[Warrior] First Time Player

[Breidr]

So this is my first time really sinking my teeth into the game. When I was younger I ended up on a Gnome Mage because it was easy and just filled DPS roles where I could. I never raided.

I'm playing a HC warrior now and am really enjoying myself. I've allocated my first 5 or so points into shield spec and toughness, following the prot guide I read. The thing is, the more I think about it, the more I doubt this was the right move.

I'm not concerned with optimization, or leveling speed, I just have concerns that as a new player, I may have bitten off more than I can chew going prot/tank spec, or even warrior at all. I'm just here to explore the world, quests, and do the odd dungeon, maybe raid so I can see the content, but that's about it.

Should I quit while I'm ahead and reroll? Respec?

[Pfwg]

Respeccing is cheap, and Arms is a great spec for levelling.

Are you sundering until the mob is at ~50% HP? Sunder is the best way to up your own damage. Between that, sweeping strikes and the high crit chance on overpower, warrior becomes a lot less painful.

[Unangwata]

My favorite for leveling is Sweeping Strikes + Cleave, and later level Sweeping Strikes + Whirlwind. You pull 2 mobs for that and watch them die. It's in Arms tree (plus talents than keep rage after stance change).

Another trick I used (but I don't recommend at the beginning) is I dual wield 2 fast dagger until mob dodges and I get Overpower proc, then I switch to 2-hander and use Improved Overpower. But it's mostly for solo mobs until u get Whirlwind or Mortal Strike. The advantage of it is also minimal rage loss from Heroic Strike swing that doesn't generate rage.

[Roxanneflowers]

Here's my take on the best way to level up as a Protection Warrior. Short answer ... spend your first 11 talent points in Arms to get Anger Management as quickly as possible at Level 20 before investing in the Protection tree. For more info on why that might be a good idea, read the post I've linked.

The most important thing to know about playing a Warrior is that Warriors are THE most gear dependent class in the game. You don't have magic (you've got Rage) so everything you do is dependent upon your gear to power you up. Weapons and armor are what make you powerful in a force multiplier kind of way. The Warrior is a multiplier ... but you need to have some amount of force in order to be able to multiply up to useful amounts. So if you've got "bad gear" then your experience as a Warrior is going to be lackluster, frustrating and poor. It takes a while before you can assemble "good gear" and until then it's a trail of blood, sweat and tears. However, once you reach that "breakout point" where you've got a good enough weapon and armor to build Rage quickly (thanks to Anger Management) and survive ... that is when being a Warrior starts getting GOOD.

So stick with it. We've all been there.

[Unangwata]

Here's my take on the best way to level up as a Protection Warrior. Short answer ... spend your first 11 talent points in Arms to get Anger Management as quickly as possible at Level 20 before investing in the Protection tree. For more info on why that might be a good idea, read the post I've linked.

A fun way for solo play as prot could be u get 1 talent in shield block soon, ask someone to put Thorium Shield spike on your shield and then spam the block. Each use blocks damage twice and damages opponent twice for only 10 rage. At least fun early in game.

[Breidr]

I'll keep all this is mind when leveling for a bit, thanks!

The real fear for me is stepping into Deadmines for the first time as a tank and new player.

[Roxanneflowers]

The real fear for me is stepping into Deadmines for the first time as a tank and new player.

To be honest, by the time you want to be running Deadmines, you don't have all the talent points invested that you'd want for true aggro magnet status. 1/3 Improved Shield Block AND 5/5 Defiance are both in tier 3 Protection, and you won't have both until Level 25 at the earliest. 3/3 Improved Sunder Armor is in tier 4, so you won't have that until tier 4, which means Level 27 at the absolute earliest for that too. In other words, by the time you can have the "real" tanking talent points invested you're going to be past the Deadmines already. My point being that thinking you need to have your tanking talents invested in time for Deadmines is a mug's game.

Yes, you can get 1/3 Improved Shield Block by 20 in time to run Deadmines, but that's going to be about all you've got going for you (plus a little extra armor from Toughness, probably). In my personal opinion, that option for investment is inferior to spending those same 11 talent points in Arms for Deflection (+Parry), Tactical Mastery and Anger Management. You just get more "bang for buck" out of those talent points than starting in Protection. Parry plus Parry Haste means you take less damage while dealing more damage, improving your survival rate. Anger Management means you generate more Rage AT ALL TIMES than you would without the talent ... and 5/5 Tactical Mastery lets you switch stances without losing (as much) Rage so you can Stance Dance.

Sure that means you'd be delaying 1/3 Improved Shield Block from 20 to 31 ... so you wouldn't have the talent for Deadmines/Wailing Caverns or Blackfathom Deeps/Shadowfang Keep ... but by the time you get to Gnomeregan/Razorfen Kraul at 31+ you will have 1/3 Improved Shield Block. You'll also be picking up Improved Sunder just in time for the Scarlet Monastery in the high 30s ... which is about the time you'd "really need" to be having that talent anyway.

So given the alternatives, in my personal opinion, Anger Management (early) is more valuable than Improved Shield Block at Level 20 ... even if you are planning to play an aggro magnet tanker. The knock on benefits of Anger Management are simply too numerous and beneficial to ignore, especially when combined with 2/2 Improved Bloodrage so as to be able to "carry" your Rage from fight to fight with relatively minor losses if you know what you're doing (particularly if you've got an Unconscious Dig Rat in your inventory). That way, you can ... if necessary ... prep yourself with a huge pile of Rage before engaging in a boss fight, which is a tremendous advantage that will easily outweigh what you might have been getting out of 1/3 Improved Shield Block.

Just FYI.

[Unangwata]

He is new player.. don't make him faint..lol

[Breidr]

Based on what you said, I'm really torn. I'm not going to give up on the warrior, but I might put him on the backburner and roll another character first. Given this games age, I thought I could roll a tank first time and be "okay."

The more I think about it, the more I don't think that's true. I might get my "Dwarven Rifleman" going and come back to my "footman" later.