A look at the group search channel is enough: Tanks are desperately sought in Outland. Sometimes desperate players pay a three-digit sum for a hired warrior, druid or paladin to take the hits. That was a problem back in Burning Crusade and still is today.

The more hours I put into WoW: Burning Crusade Classic, the more vividly I remember what an odd beast of an expansion the Outland adventure was then (and still is). Let’s just take the whole PvE endgame with the big focus on dungeons and raids, with reputation factions and sometimes quite long attunement quest lines.

Actually I really like it all. The attunement process is motivated by almost all of the content, some of the heroic dungeons are surprisingly demanding even by today’s standards, and there are some equivalent alternatives or even better options for character progression apart from the raid booty. And since my guild was buzzing and buzzing like a busy beehive for the first few weeks of TBC, it was no problem for my rogue to master all the dungeons necessary for the Attunements and the reputation grind in a very short time.

Second round: where are the tanks?
However, it is now clear that I will play my priest in the main raid in phase 2, and with him I am currently experiencing the other side of the TBC coin live. By now, most full-time tanks have done their attunements and reputation grind. Also, many of them have certainly taken the hits in dungeons more than once just for the sake of friends and guildmates, and they still do from time to time.

But they are also concentrating on other things now, on their twinks, PvP preparations, activities outside of WoW (buy now) or whatever. At the same time, you don’t get the feeling that there are enough tank offspring joining the twink front. That was already the case back then. What wasn’t the case back then: Today you encounter Feral Druids or Protection Paladins much more frequently. For random groups, however, they are apparently reluctant to fill up, or if there is a rich drinking gold from the rest of the group.

I find all of this understandable. If I were a full-time tank, I would need a break after the reputation and attunement madness. And to make heroic dungeons unsafe in random groups, although you don’t need anything else from them apart from badges? This can already get on your nerves as a damage dealer and healer. As a tank, you also have to live with the fact that TBC phase 1 can be quite a struggle; in terms of optimally equipping the tank, but also in terms of aggro build-up on multiple targets.

In NHC dungeons this is not a problem. Refueling DDs can be healed for a while if necessary. The mobs die very quickly anyway. And even an offensive warrior with his standard equipment can be healed well as a tank in, for example, the shadow labyrinth (only tried it out at the weekend!). However, the situation is different in heroic dungeons, where aggro from the wrong player, fear effects that have not been kicked, or control effects that have not been dispelled can quickly lead to a wipe. And here it’s not enough if you just get any Feral or an offensive warrior as a tank. Without crit immunity and sufficient armor and life points, even real tanks (i.e. with tank talents) are quickly in the dirt.

Nerfs and reliefs with announcement

There is criticism in the WoW community that Blizzard weakened the raids and dungeons so much at the time and deleted or at least greatly eased the attunement requirements. But we can already see in TBC Classic why Blizzard had to take these steps. It can already be a pain for new players or alts to complete all the necessary homework for phase 2 and phase 3 if you haven’t found a group for Arcatraz or the Shattered Halls Heroic after hours of searching.

The situation will be even worse if everyone wants to storm into the Black Temple, but to do so you need to have completed the phase 2 raids, which in turn requires you to have completed the phase 1 attunements. As a raid leader, I saw first-hand how much “fun” it is to drag newly added characters through this complete grind over and over again.

So it doesn’t surprise me that Holly Longdale announced nerfs for the phase 1 content in the interview with Venruki. Likewise, I expect that sooner rather than later the entry requirements for Karazhan and the heroic dungeons will be softened (Hero entry from Honored, Karazhan entry with only one key per raid). While this will not bring more tanks to Outland, it may make it a little easier to motivate existing tanks to run a dungeon.

World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade

Burning Crusade has the maximum level in WoW at 70 and brings 2 new playable races (Draenei& Blood Elves). In addition, there is a new continent: The Sheol

The Burning Crusade is the first expansion for the successful MMORPG World of Warcraft (WoW) from the developer studio Blizzard. The add-on introduces a new continent called Outland. There are also new races. The Blood Elves for the Horde and the Draenei for the Alliance. The classes Paladin and Shaman are now also playable for both factions. Furthermore, the expansion brings an increase in the level limit from 60 to 70 as well as flying mounts.

World of Warcraft (WoW)

The online role-playing game World of Warcraft (WoW) was released in Europe in 2005 and is an MMO with a subscription payment model. In WoW, players can complete tasks with their characters to improve their hero and meet like-minded players. There are thirteen different races to choose from when selecting a character – six of which belong to only one faction each – as well as eleven classes. In World of Warcraft, players have the opportunity to join the Horde or the Alliance, complete missions and quests with their character in the rich world, and adventure with other heroes in instanced areas for five, ten, and even 25 players. In addition, characters can take up professions, collect pets and mounts, compete against opposing players in battlegrounds and arenas, or simply unwind in the main cities and chat with their guildmates. Guides, news, videos, screenshots, reports and more about World of Warcraft and The Burning Crusade are collected on our topic pages.

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