Warriors in World of Warcraft have a hard time, as they have to pay a lot of money for tanking – more than any other class.
Tanks in World of Warcraft are scarce, just like in almost all major MMORPGs. The role comes with a lot of responsibility, as the tank usually sets the pace in dungeons or raids – and that intimidates many newcomers. But there is another barrier that could be off-putting, as warrior tanks have to pay particularly high repair costs for their gear.
The absurd reason: Using their shield abilities increases the repair costs they will incur, as a player calculated in the WoW subreddit.
The Warrior Tax
increases tanking costs when played correctly
What has the player discovered? In his post, Kersplode describes his observations in World of Warcraft. He analyzed how much gold he spends on repairs on average, and particularly that his shield often needs to be repaired. The reason may seem strange, but it is due to the use of a skill.
Armor loses durability at a certain probability with every incoming damage. Approximately 3.5% of all attacks cause the durability of gear to decrease by 1.
When an attack is parried, there is no damage to durability – neither for armor nor for the weapon.
However, it is different when an attack is blocked. In that case, damage is reduced by the warrior’s shield, which does entail a hit on the shield. This means that in 3.5% of the cases where the shield is used to block, durability is lost, and thus repair costs arise.
The warrior can drastically increase his block chance through the ability “Shield Block” – and thereby also the likelihood that durability is lost.
The bottom line: If the warrior were to give up shield block, a dungeon run would cost him nearly 25 gold less (even though the healer responsible for the warrior would probably need psychological support afterward).
Is that a significant difference? To be honest: No, probably not. 25 gold in additional repair costs for a dungeon is not a world-changing difference. However, over time it can certainly add up. After all, many players visit dungeons not just a few times but often hundreds of times during their WoW career – and then a considerable amount can accumulate.
Even if the amount is small, the contributor is certainly right: It can feel strange to be charged for using necessary abilities. After all, all other tank classes can actively reduce their repair costs with abilities. Only for the warrior does it cost real gold each time, which could then be used for some of the most expensive mounts in the game.
