Return of Reckoning

I used to play a lot of the retail server way back when, but I think upper 20's is the highest I've ever gotten on any character. I really love how far this server has come, and I want to give it a real shot. I have some nub questions to start out, and would appreciate any help.

1: Transmog: Is there transmog? (using the skin of a different piece of gear for a currently equipped one) If so, when and how do I activate it?

2: Tanks in PVP: What role do they fulfill? I've always been preferable to sword-and-board aesthetics, and MMO playstyles, but what I want to know is whether or not sword-and-board tanks are viable in PVP. My experience from many years of WoW is that no, sword and board tanks are rarely viable in PvP, unless there's a balancing oversight that causes them to have some strange, exploitable brokenness advantage over the other classes. Is that the same story here?

Thanks ahead of time for any help.

1. Yes. There's a checkbox in the character screen that takes you to the alternate appearance screen.

2. Depends on the class and spec. Might be more support damage assist, debuffer, or buffing class. All tanks have "challenge" - aoe -30% damage cone on the enemy, and "guard" - halves damage of a party member. Learn to use challenge on cooldown and swap guard on party members that are taking damage and you will be loved.

Sword/board tanks are wanted more in large scale play and 2h more in 6man/scenario/small group play. Good tank players would be wanted no matter what spec they are. Sword/board will do just fine here.

Welcome to RoR! =)

Tanks in PVP - In ORVR, damage pressure is at its highest and you pretty much always run S/B to maximise damage negation for yourself and whomever you're guarding, your primary role in large scale is guarding your dps, disabling key targets to ensure a kill, removing enemy buffs and detaunting them to reduce damage to your allies. In SC's/Small scale, damage pressure is a lot lower, so you can get away with blocking less and dish out more damage. Not near the level of a true DPS, but think of it as additional damage pressure in combination with your normal tank jobs.

That being said, you can absolutely run a S/B tank in small scale, it just means you'll be running with a little less damage pressure and your DPS will have to work harder for the kill. Same in ORVR, you can run 2H. But if you run into anything bigger than a 12 man you're gonna struggle to stay alive. Except for Black Guards because they can get their parry up to ridiculous levels.

Thanks a lot, people!!!! I appreciate the help so much.

transmog ? >< oh let me guess lol
am back to after 3-4 years, before i had more fun tanking & messing up their tactics punting little goblins off cliffs ect , than dps'ing all the time