When i hit 80?

[Zurrgle]

Ok so i was wandering when i hit 80, would it be best to stay as ret for a bit? Untill i get some better tanking gear? Or should i just go straight into tanking?

[Nikachelle]

Have you tanked before? Or are you new to it? If you haven't leveled as tank by tanking some dungeons along the way, then going tank for your first heroic is going to be a brutal experience.

[Zurrgle]

Well i was thinking about switching to prot at 40, but im unsure

I was told to level ret until 40 then switch to prot so no idea. Also no im used to playing healer or dps.

[Arcand]

Well i was thinking about switching to prot at 40, but im unsure

I was told to level ret until 40 then switch to prot so no idea. Also no im used to playing healer or dps.

The lower level you are when you switch over, the easier the tanking
transition will be. Before level 60, knowing the instance + knowing where
your Consecration key is = "This guy's a pretty good tank".

At 80, running heroics, you get a lot of people impatiently grinding
emblems who will treat you like garbage if they aren't impressed with
your gear score. You also get some perfectly civil but amazingly-geared
people who will make it really hard for you to learn to tank because
they'll be ripping things off you all the time.

I'd suggest going Prot around level 60, because that's when significant
amounts of tank gear start to drop in instances. You can get your numbers
to a respectable level pretty fast by stuffing Lich King gems into Burning
Crusade gear.

[Nikachelle]

Then I wouldn't recommend going tank right away. If you don't have experience with the role, and you haven't done any dungeons as tank while leveling, then you're at a bit of a disadvantage. I would recommend staying ret until you pick up some solid tank gear. That way, when you do decide to tank a dungeon, you've got a buffer. The gear can back you up until your skill as a tank becomes more solidified. If you go in with no skill as a tank and no gear, it'll be quite difficult for your group.

The learning curve shouldn't be too steep.

Wait, what level are you? If you're not close to 80 and over 40, definitely get dual spec and start tanking some dungeons. You'll be ready to go by 80 if you do that.

[Zurrgle]

35 right now lol.

only been on this char for like 3 days.. switching realms soon where i have a friend who will help with boosts & gold

[Nikachelle]

Like Arcand said... the sooner you go tank, the easier it'll be.

[Zurrgle]

Ok i dual spec/re spec at 40

[Nikachelle]

*thumbs up*

That'll also make queuing far easier for you.

[Zurrgle]

Thanks for advice.. I will probably ding to 40 today or early tomorrow. Ill let you know how my first tanking experience goes

[Arcand]

The queue thing is huge. Very, very unusual to wait three minutes for a run.

Running the same instances over and over will drive you a little nuts, but
if this is your first tank character the practice will do you good.

[Argali]

I dunno, while the earlier you tank, the more overall experience you will get, tanking at low levels is sufficiently different due to abilities available, that it might be detrimental to learning how to play a tank at level 80.

Depends on how much l33t skills you have and how fast you learn I guess.

[Zurrgle]

Should i go armor or weapon smith?

[Levantine]

Doesn't matter. They have no meaningful impact in today's WoW and they're being removed in Cataclysm anyway.

[Zurrgle]

Ah ok thanks lol xD

Ill probably switch to engineering once i git 70+ anyway