Hi all, I’m someone who is primarily a pure dps player, but i’m finding the dps to be rather stale as time goes on, i’m not familar with either tanking or healing in m+. I’m comfortable doing them in m0 as most probably are too.
However, i’m looking to dip my toe into either healing or tanking in SL m+ as the expansion goes on. I probably will try both at some point but as a beginner’s perspective, what is easier to learn for higher keys? I’m not really leaning towards a role so I will take the information given to me here and use it wisely
If you’re going with friends or guildies, then pick any class/roll you like. You’ll both learn and have fun.
In regards to tanking, at start you might feel slightly weak due to lack of gear, so might need to pop mitigation here and there and sometimes kite, but nothing too difficult. Any tank class can handle that.
If you’re planning on pugging, then just don’t. Stay DPS. Not sure how it was in the previous expansions, but right now, pug world is basically a race for ilevel, yet no one knows even on high keys what to do with bosses.
Hmm, I’m not entirely sure about any of those questions. I probably will pug and play with friends and I know for a fact that pugging is always better to learn but of course in return it is harder to deal with.
What roles/classes do you play if you don’t mind sharing?
The tank is the leader of the group. You absolutely (on higher m+) need to pre plan the dungeon.
The work outside the game is a lot more than any other role if you want to be good.
But other than that it plays pretty much like a dps.
Healer on the other hand you babysit 3 sometimes 4 retarded players. It’s fun sometimes frustrating other times.
Lanyra pretty much sums up my experience at an m+ pug healer. I’ve healed some keys where I had to dps almost all of it or I’d just be stood there like a lemon. Other keys have been unhealable.
Don’t go tank then. As the tank, you set the route. You set a route someone doesn’t like, abuse is coming your way. As a healer, you just follow, hang your head and heal the idiot standing in fire yet again.
By that, I mean tank is accountable of the route, so it’s the role that require knowledge about every single dungeon, more especially with prideful affix. If you’re planning to pug, your hair is likely to turn Grey, as some dps might do unwanted pull. Also, some tanks are really hard to get into, such as BDK. You also need to learn how every single healer spec is functioning. If you wanna have an easy time, I would advice paladin or DH, both are In my mind the easiest.
As regarding healer, your responsibility is to keep everyone alive, including slackers. Which means you have also to learn everything about every single dungeon. In terms of gameplay, I would advice holy priest at first, so that you can switch to disc.
It just depends on experience to be honest. And how good the rest of the group is. Tankings very easy rotation, and the easiest to play mechanically. But you need very good awareness, like incoming patrols, stuff to dodge, what to kick. More time focused on everything, over buttons. You lead the group and set the speed, extremely important this season with prideful affix.
Healers easy if set up right, with good mouse over addon. But you have to pay attention to everything a DPS would, with everyone elses bars on top of it. And ultimitely every mistake falls on the healers laps. Every kick missed, bad timed pride, extra packs pulled in, group of people using no utility, tank not using CDs right etc. The healer pays the price for it. And can go from chill to a night run, mega stressful bery fast.
It has been said before but generally this is the case :
While sometimes others take that role, most of the time its just dumped onto the tank. So you got to learn the routes and what mobs to aim/mark first among other things.
Healers however are much more reactive to what happens. If a dps or tank fails to dodge things or do mechanics they are responsible to pick up the pieces and keep people alive. And the difficulty of doing so can vary per class, as some class have more instant casts and useful skills than others.
I would like to point out you havent got any experince in either above 10+ both are as hard as each other at that level .
Tanking getting the route right and pulls right and the kiting right also on top of the defensive and offensive cds plus the interupts .
Both roles above 15+ are deal breakers you need good tanks and good healers i suggest when you actually get to that level try both specs if you can handle it before saying which is harder .
Both have their challenges. I played a healer in another game and called it DontHealNoobs- so when people did really stupid things I’d let them die rather than have the mobs aggro me (then the idiot dies anyway and takes me with them…). then if they said anything untoward I’d just point out my name…
Of course it’s a bit different in WoW as runs in M+ are timed so letting idiots die isn’t usually the best option so your job is harder.
Tanking (which I did in another game and have started doing recently here) involves leading, watching, saving idiots who don’t know the size of their own aggro bubble, etc and knowing the mechanics of whatever the group is fighting.
Holding aggro in this game is a lot easier than others I have played.
You also need to judge size of pulls and speed to go at to match your pug party’s ability.
Oh and generally you will get no thanks directed your way in either role. So I made a point after a pug group on an alt earlier to thank the tank who was only 175 ilvl but ran the dungeon superbly. He really appreciated it and it’s probably helped him decide to carry on tanking (at least I hope so!).
And remember for either role if anybody dies you’re getting the blame…which might extend to Pm’s insulting you, etc as someone thinks it’s your fault they failed a key.
And it sometimes helps to remind players to use their own self heals every now and then, throw a nice 10 second free heals over to the healer (boomkins!), and use their cc and interupts- as it seems some people don’t seem to realise they have them.
