http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=12065194803&postId=123263039810&sid=1#19

The fact we’re versatile doesn’t chant. Some nuances change from adjustment to adjustment when Blizz massages us, but, we do not loose the fact we’re versatile and great fun to play.

Seems that they want all tank classes to be relative equals in the tanking department. Subtle differences here and there, but a reasonably skilled, situationally aware player should be able to tank an encounter using any of the four classes.

My take on GC’s comments is that the situational use of shapeshifting is a good thing. Your description of Moroes and using the vanish for an Innervate is spot on. A good bear will take the opportunity to do those things in BC or in WotLK. Some players aren’t firing on all cylinders, and they might miss out on those unique situations that can make their class shine.

Likewise, I’ve been in High King Maulgar fights with Protection warriors who know how to stance dance, and Protection warriors who do not. A good warrior will use his class mechanics to practically remove the fear mechanic from the HKM fight, while other tanks who cannot play their class with that same skill will make the same fight into a totally chaotic mess akin to the 5v5 fight in Magister’s Terrace.

Maybe I’m being short sighted, but most of the stuff I’ve read from GC, in this post and in others around the blogosphere, seems that WotLK will be featuring players much more than toons. But only time will tell, and I’m pretty excited to see how it plays out.

We still have our versatility. It changes from time to time due to massaging by Blizz. But our versatility has not changed.

I was in a heroic OHB the other night and boy, was I getting my ass kicked. Prior to the patch however, I could breeze through that instance, to the point where my healer would be bored. Now, its pathetic.

Ok, so the changes to swipe are nice and our “last stand” ability comes in handy at times, but to be honest, I was much happier with my pre-3.0 tanking. Sadly, I’m done with my druid until Ferals are fixed and made viable, especially now that we have to spec for Bear or Cat specifically. Maybe I will try Boomkin.

Right now, I’m all about my mage and the sheer beauty of deep fire.

As for the constant shifting for versatility …
Netherspite fight as a DPS kitty/OT has always been fun. Start as bear, demo-roar and then kitty like crazy till flight phase. Go caster form and throw HoT’s till I get enough agro to eat the flame debuff instead of squishy healers, back to bear so the debuff doesn’t hurt (frenzied regen too) and swipe skellies. Cat form and cower for when he lands, bear and demo-roar if the first phase was dicey and back to kitty. Rinse repeat.

This used to get a little taxing on the mana prepatch, enough so I was in the habit of carrying mana pots.

Post patch … there is less time for mana regen while in form between the phases .. but I still end up with a full mana bar from the active mana regeneration provided by ILotP.

The swipe issue? I mouse target same as I used to but instead of mangle/maul/swap target, I swipe/maul/swap target while turning back and forth about 45 degrees. So far I’ve not had much issue, but level 80 will be interesting.

I’m personally a fan of our current changes, even the lower armor. Hitting the armor cap made me feel … unclean.

Besides, if I wanted to be able to AOE tank without having to work at it … I would have rolled a pally to begin with.

/cast [target=mouseover] Swipe

help any?

As far as soloing is concerned I have actually found that the new changes have made it a hell of a lot easier. Sure we might have lost some mitigation in bear when alone, but we gained a lot in dps. Honestly, solo baron runs in strat have gotten a lot easier. The survival instincts / frenzied regen trick has saved my butt many times. In fact I always seem to end up with near full health after poping at about 1/3rd health. Plus we can has barkskin, which makes up for that mitigation loss occasionally.

I was doing some of the scourge quests you get in epl (I went to winterspring). Things were going slow in cat so I decided to go bear, run around the shard and pick up 10-15 of those guys. Spamming swipe and glyphed maul I was doing over 900 dps (IN BEAR). Once or twice I needed the SI/FR trick, and I died when I got sloppy once, but otherwise I would normally have about 60-80% health after a 10 pull.

As far as shifting, try HH without a healer (granted he is easy). That will make you feel OP. I three manned it the other day, healing myself between phases, never got lower than 60% health, never had to hit SI. Now I just form groups with 4 dps and me. It gets funny when people freak out when they dont see a healer in the group. Although a flaming pumpkin did kill a person here or there, hey if I can heal myself, they can bandage right?

Oh, kara isn’t even fun anymore. Pretty much no point in using CC anymore. All I have to do is roll my face across the keyboard. I shudder to think about what has happened to ZA. That used to be my favorite raid, I dont want to see her all nerfy like.

I agree with the swipe comments. I love the new swipe, but it can be improved. I hate the target requirement. Many times my target is in swipe range, but not hit range. The zerg of whatever right before the baron in strat does take a few swipes, but as far as I could tell i basically hit all of them. I used to have to barkskin hurricane, then swipe around almost dying. Now I kill them with almost full health. In the end, swipe has gotten better, not worse, but it can become awesome.