Identity Crisis

No, I'm not going to raid as a DPS warrior.

The problem I mentioned in the last post is getting worse. Last night was the third time I've had to sit out of a raid since the new guild, either being booted at boss fights or not taken at all. After the hour and a half spent on trash and Hydross/Lurker, we were standing in front of Vashj when I heard the dreaded "Hey, we only need two tanks here. We should replace the two extra." Naturally, since I wasn't in on the first Vashj attempts on Thursday and thus hadn't yet actually experienced the fight, I thanked the mage for my portal and logged out. Of course, I wasn't in on the fight on that Thursday because I was again left out since I wasn't needed for Leo -- and once they downed him, they just kept the current group and went on to Vashj.

I can't handle being left out of progression raids again and again. I purposely keep those nights open with the full intention of spending them in a raid. I didn't put all this effort into my character to get to 25-man content only to tank a few pieces of trash and then have to hearth out so the real players can come in and take the boss down. Being there with your guild for the first kill is the most satisfying part. After it's been done once, it's no big deal. Not everyone can be there for every first, but I'm seeing a disturbing pattern for me. It's not anyone's fault; this is just the nature of the game. I can't change that, but I can change the class I raid with.

All this is really to say that it's gotten so bad I'm seriously considering leaving my warrior behind for WotLK and picking up my mage again.

I've been thinking about it a lot the last few days, and it's not an easy decision. I have put a ton of effort into becoming the best protection warrior I can possibly be, which has always paid off... until now. I really love tanking, and I love the extra things about leadership that it's taught me. I love the challenge and the respect that comes with tanking. I don't love that I will probably never MT a high-tier 25-man raid, not without starting my own guild or playing on a more hardcore level than is possible for me to do while staying married. If I'm not the MT, I'm wasting my time as a warrior. There's just no fun in it when I could be playing a mage instead.

In a way I have to choose my class based on whether I want to bother with 25-mans or not. As a wise druid pointed out to me last night, with every raid being available as 10-man groups, there will be twice as many groups running at once, meaning there will be a bigger need for tanks than ever. I'm sure I would have a blast, just like I did learning Kara and ZA. What happens, though, when we finally have nowhere else to go but to 25-man mode? I will have hit my peak and will be back exactly where I am now. I am not about to spend another year building a character up only to hit a wall.

There are other issues that make me look longingly at my mage again. I don't like the feeling as a MT that if something comes up and I can't get to a raid, the group can't go because of me, or at least they aren't as successful. This happened several times in my last guild. I guess I really wouldn't mind it if I knew I never had any family events that might randomly pop up and mess with my schedule. My wife does not raid, therefore being in a raiding guild is a constant balancing act of scheduling this hobby in such a way that my reputation at home remains friendly. A good main tank requires a more stable and reliable schedule than that.

While it may not be as complex or demanding to play, I still love the mage class. It's awesome burning faces off monsters. I know there's a lot more I could learn about the class, and I could definitely be a great mage if I really invested some effort. After I got booted from SSC last night, I logged over to him to blow off some steam and PvP for some welflare epics. My mage is actually still in my old guild, and I ended up getting an invite to Gruul's with them. It didn't go very well. From what I heard, my guild didn't do great on Vashj either, only getting 2 of the generators down at the most before adds overtook them. I didn't have an awesome time wiping on High King, but at least I was doing something.

Two years ago, I was a mage. For the last year, I've been a warrior. What am I going to be 6 months from now? Right now, I'm definitely leaning towards the mage. If I intend to reach as far into progression as possible, it can't be both.