As more and more players get to level 85, the Dungeon Tool is getting overrun with players trying to gear up. When I got off work last night, one of my guildies asked me if I wanted to run a 5-man. Sure, I thought…
So we queued up, and I opted for DPS, because I want DPS gear first and foremost. My guildie (we’ll call him Kikirt) is a Warlock, so obviously he was DPS as well. As I strolled into the auction house, I heard him mumbling in party chat about our guild needing a tank to level up. I don’t think he realized my off-spec was Protection, since I had been Holy for raiding in Wrath.
I looked at the queue time and saw 37 minutes. What…the…$#%@? Seriously? I know some players had that when the Dungeon Tool was first implemented in Wrath, but I had personally never seen it that high.
It was time for me to weigh my options. Thirty-seven minutes is a LONG time, and honestly, I didn’t have that much time available to me. So, I had collected a tanking set while leveling, and equipped what I had, in hopes that it would hold up for a normal dungeon run.
Switched my spec and re-queued us. Wasn’t quite an instant queue, but I won’t complain about 18 seconds! Luckily for me, there were no other plate wearers in the group, so I was able to roll on tank, DPS, and healing plate gear as needed.
The run was my first into Grim Batol, and I loved it. Thanks to some secret coaching from Kikirt, I don’t think I did too badly. Luckily, we had a good healer who kept me up.
Now, from this point on, if queues really are going to be this bad, I may be forced to queue as a tank, and hope that I can build a DPS set along the way. It’s not ideal, but I may not have much of a choice. I don’t have enough time to sit in those long queues, I’d only get one or two dungeon runs all day, with the way my hours run at home!
So, my suggestion for all of you is to get a tank or heal set ready to go. If you see those long queues, and think you can hold together enough for a 5-man…go for it. You’ll get those Justice and Valor points much quicker to spend on Retribution gear.
I am at work today, but I am going to try and crunch out more posts for you guys while I am here! Hoping for a slow day at work!
Great post! Right now i am on my pally. Current wait time is 22+ mins. That is in Heroic. Good thought of picking up some tanking gear. Tank que’s is instant. make me mad that so many players right now are using the LFD tool and dps is still long
Sometimes even healing set takes a bit long as well.. Well if ur a pally. Try to loot some gears for tanking and work your way on building up your ret. But try to not be greedy when rolling =]
I feel the same way, but I’m not too worried about the queue times at the moment, since I’m still leveling up. Queue times on Friday night hit 40 minutes for me, but that gave me a lot of time to finish up the quest chains in Vash’jir.
I checked recently and the shift is moving to longer ques being heroic. Lucky my main spec is prot, and my off is ret. Unluckily I am one of 3 people in the guild with the gear to tank a heroic so good-bye solo play. Although this does mean that I can ask to roll on ret gear since we always get a full group going which I feel right now is the best option for dungeons.
Heh. I commented on an earlier post about the subject.
Queuing as a tank is by far the best thing you can do as a Paladin. It’s better for everyone. You’re doing yourself and everyone else a favor.
I personally have no qualms about rolling on DPS gear while tanking. My main spec is still Ret, and I feel that I have every right to that gear. By tanking, we’re taking one for the team and people have to understand that. I realize the “gut” response is that it’s not fair, but neither is a 1 hour queue so yah…
If you’re tanking but ultimately more interested in Ret (as we all are here on this blog), then I just suggest that you make it clear from the beginning what your intentions are. You’re not the one who just waited 40+ minutes for a queue, so you’ve got nothing to lose.
My queue time as DPS is 45minutes to an hour. Im overjoyed if i see 37 minutes!
It’s complete BS when you sit in a queue for 35 minutes and when you get in the dungeon the tank(prot pally) needs on all the dps plate drops…. If I keep seeing this happen I’m going to smash my computer with a hammer….
Here is what I do and it helps you very well. Que as a tank BUT take 3 DPS with you in the que from your server and make sure the 3 you take are not DPS:) Que willbe maybe a few mins and still get your plate dps gear 🙂
have fun!
I agree with Lyreth. Im not sitting in a Random dungeon que for 30+ mins just for a tank to roll need on DPS gear. If you want to tank, tank but dont use it as a quick way to skip the que times and take the gear from guys who have had to wait that time.
You don’t have to sit in Que, you could tank too and that would lower times for everyone involved. Every paladin should choose a tanking spec because there are only 3 plate classes that can tank and of those we are the only ones that can also be a healer or a dps. So when we tank we have free rolls on healing gear if we are the only Paladin in the group. When a DK or Warrior jumps in let them know your gonna roll on DPS gear and if they have a problem with that they can either go back in que or tank themselves. I realize this is a site dedicated to the DPS side of our class, but we are a hybrid, DPS isn’t the only thing we can or should do. We are not only holding back ourselves when we stick to only the DPS role, we are holding back our fellow players as well as they are forced to sit in long ques as well.
Don’t be so damned arrogant people, pickup a sword and board once in a while and you might just learn something.
imo just be considerate of others especially if you are in a pug. I do not roll on tanking gears if I que’d as dps and if I tank the plate dps in the group should not roll on tanking gears. Unless of course it is an item the other person does not need.
Right now there are just so many out there being greedy and rolling “Need” on every item they can roll need on even if they never are gonna use the item.