I have my concerns...

...though I admit they are negligible.  


First, I will provide a short description of why I have played World of Warcraft for so long.  In it's simplest form, the enjoyment I get out of the gameplay is being that tough, badass, hard to kill son of a bitch that leads his friends into places filled with more evil than a current session of congress.  Parallel to this, I enjoy fulfilling a role that is unique and different, and also a role that either not many people WANT to fill, or not many people CAN fill.  This last statement is the beginnings of my concerns.  


This post has been triggered by the first glimpse of the stat changes that Blizzard is announcing for their next expansion, Cataclysm.  

First, they are telling me that as I tank, I should expect:

You’ll have as much Stamina as you’re used to, though you may notice your tanking plate has a bit less Stamina than a comparable piece of DPS plate, since we tend to take the gem budget out of your most attractive stat.

So, you're telling me that DPS plate wearers will have more stamina on their gear than I will?  Ok.  I'm one sentence into your expansion and I don't like it already.


Next:

Bonus Armor on gear will go down slightly.

So you're giving my DPS counterparts more stamina than me, AND you are giving me less armor?  Ok.  Now I really don't like your expansion.


Next:

Tanking classes should expect to become uncrittable versus creatures just by shifting into Defensive Stance, Frost Presence, Bear Form, or by using Righteous Fury.

While I do like the thought of not having to worry about getting to "the cap" when I level to 85, I do not like the idea of any plate wearing buffoon thinking he can tank something simply because he can go into "that stance".  I would like to believe that by stating "tanking classes", that Blizzard intends to mean a class IN THE PROPER SPEC.  This would suggest that in order for your stance, presence, form, or aura to make you uncrittable, there would have to be some talent deep in the class's tanking tree that makes it so.  


But I have a sneaking suspicion that this will not be the case, and you'll see a bunch of fury warriors and ret paladins slapping on a shield and declaring they're a tank.  (And apparently having more health than a real tank, since the DPS gear is apparently going to contain more stamina than tanking gear.)  


I guess I have to main concerns.  The first is that right now, I thoroughly enjoy someone being able to look at me and go, "Whoa, look at that tank!", because they see my health pool.  It seems that in soon, it will be like, "Oh look, a warrior...I wonder what spec he is?".  But more importantly, just like they did in Wrath, it seems like they are trying to add tanks to the game once again.  You know what?  I like that tanks are usually hard to find, and good ones are even harder to find.  That's one of the main reasons I am one.  It gives me a tremendous sense of fulfillment to satisfy a role that is always and sometimes desperately needed.


They need to stop trying to take that away.  Otherwise, it's game over for me.  I'll leave my job to the bunch of know-nothing wannabes who erroneously think they can do what I do.  That being said, I'm sure the final product won't be anything like that. 

On the other hand, it's been a blast watching the forums explode today.  When they say Cataclysm is going to be the "end of the world as we know it", they meant that in more than one way.