Tanks have the power

Every now and then I dust off the ol Paladin tank and take him for a spin around some heroics. My main goal is to get the instance over with asap. So I que up and instantly I am greeted with an enter instance button. Not like the 1 minute wait of the healer class or the 15 minute wait of the DPS que. Soon as I enter the instance and buff everyone I start chain pulling as long as the healer has mana. Sometimes I do get the "Hay let's go kill the extra bosses down there" comment. I usually reply with "Do that with your guild" or "I don't have time for that" or my favorite "We will after the last boss". Knowing full well I am jetting after the last boss. As the tank your job is to lead you group to victory. So slowing down to take out un-needed bosses is wasted time.

Hay if you don't like it have fun in the 15 minute que. :)

Bear Tanking

The old saying "Jack of all trades, masters of none" can really be thrown right out the window now. Druids can fill any role there is and do it well. So well in fact most players who play a Druid don't want to play any other class. Not because Druids don't want to because all they have to do is go respec/switch talents and gear then poof they are filling another roll.

Bear tanking spec
0/55/16

Bear tanking stats
When looking for tanking gear you're looking for gear with high stamina, agility, and dodge. Druids gain a large bonus to health so pack on the stamina. Agility helps with crits and dodge so don't overlook that when geming/enchanting. Druids can't use sheilds, our big sexy paws can't hold one, so we rely on avoidance through dodge. A fresh 80 should be looking for 30k health with 32% dodge and 400 defense.
Bear tanking macros
Macros make life 50x easier for everyone. If you not using macros yet you need to focus about 2 hours today making for first few macros. Bear tanking macros are the easiest on the game. Here are the only 2 I use.

Mangle:
#showtooltip Mangle (Bear)
/cast Mangle (Bear)
/cast !Maul()

Lacerate:
#showtooltip Lacerate
/cast Lacerate
/cast !Maul

Keep a free key close for swipe, FF, and growl and now you got some tanking power.

Closing thoughts
Druid tanks have been a little light in recent times, but I have come to find out they are a welcome addition in any raid. Don't let other raids tell you you can't roll on that leather or cloth. If it's an upgrade roll on it. After all you did contribute.

Gear priority is so old school

Playing as a bear and boomkin has allowed me more access to more gear, but I still get frowned on by the uninformed player when rolling on cloth. Take the raid Naxx for example. There are about 6 pieces of caster DPS leather. Now look at the DPS caster cloth there is about 22 pieces of caster DPS cloth. Clearly Blizzard wants other caster DPS classes to roll on those items. If they did not then why is Naxx itemized so?

-Old way of thinking
Clothies get priority when rolling on cloth gear
Druids can only roll on leather
Spirit does not help in damage
Druids can't use polearms
The earth is flat

-New way of thinking
5x the amount of cloth drops in instances/raids. So if it's an upgrade roll on it.
Druids get to roll on cloth
Spirit helps in damage
Druids can use polearms
The earth is round

When raiding don't show your noobness when that boomkin rolls a 97 against your 86 to win those cloth DPS shoulders then you cry about it. Or when that polearm drops and that Druid beats out your Hunter. Suck it up and stop QQing you don't want to look like a DPS warrior.