Divergent is now 78 and a bit. 80 is within sight. I am going to have to make a concerted effort to finish leveling her. Bought some made requires-level-78 tanky pieces, and will splurge more as needed. My goal with her is to tank heroics and the occasional old raid (Naxx etc). I’d like to get the experience but I’m not sure I’ll get her ICC geared. I’ve already got Analogue for the fresh content, and I like healing a lot better than tanking. Not to say tanking isn’t fun! But I know the reason why I am enjoying it is that I enjoy the paladin mechanisms. Hit things with giant hammers made of light? Yes, please.
Still, watch out battlegroup! There’s a new heroic tank about to launch…
Tanking is fun!
I encourage you to tank your first heroics with as little gear as possible. You will thus expose yourself and the group to risk and, if your experience is similar to mine, you will encounter tow main player types.
Those who leave because it’s not easy mode.
Those who stay because of the challenge your inexperience, health pool, and threat level represents.
The second group is what gives me satisfaction of a job well done when my latest tank (got 4 80 tanks) starts tanking heroics.
Use CC if needed, you may find a crazy hunter who will chain trap a mob for the whole instance (a friend trapped a mob from the second pull until the last boss in H UK; fun stuff).
You’re right, it is fun tanking “undergeared”. I just posted some of my first heroic tanking results, and I am definitely running into players like you describe. The instant-quit ones are funny, and the ones who stay make life fun.
The funny thing is, yes, I’m undergeared, but I’m better geared now than a lot of tanks were back when they cleared Naxx. Yet nobody would even think of letting me tank Naxx today….