WoWing and Tanking

**MMORPG Geek Zone ahead (you have been warned)

So my gang has transitioned to World of Warcraft and its been quite a hoot. Very different environment from City of Heroes. We have a goodly variety of characters and we are all adapting to the learning curve.

The nice thing about all MMORPG's is the similarity. Once you are familier with the basics the new stuff tends to fall in line quickly.

As the teams Tank I am working from a very different mindset then my previous soloing warrior. As such reaching level 10 and getting defense stance and attacking for agro over damage requires a paradigm shift. Last night, for instance, I had logged into teamspeak and found out that Rob of the California Georges and his son were online levelling Robs mage to 10.

I hear this:
[Rob]>-- Here comes another one.

[Son]>-- Run!

[Rob]>-- okay.... shoot!

[Son]>-- Oh man, Dad, I am So Sorry

[Rob]>-- I'll start running back

[Son]>-- Whew, just made it

[Rob]>-- There were too many

[Son]>-- You have to stay back and not agro so much.

[Rob]>-- Okay, Im back.

[Son]>-- RUN DAD!

At this point I opted to help out and when I arrived I was able to keep most of the agro. I think it sped up things. Not being there before, I really cannot say. At least another player did add to the 'Kill X number' quest. And no one died. That is what a tank revels in.

To be a Tank you need alot of armor. So you need a shield.
You need to keep the Agro (or the Anger of the thing you are fighting so it stays focused on you)
Finally you need to protect the Healer and other Squishies.

I think I am going to need to get a ranged weapon to pull mobs. Probably a Gun, cuz Entrails can make me shot.

You know a game is well thought out when you can have two characters with the exact same class and still have a wide variety of play with that character.

No Wonder its the World of Warcrack...