Why Be a Bear?

It's harder for bears to get gear than any other tanking class. Bears are different from all other tanks in more ways than one. They don't hold or build threat as well as others, they've only got one kind of mitigation (dodge) when others get to build lots more stats and they can be slow as all hell.

So...why be a bear to begin with?

I Adore Being a Bear

Sure, bears have their drawbacks, and Blizzard absolutely seems to hate them (or at least, if you want to be kind, overlook them). Bears have to viciously fight rogues to get any kind of gear, don't get cool ground effects and have to worry about building and maintaining rage (and threat) at all times. But even in the days of Wrath, I personally maintain that bears are the best.

Why be a bear? Let me count the ways:

1. Hit Points, baby.
Put a warrior and a bear in the same level gear, and the bear should always have higher health. Since the earliest days of WoWs, the bear tank was made to take damage - and how. As a bear tank you'll enjoy impressive health that puts those conceited pallys to shame.

2. Versatility.
Is there anything a bear can't take? Pallys are said to stumble on Malygos and warriors are known to have trouble in OS, but the bear can go anywhere and do anything if they've got their act together. There isn't a single fight you can't do because of the class you are when you're a bear, so run in there and attack your claws off.

When they aren't tanking, bears can also easily switch forms and go cat to do faster attacks. Once your target is dead and your tanking services aren't needed, it's possible to run over to the other tank in the raid and go melee crazy in cat form. Who else can do that? No one, that's who.

3. Self healing/self saving.
Bears absolutely have some of the best self-saving and self-healing abilities out there for tanks. Frenzied Regeneration, Barskin, Berserk - a bear can survive a hell of a lot of damage, and isn't that what raid groups want? Learn how to use your abilities well, spec yourself correctly and you could be the baddest tank out there - gear notwithstanding. Even an under-geared bear can be a badass if they know what they're doing.

4. Visibility.
Get twenty-five people together and at some point, it's going to get damn hard to tell what's what and who's who. But it's always easy to spot the bear in the group, which makes it great for the healers and dps.

5. Extra abilities.
Because all bears are also druids, you come stocked up with a whole slew of added, highly useful abilities. As a druid you've got a great raid buff (Mark of the Wild), a battle rez (an incredibly wonderful ability), a regular rez, and plenty of healing spells you can use when you're out of combat. What other tank can do all of that? Not a one.

Be a Bear!

Put it all together and what do you got? Hands down, the best tanking class in the whole damn World of Warcraft - though the paladins are liable to fight that particular theory. When you compare all your extra benefits to their silly self-buffs, however, it's easy to see why you should be a bear.