Kalera wrote: The impression I was left with was: if you know what you're doing, and you purposely outfit your character to be defensive in nature (take damage and hold aggro) instead of offensive (deal damage), then you could raid tank with the best of them.
Excellent post, thank you. While reading what you posted, I have to say that I believe a majority of what Moorguard was posting was in relation to grouping (he specifically mentions Pallies being the tank of choice in exp groups in EQ1) and just as with every class in this game, you CANNOT carry over your benefits to a group to a raid at an equal level. Healers heals are not equal. Tanks are not equal. DPS is not equal. Everyone has to behave differently in a raid. You can always tell the newbie raiders, they are the ones that think a raid is nothing more than a 24 person exp group. All I have to say to your post is... What is holding you back from being a raid tank, aside from the perspective of those around you, and I might say, your own perspective. I am fully confident that if needed, I could main tank anything handed to me if I had the right people at my side to help me achieve that goal. And I am also equally confident that by having me main tank, my guild would not be suffering any more or less than they would with a guardian in there. Do I think Pallies are perfect? Nah, I do wish our heals (particularly our self heal) was more potent or more viable against raid mobs. But I'm happy and confident with the class I chose, and I am happy with my abilities both as a group and raid MT, a back up healer, a rez bot or whatever role I need to fill to get the job done.