Gearing as a tank in LFR

I'm growing increasing frustrated and agitated by trying to gear up in raids. I love tanking - it's probably the most rewarding experience I've ever had in the game - but in order to get the gear that's good for my class, I have to queue as DPS. When am I going to actually be able to tank something if I can't actually gear up by tanking? Am I supposed to only tank after I've gotten all the gear I need?

How are other paladins dealing with this?

Right now I am simply queing as DPS for LFR. For me LFR is just a gearing strategy to help with HM Raids so it isn't as big of a deal as I don't rely entirely on LFR for gear but more as an opportunity to boost myself up some.

Don't worry - if you queue as tank you'll be matched with one of those "No, you may not tank anything, all of this instance is MINE" types who will taunt off of you on cooldown, so you won't do any real tanking anyway.

Koatanga wrote:Don't worry - if you queue as tank you'll be matched with one of those "No, you may not tank anything, all of this instance is MINE" types who will taunt off of you on cooldown, so you won't do any real tanking anyway.

I've only been queuing for the 2nd half of LFR since it's all I need gear from. It's pretty dumb because there is only 1 pull in the 2nd half that you need 2 tanks for, and that's the final boss (Will). There is no point in having a 2nd tank on any of the trash or the first 2 bosses (Spirit Kings and Elegon).

Unfortunately, I don't really have the time to dedicate to normal and hard mode raids (nor do I have the interest in joining a guild that would push me to do those) so LFR is essentially my "end game".

First of all, there are 2 good reasons to run LFR as Ret instead of Prot:
1) The queue is much much shorter
2) The gear that drops for a DD is sometimes better for tanking than the gear that drops for tanks (at least if you are gearing for a "Control" build)

So, I spec to Ret and actually enjoy it, it is a mass Zerg fest without much difficulty most of the time anyway- little merit to actually tank.

In your situation, if you do not want /dont have time to do normal raids, I am not sure what you would want. Possible avenues would be:
- Just run heroics until you reach the perfect 463 gear, then switch to challenge modes
=> Pro: Tank counts and shines, less time investment than raids
=> Con: No shiny purple gear

- Run as tank for LFR
=> Pro: You can tank i raids, you get good gear
=> Con: Long queues and little difference between a good and a bad tank

- Find some time for raiding and people that progress slower
=> Con: You need to spend at least an evening a week
=> Con: As you are less equipped, you need other people that also do it "slower"
=> Pro: Raiding as a tank
=> If you have time you can still run occasional LFR as Ret to improve equip

Personally, I have gone the latter route, raiding only 1 (sometimes 2) evenings a week. With little to no time left to gain rep etc. Yes its slow, but its damn fun to beat the bosses even with less experienced raiders - its just a nice way to spend the evening. IMHO, LFR is NOT.

Okay, so I've been trying to get into raiding groups over the past few days in order to gear up. The first one rejected me on the basis that "prot doesn't need haste or expertise" and the second one let me in but wouldn't let me roll on the haste/expertise bracers that dropped off the troll because a DPS wanted them.

I've tried tanking in LFR but it's pretty much wholly unenjoyable. IMHO if you can't decide who is MT and who is OT, the person who makes the pull is MT, but it's damn frustrating to be MTing a boss and have it constantly be taunted off me. My rotation is good enough (and I'm hard capped on expertise) that I usually get aggro back after the taunt effect expires, but then they just taunt it right back.

I'll keep trying, but the current situation is extremely frustrating.

boneyjellyfish wrote:I'll keep trying, but the current situation is extremely frustrating.

Use Hand of Protection on them and chuckle to yourself. Make sure that it doesn't announce to raid.

This is going to sound pretty douchey...but if you don't particularly appreciate the lack of appreciation that comes from tanking LFR, but still want drops that Blizz considers to be prot spec, you can simply queue as dps but stay in prot spec. Pro: You'll get in a lot faster, still get tank gear, and not battle over who's maintank and how it should be tanked. Con: your dps will be craptastic..but probably still better than a few random mages, etc... But you'll want to peruse the loot table, because some tank pieces are considered ret, so might want to drop and requeue in a ret spec for those. Sad, but sometimes it pays to be the hammer (the biggest tool in the toolbag).