WoW Insider

Though it may look like a titan's grip nerf... look very carefully. They're boosting the DPS of WW by 20% and WW is the primary DPS ability with Titan's Grip... doing 20% more damage while WWing with 2, 2-handed weapins is going to be a lot of damage.

titan grip needs no nerf, it is only 10% more stats than a 1h, if they use the speed debuff again, warriors are rage starved, the only thing blizz really can do is take some of the offhand damage off and then its not worth a 51 point talent at all. titan grip is fine, arms is doing more DPS than fury ATM, nurf arms, buff fury, and for the love of god GIVE WARRIORS UNIQUE UTILITY!

They moved it to the arms tree and renamed it "Justified Killing."

Great, so now Prot Warriors will still remain rage starved in most situations. They also were going to give 2 rage every time a block occurred, now its back to 1 again.
/sigh

Either you don't MT or you have a dislike for Prot warriors. All classes that tank atm are viable MT's. Anyone making the statement that they aren't, don't know what they're talking about. I lead raids and have at least one of each tank in my runs. Each atm is unique and having all in raids is important.

The only thing that made Prot warriors very unique is the reliable ability to push crushing blows off the table. Even without the Xpac elimanting this alone would make us not as advantageous as the other two classes. We do have atm have a few other things as mentioned in the article as that others do not, BUT those talents don't stop the other two classes from being a MT now.

In Beta, they have given other two classes talents that prot warriors have had but made them even better. A SS(paladins) that cannot be block, parried, or dodged because its considered a holy dmg spell besides that it ignores all armor. And whose mechanics are based as ours are on STR and SBV but also get a spell dmg component based on their stamina. So stacking stam gives them more threat. Or a LS (ferals) that not only gives a 30% hp but also is 12 secs of not being able to be stunned or CC'd in anyway.

And if you read the Beta, all prot warriors are asking to do is give us similar tools. Did they take the AoE tanking title away from Paladins; no. Or the flexibility to ferals; no. So yes we can all MT but that was all a Prot warrior was brought for. Now, why bring one when your MT can AoE tank also. Frees up a slot for another dps'r and allows for quicker kills. Again they only made parity in the MT function not all the other tanking functions and this doesn't even include the unique buffs that those classes provide that prot warriors just don't.

And one last thing, don't give the skill argument BS. That now skill ppl will get a raid slot. Skilled ppl always find a way to rise to the top and get spots to raid. Funny thing, skilled ppl tend to figure out who the other skilled ppl are and group with them. And this won't get rid of min/maxing. That's so sophomoric an argument that it doesn't even deserve a response. Number crunchers will find the best specs for the raids coming and those that fill those numbers will be invited. Stop hating prot warriors.

Okay, I admit that even currently the three tanking classes are very well suited for most things. The only thing lacking from the non-warriors are oh-crap buttons like last stand and shield wall (the exact abilities I and the article were referring to). These abilities are what lead many raids to stick to warriors for progression content currently because they help prevent wipes.

This advantage to warrior main tanking is going away. Now there is no huge reason to favor them other than the skill and reliability of the player. They aren't worse at main tanking, but they just aren't better in general. There are still differences between the tanks that will make one class better than another in gimick fights and special situations.

Shockwave and the changes to thunder clap are part of the attempt blizzard is making to allow warriors to have an easier time at AoE tanking (some changes to druids are helping them with this as well). This is great from my perspective. If druids and paladins get to main tank with similar abilities, then warriors should get similar utility in other aspects of tanking. Each class should have its flavor, but no one class should be absolutely required for anything. Maybe paladins will be better at tanking large groups, but the other tanking classes should be able to be used if a paladin isn't around.

My whole point was that giving warriors more abilities for main tanking duties would defeat the design goal that Blizzard is embracing of making all the classes viable. If they give warriors more for main tanking then they will have to give more to paladins, druids and death knights. On the other hand, I'm all for prot warriors getting more buffs in AoE tanking and other utility sort of abilities. The more tanks the better in my opinion.

Oh yeah, and one other thing...

"The only thing that made Prot warriors very unique is the reliable ability to push crushing blows off the table."

Currently paladins are able to more reliably push crushing blows off the table than warriors are. We have 8 charges of holy shield, so we stay uncrushable even against fast hitting mobs. This was actually one of the strengths of the class.

@Matthew Rossi:

I almost agree with you. Warriors should be more versatile than they are. If other tanks are as good at main tanking most encounters, then they need more utility elsewhere. I agree 100%. I don't agree that they need to be just as good as paladins at AoE tanking. Better than they are, yes, but not necessarily just as good (If they end up being just as good I'll be happy for them though).

There are still some things that warriors are better at that will likely make a real difference in some boss fights. Paladins don't have a spell interrupt (except with the new glyph that works on undead). They don't have a spell reflect. They don't have 16% reduction to spell damage. They can't stance dance to avoid fears. They can't intercept/charge.

It also remains to be seen who will win in the single target threat category as gear scales. That is really the variable that might end up deciding who the premier boss tanking class is.

There should be real advantages to using a warrior tank, but it shouldn't be required to have one. That seems to be Blizzard's goal, and I support it.