World of Warcraft is based on the holy trinity of tanks, healers, and damage dealers. Traditionally, most players prefer to see big numbers and therefore play DPS classes, leaving the other two behind. However, tanking is about to become easier and may attract more players.
What role is it about? Tanks are somewhat like the backbone of a group or guild. They draw the aggro of enemies so that these attacks only them, allowing the other players to stay safe.
They have various abilities to build “aggro,” meaning they bind enemies to themselves. Additionally, they often have the capability to temporarily increase their defense or heal themselves. They are by far the toughest playable characters in MMORPGs like World of Warcraft.
Why are tanks so sought after? Even though in a “Holy Trinity” every role is needed, tanks are particularly important. In WoW, a tank error can lead to an entire raid party being wiped out by a raid boss, and in dungeons, they set the pace.
In raids, fewer tanks are usually needed, which is why the demand here is not as high. A nerd has already calculated that ranged characters are more sought after. This is because tanks typically accompany their guilds for many years, and you only need 2-3 per group of 20-30 people.
In dungeons and Mythic+, it’s a different story. The “faster” content, which is played by the wider audience, suffers from an acute tank shortage. Hardly anyone wants to tank, partly because as a tank, you always get blamed when something goes wrong.
Blizzard has already tried to create an incentive to tank through special rewards, but so far without real success. There is still a shortage of tanks. However, a change is making things at least easier now.
WoW makes tanking easier, buffs other classes
What’s changing: With the upcoming patch 9.2.5 on June 2, threat generation will be increased. This means: tanks will no longer lose aggro so quickly when DPS suddenly unleash their full damage.
Especially later in an expansion, this has traditionally been a problem. Because DPS keeps increasing while tanks just have to endure more. At some point, a DPS can easily steal aggro from a tank.
The concept of letting someone else tank has not existed for at least 10 years, which is why the tank is often blamed in random groups when enemies rampage. This should happen less frequently with the upcoming patch.
Whether this really helps to increase the popularity of the role remains to be seen. At the very least, it’s an incentive to take a look at your tank specialization and try it out – if not every fire mage dies during their first incineration.
By the way, over the years, many MMORPGs have tried to kill WoW. Here are the 5 biggest failures in the attempt:
What else is changing? In addition to the tanks, several other classes are getting a buff, including:
- Shamans
- Arms Warriors
- Outlaw Rogues
- Monks
- Arcane Mages
For most classes, there is only an increase in the damage of all or individual abilities. You can find the complete list of class changes in the official WoW forum.
By the way, with patch 9.2.5, more changes are on the way, including some that affect all players. The player interaction will be improved, and there are some new features to create a better atmosphere. The most curious aspect is probably the new contract that players must sign:
Blizzard says the new social contract for WoW is “just the beginning”
