lot in control as a healer (but not as much). It is sort of like how if you ask people they will all say they want to be ‘appreciated’ but if you ask men and women separately what things make them feel appreciated you will get some very difference answers. Subtly difference, and with a lot of overlap, but those small differences add up to some of the fundamental differences between men and women. And then from those come the broad brush stereo types. It often works better to work from the subtleties up instead of working from the stereotypes down. A lot of people get hung up arguing from the high level stereotypes and getting refuted from anecdotal ‘real life’ (which is in the middle between the lower level subtle motives and the upper level broad brush stereotypes). I prefer instead to drive down and examine small differences in motives. Those can explain the bigger stuff while also explaining the exceptions.

Everyone wants to be in control. Hence I can appreciate the control aspects of healing. But I am not so nurturing so that aspect is less of a factor. In men ‘nurturing’ aspects are more likely to be expressed as ‘protective’. Protective is similar to nurturing and has a lot of overlap but those differences add up. In this case they add up to me considering myself a capitol T Tank even though I through some decent heals around frequently and enjoy it quite a lot.

Also, I felt a lot more ‘in control’ as a tank once I got enough gear and skill with cooldowns to be able to survive most DPS stupidity or healer slacking.

A lot of people say that tanking lets them be in control, but I can’t see that. Maybe it’s a personal thing. As a tank I feel very much out of control; I can’t save everyone; I can only taunt and hope they get out of the bad themselves. When I heal I feel a bit like Superwoman – they’re throwing all the dumb at me and I can still keep them up! I can save an encounter! I can battle res the tank!

Also, I heal because it’s *easy*. I thought it would be horribly stressful (so I leveled 2 DPS first), but once I get into the groove it’s just… right. I’m a sucky tank because of raid awareness (and keyboard turning), so my tanking is usually panicky. I’m a sucky DPS because I get distracted and because I can’t target switch properly for the life of me. Healing is just right.

As for nurturing… WoW is the best balance. I am a naturally helpful person IRL, but I tend not to like people very much. (I’m training someone new at work and tearing my hair out… gah.) WoW lets me be nurturing and helpful and save them… in nice small increments. If I get tired of it, I can just log off.

I look forward to Cataclysm, and I’m sure I won’t be changing my main any time soon.

P.S. Good luck on your 4 healers project!