Hey guys, I am a pretty casual player, just returning after a long time to mess around a few nights a week after work. I have a lvl 70 ranger and a 65 shaman, but I want to add a tank to the mix. I'm going back and forth between SK and Warrior. I have one of each around lvl 40. Which should I raise up to join my team? I hear lots of SK praise, but don't really hear much about warrior and SK info seems easier to find than warrior info overall, so I'm having a hard time making a fair judgement. I have no real expectations or end game goals. I just want to be able to see some of the game that I never did back in the day, accomplish a bit here and there, etc. Which tank would work better for my group? Thanks for your help and advice and sorry if box questions like this are tedious or common place.
Well, SKs got a major nerf on test today...so there's that. But all in all SKs are great. I'm on test playing my SK to figure out the implications of the nerf. Will get back to you with a verdict by tomorrow.
Following up after playing my SK/Ench/mage group on test. Yes, SKs are still awesome. It's a little more difficult, but both MC and epic are still useful, albeit a little less. The merc upgrades help a lot to make up for it, assuming no swarming. Can still do 2-3 mobs in a timely manner. A little more difficult, but not impossible. I still recommend SK. Unless you plan on tanks raid names. Then warrior.
based on what you're describing as a goal of seeing the game from back in the day. I'd do a /testcopy and see how the recent tank merc changes have been implemented. The general opinion seems to be they did quite well till around 70 to 80 and starting hurting at 80+ (ish). The most recent test changes are said to have improved them. They may again be at least reasonable group tanks and could keep you from needing to level a 3rd just to explore. If you are set on adding a tank, my personal experience leads to the following: 1) SK's generally do more damage than warriors in a group setting. 2) Warriors will typically live longer if a fight goes bad 3) SK's have better AE aggro tools 4) SK's have more AA than Warriors 5) Warriors take less damage than SK's from the same mob (although maybe not by much) 6) SK's get some self preservation utility that warrior's don't: self invis, levitate, corpse summon, etc. If the tank merc can cut it, and you still want a third, I'd suggest bard. If the ranger can pull singles regularly and you want a simple tank, I'd vote warrior. If neither of the above is true, I'd go SK.
With the coming upgrade to merc tanks, you will find it easier to go that route. SK needs more attention than warrior. If you want to use your ranger for more than autofire/attack go merc. A merc will allow you time to use the upcoming new shaman dots also. Bard (easy box) is a great choice with shaman+ranger. Ranger can off tank or fill in for a dead merc as needed.
I haven't seen any information on how good the new tank mercs are, but I would be very surprised if a tank merc will play anywhere near the level of a real tank. I expect that a boxed group with an real tank will destroy modern content much faster than a boxed group with a merc tank.
Warrior is easier to box, you can just auto attack and fill in an aggro mash here and there. SK has more aggro control for packs of mobs or a bad pull, which is nice. At like lv 80-90 something I had like 2 AoE AA taunts and one sngle target at my disposal on a fast refresh, so this was nice during the oh s**t moments. but they do require some button mashing here and there, not saying a warrior wont require some mashing as well post 80, they all do, but I think SK will require a bit more attention. Also, they are all heavily gear dependent, so be aware. You need to think about the best gear, best AC augs, good weapons. While chain classes that dont take too many hits can lag behind a bit, tanks cannot. Anyway, I think a real tank is a nice addition to any box team, in fact its the anchor. I spend the most amount of time worrying about my tanks gear than I do my others which can lag behind a bit. And while Ranger was always my favorite class from 1999, the DE SK quicky became something I fell in love with and is my favorite out of my group. With a good tank you can do almost any group stuff.
