6d (edited) • Guardian Druid - WOW
60 Seconds To Midnight
Hey guys, for those of you unaware, the World of Warcraft Mythic+ dungeon season is starting next week and before I dive in, I wanted to document my pre-season thoughts and perspective.
So, here’s what I’m thinking about:
- ALL BEAR, ALL NIGHT: To support my skill and mastery building as a tank and a Druid, I’ve decided that I will play the bear tank Guardian Druid “all night” aka the whole of the Midnight expansion*. So from now on it’s ALL BEAR, ALL THE TIME!
(* Only if strictly necessary, I will swap to the melee damage spec, Feral Druid, for that instance and then swap back to bear.)
- TANK TIME: The Guardian Druid specialization is a “tank” specialization; the functional leader of the group. For all group content, the tank starts the runs, initiates all of the fights, and leads the group through the content to completion. This means that leading the group will be my responsibility for the whole expansion. This responsibility is the root of my, and many other tanks’, anxieties around the role, and the largest aspect I’m specifically tackling.
- PRE-PULL PANIC: A personal challenge of mine is that I struggle significantly with anxiety. This adds some difficulties to my life, which includes my path to tanking mastery. Before queuing for instances, I experience significant waves of anxiety. I get anxious about everything from preparation to game mechanics to group composition and more. HOWEVER, I have made meaningful improvements in managing my anxiety recently, both in general and while tanking. What I’ve learned and practiced so far is this; I (or you) may never be able to get rid of the anxiety, but anxiety is a mental state that can be tamed and worked through. The key for working through it for me has been, first, recognizing the anxiety for what it is; second, treating my anxiety as a cognitive distortion and nothing more (easier said than done); and third, rebalancing my mentality to accept that the state is what it is and that, independent of my feelings, can be worked through with persistence and dedication.
- JUST DO IT: At the start of 2026 I committed to making this my “Nike year.” To me that means not allowing myself to procrastinate or avoid experiences or tasks and instead just sending it. No analysis paralysis, just doing the thing.
- PIXELS HOLD NO POWER: I recently had the realization that WoW is just a bunch of pixels; there is no actual threat to my physical or mental wellbeing. The risks and costs of failure I fear are largely blown out of proportion and inconsequential in real life. That realization freed me from the mindset of treating a video game like a true life or death situation.
- KEYS TO THE KINGDOM: Leila Hormozi taught me the reality of confidence, and I want to share it with you. She teaches that confidence is an output, not an input. Your brain has no legitimate frame of reference if you’ve never done something, and that unknown variable is where the anxiety and fear creep in. I still feel massive amounts of fear and anxiety, however I am no longer letting it control me. The key is to just do the thing, suck at it, learn, improve, and finally, be confident in your ability.
- MIDNIGHT METHODOLOGY: My current methodology for tanking is that I watch a maximum of two (2) guide videos on YouTube, and then queue for the dungeon, and just run it. The takeaway I learned that I want to impart is that there will never be a perfect situation to do something, so waiting for it means waiting forever for something that never comes. Instead, we should do our due diligence to reasonably prepare, and then just do our best at the task at hand. Mastery requires action, not perfection.
That’s what I’ve been thinking about this pre-season, and how I’ve been preparing for . . .
NOX URSI: THE NIGHT OF THE BEAR!
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60 Seconds To Midnight
