Trying Blood Tanking - at 85?

Hey all!

My guild is trying to put together a second raid group, and we're a little full on melee dps, so I was thinking of maybe trying out for the tanking role. Problem is, I've never tanked on a Death Knight. I love my frosty here, but I was thinking that at the very least I should give DK tanking a shot before trying to beg my way into having a spot for this girl.

However, the fact that I'm already 85 is highly intimidating. I know many people at this level will be wanting to go into pugs (even normal) wanting a tank who knows what s/he is doing. Is it even worth attempting at this level? I already talented my way into the Blood spec, and I'm still kind of looking around for tanking gear that would be appropriate to start out with, but I'm not even sure if the agony of being THAT newbie tank would be worth it or not.

Would it be a better idea to make an alt DK on another server and try out tanking that way? But then, how many levels would I have to level before I have a good feel of lvl 85 tanking? If I have to get all the way to lvl 85, it seems like I should just dive in headfirst with trying this out, right?

Sigh. I don't know. I need some advice. Anybody else ever made the plunge at end game level?
It's not too hard. I recently taught myself how to tank, so here's a little info on how it's been for me. I tank full 359/372 DPS gear, which has probably the same avoidance as entry-level raid gear. Overall, I found it a lot more difficult than my paladin because we have to choose between survivability (death strike) and threat (blood boil, heart strike, etc). Paladins, however, have their mastery 100% of the time even if they're AFK. As a paladin, you'll be mitigating at almost your highest potential even when you're not pressing any buttons. As a DK, if you stop death striking you are dead.

A few tips I have that help me stay alive:

Threat does not matter. With DRW and the glyph (which I don't use but you should), you won't be losing aggro unless you just stand there not pressing buttons or your DPS is stupid.

Don't waste runes on heart strike. Your threat will be fine, and you'll want to stay alive. Death runes should go to death strike, frost and unholy should go to death strike, and blood should go to rune tap, then I guess heart strike, and then blood tap for more death runes for death strike.

Use cooldowns. I'm pretty sure you have more than every other class. "But what about emergencies!!!" you say? If you hit cooldowns, you won't have an emergency. In a heroic, if you're about to pull a big group without enough CC, hit IBF or DRW. If you're still taking heavy damage, hit another CD. You have so many it'd be stupid to not use them, and you'd die without them. VB, DRW, IBF, LB+DC, RD+DP, ERW, AMS, and to a lesser extend BT and RT, should be used on a regular basis. They're there, and if at the end of the fight you haven't pressed them then you've put unnecessary pressure on your healer.

Death strike as much as possible. Staying alive is all that matters. It's your job, do it well. Rune strike procs runic empowerment, which gives you more runes, which gives you more death strikes. Blood tap gives you more runes for more death strikes.

Put some effort into learning your class. I don't know everything about tanking, and even if I did I'd miss something. Gem and enchant all your gear, prioritizing mastery, etc. Gear isn't everything, but it matters more as a tank than it does for dps. The EJ thread might teach you a few things, but I'm pretty sure it's not as great as the dps ones. I find out just as much from the replies as I do from the original post, so you might want to check out those.

I'd definitely recommend learning to tank in regular dungeons, it's pretty simple when you get used to it. Just spamming death strike, as you've probably realized from my post.

I'd be happy to answer any questions. It should not be hard tanking dungeons or heroics (when/if you have the gear), especially with the +15% healing and hp buff. Death strike double dips into that (if it's relying on the baseline hp portion), and with proper cooldown management and a knowledge of the fights it shouldn't be hard at all.
Guides can only help but so much. Eventually you need to just go for it and try it out.

I'd suggest going in normals and/or going with guild mates that will be patient as you learn. It's going to take some time to adjust to it initially, but then it gets significantly easier.

Britney has given you some sound advice; try it out. Come back and let us know about any other problems after you do and we'll see what we can do.
lulz tanking r hard.