Might as well get started - Dealing with ranged/caster mobs

So, I was trying to post a comment to a Druid Tanking blog, when I inadvertently started my own blog. . . maybe it's a sign. I have been considering starting one recently, and even had a name for it in my head. Hybrid Envy.

The name comes from the fact that I originally rolled a Mage years ago, and since I don't play regular hours (something about having "Warcraft" on my calendar seems wrong somehow), I can't really raid or otherwise commit to a progression guild. As a "pure" class, mages without guilds and regular schedules are pretty much stuck in LFG or Battlegrounds. I ran tons and tons of Battlegrounds and really enjoyed them, even as a fire (scorch) spec. I led damage meters using an arcane/fire build that didn't rely on PoM pyro at all.

Nearly two years later, wanting to actually get into groups without a three hour LFG experience, I rerolled a Druid. I discovered that I really enjoy tanking. It's like DPS'ing without the numbers and where getting aggro is [i]good[/i] for a change.

Anyway, as an introductory post, I suppose I'll paste the comment I just tried to post, in response to a comment question about Druid tanking dealing with ranged/caster mobs:

@merlot
I agree wholehartedly. The things I do are (in general order of preference, keeping in mind that using sheep/sap/pally stun/hex/random cc is soooo passe):

1. before the pull, whisper a death knight asking him to deathgrip the mob to me/us once I group the others. Growl the mob off of him/her after he does.

2. before the pull, ask the mage/shaman to counterspell/earthshock the mob once I group the others. Growl the mob off of him/her during the silence.

3. bring the group of melee mobs to the caster/ranged mob if there is just one (this can be used in combo with other two options)

4. Chain growl the caster/ranged every eight seconds to hopefully keep it's attention for at least half of its casts/shots.

5. If there are multiple ranged/casters and everything is going to hell in a basket, bash the first caster/ranged, use challenging roar to keep the melee "sticking" to me, then feral charge the other caster/ranged and start growling at the first one every eight seconds and hope that I don't need it for anything else.

Of course, in all the above situations, life is hectic and sucky, and I'm swipespamming all over. It's tough because we, as druids, don't have any way to silence or interrupt without also preventing the mob from moving.

Another tip is that if you stay at the very edge of the melee range on a ranged (not a caster) mob -- I'm thinking the guys in the first room in HoL -- then the mob will close the gap. Just stay at the edge of melee range and they'll move toward you a bit at a time. You can kind of kite them this way, but it's hard to keep the rest of the group in your swipe space while doing it.

TL;DR version - try to get cooperation from your group, utilizing their abilities and don't worry about "wasting" growl on that caster/ranged.