I haven't played a BL on any emu yet, but in pop/ldon era I played a top(ish) geared beastlord.
I recall tanking well in xp groups in some areas and poorly in others, for example Solro Tower worked well while BoT didn't. Overall I would say I tanked better than monks and about as good as a ranja with similar ac/hp.
I can think of several reasons why this might be:
1. I was Iksar and as I recall I compared with a naked kitty beastlord that meant 80 more ac.
2. Early 65% slow, mostly before a mob has even reached you, means alot less damage.
3. Beastlord defensive ability (3 min cooldown) used at the smartest times.
4. Pet procs interrupts, and also I usually had a mage summoned pack of weapon/haste/etc on the pet.. and always from the back.
5. Smart playing.. you can avoid a few hits by timing and staying at max range, backing off a few pct before it runs still having aggro but it beeing snared so others don't take hits.
6. Max defensive, evasive aa.
7. Real people (not boxed) with geared characters playing well.
8. Self buffs when no shammy in group.
All these things combined will make a huge difference, and I remember slightly worse geared beastlords (kitties) were not able to tank at all. I can't really remember my ac/hp, but it were close to similar geared monks .. dps wise monks still owned.
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