Thanks but no Tanks

Well,

The GL has said me has missed me from the DPS slot. I found that a tad odd, since I've never really heard a peep out of him before on my DPSing pre-wotlk. The issue I have encountered is that our guild has 4 solid tanks, yet only needs 2 on our 10 mans and 3 on our 25 mans. Who gets dropped? Yea, you're looking at him.

Main issue IMHO is that the other 3 are officers. One is a solid tank, a warrior who is rock solid and a great player. The other is a DK who is struggling both with the class role in tanking and his own disconnects. The last is a casual paladin player, yet very focused in raid and friendly.

The DK approached me last night and requested my Blacksmithing services in crafting Spiked Titansteel helm & boots. He is taking the lead and focusing on DPS, since it really hurts to have a tank DC in a fight and he isn't oblivous what that has been doing to the raids.

However, I'm not sure where that leaves me. I enjoy playing wow. I guess role is important, but I really like seeing progression. Our guild really does little to advance better playing. We don't discuss in an open forum suggestions/ideas or what worked and what didn't. Most encounters feel like we win by brute force, rather by smart playstyle.

The smart playstyle really focuses on DPS contributing in a raid format than a bunch of solos unloading their cooldowns. We did Vault Sunday, for example, and our dps ran into an issue with threat...yet the two hunters and the rogue weren't firing misdirects/tricks of trade when the cooldown was over. Sure, they did for initial pull...but why stop there? Why not blow a cooldown every now & then and help out the rest of the guild? Why aren't warlocks throwing curse of elements? Hunters scorpid sting while the other does serpent sting? Paladins bubbling/hand of sacrifice during tough transitions? Heck, Prot paladins during key phases (heigen dance?) can transfer 30% of all raid damage to themselves and be invulnerable during this ability.

Another individual complained when mentioned that he should come 'prepared' to raid with a flask/food. He didn't seem to mind the epic awarded him. However he was 'broke'. Whatever. Leveling 70-80 means 1000s of gold. Instead blowing them on tradeskills, set some aside to hold onto 5 flasks and a stack of food. Flasks that persist through death are a steal when doing new material. They last 2 hours and that's most of the raid night. Considering its only a handful of times a week we raid, that's easily maintained. The 'all about me' just gets tiring.