Human, Dwarf of Dranei?

[Krayzee]

I'm going to make a paladin tank and want to know what is the best race to roll for a paladin tank. So, Human, Dwarf or Draenei?

[raynman]

Personally, I would go with either a human or a draenei. I not very keen on dwarfs as their lack of height sometimes can sometimes cause line of sight issues for healers.

For draenei, the 1% party-wide hit bonus provided by Heroic Presence is a nice buff, and may allow you to enchant/gem for more defense stats. Gift of the Naaru is nice to have, but I haven't found much use for it as a tank since the health pool becomes so large that the 1200+ health over time is of little significance.

For humans, the +3 expertise from maces and swords comes in quite handy and is at least equal to Heroic Presence for the paladin, while not providing the party buff. Everyman For Himself can be quite handy and I have seen tanks prevent a wipe using it to break free from their bonds and regain aggro before the heals and casters are steam rolled.

The one thing I have yet to mention is the 10% rep bonus for humans due to Diplomacy. While it does not directly affect combat, it does cut down on how much grinding through rep quests to get access to better gear, enchants, and recipes from certain factions.

An important thing to consider though is the fact that you are going to be staring at this toon for hundreds of hours, if you don't like the looks of a particular race then do not play it.

[Krayzee]

Human tankadin it is then, thank you so much! Really helped me.

[alex1996p]

go dranei. pally is good with JC and it dranei have a +5 JC skill as a racial ability

[raynman]

To OP: Glad I could help.

To alex1996p: The +5 to JC is nice while leveling the skill but once you get to 450 it is pretty much useless. It is unwise in my opinion to choose a race based on a profession bonus since in the end it serves no real benefit, the non-draenei with 450 JC can craft the same items as the 455 draenei. With the changes in profession bonuses coming in Cataclysm this may change but I am skeptical that it will change anything.

I actually liked playing a spacegoat more than I did a human, getting the Tabard of the Hand was a neat surprise. In hindsight if I was going to roll an alliance toon to play a tank I would personally roll a human pally, that may change when I see the racials for a worgen druid though.

[Jerro]

You go Dwarf ofc, for looks. Looks are important

[raynman]

If you like dwarfs then by all means play one, as I said in my initial response you are going to be looking at the toon for hundreds of hours so playing a toon you can't stand looking at is kind of tough to do. It's why I won't play an undead toon or a gnome.

If I was going to play a dwarf tank I think I would choose a warrior over a pally. I just think the racials of a dwarf lend itself to being able to utilize a ranged weapon when the occasion calls for it.

[antacus]

Based on all of the reading I did across various forums for the best tank toon to make it came down to NE warrior or human pally. The pally won out. So far I made it to level 64 but I leveled ret as the guide said till 60. Then I respeced to prot and started running instances. While I have not played this toon ion about a week, working my mage atm, I have found this combo to be good. I hear that "the best tank weapon is a sword" (don't know what that is...) so the +sword bonus on humans is nice. I hot keyed the every man for himself and let me say, that is SWEET. Sadly it has a 2min cooldown but when you need it tanking it helps a ton. I have used it at least a dozen times so far while tanking so do not underestimate the power of this little spell. It has helped me get out of fear and back into the fight several times.

The dranie healing thing ... nice but with 40k to 50k life end game ... what good is 1,200? To me that is a real slap in the face actually. Blizz said "hey, here is a teaser to get people to play the new race but we are going to nerf it on them." I dought I would even consider this, if a group or raid comes down to you needing a S L O W 1,200 hp boost you are going to wipe.

Heroic presence? Again... not worth it end game. You know how many stinkin dranie there are in a 25man raid?!?! Let some other sucker provide you that bonus. Now... it those stacked it would be worth it. I guess if you never raid it *could* help but really, at level 80 and not raiding what is the highest level boss you'll find? 81? Hit cap is NOT hard to hit so give that a 10% weighting when picking.

My 80 gnome mage has been leveling rep a LOT lately and I am really looking forward to having all that time cut by 10% with this toon. The mage just started ICC rep and one night barely got me into the friendly range. Granted, in the end rep bonus is a poor reason to pick a toon. Again, small 10% weighting on the choice.

[malonstorm]

Play what looks coolest to you.

Dwarves-Higher Stam (not enough to matter) and nice stoneform to increase Armour and remove poison (rouges hate that in PVP and some bosses in Naxx and ICC as well)

Dri-A HOT spell and bonus to hit rating gotta love that as well

Human- Does more damage with sword has a break out of everything button and Faster Rep to get your ICC ring faster

Pick the one that you like starring at there back all day.

I personally am going to change the race of holy pally to Drianei female or dwarf sooner or later i hate looking at a male human there animations are so boring to me

[kingsleyg123]

what class

what class should i use for a new char, using alliance guide for first time

[cabby]

Same answer as all the posts above yours.

[ownedbyabus]

i would say for a pally tank, Dwarf because of there Stoneform ability.

[Kamchak]

i would say for a pally tank, Dwarf because of there Stoneform ability.

I went with a human pally and have no issues with it.

Had a dwarf for stoneform once, and never used it, with exception to being bored in the AH scanning.

[deleon]

I use stoneform on my dwarf warrior occasionally to get rid of the paralyzing toxin from the worms in ToC10/25. Don't even have it bound to a hotkey, its one the second level of my toolbar so I have to reach for it.

[antacus]

I love the Every Man For Himself on my human pally. That one can be used quite often depending upon the instance and I have used it 5-6 times in a single run before.