Prot Pally vs. "Prot" DKFollow

Since we're in idle speculation mode, and DK is supposed to be able to tank dual-wielding, I wonder if they will attempt to make its core tanking mechanism around parrying...

You can tank without block or heavily relying on parry, druids do it. I just assume they won't be able to get uncrushable (like druids). Due to that, I don't see raids changing their main tank from warrior to DK. I see DK more as a higher DPS (compared to other tanks) off-tank that some crazy people will go "hey look we used a DK to tank the end of the game boss just because we could" and while DKs will have the ability to tank, they will be ranked somewhere in the area of druids or paladins, but far less than warriors.

I, for one, hope that they do NOT have AoE tanking mechanics, I'd like to see that stay paladin's domain. If paladins retain the title of best AoE tank, it will let people continue to use the class, rather than all tank wannabe's switching to DK.

Personally I do plan on rerolling DK as a main because it looks fun, will provide me an alternate way to play the game (making me a better all-around gamer), and since my last two mains were warlock and paladin, and I see this as a combination of the two.

Are you sure redirecting damage from the tank to other people is a good thing for a main tank?

I'm not real sure there's anything solid to work with here, so there's little point in discussing anything other than wild, baseless theories. Theorising is okay, but it may turn out that the DK makes just as good a tank as a paladin makes DPS.

I read it as: "Decent but with enough drawbacks that you'll want any other form of tank instead of that if you can."

That's the dumbest thing I've read all day.

Paladins are already the supreme AoE tanks. Why should we nerf the primary function in order to move them into another niche already neatly occupied by Warriors? It's like everyone moving one space to the left instead of the new guy just sitting in an already-empty seat.

As for the rest of the argument, I'm with RP. We don't know, we won't know, and honestly, I for one couldn't care less.

I don't know exactly what tanking niche Blizzard expects the DK to fill.

I do know that at present, the idea is that the DK will be a DPS/Tank hybrid. Tanking mechanics and style aside, this makes them a favorable offtank. When their mob is dead, they'd be able to contribute something meaningful to the main-mark. This is the same situation where Druid off-tanks are sometimes more desirable than pally off-tanks in raids.

If the DK utilizes AoE tanking abilities, they'll be taking a bite out of pally main-tanks in 5-man and raid trash situations as well.

We'll certainly have to wait for more information before we can come up with anything but idle speculation, but right now I don't see a place for another tank. Pallies are already the masters of threat generation and management, Warriors and Druids have all the abilities needed to lock a single target (or even a few) on them (esp. for prolonged fights). All three have their own cohesion of avoidance, mitigation, and health. The only thing I can think of is if new situations are introduced in WotLK, unlike those seen so far, that require a different style of tank altogether.

My guess is that it will focus on mitigating magic. I mean none of the 3 tank classes we have now can shrug off magic damage compared to how a feral bear takes those physical hits.

Another possibility I think could happen is that they will be like a DW Enh Shaman mixed with a lock. They could put buffs on their weapons that constantly debuff or curse the target, while also draining the opponents HP for the DK's use. Of course they will have to make the attacks considerably weak but provide much threat so the DK does not become OP in PvP.

Other then that I dont know. I must say I am quite interested in what Blizz will do with this as a DW tank specc certainly caught me off guard.

Nothing shrugs off anything like a Feral tank taking physical hits. But Protadins already have a 10% spell damage reduction and Warriors top out at 16%, I believe. I'm not really sure what else you want.

I really don't think it's necessary that you're all trying so hard. The DK doesn't need to fill a new niche. I'd argue that the current tanks we have now don't need to be assigned niches either. Optimally, every tanking class should be able to tank in every situation. That hurts no one and helps everyone, giving everyone the option to play whatever kind of tank they want for no reason other than they happen to like the eway it works and enjoy it. It's my sincere hope that at level 80, that will be the case or at least close to it.