Regaining confidence to tank 25 man SOO after limited 10 man

Hey all,

Like many I'm sure, I feel at an odd place with the game at the moment (likely due to the end of expansion emotions). This expansion and its stat priority was a weird one for me. I played protection as my paladin as my only spec from Wrath through Cataclysm. I didn't like the rotation of retribution, when I wanted to DPS I played my boomkin or warlock (now adding my monk to the mix). However, with the stat priority that haste had on tanking meant that many pieces I wanted to win from LFR I had to learn how to play ret, which to this day I'm not BAD at, but I'm still far from an expert (I average about 150-160k in 563 gear with the flex 2H axe compared to my warlock with a similar ilvl that I can do 250-260k without trying very hard). By switching to ret (before spec based rolls were available) I fell behind in my tank gear. I wasn't able to upgrade from a BOE 476 shield that I bought for 9k on the AH until this past December when I won a shield off Nazgrim from Flex. My schedule also prevented me from raiding with my guild on a regular basis, so my experiences tanking were basically as a backup when someone did not show up. That said, I have tanked successfully all the way up to Spoils along with Paragons on 10 man. However, most of my SOO normal/heroic experiences have been as a DPS on my monk (AotC 25, 2/14 H) or warlock (13/14N). Last night I won the warforged trinket off of Malkorok as well as a shield off of Spoils (pushing me to 564, missing shoulders or helm for 4piece), and I would like to feel confident that I can handle 25 man tanking so that I can help my wife and her friend (hunter/warrior) team get their Ahead of the Curve Achievement. Given that I have seen some of the vitriol that can come from PUGs (Openraid/Oqueue can be little better than LFR in the way they treat players), what recommendations do you have for a player who wants to get back into tanking? What will be the biggest change switching from 10 man tanking to 25?

If you can tank 10N, you can definitely tank 25N. ;)

The only thing that directly affects you is that the bosses do hit harder (obviously, to scale up with the increased group size). The corresponding increase in healer numbers does offset that to a degree, but it may be worth running with some extra stamina initially, and shedding it for haste again once you have a better idea as to your own capabilities and the capabilities of your healers.

As Kelerei said, bosses indeed do hit harder, but not notably so. If you're in 564 gear, you should have no problem tanking SoO 25 normal, and shouldn't need any additional stamina, save for the malkorok trinket, which is really nice.

The only other difference is the tax on your computer. It can lag more in 25 man environments, which make your gameplay more sluggish, especially on the pull. Addons help a lot on that. Figuring out which of your addons are the issue could help you overcome that.