Healer Survey

A healer survey from Miss Medicina has been circulating the blogosphere as of late, and I thought I'd throw my Resto musings into the ring:

What is the name, class, and spec of your primary healer?

Exelus, an Elemental (57/14/0) and sometimes Restoration Shaman (0/13/58)

What is your primary group healing environment? (i.e. raids, pvp, 5 mans)

Most of my healing time is spent in 5-mans or 10-mans, with the occasional 25-man and rare foray into PvP (battlegrounds). As Elemental, I'm usually assigned to our 10-man raids as "heal-capable-DPS," meaning I spend the bulk of my time DPS'ing while spot-healing and backing-up our two main heals.

What is your favorite healing spell for your class and why?

No, it's not Chain Heal, even though it runs a close second behind my favorite: Riptide. I'm a big fan of damage-mitigation and passive healing (especially on a tank), so Riptide's trailing HoT is an important part of my style. I love the fire-and-forget nature of Riptide, and it also triggers the essential Tidal Waves ability which I try to keep up at all times.

What healing spell do you use least for your class and why?

Even though I'm spec'ed for it and consider it an essential part of my toolkit, Healing Wave seems to get the least amount of action. I think this is because in most cases, a critting LHW or Chain Heal will do the job. Still, with Tidal Waves up, I can go for an extremely powerful 1.5 second bomb-heal when needed, which is a really great option. I also have a Nature's Swiftness + Healing Wave macro for those "tank's gonna die now" moments.

What do you feel is the biggest strength of your healing class and why?

The obvious answer here is "raid healing," but I actually feel that a Resto Shaman's strength is versatility. While our healing kit is very basic (one instant, one AoE, two direct heals with the same effective cast time), with glyphs and spec tweaks I feel that Resto Shaman are very well setup to handle any healing role (tank, raid, 5-man content).

What do you feel is the biggest weakness of your healing class and why?

This is much less of an issues these days, but the lack of a threat dump or "keep 'em off me!" button has always been a sore spot. Priests have Fade, Night Elves have Shadowmeld, Druids have Barkskin/Cyclone/Roots, and Paladins have a bubble. Shaman do have Nature's Guardian, but it's a five-talent point expenditure that most avoid. I've used Earth Elemental before to taunt mobs away from me, but it's so situational and drastic that I don't really count it as a worthwhile panic button.

In a 25 man raiding environment, what do you feel, in general, is the best healing assignment for you?

The ever-predictable raid healing role is best for Resto Shaman in 25+ content: preferably the melee group so folks are clumped-together for Chain Heal love.

What healing class do you enjoy healing with most and why?

Duo-healing 10-mans with another Resto Shaman is great for totem farms and the criss-crossing Chain Heals (ooh! purty!). I also enjoy pairing-up with Holy Paladins or Disc Priests, because I know their single-target forte is a great compliment to my raid-healing abilities.

What healing class do you enjoy healing with least and why?

Our guild has a mix of all classes/specs which participate in our 10-man raids, and I can't say there's any one class/spec that I enjoy healing with less than others. As a Resto Shaman, I can adjust my healing style based on who I'm teamed-up with, so team makeup has never been an issue.

What is your worst habit as a healer?

Aiming heals (usually Chain Heal) at the person with the lowest health: often times they'll die during the cast anyway, so I'm forced to spend the next few seconds re-casting and playing catchup with the others who could've been saved more easily. Along those same lines, I probably don't use Nature's Swiftness enough - I tend to save it for those oh-shit moments, but they are (by nature) harder to predict so it's harder for me to make that snap-decision sometimes.

What is your biggest pet peeve in a group environment while healing?

Avoidable raid damage or over-anxious DPS who divert my healing attention away from the tank. People who ask for rez's after the fight. People who openly question my decision to heal myself and the tank over them. Luckily, these peeves happen outside the guild on PUG runs, which is why I usually refuse to heal PUG raids anyway. :)

Do you feel that your class/spec is well balanced with other healers for PvE healing?

Yes, absolutely. Just a few tweaks here and there (glyphs and spec) and we're well suited for almost anything, and have great synergy with other healing classes.

What tools do you use to evaluate your own performance as a healer?

Recount, WoW Web Stats, and in general, the number of deaths balanced against the successful completion (or wipe) of an encounter. I try not to worry too much about overhealing, but if I find myself going OOM on an encounter I will definitely check those numbers. In PUG raids, I sometimes do a quick healing meter check just to have a look at my performance relative to the other healers.

What do you think is the biggest misconception people have about your healing class?

Contrary to popular belief, only half our keyboard is bound to Chain Heal. We also keep track of Earth Shield charges, Riptide durations, single-target heal with LHW/HW, Cleanse, drop specific totems for specific encounters, etc.

What do you feel is the most difficult thing for new healers of your class to learn?

Learning when/how to use Chain Heal vs. our other heals. CH has a long cast time, and certainly isn't the best heal in all situations.

If someone were to try to evaluate your performance as a healer via recount, what sort of patterns would they see (i.e. lots of overhealing, low healing output, etc)?

They would probably see more overheal than necessary, as I tend to pre-spam Chain Heal when I anticipate incoming raid damage and/or am trying to keep Tidal Waves up. Hopefully they'd see decent healing output, and very few healer-preventable deaths. (I refuse to take responsibility for those standing in the fire!) :)

Haste or Crit and why?

Haste FTW. I may have downplayed Chain Heal in some of the answers above, but in reality I do use it fairly often and since it starts with a talented cast time of 2.5 seconds, anything I can do to get that time down is helpful. I think currently I have it down to 2.1 seconds or so. Haste finishes your current cast faster, so you can get on to other things sooner. Over the course of a long fight, all that extra haste will add up to several more spell casts if your mana can handle it. Also, healing in faster bursts allows for longer regen periods.

What healing class do you feel you understand least?

Paladins. The single-target nature of them was a complete paradigm shift from playing a Resto Shaman and very difficult for me to get used to in a 5-man setting, so I eventually dumped my alt's Holy spec for Prot. In The Burning Crusade I raided as a Resto Druid, and one of my original mains was a Priest, so I feel like I understand them better than their plate-wearing brethren.

What add-ons or macros do you use, if any, to aid you in healing?

Grid and Clique are essential for me, as I wouldn't be able to (nor want to) heal without them. I feel like one of the biggest problems with WoW right now is the lack of healing support in the default UI. I hope they'll address this next expansion when they announce the Arch Druid hero healing class. :) For macros, nothing too fancy other than auto-popping trinkets and alternate mouse-clicks set up for Nature's Swiftness + Chain Heal or Healing Wave.

Do you strive primarily for balance between your healing stats, or do you stack some much higher than others, and why?

I tend to balance between spell power, haste and MP5 - with a bias towards spell power. I know it's not typical for Resto Shaman to go with MP5, but for the content I heal in and the style in which I do it, I prefer the extra longevity. I may experiment more with stacking Intellect at some point, but I'm fairly satisfied with the setup now.

It's a bird, it's a plane...

...it's a flying human dwarf!

As widely reported, the race change feature finally went live yesterday, and I jumped at the chance to convert Lightus the Paladin over to a more nobler, if shorter, race.

Not that I'm too much into the arpee, but from a role-playing perspective, I saw my human as more of a Holy-type - so when he transitioned over to a Protection/Retribution dual spec, I started to think of him more as a stronger and tougher fellow.

I debated a bit over the Draenei racials (+hit and insta-heal) vs. the Dwarven ones (mace expertise and Stoneform), but I decided that I liked the look of his current gear on the stouter race better, and Stoneform provides a nice mini-tanking cooldown.

Pictured: I celebrated the successful transformation with epic flight skill and a "need" roll on the Culling of Stratholme drake. :)

A Look Back

One of my favorite writers over at WoW.com wrote today's Breakfast Topic: Back To Where You Once Belonged, where he talks about his journey over the last year. From tanking in The Burning Crusade, through the current Wrath expansion as DPS, to his recent return to tanking. At the end of the article he asks the readers, "where are we now?" Are we doing what we thought we'd be doing? Hmm... I'm a sucker for nostalgia, let's rewind...

The Burning Crusade

From level 10 through 70, Exelus was Enhancement through-and-through. We were plowing our way through Karazhan, and I spent a lot of time staring at Omen, riding the tank's threat wave and praying I didn't get a lucky string of Stormstrike/Windfury crits. It was an art, maximizing DPS while staying under threat. I still remember my first raid invite like it was yesterday: I was totally freaked out, but the exhilaration of it all sucked me in for good. I also remember doing ~600 DPS and marveling at our Warlock doing 1,000 DPS!

Back then, PvP was the shortcut to gearing-up ("welfare epics"), so I begrudgingly spent a lot of time in BGs L2PvP. Sadly, that intense grind turned me off to PvP, even to this day. I still get the heeby-geebies when I think about Eye of the Storm. /shudder

At some point, the guild wound up short on healers... and due to a horrifyingly bad Hellfire Ramparts experience trying to offspec heal with Ex's "resto" gear, I decided to raid-gear my tree rather than respec. Ciribrus became a Resto Druid, and a whole new world of gameplay opened up to me: standing in the back, keeping my party-mates alive. These were crazy times... remember the concept of "heal aggro?" When a single early heal could literally send an entire mob pack running right towards you, with no way to dump threat (this was before Shadowmeld worked in combat!). The Hypnotist's Watch and Sporeggar cloak became staples of my heroic healing kit.

Wrath and the Transition

We were finally clearing KZ with regularity, and taking our first pokes into Zul Aman when Wrath was released, and we all set off to level from 70 to 80. We marvelled at the new zones, and bemoaned our loss of level 70 epics. I swear I lost a little bit of my soul when I replaced the PvP epics I had previously worked so hard at. Lesson learned, gear is just a temporary tool, nothing to get attached to!

Then, as I was losing my epic Enhancement gear to quest greens, something strange happened. I started noticing (/gasp) caster gear. At some point, it dawned on me that if I collected caster gear, I could possibly be more effective in a dual role someday. So sometime in the 70s, I respec'ed Elemental for the first time, and started lolbolting.

It was weird. I stood in the back, and resisted the urge to run into the fray. It was, admittedly, easier. And more in-line with my aging reflexes, too. :P

Early Raiding in Wrath

As guildies started arriving at level 80, the new meta game of gearing up for raiding began, and I struggled to reach hit cap with blues and random low-level epics. Elemental was borked (couldn't get past 1,500 dps!), but I stuck with it and Blizzard eventually fixed us. :)

By the time we had enough critical mass to start Naxxramas, we found ourselves predictably short on healers, but this time I resolved to stick with Exelus, thus beginning his healing career. By now, Resto shaman tools had grown more sophisticated, too (more powerful Earth Shield, Riptide, supporting glyphs), and therefore more interesting to play.

These days, Exelus splits his time between DPS and healing heroics/Ulduar/Colosiem/etc., which suits both needs to blow stuff up and lend a hand when called upon. It's yin-yang thang, and it's a ton of fun.

The Recap

So a year ago, did I ever imagine Exelus would become a caster DPS with a healing offspec? Certainly not. Did I expect my Boomkin/Resto Druid would languish at 72 with no real incentive to level? Nope. (/sad) Leveling a Retribution Paladin all the way to 80 (toying with both Holy and Prot offspecs) ever cross my mind? Never!

But that's part of the fun of this game, it evolves, just like real life. :)

Viva la journey.

Tiered Gear, Set Bonuses, and Abandoning T7

With so much gear flying around these days, it can be rather confusing trying to interpret tier levels, what level of content they're intended for, and what they mean for your toon. Let's take a look at the current state of tiered gear (Patch 3.2):

Overview

• Tier 7: entry-level raiding sets (Naxxramas, Obsidian Sanctum, Eye of Eternity, Archavon). Comes in T7 (10-man) and T7.5 (25-man) versions. Purchasable with deprecated Emblems of Heroism. Since Patch 3.2, there's generally better gear to be had for Emblems of Conquest, so I wouldn't worry about farming this gear if you're a new 80.
  
  
• Tier 8: Ulduar-level raiding sets (Ulduar, Emalon). Comes in T8 and T8.5 flavors. Helm and chest pieces are purchasable with Emblems of Conquest, which drop in heroics and most raids. New 80s will usually want to pick up these two tiered pieces first. There's also a plethora of non-set gear in this range that's quite good.
  
  
• Tier 9: Icecrown-level raiding sets (yet-to-be-seen Icecrown Citadel, Trial of the Crusader, Koralon). Comes in three levels (T9, T9.33 and T9.66):
  
  T9 pieces are purchasable with Emblems of Triumph (daily heroic dungeon quest, Trial of the Crusader, Koralon).
  
  T9.33 are purchasable with EoTs plus special tokens that drop from 25-man TotC.
  
  T9.66 tokens drop from heroic 25-man TotC (and presumably Icecrown when it's released).
  
  Most level 80 characters - newbies and hardcore raiders alike - will want to save their EoTs to buy a few T9 bits, if not the whole kit - although generally only top-end raiders will have access to T9.33 and T9.66. Also, there's some very good non-set gear available in this range: like the currently best-in-slot Totem of Electrifying Wind for Elemental (and some say Enhancement) Shaman.

Note that you can mix/match gear from the same tier level in order to gain the set bonus. For example, a T8.5 helm with T8 gloves will still activate the two-piece bonus.

Bub-Bye Tier 7

Until yesterday, I had been running around with four-piece Tier 7.5 because of the set bonus (10% bonus to Lava Burst's critical strike damage). So even though I had already bought the two Tier 8.5 pieces (helm and chest), I found a net loss of DPS when initially abandoning the 4p T7 bonus. The Elemental 2p T8 bonus just happens to be rather weak (periodic damage from Flame Shock can now become critical strikes). /yawn

However, with the purchase of the Tier 9 Elemental shoulders and some other recent random upgrades, the question became: will this new mash-up of T8+9 finally overtake the 4p T7 bonus? After some testing, the answer seems to be yes - due mostly to improved Haste (1.5 sec Lolbolts ftw!). I'm also expecting another slight DPS bump when I add the T9 gloves for the 2p bonus (increased duration of Flame Shock by 9 seconds, allowing us another Lava Burst cycle without having to refresh the FS DoT). /cheer

Now, it's important to note that not all classes/specs are equal when it comes to deciding whether or not to abandon your 4p bonus. For example, mages have an excellent 2p T8 bonus (chance for 350 spell power when casting nukes), so it may make sense for them to abandon 4p T7 earlier than I did. I suggest a combination of research (Elitist Jerks) and personal testing to get the right answer for your class/spec.

Shaman Lore Corner: Nobundo and Thrall

In case you're wondering who Nobundo is, here's his story. Although I admit I'd much rather be wearing Thrall's namesake gear (the Horde version of Shaman T9), since he was my favorite character from my Warcraft 2 and 3 days. :)

Get a job, Shaman!

A recent article on the lost art of crowd control got me thinking about all the cool tools a Shaman is equipped with, and the specialized jobs we can perform using these tools.

Sure, it's easy enough to faceroll Lightning Bolts or Chain Heals, but any player worth their salt not only performs their primary role well, but is always ready to bring something extra to an encounter.

Crowd Control

For years Shaman have bemoaned the lack of a crowd control ability, and the arrival of Hex at level 80 happened right as we entered the age of "AoE everything in sight." Still, there are definitely situations where we need to get our froggy-style on.

In heroic trash pulls, Hex can be used to temporarily incapacitate a mob as the tank rushes in to establish threat. Certainly the frog will break due to AoE, but the first few seconds of a pull are usually the most critical, where he/she can take a ton of damage all at once. Disabling even one mob for a second or two can mean the difference between a controlled pull and a wipe.

Still, not all trash is AoE fodder - in Ulduar, some pulls still benefit greatly from CC, and I would expect to see this trend continue as we start knocking on Arthas' door in Icecrown Citadel. While Hex cannot be chain-cast like Polymorph (boo cooldown), it can at least be used to tie-up a second-target while the first gets burned-down.

Kiting

This is where I channel Big Red Kitty, who frequently championed the skill of kiting: a job which involves aggro'ing a mob and having it purposely run towards you while you keep it at distance. Frost Shock with it's threat component and Earthbind Totem is a perfect combo for this job, something I've used many times in Naxx's Gluth encounter.

Rooting

Elemental Shaman also gain a very useful tool with a specially-talented Earthbind totem, which applies a Druid-style root to those within range. In the Eye of Eternity, it becomes very easy to root a Power Spark exactly where it needs to drop using this root (and has the benefit of being instant-cast, as opposed to a Druid's 1.5 second root).

In Ulduar on the way to the Crazy Cat Lady, there are pairs of big nasty mobs which also send sparks back and forth, which need to be destroyed before reaching the other. A rooting Earthbind is perfect for this job.

Interrupting

Wind Shear recently got a redesign, and it no longer shares a global cooldown with either Flame or Earth Shock. This was both a buff and a nerf, since we lost one of our two interrupts. Still, having Wind Shear on it's own cooldown means it's easier for a DPS shaman to maintain their rotation while still interrupting. This skill can and should be used almost everywhere: against healers in trash packs, whirlwinding Runeshapers, Kel'Thuzad's frost bolts, chain-lightning Dwarves in Ulduar, etc.

Other Jobs

Shaman also make great debuffers thanks to Purge, provide AoE Fear Wards with Tremor Totem, supply raid-wide steroids with Bloodlust/Heroism, can save the day with backup heals, and even provide an emergency tank while the Druid battle-rez's your tank.

We have a lot of great tricks up our sleeves, so don't be a faceroller, do your job! :)

Patch 3.2 Impressions

A week ago, patch 3.2 finally hit the live realms after much anticipation. This latest update brought a slew of class tweaks, emblem changes, a new dungeon/raid instance and new battleground. Here are my impressions, gathered during the past week.

Four totems at once

Aside from some very nice buffs to Resto Shaman (facerolling Chain Heal is back!), the largest change to the Shaman class was the addition of a totem bar in the default UI, along with an ability to drop a set of totems from a single spell. This is a fairly significant (and welcome) change, it's every bit as awesome as I had hoped.

Most raiding Shaman by now have used mods or /castsequence macro to drop a "default" set of totems, but until 3.2, dropping all four cost us essentially four global cooldowns. Hence, there were a lot of occassions where only certain totems were deployed... and while I used to do my best to keep all four down, there were definitely situations where it just wasn't practical. Now, there's no excuse to drop all totems, and it's been awesome for heroic speed runs and boss fights where repositioning becomes necessary.

Since we get three different spells to deploy a set of totems, I've built these three default sets:

• Call of the Elements - default set: Totem of Wrath (or Flametongue for Resto spec), Strength of Earth, Wrath of Air, and Healing Stream
• Call of the Ancestors - default set (as above) with Mana Spring instead
• Call of the Spirits - PvP set (Tremor, Cleanse, Grounding and Magma)

Interrupts FTW

Another seemingly small update was the redesign of Earth and Wind Shock, however I feel that it's a pretty huge buff - especially for Elemental Shaman on interrupt duty. Wind Shear replaces the former Shock, and no longer shares the same cooldown timer with other Shocks - meaning the Elemental rotation can now be kept relatively intact, without sacrificing a Flame Shock cooldown. This is huge. /cheer

Heroics are back, baby!

Another very welcome change was the consolidation of the Emblem system to Conquests (Tier 8 level) and Triumphs (Tier 9 level). As a result, heroic speed-farming and random guild runs are back with a vengeance. Once again, casual and hardcore players are getting to play together, and this is undeniably a good thing for guild dynamics.

Thus far I've been able to buy T8.5 helm and chest, although I was dissapointed to find an overall DPS loss with the two-piece bonus (extensive target dummy testing with raid-boss rotation), so for the moment I'm staying with four-piece Tier 7.5. Next up I'll be bolstering my Resto set, also with the T8.5 helm and likely the belt for hybrid use between both specs.

"ToC" rant

So we've got this new colosium up in northern Icecrown, containing a 5-man normal and heroic dungeon, a 10 man normal and heroic raid, and a 25 man normal and heroic raid. The only problem? They ALL have the same initials... so "LFG ToC" could mean any one of six group types! Hopefully some standard will settle out like "ToC5" or "Roic ToC10," but for now, be sure to ask questions before joining a "ToC" group. :)

Trial of the Champion

Despite having to joust in the beginning of this encounter, the new 5-man dungeon is actually quite fun, and yields nice Naxx-level rewards in normal mode (read: new 80s can farm this all day long!) and excellent Ulduar-level rewards in heroic mode. Thus far I've been lucky enough to upgrade my main hand and get this haste trinket, which put me closer to the "sweet spot" in the Elemental rotation (neatly allowing x5 Lightning Bolts in-between Lava Bursts).

Trial of the Crusader

The new raid instance was something many of our raiders were interested in trying out, so we gave it our best effort a few days ago, and managed to best the encounter with only three wipes. :) /cheer

There wasn't a lot of information out there yet, but thankfully Tankspot came through with an excellent video so we could get some research in beforehand. Here are some notes on the Northrend Beasts encounter:

Gormok the Impaler (Magnataur)

Since we had an abundance of ranged DPS, we chose to keep the melee on the boss the whole time, with all ranged assigned to take down the Snowbolds as they appeared on player's backs. Seemed to be fairly healing-intensive with DoTs stacking on the tanks, but we have some very skilled healers who were able to handle the load. :) Also having dual Pally tanks with Hand of Protection to clear the DoTs was a huge help. Other than that, stay out of the fire and have ranged stay at max range FTW.

Acidmaw & Dreadscale (Jormungar Worms)

This was undeniably the trickiest of the three beast sets. There are two worms, one applying a slowing/paralyzing poison, and the other an AoE fire debuff which removes the other worm's paralyzing poison. At first we tried to have people calling out in Vent so folks could run to each other, but due to the significant movement (poison clouds ala Grobbulus) and the confusion it brings, we found it easier to designate the center circle as a rendevous point. Whenever someone got slowed, they made their way to the center ring and the fire-debuffed person would just meet them there. We chose to burn-down Acidmaw first and heal through Dreadmaw's enrage, but after a few more tries, the simultaneous kill achievement should definitely be do-able.

Icehowl (Yeti)

After we got the two worms strategy down, the Yeti proved to be relatively easy. Simply note who the boss is targeting for his charge, and run out of the way (and be sure not to cross his path even if you're not targeted). Use Bloodlust/Heroism while he's stunned against a wall, keep your healers spread out so they don't all get frozen at the same time, and it's a fairly simple tank/spank.

It's worth noting the quality of the gear drops here, even in normal mode - item level 232! This alone makes it a worthwile destination for even the most casual guilds.

So tonight we venture back into Ulduar, somewhat better geared and with a raid lockout extension option - hopefully we'll be poking sharp objects at Yogg-Saron before too long. :)

Intro to Tanking

I realize it's rather presumptuous for a Shaman to be writing an article on tanking, but it's my blog and I can write what I want to I've learned a few things in the past few months with my frosty Death Knight tank, and hopefully some of this info will help those taking a look at the noble art of meat-shielding.

Basic Stats
So you've dinged level-cap with your new tank and are ready to tackle some heroics and perhaps even dive into raiding. Congrats! Now there are lots of talent-selection and gear-list websites out there on the interwebs, so I'll avoid going into specifics there - but let's take a look at the basic tank stats: your defense, health, and offense.

Defense rating is what keeps you from getting critically hit, which is hugely important for survivability. At level 80, you need 535 minimum for heroics and 540 for raids. There is benefit to stacking defense beyond 540 as it affects other damage mitigation stats like dodge, etc., but generally after 540 you'll also want to look at your overall health:

Stamina translates to your health pool of course, and the rule of thumb here is the more, the better. Each class has a varying number of health needed (for example, Bears need more than Prot Warriors since they have fur rather than shields), but as a rule of thumb, somewhere in the mid-20k's is a decent number to start running heroic dungeons at level 80. I believe my DK started heroics around 23k (unbuffed) and after seeing all of Naxx, is just shy of 30k.

Threat - they say "the best defense is a strong offense," and tanks are no exception here, as being able to output a healthy amount of damage helps to ensure the bad guys are focused on you, and not your party-mates. Offensive stats like Strength, Hit and Expertise are important in this regard - but again, YMMV according to class so be aware of which stats are needed to generate the most threat.

Don't be shy to enchant your blue (or even green) quality gear - both Enchanting and Jewelcrafting offer "budget" versions of endgame buffs that can help push your stats to a better place. My rule of thumb: everything enchanted and gemmed, always. There's really no excuse to slack here, as everyone in your party/raid are depending on your survivability.

So now you're all geared-up and ready to go. Let's take a look at a few classic encounters and how your tanking abilities come into play:

Marking
In this day and age of "burning everything in sight" with AoE, painstakingly marking each and every mob for kill order and CC assignments may not be as necessary as it once was, but it's still a good idea to at least mark the first and second targets so everyone starts off on the same page. Skull and X are most typically used, and I recommend making keybindings for all the marks - I use the function keys, so I can hit F1, F2, then pull.

Typically, you'll want to mark healers and casters as first targets, but if you're not sure who's who, look for clues in their names like "Spiritualist" or "Cleric." Mana bars are also a good clue.

Line of Sight
Doorways and Hallways are a tank's second best friend. (First are our healers, of course!) For tricky pulls involving ranged or caster mobs, instruct your group to stand behind the corner so you can make an attack then retreat to where they are. If done right, you can reliably pull an entire group, casters and all, right to you. Have an AoE threat ability ready-to-go when they all reach you.

The Big Picture
So you've executed the pull and the angry mobs are all happily beating on you - great job! But wait, half a second later one of the baddies makes a beeline for your healer! What to do?!

First, let's back up a second and understand that it's important for the tank to be aware of The Big Picture at all times. This means putting your toon, camera zoom and angle in a position such that you can actually see what's going on around you at all times. Pro tip: type this into your chat window to increase the zoom-out distance: /script SetCVar("cameraDistanceMax",50)

Taunt
So now back to our pull and the loose mob... which by now has started wailing on your healer - it's time to use one of your most important tank tools: the taunt. Each class has a few ways to do this (some single-target, some are multi-target), so be familiar with each method, and when to use which. You'll also want them hotkeyed for quick action! /cast [Insert Your Taunt Here] and phew, that loose mob is back on you.

Cooldowns
After burning through a few packs of trash, you've finally arrived at the boss. This big intimidating creature is really nothing but a loot piñata, so it's time to go collect your lootz. Let's assume that we're in Nexus, and we're staring up at the dragon Keristrasza. /gulp

This particular dragon has a very common ability known as a "soft enrage," where at low health the boss actually gets tougher. (Life's not fair, even in WoW!) Your healer's doing their best, pumping out heals, keeping the party alive and whatnot, but yikes the boss just turned red and hitting faster/harder now. To make things worse, your healer gets knocked out of range and is scrambling to get back to you. Oh noes!

Luckily, you don't just have to stand there and take it ("thank you sir may I have another?!"), you have defensive cooldowns! Every tank class has 'em: some way to mitigate damage for a short period of time. Shield Wall, Icebound Fortitude, Bubble, etc. As a tank you'll also likely have trinkets with handy on-use abilities, like increased dodge or whatnot - so keep all these emergency buttons close, and be prepared to use them often (albeit judiciously). These abilities can and will save your life, so use them!

Practice Makes Perfect
Putting all this stuff together really takes some practice, so don't get discouraged - everyone has a messy pull every now and again. :) Also realize that tanking is highly reliant on the other roles in your group doing the right things, so group with guildies/friends before diving into the highly unpredicatble world of PUGs. Try running dungeons in normal mode first to get a sense of the encounters and pulls before going in heroic mode.

Further Research
I can't recommend Tankspot enough for their highly informative forums and videos on YouTube. As usual, Elitist Jerks have a wealth of information surrounding gear, specs, etc. While learning boss encounters, Wowwiki and Wowhead are great tools.

Happy tanking!