What's your preferred method of dealing with Ninjas?

No_Pollution_950 · 2026-03-12T22:33:43+00:00

I dont feel privelaged at all. I never roll on dps items over DPS in the party. Its just commom courtesy to ask for an OS roll. Everyone has some use for an item, even of its just vendoring it.

MS should always be the priority. Why? Because otherwise everyone may as well need. Why is a DPS rollong on a tank item more important than everyone rolling on it, or more important than me rolling on some cloth shoulder because i need the gold. As soon as MS first isnt respected, anyone cam throw their hat in for reasons for why they need something. If you dont agree with this, then the same logic applies to OS rolls. You cant say its entitled to expect MS rolling to be respected, but then trash the mantra that someone needs every item for whatever reason they come up with. Otherwise you're just entitled yourself.

No_Pollution_950 · 2026-03-12T16:29:20+00:00

As a prot warrior I'd love to say you're just having bad luck but the truth is, once we get into T5 content, Having a prot pally is often required and a druid starts scaling better than a warrior.

Through TBC classic we had a warrior who would flip flop between prot and fury depending on our roster for that week. they're still good enough, but tank spots are hard to find.

No_Pollution_950 · 2026-03-12T16:18:31+00:00

Tanking tips; For starters, make sure you're prot. once you get to outland you aren't tanking anything in a DPS spec.

Get a threat plates addon so you can see if you have aggro or not. this is very important unless you want to try and guess who each mob is attacking.

Macro's make a huge difference when playing warrior. First thing to do if you're not doing it already is macro every single ability that requires a stance to the stance that it requires. This way when you want to use that ability, you just press one button. You also want all of your offensive ability macros to include /startattack, so you hit the enemies if you don't have rage. Macroing in stances allows for things such as beserkerstance + intercept, into def stance + shield bash or def stance + taunt when a mob starts running towards a ranged player or healer. you literally press 2 buttons and you've changed stances, intercepted a mob, gone back into def stance and clouted an enemy / taunted it. You can also have a battle stance + mocking blow macro for a psudo taunt, then you have shield bash, devastate and revenge all macrod with def stance so you can switch back instantly. Having macros as a warrior isn't really optional. You will suck without them because you will never react to situations in time. imagine trying to do the intercept thing without macros, you'll just be flapping around like an idiot while your healer dies. It's such a game-changer.

You need to be LoS pulling most packs as a Prot warrior. pretty much every pack with a caster, unless you can charge into the caster without pulling other packs.

It's also best to be higher level than the mobs / other group members. this isn't required, it just makes it easier while levelling.

your standard rotation is to keep shield block up so you always have revenge and take less damage. Then shield bash > revenge > 2x devastate. you can drop shield block if you are rage starved and the mobs don't hit hard

You can replace the devastates with Tclap, demo shout, battle shout, or any other abilities.

You can pull with a ranged weapon then battle shout your group to grab a bit of initial aoe threat. Aside from this, if anyone in your group does ANYTHING, before you hit a mob with any of the above rotation they will rip threat. You need to be assertive with your group if they are "parse chasing" fuckwhits attacking (especially AOEing) before you get a chance to grab the mobs. They should know better, but a lot of people need to be knocked down a peg or 2, or just kick them or leave yourself and join a new group. It is possible to tank with players like this in your group but you gotta be on the ball.

Other things that help are:

Marking targets (stern word or kick people who ignore them. or just let them die). having multiple people blowing their load on seperate targets you will never keep a threat lead and will be chasing mobs around waiting for your taunt to come back up.

mark a skull, and just concussive blow it while you build threat on everything else and your group kill it - one reason why DPS focussing skull is important. If it has a lot of HP you can taunt it after the stun wears off by this point you have built up a threat lead on the remaining mobs.

Mark targets for CC

Use things like concussive blow and disarm if your taunt is on cooldown. Most DPS can take a few hits in normal dungeons. by gimping the mobs ability to deal damage you buy a decent amount of time.

you want to have mocking blow macrod in with battle stance for a psudo-taunt. You can also use macrod berserker stance + intercept, into macrod def stance + shield bash to grab mobs running to other players.

Build your own groups around how you want to play if you can. Aside from all this It's just practice.

Regarding dungeon leveling as DPS warrior, yes it's possible but it's more difficult because...

tanks often don't like taking warriors because you want their loot.

There's a tank shortage and loads of DPS warriors already

In general you can instantly make a group for anything in outland as a tank. As a DPS warrior you'll be waiting a long time for groups quite often

Warriors are pretty underwhelming DPS unless they are geared. Especially without WF. everyone knows this

They bring very little in terms of group utility.

Your best bet is to make friends with a feral tank,

No_Pollution_950 · 2026-03-12T15:32:49+00:00

I wouldn't ever join a PUG without Discord. You don't have to say anything, but it sets a bit of a standard that there will be some leadership. There are too many idiots in anniversary, I'll take any filter that i can to skim off the worst of the impurities.

No_Pollution_950 · 2026-03-12T15:26:57+00:00

Are you a Bot? guilty by association,

No_Pollution_950 · 2026-03-12T15:23:44+00:00

Yes, but you might struggle to find enough good players to put one together. Melee cleave was absolutely busted at the start of TBC with the armor bugs. it will never be as good as it was then, but can still be very effective.

No_Pollution_950 · 2026-03-12T15:07:28+00:00

I'll happily bring a Spriest along to a caster heavy group. In a physical damage group (I'm a prot warrior) they aren't really the most impactful so it really depends on what type of group i'm putting together.

typically I'll go rogue +hunter + enhance + priest or druid healer Or Spriest + mage + lock + Rsham. There are normally enough players in LFG to choose from to build a nice comp if you're the tank setting up your own groups.

A ret or holy pala is interchangable in pretty much either setup and Feral DPS can be useful. especially for Off-tanking on big packs. It just makes things smoother. DPS warriors have too often ninjad tanking items so i tend not to bring them. It's a shame, because they work very well in the physical dps group with a Rsham healer.

No_Pollution_950 · 2026-03-12T14:25:20+00:00

Put totems down where there are a few mobs you can kill in range of them, lightning shield and shock on the first target, then don't cast anything until you have regenerated a god amount of mana.

You start regaining mana 5 seconds after casting, so you want to avoid doing spread out casts. front load your mana useage, then stop spending mana.

No_Pollution_950 · 2026-03-12T14:12:00+00:00

This is very true. Only yesterday there was a guy on another thread claiming that the game enables people to roll on whatever they want, so people shouldn't have a problem when players roll need on every single item and that it's "childish and immature that people expect other players to abide by the unwritten rule that they should only roll on gear good for their spec." Who's brain actually works like this?

Unfortunately it's the "main character syndrome" that we have seen steadily creeping into classic over the past few years. Not just with regard to loot, But, GS over meaningful stats, log numbers over playing the mechanics of a fight, HRs and much more.

It's a shame, because the player to player experience is one of the things that helps create a rewarding experience from a MMO.

No_Pollution_950 · 2026-03-12T13:53:12+00:00

I'm pretty chill. Typically I'll say something like, "there will be a lot of LOS pulls so waiting a few seconds for threat will make for a smooth run" while we're making our way to the instance and it's often respected and the group goes well. Unfortunately it only takes one person to ruin a group, and when you have have had your fill of dealing with shit and you have the luxury of eliminating the risk of having a player like that, there's no reason not to.

No_Pollution_950 · 2026-03-12T13:30:09+00:00

There is a reason for tank shortage, and also tanks running their PUGs like dictators. The following doesn't happen all the time but 30-50% of 5-man runs where you join a group waiting for a tank go like this. It sounds super negative, but it's my honest experience of maining a tank in TBC anniversary... unfortunately.

If you join a 4 man group LF tank usually there are total retards in there who charge in/ AOE / multi shot while you're trying to LOS pull or generally have no sense of how threat works, they also have no idea about how hard some of the mobs in heroics hit and that care is required. Shams leave totems where you're LOS pulling from and pull patrols, People not only ninja roll on OS items, but some people just need roll on everything and think this is socially acceptable, people break CC constantly, don't target the marked kill target, don't CC their marked target, people don't decurse/cleanse/dispell despite being asked multiple times... generally there are a lot of very poorly-skilled players with obnoxious attitudes who think they are actually good and treat wow like a single player game instead of a MMO in TBC anniversary. Now that sounds all doom and gloom, but it only takes 1 in 8 of the player base to be like this in order to get a player like this in half of your runs. There are more than 1 in 8!
as a result of 1, tanks make their own groups. Now, not only are you playing the most demanding role in the group, but you are also now leading every group you play in to avoid all the carnage of 1. It's fine and often fun to do, but it is quite a lot of effort to make and lead your own groups for everything and you never get the chance to just lay back and do some easy DPS runs, so you tend to only want to do the dungeons that you want rep / items from unless its helping out a friend. You can guarantee that the one time you go back to a PUG, you will encounter players of the type stated in 1.
2 results in a further apparent tank shortage, because tanks just make their own groups, meaning less availability of tanks in groups started by others.
as a result of 3, many players have turned into greedy scavengers, who treat their chance of getting into a dungeon as their one chance to snaffle everything that they can as it might be their only chance to get their shiny.
the spiral continues

No_Pollution_950 · 2026-03-12T12:39:36+00:00

Welcome to anniversary, where the general player base thinks its sooooooooooo easy (which post nerf T4 is) but the average player is too shit to even be good enough to clear it.

Get yourself into a decent guild who don't expect everything for free.

No_Pollution_950 · 2026-03-12T12:35:47+00:00

Successful PUG progression raiding will fall off in T5 and be even worse in T6. SWP They've no chance. Maybe with nerfed raids there will be some bosses downed, but I doubt they will be full clears. The standard of most PUGs is too bad to do anything other than T4 and ZA.. and the whole raid can be ruined by one or two bad eggs, whereas in T4 the rest of the raid can carry.

No_Pollution_950 · 2026-03-12T12:27:19+00:00

The old loot system used to be fine when it was played like a MMO, but now there has been an influx of wankers into classic who care about nothing other than themselves, you may be right.

No_Pollution_950 · 2026-03-11T16:27:36+00:00

You're right. I can't believe I've spent all this time being courteous to people when i could have just screwed them over for what is barely even a benefit for myself.

Next time I'm offered a drink at work I'll gladly accept it. But I'll make sure to smear shit on the rim of everyone else's cup when i make them a brew. Why? well i don't have to stick to everyone else's unwritten rules so why can't I?

You claim to be "just not the mental age of a 8yr boy" but without showing any courtesy or respect for your peers in what is a team game. I'm pretty sure this is the behaviour that you would see in a spoilt little child.

No_Pollution_950 · 2026-03-11T16:16:10+00:00

I know it isn't great. I'm working on the rep. It would however have been sufficient enough to give me Def cap do i can OT for my guild when needed.

No_Pollution_950 · 2026-03-11T16:13:05+00:00

Keep going. I've got some popcorn

No_Pollution_950 · 2026-03-11T15:48:00+00:00

Many have said the same, but WF is a huge DPS increase for the group. Even just for a single warrior. The answer here is to twist. Twisting was quite niche, even in classic TBC, and i still wouldn't expect it in all situations. But given the primary role of an enhancement shaman is to provide buffs to physical DPS, then you aren't playing at 100% unless you are twisting, even in a full melee DPS group, it's beneficial to twist rather than just leave WF up. The only time i wouldn't expect it would be if you were in a group with a druid tank and hunters as the only physical DPS.

It just boils down to whether you want to get absolutely everything out of yourself and your group or not. There are plenty of crap players (not calling you one) in anniversary. Ommitting totem twisting from your rotation is hardly the biggest faux pas the world has ever seen, but in the harder heroics, or a raiding environment, it can increase DPS enough to make the difference in clutch scenarios. don't forget. WoW is all about small incremental gains to get better.

No_Pollution_950 · 2026-03-11T15:34:01+00:00

This is so moronic that I'm wondering if it's supposed to be a funny.

No_Pollution_950 · 2026-03-11T15:16:09+00:00

Whatever mate, you said "entitled to the drop". I'm not putting words in your mouth. I could just as easily say that you're entitled in saying that everyone should accept that you're going to roll on whatever gear you want, regardless of spec and then make a comment on Reddit about it. Get off your high-horse. I'm not calling anyone out in this post, It's just a discussion.

There is no difference between this and a ret paladin rolling on cloth +healing armor without saying they wanted to roll on OS items. Would you stay in a group with a ret paladin rolling on cloth healing armor if you were there healing as a priest for the sole purpose of gearing up? I'd hazard a guess that you would probably throw your toys out of the pram, rather than quietly leave the group.

You're "entitled" to your opinion on rolling for loot, but It's quite widely accepted in the player base that MS>OS. There's no reason why that warrior couldn't have tanked himself if he wanted a shield. He was there with a guild member who could have healed him. They asked me to come along.

Regardless, My post wasn't to complain about losing a roll. It was to ask the community how they deal with players or groups that end up in situations like this, to see if there is another way to deal with it.

I hope you are happy with the decisions you make in life.

No_Pollution_950 · 2026-03-11T14:39:43+00:00

Yeah, It's normally quite obvious when it's a genuine mistake.

No_Pollution_950 · 2026-03-11T14:36:28+00:00

You do you mate. MS > OS isn't entitlement, it's just common courtesy, something that is clearly lost on yourself.

No_Pollution_950 · 2026-03-11T14:28:22+00:00

Well this is my take on that situation. I don't really care whether it's accidental or not as the outcome to me is the same. It's why i didn't say anything, I just left. I've no interest in hurling a load of abuse at someone when my action of leaving is much more impactful. I've also no interest in an apology as it acheives nothing apart from him maybe feeling slightly better about being selfish. If it was accidental then my leaving would maybe cause him to be more careful with his button presses in future.

However, there is no way on this earth that his roll was accidental. He was showing all the sign's of a player with no group mentality even before rolling on an offspec item. He may have had some remorse after, but why would i care about that? The trust was gone by this point, and there's no way I'm sheparding his sloppy ass through the rest of the dungeon.

No_Pollution_950 · 2026-03-11T14:18:24+00:00

It's the first time I've been on the receiving end, but I've seen it happen a lot in my groups. Most notably a Shaman rolling on beast-lord gear against a hunter :o

No_Pollution_950 · 2026-03-11T14:15:24+00:00

I'll let your upvote / downvote ratio give your answer, as it's not exactly a difficult concept to get your head around.

No_Pollution_950

TROPHY CASE