Warrior tanking

One of the things I really strive to do in WoW is play multiple classes and play them well. I don't want to be "that guy" who had one of each class but couldn't play their way out of a cardboard box with any of them.

So maybe not surprisingly, I've spent a lot of times on the forums and on elitist jerks learning about various classes. So far my greatest weakness is warrior tanking - I think I do really well in other situations (dps as various specs and classes is very easy for me, and tanking on my paladin is easy - I haven't tried to tank on my druid when it wasn't Black Morass so I can't really speak for my druid tanking skills XD, and healing is also something that comes pretty naturally to me).

I think part of my problem is I tend to group with people nowadays who outgear me. I am wearing mostly greens and blues when it comes to tanking (and the two worst trinkets IN THE WORLD). But I also hate to use that as an excuse, so I'm thinking that my next project will be to respec Shaeldre to protection and give some 5-mans a shot. Just need to pick my group members carefully (or make them be careful >:)) so I don't frustrate myself right back to Fury spec again.

I don't think Protection will ever be Shaeldre's main spec, but I still want to be in a position where I feel confident that I can handle tanking a 5-man instance so I can take pressure off my sister (the guild's main tank) and not feel like 1/3 of a warrior noob ;)

Shaeldre, Human Warrior

Shaeldre was my fourth level 60, my first to 70, and also my first character on Bronzebeard. I made her to be a part of Daughters of the Alliance, an all-female World of Warcraft guild. We formed up via the wow_ladies livejournal community (after Daughters of the Horde had already been formed earlier). First I'd actually created the warrior Aridae, but around level 25 I realized just wasn't into how she looked so I rerolled Shaeldre. (Aridae is now my bank alt.)

After leveling four characters to 60 I finally knew how to level and gain money - Shaeldre was my first character to completely afford her level 40 mount by herself (my priest, Cerelinde, was about 5g short, but very close) and she also was able to keep herself kitted out in superior quality items through 60 and buy her epic mount as soon as she hit level 60.

She's usually Fury spec, though I dip into Protection every now and then. I prefer DPS to tanking though - at least most of the time! Tanking for people who are way geared over me is just frustrating, but I can enjoy it from time to time. It's a bit too stressful for me though :)

Anyway, Shaeldre was my only character on Bronzebeard for a long time - I transferred my mage, Alazais, to join her before Burning Crusade, and then afterward transferred my remaining Mannoroth characters (except for my hunter), as well as my priest from Stormrage. I'm now an officer in Daughters of the Alliance and act as a raid leader for our raids - so far we've just done Karazhan and started Gruul's Lair, but it's really fun to raid with such a laid back group.

Shaeldre has somewhat taken to the back burner since my guild is overall in need of healers and I'm not much of a fan of tanking. I'm hoping to revive her a bit in Wrath of the Lich King though ;)