WotLK Preg Tanking? duel spec question

[Radtradcat]

Hello my Pally brothers,

I'm loving my fresh level 80 Ret paladin and I'm gearing up for mythic dungeons at the moment and raids in the future.

However my off spec (protection) is not really doing much for me. When I try to AOE grind or even tank lower level content, I find i'm running out of resources and just generally not enjoying myself as much as when I'm in Ret spec. First I run out of mana and then I use divine plea but then I have trouble healing myself and the whole things ends up with my sitting down to eat and drink! That does not happen when I'm in Ret spec.

Therefore I prefer to slap on a tanking set with a fast 1 hander and shield and stay in Ret spec if I have to.

So that got me thinking that I'm not really getting any value out of my dual spec 1000g I spent...

What if I could run a Preg spec that was capable of PVP but also a little cheeky tanking. Maybe lower level content and maybe good AOE grinding and maybe even if I get the confidence to tank a dungeon or a mythic dungeon?

I maybe asking for too much but at a minimum I'd like to hear some suggestions for a useful off spec?

!. What do you recommend for me?

2. What do you do with your dual spec? and do you find your getting value out of it?

<shields self in preparation for the "learn to play comments"> I should mention I am open to hearing advice on protection paladin but thats not my core question here.

Cheers,
L-Plated Paladin casual

[Bastardbottle]

You dont cast to heal yourself as prot pally, you seal dance to seal of light and thats it and rather than going to preg, you can just play as ret and switch to 1h + shield combo with optional seal of light.

[Radtradcat]

Thanks for the reply Bastardbottle,

When you say you don't cast self heals as prot you just seal dance, that's basically what I do right now when I try Prot for solo tanking / AOE farming. Self heals are a last resort when I'm failing to be able to remain in play without eating or drinking.

I suppose what I'm trying to say is that Prot seal dancing is an inefficient use of resources (health and mana) in comparison to Ret with a 1 hander and shield which is what I have resorted to.

However all of this leaves me in the same place I am now without a useful off spec...

1: Any suggestions? Are you suggesting to keep my unused prot spec?

2. What do you do with your Paladin? I assume you have one...

[Black2ck]

Do you want a spec to solo dungeons or to do them with a party?
When you have a healer you won't run oom as prot since you regenerate mana when you are healed.

Never tried preg in pve but I guess it might work. Due to reckoning it has probably more dmg and heal than a ret paly who is using 1h/shield.
On the other hand preg has barely AoE dmg. Ret is probably better against mob packs because it has SoC and DS. DS does also a fair amount of heal when you hit +3 targets with it.
After all preg might be a effective spec to solo bosses which require only single target dmg.

[Radtradcat]

Thanks for your thoughts and questions Black2ck.

I switched to my Prot off spec just yesterday in an Heroic Dungeon because the Tank left.

I ran oom in every pull and died in nearly every other pull at least once. The exception was 1-2 mob pulls.

As soon as it got to 4-5 mobs it was a scramble and I really do not understand why. I'm not sure if the healer was terrible or I am just that bad (lol)

Please note that I've been playing since vanilla launch so I'm no spring chicken but this is just blowing my mind as to what the hell I'm missing with this spec.

To the point where I'm thinking about respeccing holy or preg... But that would be a shame as I love boosting and running lower level dungeons and if I could I would occasionally tank an heroic or something high level.

So I am re-watching some prot pally guides to see if there is something fundamental that I am flat out not doing or do not have but failing that emerging as obvious I'm thinking about trying Preg out in pve. I would have consecration and holy wrath for AOE taunt and I could switch on Ret aura for threat gen if I wanted to, and very good self heals as well as mana regen and right now that would be an improvement on normal Ret and my experience of Prot.

The strategic problem with Preg for group tanking is the self healz are superfluous HOWEVER they would have saved me in that heroic where the healer could not keep me alive.

[Black2ck]

When you have a healer in your party then there is no point in going preg. Preg is only a solo build in PvE.

Not sure why you run oom as prot. When you have a healer you should get enough mana back through spiritual attunement.
Unless you are doing something fundamentally wrong in your rotation, my assumption is that your tank gear is still too low for HC mode.