I'd naively assume the guy was just having a bad day and was looking to vent about something, anything. Or that he's one of those people who feels very passionately about conclusions reached on the spur of the moment and doesn't have the wisdom to calm down a bit before expressing these passionate concerns (which, I suppose, constitutes most of the human race). The fact that you got That Guy + Poor Tank without either of the remaining pair of DPSers being (presumably) awesome enough to power the run on their own (or together, for that matter) I suppose constitutes a sort of perfect storm, in which case leaving the group seems fair enough (whatever that means).

(God, I have to stop using so many parentheses.)

But in general this is one of those things I don't really have "rules" about. If I am The Healer, I will try to keep Everyone alive, no matter how idiotic they are. If I am The Tank, I will try to hold aggro from all the mobs even if some idiot "team mate" pulls a bunch of them while all my runes are on cooldown (proviso: staying alive is more important than tanking *everything*, as a dead tank tanks nothing at all). If I am The DPS, I will try my best to kill things in an efficient and safe manner while filling in where it may be beneficial on cleanses, CCs, emergency off heals, etc.

I do this because I enjoy it, and because I feel it's my responsibility to any group I join - but I don't hold other DPS/tanks/healers up to the same expectations and many of my good friends have a totally different ethic regarding how to operate in their designated role. This doesn't mean I'm above bitching when I encounter someone who commits particularly flagrant violations of the unwritten statutes of What Constitutes Decency In PUGs, but I generally use /guild or a chat channel or even whisper as the outlet rather than bringing it into party chat. I don't think it's worth turning /party chat sour for 15 minutes unless something dramatic and fundamental is wrong, and even then I try to phrase things friendly-ly. And as you say there's just no point in trying to get into any sort of reasonable discussion with most random strangers in the PUG environment - you may as well ask a snowball to please stop rolling down this hill for a moment, please, because it'd be frightfully nice if one could perhaps nudge the snowball a little to the left - just a little - to avoid that inconvenient little lethal precipice it's approaching.

Which is why it's so especially frustrating when someone else does it, and you have to either sit there silently and hope he shuts up, or make a futile attempt to engage with him (either by being defusive, or by trying to actually argue the point, or perhaps by employing hilarious putdowns).

(Of course to continue the earlier metaphor, the snowball would simply respond "noob", alter course sufficiently to envelop you in its spinning snowy insides, fecklessly throw you both off the cliff, then vote kick you just after it's reached the bottom.)

(Dammit, parentheses.)
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I love the way you describe giving up Chain Lightning. So many people read the guides but don't actually think, you know, can I really do this and be comfortable? - and in the process they cost themselves both DPS and funtiems by trying to do the "right" thing :(

I still prefer not to use CL on single targets though I sometimes do just to mix it up or if there's a need for just a bit of extra DPS. I hate the effect it can have on my mana bar, but it's great just to open it up and MORE LIGHTNING!! if there are adds around to chain to. More and more I'm aware of how much of a strength of our class that is.

Also: wow, fancy site do-over! When did that happen? I've been feedreading everything this week so if it's old news I've not noticed :O
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The thing is, Valgav, that not everything we tank actually hits us in the shield area. There's a lot of stuff out there that flings spells instead. Some dungeons consist almost entirely of caster groups + mobs with very slow swing speeds. If you're not blocking much and you're not taking much damage then you're getting almost nothing from BoSanc and SA. And while yes, it makes sense to ration your mana if you're having problems (hence my comment about "conservative spell use" - cons is a mana-guzzler f'sho), if you hold back too much then there's an uncomfortable feeling of deliberately slowing the group down just so you never have to stop and drink... because it slows the group down :D

The BoK comment is because BoSanc gives us the 10% STR and STA that don't stack with BoK, so all we get from BoK is some agility (which doesn't help our mana at all as dodges = less from SA), some intellect (which is of marginal benefit to our mana *if* we have replenishment, but I'm talking about situations without replenishment - and even then we don't generally have any intellect on our gear in the first place) and some spirit (lol). If you were tanking mana tombs without DP or replenishment and there was a second paladin, would you really want some agility and a slightly bigger mana pool instead of 40mp5?

Well, not quite for good really? BoSanc and Spiritual Attunement really help for a while when you get them, but I found that there was a really painful period between getting SA and getting DP where I was running OOM again even with conservative spell use and arcane torrenting. OTOH if you end up in a group with replenishment and the other paladin actually buffs you BoW instead of BoK (sigh) then there's no problem.

Tanking is an awesome power trip - because you're right there at the front dictating the pulls and holding the attention of *every* mob, you feel really freakin' important. Except for when you feel very silly, of course. Unfortunately, when DPS are constantly pulling aggro and healers are letting you die because they're too busy watching Dr Phil (and your hideously expensive BoE epics prolong your life just long enough for you to realise that they went AFK without telling you), it is very easy to feel very silly and pathetic. When you fail as a tank, you fail very very visibly. And even if it's not your fault, it still feels like it.

Having said that, I largely don't have this problem on my paladin. After getting consecrate, everything was basically a downhill ride. The higher level you get, the more ridiculously easy to use and overpowered abilities you get, until by level 75 you're coasting through dungeons with infinite mana and threat and wondering why the silly DPS need to stop every now and again and lean against a wall, panting and wiping away the sweat, to desperately chug down some Super Mana Juice before wheezing over to where you're effortlessly holding the latest collection of 20 mobs at bay as they futilely try to cause you any actual damage.

But that's level 75+. The lower level you are, the progressively harder it is. I think the same is true for every tank class except possibly druids, who are basically set once they get swipe to spam. (No, swipe is not very good for holding aggro, but you don't get anything better at later levels either.)

(Actually, when my paladin got Hammer of the Righteous it felt like a hopelessly rich person who already had seven mansions and a private jet being given a new holiday cottage and a free kettle, whereas when my Death Knight got Death and Decay it felt like a homeless man being given a meal voucher for Wetherspoons. But er, anyway.)
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I love you Tam :')

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