My main is a rogue, but I have a capped warrior and mage as well. I enjoy playing warrior, but for farming endgame content like elite Ren'gol, Planar Tombs and Arena, I use my rogue mostly and my mage for KM3 because the demand for warrior is small to none. Parties usually have just one warrior, two at most if its all friends/guildies and you don't mind being a little slower. I have seen warriors being told to leave on some elite maps, or a warrior leaving when they enter a map and another tank is already there. Another reason is because as a rogue, if I happen to end up with inexperienced party, or when party members dc/poof/free revive, I still have a chance to finish even a hard elite run, solo if I have to, in reasonable time. While it's not impossible for warriors, there are max-geared experienced tanks who can pull similar feat, they are in the minority. For the most part, if you want to farm elite endgame content as a warrior, or even to farm events, it's a good idea to know a lot of rogues and mages (guild mates, friends you make while running maps and leveling etc), and actively start your own party and invite people, rather than wait for slot to open for you.
As to whether to build a meatshield or damage dealer, personally I believe there is no such dichotomy. As a warrior of course you have to absorb damage, be the last man standing and all that, it's pointless to pack up damage but dying more often than the squishies. Might as well play rogue.
But with lvl 46 gear and the variety of jewels you can upgrade them with, going full turtle mode with heavy armor no longer has to mean you have too low a damage. The level 46 glintstone aegis allows you to be both. Its taunt helps you keep aggro, the armor is good and it has decent AoE damage. Pets that increase your damage (check their happy bonuses) and especially those that help you hurt the mobs (Slobber, Gloom, Toor etc) translate to more damage without sacrificing survivability. As a rule of thumb when playing warrior, I use VB to increase dmg while farming easy maps like KM, Tindirin, elite Ren'gol and events. For harder elites like Planar Tombs and Ren'gol I switch VB with Jugg. At level 41 I used to have tanky gear (armor heavy) for tough elites and dmg (assault types) gear for easy maps, but with Arcane Ring and Planar Pendant health boost, at 46 I just get potency set (armor, helm and belt) to help my mana, and use it for both easy and tough maps.
What to farm as a warrior, especially a leveling one? KM3 and normal Wilds usually have people in them so you can either try to get party or try your luck with randoms. KM drops nature and diamond jewels which are useful for warriors and you can craft these for your cap level gear or to sell. You can farm dragkin teeth in Wilds though the drop rate is frustrating in normal, but at least you get a chance to farm finesse, fury and mind jewels too. Once you hit 41 you can farm these jewels in Ren'gol while leveling there as well.
But if you want to farm more than lockeds, teeth and jewels, I would suggest joining a guild, and if you meet rogues and mages who seem to know their business on maps (no running around healing people, no asking for mana, mobs get stunned and frozen at a decent rate and die without much drama), make friends with them.
When my rogue runs with random warriors I take note of these things:
- Does he run up to the mobs first and thus have them all focused on him when the dps come shooting in? If he is the type who wait till the others make first move, trailing behind and thus having a hard time getting the mobs to pay attention to him, that's a bad point in my book
- You can see a red exclamation mark (!) over the enemy's head when a warrior taunts them. I watch how many times and how continuously these red ! appears because it's an indication of how well the warrior times and rotates his taunts (this is an art even I haven't mastered with my warrior)
- Does he time his heal (Horn of Renew) well? Is he the kind who never horns when party is engaged with a mob (that is, when timely horn is crucial), then heals when the enemy group is killed and party is moving to the next target (when they can conveniently pot)? Or is he the kind who saves his heal for when the party really needs it (boss special attacks like Syrillax pull and stomp, running past mobs, pulling aggro back towards the warrior, etc)?
If the warrior scores good points in taking charge, taunting and healing, I usually gladly accept their friend request. I have met some warrior farming friends this way.
Tl;dr but I hope it helps in some ways. Good luck with leveling.
Bookmarks