Ghostcrawler: The Role of Role - World of Warcraft

Model Two – Everyone has specialties and you match the spec to the situation
Under this model, we would establish spec specialties. For example, Arcane could be good for single-target fights while Fire is great at AE fights. Some of that design already exists in the game, but we try not to overdo it. If you really like playing one mage spec, or really detest constant spec swapping, then this model isn’t going to be to your liking. Furthermore, we don’t want to overstrain our boss design by having to meet a certain quota of AE vs. single target fights and movement vs. stationary fights and burn phase vs. longevity fights or whatever. It is also really hard to engineer these situations in Arenas or Battlegrounds (for example, both mobility and burst are extremely desirable in PvP), so in those scenarios there still may just be one acceptable spec.
via us.battle.net

The problem I see here is that WoW is way too limited in what DPS can bring to the table.

Since Ghostcrawler used a mage as this example, here's a mage (elementalist) from a Guild Wars perspective.

Water is good at defending the party, and shutting down both casters and melee (not very good at damage).

Fire is good at burning burning burning. Masses of things, or single things. BURN! Defence? What's that? Shutdown? Well there is about one spell, otherwise, the best shutdown and defence are BURNNNNN THEM ALL.

Air is good at single target spiking (conceptually, the best single target ele damage), shutting down physicals, and to some degree, casters.

Earth is good at defending the party (though not as good as water), but does a decent amount of aoe damage (not as much as fire), and an equally decent amount of shutdown. Not so good at single target.

*pokes simplified GW elementalists* *ponders WoW mages*

...poor buggers really don't have much of a choice at all.

Introducing the Melee Vekkinator Mark 2.0 a.k.a. the Ultimate Hero Terratank (E/D)

Good damage, highly durable, enchants up 99% of the time, no micromanaging necessary (though initial micromanaging by locking him onto a target in the centre of a pile of mobs, then waiting for him to run in yields best results). Run this, and you will never use a warrior hero tank again.

Yeah yeah, it works with all elementalist heroes - but after you've seen the Vekkinator charge into the fray... none of the other elementalist heroes come close. XD

*thunder* *lightning* *drumroll*

Behold the jointly tinkered and stitched together mutant baby of Suicide Granny (Winter Firestorm), and the Nugget (Wren Brownfeather):

The Melee Vekkinator Mark 2.0 

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Skills
Earth Attunement
Aura of Restoration
Grasping Earth
Shockwave {Elite}
Crystal Wave
Shield of Force
Aftershock
Mystic Regeneration

Stats
Earth Magic [11] + [4]
Energy Storage [12] + [1]
Earth Prayers [6]

Gear

  • Superior Earth Magic rune
  • Blessed or Stalwart Insignia
  • Major or Superior vigor rune
  • Vitae runes to finish off 
  • Any melee weapon (felblade looks hilarious) with hct and +20% Enchanting + shield with Fortitude and -5/20% physical damage. 

Campaigns Needed
Prophecies, Factions, Nightfall, Eye of the North (duh, it's Vekk! plus the skills, of course)

How to Use

  • Give the Vekkinator 2.0 a melee weapon. Being a very enthusiastic little fellow, the melee weapon ensures that he'll charge up to his foes and start beating them about the head with his glorious weapon, between PBAOE casting
  • Lock the Vekkinator 2.0 on a target, preferably one in the centre of a pile of mobs (just like you'd use an AOE spell)
  • Wait for the Vekkinator 2.0 to charge in and start stomping on stuff
  • Kill everything
  • Rinse and repeat
  • Seriously, that's all there is to it. The Vekkinator 2.0 is self-running, so if you can't be bothered/don't want to micromanage him past the initial pull, there is no need to.

Variants

  • None - this is the version Winter and I came up with after quite a bit of tinkering.

Counters

  • General Caster Hate
  • Not giving the Vekkinator a melee weapon (no, spears are not melee weapons)
  • Massive enchant stripping

Additional notes

Where have you tested this?
Winter has tested this just about everywhere. Vanquishes, HM missions, Elite areas, you name it. It's great.

Can humans use this?
Yes. It's pretty much dummy-proof, and unlike other terratank builds, doesn't require excellent timing. Just faceroll 3-4-5-6-7, renew 1,2 when needed, and 8 when taking a lot of damage.

A hero tank will NEVER be as good as a human one!
I think what you mean is they'll never be as good as a good human tank. ;) However, as a hero, this is pretty much the best tanking I've seen - and that includes most of the human tanks I've run with, terra or otherwise. And c'mon, Vekk melee = win!