Missing Pieces

One of the issues you deal with normally as a casual raider and casual raid leader are missing pieces.  Whether it be a tank or healer not showing or a few solid DPS not being around allowing you to push further but you always find a way to make it work even if that sometimes means strange tactics.

The missing pieces I am thinking about right now are not based on the fact that I can not find a damage dealer that can deal damage at an acceptable rate.  It is not about being in the rare situation where we actually have enough healers and tanks to go around.  It is about the classes I see absent and have not seen for a long long time.

The last time we had a regular druid healer was back in ICC.  We had recruited two during cataclysm and there were fairly decent but nothing to write home about.  More than ample to do the content we were doing however, all normals and a few heroics here and there.  However both of them had delusions of grandeur and thought they were god gift to the world and that never flies well with me so they were both politely shown the door when I would not allow them to join the main group and kept them in group two.  They left on their own.  But that is it. 

I have not seen any other druid healers since ICC.  The one we had back then was amazing and was easily the best druid healer I had ever seen, perhaps that has clouded my view and it is why I can not find a druid healer as I am always holding them up to unrealistic expectations of being as good as she was.  Either way, they have not even joined the guild and if they do not join I can not compare, so no healing druid for me for a long long time.

The last time we had a retribution paladin in our regular rotation of players was during T11 and he was really a tank that was just willing to play ret as we did not always have a tank slot open.  So he did it often and he did it decently.  If I were to go back and think about it, we have never had a main spec retribution paladin ever.  Not once.  We have had 4 over the recent years and all 4 were tanks doing it just to get into the raid and the last regular one playing ret every week in and out was back 3 (soon to be 4) raid tiers ago.

Speaking of paladins, the last time I saw a regular holy paladin was in firelands.  We have a guild healer that had a paladin alt that played it some in DS for our third team but that was not a regular holy paladin so I do not count it.  The oddest part is that a holy paladin is the only thing we have been asking for in our guild recruitment macros since then.  Since T12, with T15 coming out soon, we have been posting guild recruitment asking specifically for a holy paladin and have not had one bite at all. 

Even when we were as high as the number three guild on the server and are usually a top 20 guild at the very least and top 10 for the last year at least, and we can still not get one holy paladin to bite.  We have not even had one join that was not a holy paladin but willing to give it a shot and learn, which I would be more than open to.  Now with the LFR I would go with them and teach them through that while they got better.  I would spend time with them and help them get better but that is not even an option.  Since T12 and repeatedly asking for a holy paladin we have not had one person join the guild that was one or wanted to attempt to be one.  Are there any holy paladins out there?

Those might all seem weird depending on your team make up but the position of rogue being absent should not be.  It is the least played class in a game in PvE for a reason.   Most people do not like playing them.  The last time we had a regular rogue was at the start of DS and he left shortly after because he was upset we were letting all rogues come in and pick pocket.  Guess he thought he was special and should be the only rogue in the guild to do it.  Either way, when he left, so did the only main rogue I had seen in years. 

We ended up having an alt, a rarely played one at that, get the legendary daggers so we could get the guild achievement for it.  The one difference here is that I have not actively sought a rogue.  If one with good skill and attitude came along I would be more than happy to raid with them but I have not ever, nor will I ever, actively seek a rogue for even a third raid team.  We have enough players with rogue alts if we ever needed one for some reason and they really do not bring anything to the team that other classes can't bring along better.  No offense rogue players, just as a raid leader I would rather anything else in that raid slot unless the rogue was really that amazing.

This expansion is the expansion of the warlock, which makes a great deal of sense being the next expansion is based on Gul'Dan and this is leading into that.  Warlocks are also number one on the DPS charts.  So why have I not been able to find any locks anywhere?  The last time we had a lock as part of our team was for a brief while mid T12.  It was a long term guild mate that had left shortly after the start of T11 and had just come back and then disappeared after a few weeks of being back and we have not seen him since.  With locks on top of the charts we have obviously been looking for one since the expansion started but have yet to find one. 

We had one non raiding lock that wanted to step up and when doing a looking for raid with him and seeing what he could do and having him argue with me that locks need spirit my quest to try and train him ended as quick as it started.  I am always willing to help someone that is willing to help themselves.  If you are going to tell me I am wrong and that locks do need spirit back it up.  I can be wrong, it has happened many times, but because, I said so, is not going to change my mind.  And even if I am wrong.  I am the raid leader and if I say I do not want you to have any gear with spirit on it, change your gear or raid somewhere else.  He went somewhere else after he decided to make some really rude religious based insults in guild chat and I gave him a swift kick in the ass.  But that lock seems to be the only type of lock out there.  The ones I see, few and far between, are all the jerk type that guy was.

We did have one trial lock that was amazing, but he wanted more progression and we did not push heroics, so he left.  But I think that lock is the only good one on the entire server, at least until my old guild mate comes back.  When he joined us during his comeback in T12 with only some T11 gear and cata heroics gear he was doing 19K, so he rocked and knew how to play the class.  Maybe I should send him a scroll of resurrection.  I would love to see what he could do with his skill now that locks are at the top of the food chain.

And to fill out the last spot in my missing pieces is what most people will probably find the most perplexing.  We have not ever, in the history of our guild, had a main blood DK.  We have had 5 alt blood DKs and a couple DPS DKs tank as an offspec because I asked them too but we have never had a main spec blood DK ever even if we have been looking for one since their inception.

We have had a series of prot paladins coming and going, more than I even care to think about.  I can't even begin to hazard a guess at the number or raids that had two prot paladins tanking.  We have had some excellent warriors in our time including what I still consider to be the best tank I have ever had the privilege to play with because he did things that I did not even think could be done in game.  The most amazing warrior tank for sure.  We have had a few bears come to spend some time but none ever stayed long.  They might have been main spec bears but they were not consistent players.  I over look their absence because we have had a few and because I also play one so it doesn't feel as if we are missing one.  But a DK tank, none.

How is it possible that the most popular spec of the most popular class in the most constantly over powered class remains missing from our raid team?  I have no clue.  It is not even as if we had any join and try to move up the ranks, they are just not out there or at least not applying to our guild.

So there you have it, my guilds missing pieces.  Druid healer, damage dealing and healing paladin, rogue of any spec, lock of any spec and blood DK.

We are all missing pieces, classes or specs we have not seen or raided with in a while.  Then again, we all also have things we see a lot of.  Like if you are ever looking for a shaman healer, we have 5 main spec shaman healers while there are other guilds that are screaming for them, ours would rather sit on the bench and rotate than leave.  Things are so odd sometimes.  Try raiding with only shaman healers, sometimes it makes for some interesting changes you need to do to adjust.  But it sure makes it fun... sometimes.

So what are your missing pieces?  What haven't you seen for a long time?