Yesterday while doing our standard valor cap thing, now that it is worth doing again, myself and the two people I was spamming heroic scenarios with to cap our characters got an invite from a friend of one of us to join in on an SoO pug.
Normally we would not do something like that, it is valor cap time but figured what the heck. We all jumped on alts, me a druid tank, one of the others a druid tank and the third a damage dealer on a hunter and we joined the group.
It was a pure pug, all people from different guilds except for us three of course. I am sure a few of them knew each other because that is how pugs usually go. A friend invites a friend invites a friend.
It was a slow moving run because after the first boss someone dropped and we ended up waiting near 30 minutes to get going again. We had a few more delays along the way, but otherwise everything was running smooth. Bosses were falling over despite the raid leader using strategies that at least the three of us had never used, but he is the raid leader so we followed his lead and did as he said.
Like I said, with the exception of a lot of wasted time, which no one complained about, things were going nicely. It seemed as if the group worked well together. At least until Galakras. It was where we hit our first bump in the road.
Side note: To anyone that is not a raider, please be advised, this is not the right way to do things. This is a misadventure and pure luck.
Towers went fine but when the protodrake landed all hell broke lose and the entire raid died near instantly. Don't ask me how because I have no clue but you do not need death note to tell you it probably had something to do with standing in the fire. Okay, bad joke.
It was just me, my co tank and one damage dealer still up. The raid leader said it was a wipe to which I responded the way any person that has tanked a lot would admit they have responded at least a hundred times by saying, don't worry, we got this.
I was not trying to over rule the raid leader, it was not my raid. It was his decision, but I figured it would not hurt to try and go for it. At that point it was, in my mind at least, we are either going to manage to pull this off, or we are going to finish it off and die quickly, so lets have a little fun and I must admit, there is nothing more fun than saying "I got this" and somehow managing to get it. This seemed like one of those times it could be pulled off. Even if those chances were really slim.
Galakras was around 78% with the raid went poof up in flames. Did I really believe we had this? Yeah, I guess so, I did believe it was possible. While me and my co tank were on alts we were on very well geared alts. For normals anyway. So it came down to, do we think we can heal ourselves enough to survive because his breath was going to start getting really brutal really fast with only the three of us alive and us using all our rage for healing instead of damage.
I said to the other tank, who do you think I should bring up. He said our other guild mate. So I battle revived our guild mate and we kept at it. How he, on a hunter, survived so long without any heals is was amazing and the other damage dealer, the one person beside the tanks that managed to not go up in smoke instantly was a priest, managed to at least keep themselves alive.
At around 50% the shaman healer, who apparently did not want to waste their pop decided, what the hell and popped up.
We said, don't worry about us, keep you guys up, and myself and the other tank kept pounding away, rotating cooldowns, and keeping ourselves alive and low and behold, we got it. You could hear the excitement on vent and the see the dead people typing in raid things like "I can't believe what I am seeing", "how is that even possible", and the funniest line you ever hear in a pug "this is the best group ever, I love you guys".
It wasn't the greatest thing to ever happen in a raid but it sure was fun to have something like that happen. It was not pressing content, it was not something that was out of the realm of possibility, but it was definitely one of those raid stories you will go on to tell for a long time.
I often complain about pugs but sometimes fun things like this can only happen in a pug. It was a good group and really you could tell that from the get go when no one complained at all about the long wait between the first and second boss. I guess their patience was rewarded with a story they can tell their friends.
Side note: Both myself and my friend were on druid tanks. If you do not play a druid I'll just explain how we did it nice and easy. Druids rocks. It reminded me of our first kill of Al'Akir at the beginning of cataclysm. Somehow the entire raid got blown away at the beginning of phase three except me tanking on my druid, a feral druid DPS, and a restoration druid. So the three druids did the third phase all alone for out first kill.
We got this. Yes, we did. Sometimes misadventures are the best adventures to have. Misadventures indeed.
Showing posts with label Druid. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Druid. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
How Bad is the Average Player?
I can't make a definitive answer to that question of course but I have always held the belief that the average member of the player base is actually really bad. I've even gone on record here many times saying I believe that the looking for raid is way to hard for the player base it is aimed to appeal to. I actually believe the looking for raid is even to hard for most of the people that call themselves raiders.
After a little trip in the looking for raid yesterday I saw nothing that would change my mind. As a matter of fact I was left with the opinion that the player base is even worse than I had expected.
You see, my druid is a tank and a healer. I do not like doing LFR as a tank for two reasons, one being the wait time for tanks is insane and the second that I never know what to expect from my tanking partner. Unlike going in as a damage dealer and to some smaller extent a healer, where you if are a little off you can easily blend in, when you are a tank there is nowhere to hide if something goes wrong. It is either you, or the other tank, and you know that the true bad players always play the blame game and will instantly call you out and the masses are stupid enough to believe them, so they will speak up instantly blaming you and you are now labeled the bad tank. With all that said, I only go into LFR when there is another guild tank on and we can do it together.
So that means I needed to heal, but I have not finished my healing set. I only have 9 pieces of it and while I am sure I can fake it, there are some fights there that can get really healing intensive when doing it with random people. So I did not want to go in as a healer if I were not 100% about it. Also, I wanted to get gear for my tank spec, not my healing spec.
So what did that mean for me? Kitty. I could go in as kitty and get gear for my tank. One problem, I have not played kitty in years.
Off to the internet to save the day. Read a few guides online and got myself a standard basic rotation and went to the dummy to play for a bit. After getting a bit comfortable with it I went to do some quests to test it out in action.
After doing my quests I noticed I can never get my rotation working because things died to fast so I looked online for some addons to help with my rotation. I found a few, tested them, did not like them, but came across a comment from someone that said to use this macro (see below) and you can do respectable. You will never top the damage meters but you will be able to go through random content with at least adding a decent contribution.
Okay, sounds good, let me grab it and test it out.
I looked at it and decided to make another version with mangle instead of shred in case I had a movement happy tank and was having issues getting behind the mob.
So I had that macro, one with mangle instead for when I was not behind, and all my gear gemmed, reforged and enchanted for tanking. Good thing most of my gems and enchants are good for cats also. I did have 2 useless cat trinkets however, the brewfest stamina one and the darkmoon stamina one. So right off the bat I would be at a disadvantage but oh well, I was trying to get gear for my bear and I should at least try. If I happen to win a DPS trinket I can save it for next go around.
I hit the target dummy once more before I entered the queue, just to see what I could do. No buffs what so ever, not even mark and the mangle macro got me 33K DPS steady. The shred macro, from behind, got me 35K. Okay, if I can do 33K-35K with no buffs I am sure I can go by unnoticed in the LFR. All buffed I should be able to pull 40K-45K and finish in the middle of the pack and basically slide by completely unnoticed.
Sadly it did not go as planned.
I could not get by unnoticed because I was always between #2 and #6 in damage done. Seriously folks. With two useless for DPS trinkets, all reforged for dodge, only a 466 item level, having not played cat in many years and using a freaking 1 button macro, that I made into 2 for positional reasons, and I kicked ass.
How bad is the average player?
If I could end up between second and sixth on the meters under the conditions I mentioned above I can answer that question. The average player is horrible.
I wonder what the other 15 DPS would think if they knew that the person that finished #2 was a tank with all tank type gear playing cat for the first time in ages pressing only 1 button the entire fight.
At least I know I can now do respectable in kitty without even trying, when compared to the average player at least. And just think. I actually felt bad thinking I would be taking advantage of the group by not trying my best, like I should have. Sad state of the game if you ask me.
After a little trip in the looking for raid yesterday I saw nothing that would change my mind. As a matter of fact I was left with the opinion that the player base is even worse than I had expected.
You see, my druid is a tank and a healer. I do not like doing LFR as a tank for two reasons, one being the wait time for tanks is insane and the second that I never know what to expect from my tanking partner. Unlike going in as a damage dealer and to some smaller extent a healer, where you if are a little off you can easily blend in, when you are a tank there is nowhere to hide if something goes wrong. It is either you, or the other tank, and you know that the true bad players always play the blame game and will instantly call you out and the masses are stupid enough to believe them, so they will speak up instantly blaming you and you are now labeled the bad tank. With all that said, I only go into LFR when there is another guild tank on and we can do it together.
So that means I needed to heal, but I have not finished my healing set. I only have 9 pieces of it and while I am sure I can fake it, there are some fights there that can get really healing intensive when doing it with random people. So I did not want to go in as a healer if I were not 100% about it. Also, I wanted to get gear for my tank spec, not my healing spec.
So what did that mean for me? Kitty. I could go in as kitty and get gear for my tank. One problem, I have not played kitty in years.
Off to the internet to save the day. Read a few guides online and got myself a standard basic rotation and went to the dummy to play for a bit. After getting a bit comfortable with it I went to do some quests to test it out in action.
After doing my quests I noticed I can never get my rotation working because things died to fast so I looked online for some addons to help with my rotation. I found a few, tested them, did not like them, but came across a comment from someone that said to use this macro (see below) and you can do respectable. You will never top the damage meters but you will be able to go through random content with at least adding a decent contribution.
Okay, sounds good, let me grab it and test it out.
/castsequence reset=target Mangle,Faerie Fire,null
/castsequence reset=target Savage Roar,Rake,Shred,Shred,Shred,Rip,Rake,Shred
/cast Tiger’s Fury
/cast Berserk
I looked at it and decided to make another version with mangle instead of shred in case I had a movement happy tank and was having issues getting behind the mob.
So I had that macro, one with mangle instead for when I was not behind, and all my gear gemmed, reforged and enchanted for tanking. Good thing most of my gems and enchants are good for cats also. I did have 2 useless cat trinkets however, the brewfest stamina one and the darkmoon stamina one. So right off the bat I would be at a disadvantage but oh well, I was trying to get gear for my bear and I should at least try. If I happen to win a DPS trinket I can save it for next go around.
I hit the target dummy once more before I entered the queue, just to see what I could do. No buffs what so ever, not even mark and the mangle macro got me 33K DPS steady. The shred macro, from behind, got me 35K. Okay, if I can do 33K-35K with no buffs I am sure I can go by unnoticed in the LFR. All buffed I should be able to pull 40K-45K and finish in the middle of the pack and basically slide by completely unnoticed.
Sadly it did not go as planned.
I could not get by unnoticed because I was always between #2 and #6 in damage done. Seriously folks. With two useless for DPS trinkets, all reforged for dodge, only a 466 item level, having not played cat in many years and using a freaking 1 button macro, that I made into 2 for positional reasons, and I kicked ass.
How bad is the average player?
If I could end up between second and sixth on the meters under the conditions I mentioned above I can answer that question. The average player is horrible.
I wonder what the other 15 DPS would think if they knew that the person that finished #2 was a tank with all tank type gear playing cat for the first time in ages pressing only 1 button the entire fight.
At least I know I can now do respectable in kitty without even trying, when compared to the average player at least. And just think. I actually felt bad thinking I would be taking advantage of the group by not trying my best, like I should have. Sad state of the game if you ask me.
Thursday, November 3, 2011
The Accidental Tank + A Funny Flashback
A few weeks ago a guild mate who is extremely well geared asked me if I would be willing to tank a normal for him. Admittedly I was wondering why he would want to run a normal but I figured, what the hell, maybe he just wanted a really fast run for enchanting materials. It is not unheard of.
Anyone who reads my babble here knows I hate tanking heroics. Mostly because DPS suck and I hate dealing with them. So I would not willingly queue up for a heroic. A normal however is a different story. I was tanking and my guild mate was a paladin healer that has the skills to probably solo heal a few of the current raid bosses. Yes, he is really that good.
We land in GB. To make a long story short, we down the first boss, just me and him up because all three DPS get hit by the charge and get themselves killed. That is when I notice this is heroic and not normal, by the loot drop. Oh well, I am here, I will finish it.
Second boss goes better.
Third boss all the DPS dies by the time the dragon comes out.
Just me and the healer together get the boss to around 10% when we get unlucky and the fire thing spawns right behind him and he does not notice it fast enough and he is too far for my charge to get to it so he dies. Each time it had targeted him I just charged and mowed it down, each time it targeted me, he just healed me through it. We could have two manned it if it where not for that.
He says he has to leave so we get another healer. I think for a moment looking at the horrible DPS we have there and consider dropping myself but decide I will give it a try again. The new healer asks if we can skip the third boss, so we do.
We get to the last boss. We don't down it. One DPS never gets in the eye, the other two DPS never switch to adds. You see why I hate tanking randoms now? I hate the DPS with a passion. It feels like 90% of them are horrible and a large portion of the 90% that are horrible are also stupid.
After we wiped, one DPS leaves and we get another. I am sort of upset because the one DPS that left was doing the most DPS. 9K. Now I was left with 6K and 7K. 6K and 7K with the 15% buff? You have to be kidding me right? These two people should not even be in a heroic. Never the less GB.
I am tempted to drop group myself. Hell, I did not want to do a heroic anyway and these DPS are the reason I did not want to do a heroic. I decide to stick it out for one more try anyway. We have a raid in 20 minutes, so I'll at least stay until raid time.
The new DPS is a DK, says he knows the fight, we head at it, we destroy him. Thank you Mr. DK and your 25K DPS. I would have been happy with someone that could do over 10K but I am ecstatic to have someone do over 20K. Good DPS makes everything easier. Hence the reason I say it is the most important role in the game.
A little later that day I notice the random baggie in my bag. I did not random alone, why is the baggie even there? I won't complain. Free stuff is always good stuff. I open it and it has a pet that I needed on my main. Woohoo. Now that is luck. Getting a baggie when I should not have and then getting a pet and that pet being one that I needed. Seems that I got rewarded well for sticking it out. The DK was reward enough for me doing it in my option. But I am not going to complain about free stuff I wasn't even expecting.
I personally think I would tank more if they gave me that DK every run instead of a baggie every run. If they could design the game to give me three DPS like that DK I would tank every day all day long. I don't need gold, potions, gems, and pets to make me run, I need good DPS to make me run.
So last night two of the DPS in guild where looking for a tank or a healer to queue up so they could get a quicker queue time. I decided being I have been enjoying my bear a lot lately and I know they are both 15K-20K+ DPS with good CC that I will do it. Even if the 3rd DPS is horrible, they would not really be needed being we were going to do a normal heroic and not a Zul heroic.
We land in deadmines, my first time there on my bear. Well, not actually, for my first time there we have to take a trip back in time to when my bear was just a cub.
The first dungeon I ever tanked on my druid was the weekend LFD came out and it was the deadmines. Not the one we have now, the old one. I've never tanked the new one on my druid but even if it is different it reminded me of my first time there, my first time tanking on my druid.
The run was already in progress just before the ship when I got there. I come in to people fighting all over the place. I help finish the mobs off and revive the dead. The run is filled with rude people and stupid people. You know the type, your standard pug people.
A lot of stuff happened that run, but that run in my mind will always be remembered for one thing. The healer. There was the requisite bad DPS every run needs, this one had all three being bad. A hunter, a lock and a rogue. As bad as they where, the healer was the one I will always remember. The healer was the one that I will quote every time people ask me why I do not like to tank randoms.
On the last boss I pull and pick him and the adds up. The hunter goes to get some mobs of his own. The lock goes to get some mobs of his own. The rogue does what rogues do, he keeps out of sight. The healer is tossing heals on everyone. The hunter, the lock and even the invisible rogue that isn't doing anything. Everyone but me that is.
The hunter dies, I pick up all the mobs he had pulled. I get all the mobs the lock has picked up as well. I have three packs of adds on me and the boss. A dead hunter, a near dead lock and a missing rogue and I could not buy a heal for the life of me. Not sure why, but the healer is not healing me.
I pop out of bear to heal myself and the rogue becomes the sacrificial lamb. Not sure why or how but he comes out of nowhere and grabs aggro on everything and get toasted. Good for me, it bought me the time to heal. Thanks rogue.
I round up all the mobs again and slowly get them down one at a time. Popping out to heal once in a while. When all is said and done I turn to the healer and ask them why they where not healing me. They basically said they refused to heal me because I was hogging all the mobs for myself trying to be the hero.
A healer that won't heal the tank because they are trying to be the tank? Interesting.
I tell the two DPS with me on vent about my experience here and they all are baffled by the healer not wanting to heal the tank because they where hogging all the mobs. We laugh, we move on, the dungeon went fine. I got achievements every step of the way of course being my bear has never tanked this before. Come to think of it, my bear has never tanked anything this expansion really except for a few raids and a few normals and the ever so rare heroic (3 maybe) for guild mates.
The only boss that was any problem was the robot. The only reason for that was because the melee DPS that was with the group never did it. I told him, no worries, what is the worst that could happen, we wipe? We all have to learn.
Good thing my two guild mates can rock it. The guy sucked at the robot and all the fire adds where making it up. I tell my guild mates to blow everything they have, I can not tank the fire adds and the boss for very long. They go crazy and blow up the place. We down the boss when it is me tanking three adds and the boss and the healer had to be in panic mode. Every single time I've ever been there if even one add gets to the top it is a wipe. We survived three getting up there with no deaths.
The fire guys never made it past me.
They better not. I am the tank, nothing gets past me. That is my job.
My guild mates popped time warp, the fight was done before the buff wore off. Two 30K+ DPS going off on that boss made quick work of him. Holy crap I thought that was a wipe. Once again, proof positive, DPS is everything in this game. Any other group and that was a wipe 100% of the time.
When it is over I actually start to feel a little confident in my tanking but I freely admit that it was not so much me feeling confident in my tanking as me being confident with those two behind me DPSing. If anything, I got to see first hand how well I can hold aggro. Not even once did I lose anything, and with that type of DPS behind me, I was happy. Not bad for a bear that still has 2 PvP items and 3 items 325 or less equipped. Yes, I have tanked firelands with that gear too and did just fine.
They ask if I want to do another and I say yes. I think I am actually starting to like tanking randoms now. Like I said, helps when you have good DPS behind you. Good DPS makes the game fun for me to tank.
The queue pops up and we land in ZA. Oh crap. Queued for the wrong one. I've never tanked this on my bear. Not to mention, we will need all three DPS to not be complete tools for this to work.
I give fair warning to my new healer and DPS and tell them I have never tanked this on my bear but have on my warrior so I know the fights and how to tank them.
They are cool with it. Then again, what where they going to do even if they where not cool with it? They can not kick me, I am with two guild mates.
I tell my guild mates I will attempt but if I can not handle it I will drop group and they can continue without me, at least they are in with the instant queue.
We head out and surprisingly I am doing a lot better on my bear then I did on my warriors first run through. Never lost any of the guys going up the hill. Picked up every single runner and birds with no problem. Maybe I can do this on my bear. Again, helps when things go down faster thanks to good DPS.
First boss goes down with only one death, not mine of course. A dead tank there would be a bad thing. Can already tell the healer is not all that great. We barely made it through the first boss and almost lost more than one person.
We walk across and the healer says AFK. Someone must have stepped one step too close and started the three guys. Oh crap, well, lets get at 'em. I charge in and we start laying the smack down on them. We get one down, get close to getting the second down when I go down and then all the DPS take a dirt nap.
Wipe, but at least it was not the bears fault, it was just a whoops moment without a healer. We got one and almost two down with no healer. Not to shabby if you ask me.
We go across and kill the two bears and then out of nowhere mobs come flying at us from what seems like everywhere.
You know those four mobs at the top of the steps? The ones you need to walk up to the start the event where they walk down? The ones that are behind a wall in another room basically? Well, as we killed the second bear, the four of them came at us, outside of that room, to where the two bears are.
WTF? How is that even possible? It is not like someone could have accidentally tab targeted them and even if they did, they are behind a wall half a mile away. They could not have hit them to aggro them. How the hell did they pull? Needless to say, wipe again. At least they are at the bottom of the stairs now.
Not going so well so far. At least the 3rd DPS is pulling 15K. So I have three people over 15K. Assuming there are no other odd events this will not be a problem at all. No one expected things from half a mile away to come flying at us so none of us where really ready, so can't blame that wipe on anyone. I did grab them all but they took me down faster then the healer could get a heal off. Makes me think, maybe there was a bug and someone did not actually pull the other three earlier. Maybe they came on their own just like the guys on the steps came on their own.
So far, it has not been a stellar first tanking adventure there on my bear even if none of it was my bears doing.
We get to the bear boss and this is where I suffer from some bear envy. Why is his bear so much bigger then mine. This is also where I become sure the healer isn't all that. They are oom by the end of the fight. Anyone that has ever healed that fight will tell you they love that fight because there is nothing really to heal. A few heals here and there on the tank and that is it. I once healed a tank that was in all DPS gear, gemmed and enchanted for DPS too and never went under 80% mana on that fight.
Either way, they where not great but they where at least capable of doing the job and I don't complain about capable people.
We go along the path to where all the hawks and the trainer is, two scouts end up calling help. I pick everything up and we get it all down no problem. I tell my guild mates they have to be faster on those. Even if we handled it with no problems, there is no excuse for executing wrong.
Yes, I even act like a raid leader in a dungeon when it comes to my own guild mates. There is never an excuse for not executing things correctly even if you can handle it.
Perhaps that is why I am so harsh in my opinions of who I run into in a random sometimes. Even if I do take it easier on them than I do on my own people.
Dragonhawk guy goes down in one shot. That is way better than on my warrior. I think I wiped on that on my warrior at least 10 times before I got it down. I guess the experience from doing it on my warrior helped me on my bear. In the end, the bear is just a warrior, with fur, and fewer cooldowns and abilities.
The other DPS, ret paladin, had to use lay on hands on me or it would have been a wipe. Second time he saved us. A ret paladin doing 15K and with a brain. I think I have seen everything now. He used it before on the double bear pull leading to the bear boss as well. Like I said, the healer was not all that good. Thank god for good DPS and smart DPS.
Lynx boss, the healer manages to lose one of the DPS even with them in the healing totem. I think you would have to actively try to let someone die when you have unlimited mana and they are getting heals along with your heals. Again, the healer was not all that good.
The leather agility helm drops and I am beyond excited. I let out a woot on vent and say, about time, something to finally replace my 325 helm.
My excitement ends quickly as the healer rolls need on it and wins it and then drops group instantly as soon as it hits their bag. At least they revived the dead person before they did that. I think they where just waiting as long as they could. They saw I rolled need. They knew I was new this content on my bear. They knew that was my main spec as that was the spec I was running in. They still stole my helm.
As I said to my guild mates on vent. I don't so much mind losing it to them. Maybe they are DPS main spec and only run as a healer to get faster queue. They are not that good of a healer so it would make sense. I did not mind they won it. What did bother me is that they did not say anything about it and that they dropped group. If they had asked, mind if I roll on that, I need that for feral, I would have said, go ahead. They didn't ask, that is what upsets me. They dropped group, that is what upset me more.
I really wanted that helm. Any helm, I have had such bad luck with helms.
We ended up with another healer, a very good one and went on to finish with no incidents. With the exception of the two rather weird pulls that where not intended at the beginning it was quite an uneventful run. Even the few mistakes people made like letting two scouts to the drums where non-events.
At the end of the run I was almost thinking that I might actually be willing to tank a normal.
Then I realized that the odds of me getting groups like that would be slim to none. I went in with two pocket 20K DPS. What are the odds that you will get that in a random.
I've healed and DPSed a ton of runs if you combine them all. Only once ever have I been in a run that had two people over 20K (not including myself of course). So while these runs made me feel as if tanking can indeed be fun and easy in a random setting it is still a matter of luck if it is.
I am not sure I am willing to gamble. I can't even win a helm when I am the only person that should have been rolling on it. What exactly are the odds I will always get at least one 20K DPS that knows what they are doing and are not just about the numbers, never the less two.
So I was an accidental tank a couple of weeks ago and it worked out well. I was an accidental tank running a Zul I did not intend to and had no problems.
A few acceptable runs are not quite enough to shake off that feeling I still get in the pit of my stomach when I think of tanking a random.
What happens if I get a healer that does not want to heal me because I am hogging all the mobs to myself?
While I might be warming up to tanking randoms some and I am really looking to play my bear more now I don't think I am quite heroic ready yet. I can tank raids, but random heroics scare me. For the time being at least, the only time I tank will be when I am the accidental tank.
Anyone who reads my babble here knows I hate tanking heroics. Mostly because DPS suck and I hate dealing with them. So I would not willingly queue up for a heroic. A normal however is a different story. I was tanking and my guild mate was a paladin healer that has the skills to probably solo heal a few of the current raid bosses. Yes, he is really that good.
We land in GB. To make a long story short, we down the first boss, just me and him up because all three DPS get hit by the charge and get themselves killed. That is when I notice this is heroic and not normal, by the loot drop. Oh well, I am here, I will finish it.
Second boss goes better.
Third boss all the DPS dies by the time the dragon comes out.
Just me and the healer together get the boss to around 10% when we get unlucky and the fire thing spawns right behind him and he does not notice it fast enough and he is too far for my charge to get to it so he dies. Each time it had targeted him I just charged and mowed it down, each time it targeted me, he just healed me through it. We could have two manned it if it where not for that.
He says he has to leave so we get another healer. I think for a moment looking at the horrible DPS we have there and consider dropping myself but decide I will give it a try again. The new healer asks if we can skip the third boss, so we do.
We get to the last boss. We don't down it. One DPS never gets in the eye, the other two DPS never switch to adds. You see why I hate tanking randoms now? I hate the DPS with a passion. It feels like 90% of them are horrible and a large portion of the 90% that are horrible are also stupid.
After we wiped, one DPS leaves and we get another. I am sort of upset because the one DPS that left was doing the most DPS. 9K. Now I was left with 6K and 7K. 6K and 7K with the 15% buff? You have to be kidding me right? These two people should not even be in a heroic. Never the less GB.
I am tempted to drop group myself. Hell, I did not want to do a heroic anyway and these DPS are the reason I did not want to do a heroic. I decide to stick it out for one more try anyway. We have a raid in 20 minutes, so I'll at least stay until raid time.
The new DPS is a DK, says he knows the fight, we head at it, we destroy him. Thank you Mr. DK and your 25K DPS. I would have been happy with someone that could do over 10K but I am ecstatic to have someone do over 20K. Good DPS makes everything easier. Hence the reason I say it is the most important role in the game.
A little later that day I notice the random baggie in my bag. I did not random alone, why is the baggie even there? I won't complain. Free stuff is always good stuff. I open it and it has a pet that I needed on my main. Woohoo. Now that is luck. Getting a baggie when I should not have and then getting a pet and that pet being one that I needed. Seems that I got rewarded well for sticking it out. The DK was reward enough for me doing it in my option. But I am not going to complain about free stuff I wasn't even expecting.
I personally think I would tank more if they gave me that DK every run instead of a baggie every run. If they could design the game to give me three DPS like that DK I would tank every day all day long. I don't need gold, potions, gems, and pets to make me run, I need good DPS to make me run.
So last night two of the DPS in guild where looking for a tank or a healer to queue up so they could get a quicker queue time. I decided being I have been enjoying my bear a lot lately and I know they are both 15K-20K+ DPS with good CC that I will do it. Even if the 3rd DPS is horrible, they would not really be needed being we were going to do a normal heroic and not a Zul heroic.
We land in deadmines, my first time there on my bear. Well, not actually, for my first time there we have to take a trip back in time to when my bear was just a cub.
~the air begins to fill with mist as music begins to signal we are entering... the flashback zone~
The first dungeon I ever tanked on my druid was the weekend LFD came out and it was the deadmines. Not the one we have now, the old one. I've never tanked the new one on my druid but even if it is different it reminded me of my first time there, my first time tanking on my druid.
The run was already in progress just before the ship when I got there. I come in to people fighting all over the place. I help finish the mobs off and revive the dead. The run is filled with rude people and stupid people. You know the type, your standard pug people.
A lot of stuff happened that run, but that run in my mind will always be remembered for one thing. The healer. There was the requisite bad DPS every run needs, this one had all three being bad. A hunter, a lock and a rogue. As bad as they where, the healer was the one I will always remember. The healer was the one that I will quote every time people ask me why I do not like to tank randoms.
On the last boss I pull and pick him and the adds up. The hunter goes to get some mobs of his own. The lock goes to get some mobs of his own. The rogue does what rogues do, he keeps out of sight. The healer is tossing heals on everyone. The hunter, the lock and even the invisible rogue that isn't doing anything. Everyone but me that is.
The hunter dies, I pick up all the mobs he had pulled. I get all the mobs the lock has picked up as well. I have three packs of adds on me and the boss. A dead hunter, a near dead lock and a missing rogue and I could not buy a heal for the life of me. Not sure why, but the healer is not healing me.
I pop out of bear to heal myself and the rogue becomes the sacrificial lamb. Not sure why or how but he comes out of nowhere and grabs aggro on everything and get toasted. Good for me, it bought me the time to heal. Thanks rogue.
I round up all the mobs again and slowly get them down one at a time. Popping out to heal once in a while. When all is said and done I turn to the healer and ask them why they where not healing me. They basically said they refused to heal me because I was hogging all the mobs for myself trying to be the hero.
A healer that won't heal the tank because they are trying to be the tank? Interesting.
~the music begins to get softer as the mist begins to fade and you are returned to... the real time zone~
I tell the two DPS with me on vent about my experience here and they all are baffled by the healer not wanting to heal the tank because they where hogging all the mobs. We laugh, we move on, the dungeon went fine. I got achievements every step of the way of course being my bear has never tanked this before. Come to think of it, my bear has never tanked anything this expansion really except for a few raids and a few normals and the ever so rare heroic (3 maybe) for guild mates.
The only boss that was any problem was the robot. The only reason for that was because the melee DPS that was with the group never did it. I told him, no worries, what is the worst that could happen, we wipe? We all have to learn.
Good thing my two guild mates can rock it. The guy sucked at the robot and all the fire adds where making it up. I tell my guild mates to blow everything they have, I can not tank the fire adds and the boss for very long. They go crazy and blow up the place. We down the boss when it is me tanking three adds and the boss and the healer had to be in panic mode. Every single time I've ever been there if even one add gets to the top it is a wipe. We survived three getting up there with no deaths.
The fire guys never made it past me.
They better not. I am the tank, nothing gets past me. That is my job.
My guild mates popped time warp, the fight was done before the buff wore off. Two 30K+ DPS going off on that boss made quick work of him. Holy crap I thought that was a wipe. Once again, proof positive, DPS is everything in this game. Any other group and that was a wipe 100% of the time.
When it is over I actually start to feel a little confident in my tanking but I freely admit that it was not so much me feeling confident in my tanking as me being confident with those two behind me DPSing. If anything, I got to see first hand how well I can hold aggro. Not even once did I lose anything, and with that type of DPS behind me, I was happy. Not bad for a bear that still has 2 PvP items and 3 items 325 or less equipped. Yes, I have tanked firelands with that gear too and did just fine.
They ask if I want to do another and I say yes. I think I am actually starting to like tanking randoms now. Like I said, helps when you have good DPS behind you. Good DPS makes the game fun for me to tank.
The queue pops up and we land in ZA. Oh crap. Queued for the wrong one. I've never tanked this on my bear. Not to mention, we will need all three DPS to not be complete tools for this to work.
I give fair warning to my new healer and DPS and tell them I have never tanked this on my bear but have on my warrior so I know the fights and how to tank them.
They are cool with it. Then again, what where they going to do even if they where not cool with it? They can not kick me, I am with two guild mates.
I tell my guild mates I will attempt but if I can not handle it I will drop group and they can continue without me, at least they are in with the instant queue.
We head out and surprisingly I am doing a lot better on my bear then I did on my warriors first run through. Never lost any of the guys going up the hill. Picked up every single runner and birds with no problem. Maybe I can do this on my bear. Again, helps when things go down faster thanks to good DPS.
First boss goes down with only one death, not mine of course. A dead tank there would be a bad thing. Can already tell the healer is not all that great. We barely made it through the first boss and almost lost more than one person.
We walk across and the healer says AFK. Someone must have stepped one step too close and started the three guys. Oh crap, well, lets get at 'em. I charge in and we start laying the smack down on them. We get one down, get close to getting the second down when I go down and then all the DPS take a dirt nap.
Wipe, but at least it was not the bears fault, it was just a whoops moment without a healer. We got one and almost two down with no healer. Not to shabby if you ask me.
We go across and kill the two bears and then out of nowhere mobs come flying at us from what seems like everywhere.
You know those four mobs at the top of the steps? The ones you need to walk up to the start the event where they walk down? The ones that are behind a wall in another room basically? Well, as we killed the second bear, the four of them came at us, outside of that room, to where the two bears are.
WTF? How is that even possible? It is not like someone could have accidentally tab targeted them and even if they did, they are behind a wall half a mile away. They could not have hit them to aggro them. How the hell did they pull? Needless to say, wipe again. At least they are at the bottom of the stairs now.
Not going so well so far. At least the 3rd DPS is pulling 15K. So I have three people over 15K. Assuming there are no other odd events this will not be a problem at all. No one expected things from half a mile away to come flying at us so none of us where really ready, so can't blame that wipe on anyone. I did grab them all but they took me down faster then the healer could get a heal off. Makes me think, maybe there was a bug and someone did not actually pull the other three earlier. Maybe they came on their own just like the guys on the steps came on their own.
So far, it has not been a stellar first tanking adventure there on my bear even if none of it was my bears doing.
We get to the bear boss and this is where I suffer from some bear envy. Why is his bear so much bigger then mine. This is also where I become sure the healer isn't all that. They are oom by the end of the fight. Anyone that has ever healed that fight will tell you they love that fight because there is nothing really to heal. A few heals here and there on the tank and that is it. I once healed a tank that was in all DPS gear, gemmed and enchanted for DPS too and never went under 80% mana on that fight.
Either way, they where not great but they where at least capable of doing the job and I don't complain about capable people.
We go along the path to where all the hawks and the trainer is, two scouts end up calling help. I pick everything up and we get it all down no problem. I tell my guild mates they have to be faster on those. Even if we handled it with no problems, there is no excuse for executing wrong.
Yes, I even act like a raid leader in a dungeon when it comes to my own guild mates. There is never an excuse for not executing things correctly even if you can handle it.
Perhaps that is why I am so harsh in my opinions of who I run into in a random sometimes. Even if I do take it easier on them than I do on my own people.
Dragonhawk guy goes down in one shot. That is way better than on my warrior. I think I wiped on that on my warrior at least 10 times before I got it down. I guess the experience from doing it on my warrior helped me on my bear. In the end, the bear is just a warrior, with fur, and fewer cooldowns and abilities.
The other DPS, ret paladin, had to use lay on hands on me or it would have been a wipe. Second time he saved us. A ret paladin doing 15K and with a brain. I think I have seen everything now. He used it before on the double bear pull leading to the bear boss as well. Like I said, the healer was not all that good. Thank god for good DPS and smart DPS.
Lynx boss, the healer manages to lose one of the DPS even with them in the healing totem. I think you would have to actively try to let someone die when you have unlimited mana and they are getting heals along with your heals. Again, the healer was not all that good.
The leather agility helm drops and I am beyond excited. I let out a woot on vent and say, about time, something to finally replace my 325 helm.
My excitement ends quickly as the healer rolls need on it and wins it and then drops group instantly as soon as it hits their bag. At least they revived the dead person before they did that. I think they where just waiting as long as they could. They saw I rolled need. They knew I was new this content on my bear. They knew that was my main spec as that was the spec I was running in. They still stole my helm.
As I said to my guild mates on vent. I don't so much mind losing it to them. Maybe they are DPS main spec and only run as a healer to get faster queue. They are not that good of a healer so it would make sense. I did not mind they won it. What did bother me is that they did not say anything about it and that they dropped group. If they had asked, mind if I roll on that, I need that for feral, I would have said, go ahead. They didn't ask, that is what upsets me. They dropped group, that is what upset me more.
I really wanted that helm. Any helm, I have had such bad luck with helms.
We ended up with another healer, a very good one and went on to finish with no incidents. With the exception of the two rather weird pulls that where not intended at the beginning it was quite an uneventful run. Even the few mistakes people made like letting two scouts to the drums where non-events.
At the end of the run I was almost thinking that I might actually be willing to tank a normal.
Then I realized that the odds of me getting groups like that would be slim to none. I went in with two pocket 20K DPS. What are the odds that you will get that in a random.
I've healed and DPSed a ton of runs if you combine them all. Only once ever have I been in a run that had two people over 20K (not including myself of course). So while these runs made me feel as if tanking can indeed be fun and easy in a random setting it is still a matter of luck if it is.
I am not sure I am willing to gamble. I can't even win a helm when I am the only person that should have been rolling on it. What exactly are the odds I will always get at least one 20K DPS that knows what they are doing and are not just about the numbers, never the less two.
So I was an accidental tank a couple of weeks ago and it worked out well. I was an accidental tank running a Zul I did not intend to and had no problems.
A few acceptable runs are not quite enough to shake off that feeling I still get in the pit of my stomach when I think of tanking a random.
What happens if I get a healer that does not want to heal me because I am hogging all the mobs to myself?
While I might be warming up to tanking randoms some and I am really looking to play my bear more now I don't think I am quite heroic ready yet. I can tank raids, but random heroics scare me. For the time being at least, the only time I tank will be when I am the accidental tank.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Mssing The Tree and Other Healer Stuff
I've run with a few druid healers since the changes and it just feels wrong. I will get used to it in time but not seeing a tree around is really bugging me. I know it is only a cosmetic thing but seeing the tree stood out. When I am on my Hunter I usually stay toward the back near the healer. I keep second guessing myself when I stand next to a night elf. It just does not feel right.
The think my biggest gripe is that Druid healers do not really look much like healers in my mind when they are not in Tree. A Priest you can see it a healer. A Shaman, less so and a Paladin less so but they still look different enough. A Druid without a shape just looks wrong. It just looks like you have a night elf tagging along not doing anything. Sure, I know they are healing but they just look horrible doing it. We need Tree back. I do not like these elves trying to pass them off as healers. It is not right.
So with the need to PuG for 2 healers the other night the absence of healers is glaring lately. With 3 possible healers away at the moment and no certainty that they will return come Cataclysm we are going to need to get more healers.
With the plans Blizzard announced to make healing and tanking more difficult to make it more enjoyable I do not see there being many new healers coming up. I also see a lot of healers quitting over it. I understand the challenge of things and how that can make it exciting but there will not be enough people that like that to keep the servers stocked with enough healers (and tanks) to make raiding viable for many guilds.
The thing blizzard does not understand about making things more challenging is that not everyone likes a challenge and not every challenge is the same. While I DPS on my Hunter I had looked to the simulators and saw that with all possible raid buffs and debuffs my best possible DPS should be around 9K based on my gear. So it becomes a challenge for me to try and get the most out of what I have. Managing procs and such I have been able to toast what the simulator says is the best I can do. I've done 11K (outside of ICC) even if the simulators said that I would top at 9K. See, that is a fun challenge. The reason it is a fun challenge is because in most cases if I did not meet the challenge and only did 8K no one would complain. It is still good enough.
With adding challenge to healing they are creating a situation like I mentioned with my Hunter but for a healer. However the huge difference is that if the healer makes the wrong decisions on which heal to hit and which person to heal then people die. For my Hunter the options are limited. Shoot single target, AoE, or target adds. All of that is usually not an opinion sort of thing. You know what you need to do. You follow your rotation or priority, whichever your class uses, and you move along. Sure there is a lot of adjusting to do so you get out max DPS and it can be very challenging to do so but it is not like the challenge that a healer deals with.
Why are they adding difficulty to something that can very well be extremely difficult to begin with? If me as a hunter needs to move and it lowers my DPS for a few seconds it is no big deal but if me as a priest needs to move and it lowers my options to heal then someone can die. Healers have enough challenge as it is. Why add more?
Lets talk ez mode, so to speak. Back in BC hunters where ez mode, just hit steady shot six thousand times and you will be fine. Whatever finger was over that one button will probably be swollen but you did the best you can do easily. Paladins while level were ez mode and some say end game where. I have not personal end game experience with it but I can surely say leveling a paladin is/was ez mode. Never below 95% health, never below 95% mana, and you kill everything in your sights, even things 7 or 8 levels higher then you without breaking a sweat. Mages are ez mode now and before. I am still in all quest gear with the exception of 2 drops I got from heroics and I am already leading the DPS charts in the dungeons I am in. Pressing 2 over and over is just so freaking hard you know.
Why not make an ez mode healer or an ez mode tank? I know now that we over gear things it is like that to some extent and that will always happen when we over gear things. What we need are the flavor of the month healers and tanks. People hate those face roll flavor of the month DPS characters and I can understand that. People roll them because they are easy. However, when things change and they are not easy any more you get some of those people that stick with it and become truly great at the class.
There will always be good players and bad players. Good players play what they like to play or what their guild needs. Bad players play whatever is face roll. Being most of the people that play the game would be closer to what is called a bad players that means that most of the players are DPS. That is the reason you always find people looking for healers and looking for tanks.
Make a healer class face roll for a while and let the bad players play that. It is not a bad thing, hear me out. Healers have enough to do as it is right now. They need to decide what spell to use and it seems like there are more healing spells for a healer then there are damaging spells for a DPS. They need to decide who to heal, the type of heal they need, the mana required for it, how long the fight is going to be so you know when to heal right away and when to conserve, when AoE will be coming, priority on who to heal once the AoE hits, etc, etc, etc. Anyone that has ever healed will tell you that there is a lot more going on for a healer then for any other class in the game. A tank gets beat on, DPS beats on the one that is beating on the tank, they all have a singular focus whereas the healer has to worry about all of them as well as themselves.
Making a face roll healer is also not the same as making a face roll DPS. My Mage can pull upwards of 4500 DPS in all quest greens just by hitting the 2 button. That is face roll. A healer can never be that face roll. They still need to watch all their fellow adventurers but it can be made to be much easier. Make a healing class simple. One HoT that has fast, large ticks. One powerful direct heal. One AoE heal. That is it. Simplify their life. No more choosing which spell. It will make it easier for them. This will make more people want to be healers. Sure, this class should not as effective as the others but it would really help with the lack of healers around to begin with and the major lack of healers I am expecting once Cataclysm hits and they make healing more challenging like they want to.
After some time you can change things up some and make it harder and maybe but they enough people will have fallen in love with the class that they will keep playing the class and helping the balance.
Back to what made me think about healers and the lack of them in my guild at the moment. I've leveled my Priest to heal for the group but that is not my main. My main is my Hunter and that will not change. I am invested in my Hunter. Time played, achievements done, mounts collected, pets collected, etc. While there are some really annoying changes with it that I would rather never had happened it is still my main and will remain that way. If I could transfer achievements to another character then maybe I would consider moving over to a healer full time. Being that will never happen, I will not be changing.
If I was to change however what would I do? I love my Priest. Disc is amazingly fun and versatile but we have a priest in the mix so for best buffs and options I would need to choose one of the other three.
Shaman: I am enhancement and have no resto gear what so ever. So not only would it be learning something new it would be gearing something new. From what a few resto shaman friends told me resto healing is like one of those "for dummies" books. Resto healing is healing for dummies. So maybe it is face roll and I just do not notice it? I can say one thing for sure. My Enhancement Shaman would occasionally throw a heal and its heal is usually on par if not great then my Disc Priests heals. Imagine what it would be like in resto. I might be willing to try it but would not look forward to gearing up for it with only a few weeks left in the game so to speak.
Druid: I have all my resto gear already. Have my spec all made. Have no desire to ever use the gear or the spec. No tree means no interest in playing it for me. It is really that simple. I wanted to be a Druid healer to be a Tree, not to be an Elf. I already am an Elf. When I play something else I do not want to be an Elf. I want to be a Tree, that simple. If they bring Tree back I would gladly be a Druid healer again.
Paladin: I'm only level 49, what can I say. I am Ret. I can tank as Ret. I can heal as Ret. I can DPS as Ret. So having a dual spec this early for that character has not even come to mind yet. Getting to 80 before Cataclysm would not be a problem if I actually tried. My Pally is a dual gatherer so I would be leveling like lightning. Would I want to heal? From what I hear it is not a lot of fun like the other classes can be and add to the fact that there is something wrong with a character wearing plate and being such a pansy ass that they stand away in the back. At least getting gear would never be a problem. Gearing up a Pally healer is the easiest gear ramp up of everything in the game. Not sure I would like the style.
Priest: This is my healer. It is Disc and Holy. I really only heal Disc. Holy does not appeal to me. I like preemptive healing and not responsive healing. With that in mine Druid might have worked for me with it's myriad of HoTs, to bad it lost tree and is no longer an option.
If I were ever to switch to a full time healer for my guild I would PuG with my Hunter which would still create problems because my Hunter would be my first priority. I just do not have a good outlook for healer recruitment being the changes that are coming. I do not see many healers coming up the pipes. The only ones I do see are Disc Priests because in truth when it comes to enjoyable play as a healer there really is no other option. They can DPS, Heal, Assist and PvP well in one spec. Why would you ever want to play another type of healer?
The future of healers looks really bleak and unless Blizzard does something to make healing ez mode there will never be any sizable amount of new players taking it up.
In all honesty I do not care if my healer had it easy because they are so over powered and only need to hit one button. All I want are a few freakin' healers so I do not need to be one full time. I should not need to switch to be a healer, there should be more in the game. If the lack of healers around is not a glaring design flaw on the part of Blizzard I do not know what is.
The think my biggest gripe is that Druid healers do not really look much like healers in my mind when they are not in Tree. A Priest you can see it a healer. A Shaman, less so and a Paladin less so but they still look different enough. A Druid without a shape just looks wrong. It just looks like you have a night elf tagging along not doing anything. Sure, I know they are healing but they just look horrible doing it. We need Tree back. I do not like these elves trying to pass them off as healers. It is not right.
So with the need to PuG for 2 healers the other night the absence of healers is glaring lately. With 3 possible healers away at the moment and no certainty that they will return come Cataclysm we are going to need to get more healers.
With the plans Blizzard announced to make healing and tanking more difficult to make it more enjoyable I do not see there being many new healers coming up. I also see a lot of healers quitting over it. I understand the challenge of things and how that can make it exciting but there will not be enough people that like that to keep the servers stocked with enough healers (and tanks) to make raiding viable for many guilds.
The thing blizzard does not understand about making things more challenging is that not everyone likes a challenge and not every challenge is the same. While I DPS on my Hunter I had looked to the simulators and saw that with all possible raid buffs and debuffs my best possible DPS should be around 9K based on my gear. So it becomes a challenge for me to try and get the most out of what I have. Managing procs and such I have been able to toast what the simulator says is the best I can do. I've done 11K (outside of ICC) even if the simulators said that I would top at 9K. See, that is a fun challenge. The reason it is a fun challenge is because in most cases if I did not meet the challenge and only did 8K no one would complain. It is still good enough.
With adding challenge to healing they are creating a situation like I mentioned with my Hunter but for a healer. However the huge difference is that if the healer makes the wrong decisions on which heal to hit and which person to heal then people die. For my Hunter the options are limited. Shoot single target, AoE, or target adds. All of that is usually not an opinion sort of thing. You know what you need to do. You follow your rotation or priority, whichever your class uses, and you move along. Sure there is a lot of adjusting to do so you get out max DPS and it can be very challenging to do so but it is not like the challenge that a healer deals with.
Why are they adding difficulty to something that can very well be extremely difficult to begin with? If me as a hunter needs to move and it lowers my DPS for a few seconds it is no big deal but if me as a priest needs to move and it lowers my options to heal then someone can die. Healers have enough challenge as it is. Why add more?
Lets talk ez mode, so to speak. Back in BC hunters where ez mode, just hit steady shot six thousand times and you will be fine. Whatever finger was over that one button will probably be swollen but you did the best you can do easily. Paladins while level were ez mode and some say end game where. I have not personal end game experience with it but I can surely say leveling a paladin is/was ez mode. Never below 95% health, never below 95% mana, and you kill everything in your sights, even things 7 or 8 levels higher then you without breaking a sweat. Mages are ez mode now and before. I am still in all quest gear with the exception of 2 drops I got from heroics and I am already leading the DPS charts in the dungeons I am in. Pressing 2 over and over is just so freaking hard you know.
Why not make an ez mode healer or an ez mode tank? I know now that we over gear things it is like that to some extent and that will always happen when we over gear things. What we need are the flavor of the month healers and tanks. People hate those face roll flavor of the month DPS characters and I can understand that. People roll them because they are easy. However, when things change and they are not easy any more you get some of those people that stick with it and become truly great at the class.
There will always be good players and bad players. Good players play what they like to play or what their guild needs. Bad players play whatever is face roll. Being most of the people that play the game would be closer to what is called a bad players that means that most of the players are DPS. That is the reason you always find people looking for healers and looking for tanks.
Make a healer class face roll for a while and let the bad players play that. It is not a bad thing, hear me out. Healers have enough to do as it is right now. They need to decide what spell to use and it seems like there are more healing spells for a healer then there are damaging spells for a DPS. They need to decide who to heal, the type of heal they need, the mana required for it, how long the fight is going to be so you know when to heal right away and when to conserve, when AoE will be coming, priority on who to heal once the AoE hits, etc, etc, etc. Anyone that has ever healed will tell you that there is a lot more going on for a healer then for any other class in the game. A tank gets beat on, DPS beats on the one that is beating on the tank, they all have a singular focus whereas the healer has to worry about all of them as well as themselves.
Making a face roll healer is also not the same as making a face roll DPS. My Mage can pull upwards of 4500 DPS in all quest greens just by hitting the 2 button. That is face roll. A healer can never be that face roll. They still need to watch all their fellow adventurers but it can be made to be much easier. Make a healing class simple. One HoT that has fast, large ticks. One powerful direct heal. One AoE heal. That is it. Simplify their life. No more choosing which spell. It will make it easier for them. This will make more people want to be healers. Sure, this class should not as effective as the others but it would really help with the lack of healers around to begin with and the major lack of healers I am expecting once Cataclysm hits and they make healing more challenging like they want to.
After some time you can change things up some and make it harder and maybe but they enough people will have fallen in love with the class that they will keep playing the class and helping the balance.
Back to what made me think about healers and the lack of them in my guild at the moment. I've leveled my Priest to heal for the group but that is not my main. My main is my Hunter and that will not change. I am invested in my Hunter. Time played, achievements done, mounts collected, pets collected, etc. While there are some really annoying changes with it that I would rather never had happened it is still my main and will remain that way. If I could transfer achievements to another character then maybe I would consider moving over to a healer full time. Being that will never happen, I will not be changing.
If I was to change however what would I do? I love my Priest. Disc is amazingly fun and versatile but we have a priest in the mix so for best buffs and options I would need to choose one of the other three.
Shaman: I am enhancement and have no resto gear what so ever. So not only would it be learning something new it would be gearing something new. From what a few resto shaman friends told me resto healing is like one of those "for dummies" books. Resto healing is healing for dummies. So maybe it is face roll and I just do not notice it? I can say one thing for sure. My Enhancement Shaman would occasionally throw a heal and its heal is usually on par if not great then my Disc Priests heals. Imagine what it would be like in resto. I might be willing to try it but would not look forward to gearing up for it with only a few weeks left in the game so to speak.
Druid: I have all my resto gear already. Have my spec all made. Have no desire to ever use the gear or the spec. No tree means no interest in playing it for me. It is really that simple. I wanted to be a Druid healer to be a Tree, not to be an Elf. I already am an Elf. When I play something else I do not want to be an Elf. I want to be a Tree, that simple. If they bring Tree back I would gladly be a Druid healer again.
Paladin: I'm only level 49, what can I say. I am Ret. I can tank as Ret. I can heal as Ret. I can DPS as Ret. So having a dual spec this early for that character has not even come to mind yet. Getting to 80 before Cataclysm would not be a problem if I actually tried. My Pally is a dual gatherer so I would be leveling like lightning. Would I want to heal? From what I hear it is not a lot of fun like the other classes can be and add to the fact that there is something wrong with a character wearing plate and being such a pansy ass that they stand away in the back. At least getting gear would never be a problem. Gearing up a Pally healer is the easiest gear ramp up of everything in the game. Not sure I would like the style.
Priest: This is my healer. It is Disc and Holy. I really only heal Disc. Holy does not appeal to me. I like preemptive healing and not responsive healing. With that in mine Druid might have worked for me with it's myriad of HoTs, to bad it lost tree and is no longer an option.
If I were ever to switch to a full time healer for my guild I would PuG with my Hunter which would still create problems because my Hunter would be my first priority. I just do not have a good outlook for healer recruitment being the changes that are coming. I do not see many healers coming up the pipes. The only ones I do see are Disc Priests because in truth when it comes to enjoyable play as a healer there really is no other option. They can DPS, Heal, Assist and PvP well in one spec. Why would you ever want to play another type of healer?
The future of healers looks really bleak and unless Blizzard does something to make healing ez mode there will never be any sizable amount of new players taking it up.
In all honesty I do not care if my healer had it easy because they are so over powered and only need to hit one button. All I want are a few freakin' healers so I do not need to be one full time. I should not need to switch to be a healer, there should be more in the game. If the lack of healers around is not a glaring design flaw on the part of Blizzard I do not know what is.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
A World of Mains?
My Hunter is my first character and my main character. I am not sure if part of the reason I love being a Hunter so much is because it is the character I first experienced nearly everything in the game on. It was the character I was on when I first found new areas, did new quest and went through dungeons and raids with. It was the first I did everything with basically. Everything except heal or tank that is.
My Priest was my first healer and my Druid was my first tank, even if I did have a DK and a Paladin made before I made the druid. If I were to choose now to have three mains, a main tank, a main healer and a main DPS I would choose my Hunter, Druid and Priest for those three roles.
There is only one problem with that. Outside of my Hunter, Druid and Priest I only have one other 80 currently and that is a DK that I use as my bank character. I got the DK to 80 only so I can train up the new professions once Cataclysm comes out. I did not want to have to go back to level it later. I do not use the DK at all really. It is still in quest greens and has not been outside of a major city in months. Not even just to get a breath of fresh air.
I wonder if my opinions will change once I get the other characters to end game. I know from the few I have experience with that I have made decisions based on role already. Each class has inherent things they need to deal with and when in a group setting how they deal with them is different.
DPS - I have no problem with running dungeons with a DPS character. It takes longer to get into one and there is a lot of pressure to do huge numbers even more so in heroics then ICC it seems as funny as that sounds but over all most people do not give a crap as long as things are dying fast and you are not screwing things up to make it harder for everyone else. Gearing up a DPS player through dungeons might take time but it is actually pretty easy. I wold go with people I do not know because no one gives a crap if someone did only 1.5K DPS if the dungeon is done in 15 minutes and goes off without a hitch.
Healer - Every time someone dies it will be your fault. If the tank runs ahead and pulls a whole room while you and everyone else are still in the previous room, it is your fault. If a DPS dies because they can't control their aggro and they get eaten alive faster then your fastest heal can fly, it is your fault. No matter what, whomever dies, it is your fault. As long as you have a little thick skin it really is not that much of a problem again. Just say, sorry you died, was out of range or I really tied to save you but you are squishy. 95% of the time, unless it really was your fault, like not trowing any heals what so ever, no one minds a death here and there. Nice query time and not a ton of stress as long as you have competent people around you makes gearing up a healer somewhat easy. But at starting stages I would still only go with people I know as I am getting into the grove of group healing.
Tank - DPS is not high enough, its the tanks fault, healer is letting people die, its the tanks fault, adds come out of nowhere, its the tanks fault, all the DPS being aggro monkeys, its the tanks fault. No matter what happens its the tanks fault. The weather sucks today and it is raining, must be the tanks fault. If DPS has low DPS but is trying, its okay they are trying their best. If a healer is having trouble keeping people alive, its okay they are trying really hard and just need some better gear. If the tank has any issues, the tank sucks. At least in my limited experience tanking at 80 with my Druid I can tell you I will only tank for people I know. I will never tank for PuGs, ever. No random heroics for me unless I can get guild group up that includes at least a pocket healer and 1 DPS. The theory there is that I will tell the healer if the other DPS are jerks let them die and me, you and the guild DPS can do the whole dungeon alone. (I think I am going to make a grumpy tanking post to get more into this one)
So when the time comes, as it will soon for a few of my characters, I will get some gear for my Shaman, my mage and my rogue (oh god how I hate being a rogue) but I am not sure if I will work on my warrior at all when it comes to gearing up. My Pally is still up in the air as I do not know what the second spec will be yet. I am leveling Retribution.
In the end, I doubt that I will ever have a great deal to compare my Druid's tanking with and my Priest's healing with. So just like my Hunter is my favorite and my main because it was my first I think the Druid will be my main tank and the Priest my main healer because they where my first.
One thing about firsts however, once you have that first one done, the rest are a cake walk really. After leveling my hunter all the way, taking a full month of time played I now level characters in no time at all really. I now have no issues going into dungeons that originally I stayed away from on my Hunter. I have experience with one character which makes doing it on others 100 times easier. So perhaps if I ever do try another tank or another healer I might be better with them because things are always easier the second time around.
I wonder if I am the only one that ever considered having 3 mains. One for each role. The way I look at it, they do not really interfere with each other as I would never mix and match them. Well... maybe I can, my druid is a bear and a tree. Oh well. There goes that idea.
My Priest was my first healer and my Druid was my first tank, even if I did have a DK and a Paladin made before I made the druid. If I were to choose now to have three mains, a main tank, a main healer and a main DPS I would choose my Hunter, Druid and Priest for those three roles.
There is only one problem with that. Outside of my Hunter, Druid and Priest I only have one other 80 currently and that is a DK that I use as my bank character. I got the DK to 80 only so I can train up the new professions once Cataclysm comes out. I did not want to have to go back to level it later. I do not use the DK at all really. It is still in quest greens and has not been outside of a major city in months. Not even just to get a breath of fresh air.
I wonder if my opinions will change once I get the other characters to end game. I know from the few I have experience with that I have made decisions based on role already. Each class has inherent things they need to deal with and when in a group setting how they deal with them is different.
DPS - I have no problem with running dungeons with a DPS character. It takes longer to get into one and there is a lot of pressure to do huge numbers even more so in heroics then ICC it seems as funny as that sounds but over all most people do not give a crap as long as things are dying fast and you are not screwing things up to make it harder for everyone else. Gearing up a DPS player through dungeons might take time but it is actually pretty easy. I wold go with people I do not know because no one gives a crap if someone did only 1.5K DPS if the dungeon is done in 15 minutes and goes off without a hitch.
Healer - Every time someone dies it will be your fault. If the tank runs ahead and pulls a whole room while you and everyone else are still in the previous room, it is your fault. If a DPS dies because they can't control their aggro and they get eaten alive faster then your fastest heal can fly, it is your fault. No matter what, whomever dies, it is your fault. As long as you have a little thick skin it really is not that much of a problem again. Just say, sorry you died, was out of range or I really tied to save you but you are squishy. 95% of the time, unless it really was your fault, like not trowing any heals what so ever, no one minds a death here and there. Nice query time and not a ton of stress as long as you have competent people around you makes gearing up a healer somewhat easy. But at starting stages I would still only go with people I know as I am getting into the grove of group healing.
Tank - DPS is not high enough, its the tanks fault, healer is letting people die, its the tanks fault, adds come out of nowhere, its the tanks fault, all the DPS being aggro monkeys, its the tanks fault. No matter what happens its the tanks fault. The weather sucks today and it is raining, must be the tanks fault. If DPS has low DPS but is trying, its okay they are trying their best. If a healer is having trouble keeping people alive, its okay they are trying really hard and just need some better gear. If the tank has any issues, the tank sucks. At least in my limited experience tanking at 80 with my Druid I can tell you I will only tank for people I know. I will never tank for PuGs, ever. No random heroics for me unless I can get guild group up that includes at least a pocket healer and 1 DPS. The theory there is that I will tell the healer if the other DPS are jerks let them die and me, you and the guild DPS can do the whole dungeon alone. (I think I am going to make a grumpy tanking post to get more into this one)
So when the time comes, as it will soon for a few of my characters, I will get some gear for my Shaman, my mage and my rogue (oh god how I hate being a rogue) but I am not sure if I will work on my warrior at all when it comes to gearing up. My Pally is still up in the air as I do not know what the second spec will be yet. I am leveling Retribution.
In the end, I doubt that I will ever have a great deal to compare my Druid's tanking with and my Priest's healing with. So just like my Hunter is my favorite and my main because it was my first I think the Druid will be my main tank and the Priest my main healer because they where my first.
One thing about firsts however, once you have that first one done, the rest are a cake walk really. After leveling my hunter all the way, taking a full month of time played I now level characters in no time at all really. I now have no issues going into dungeons that originally I stayed away from on my Hunter. I have experience with one character which makes doing it on others 100 times easier. So perhaps if I ever do try another tank or another healer I might be better with them because things are always easier the second time around.
I wonder if I am the only one that ever considered having 3 mains. One for each role. The way I look at it, they do not really interfere with each other as I would never mix and match them. Well... maybe I can, my druid is a bear and a tree. Oh well. There goes that idea.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
A Baby Bear in the Deadmines.
When I rolled a druid I let it sit there for a while. It was something I made for those times when I got bored and needed something to do. When the looking for dungeon thing came out it made me love the idea of leveling my druid again so I went back to it with all sorts of dreams that it would be fantastic.
I wanted my druid to be a bear and a tree. I already have an end game DPS so I wanted to experience the other end of the world. Not to mention that I think it would make me a better DPS if I better understood what being a tank was like and what being a healer was like.
So I entered the LFD world with bright eyes and after my first adventure I will leave you with one bit of advice. Never ever use the LFD system under level 80.
I wanted my druid to be a bear and a tree. I already have an end game DPS so I wanted to experience the other end of the world. Not to mention that I think it would make me a better DPS if I better understood what being a tank was like and what being a healer was like.
So I entered the LFD world with bright eyes and after my first adventure I will leave you with one bit of advice. Never ever use the LFD system under level 80.
I am... A Druid
My second character to 80 was a druid. I will surely be posting a lot more about that character because that one is, less used, which means not uber geared. That alone makes for many chances to get grumpy over stupid people.
While the druid was not the second character I made it was the second character I leveled up all the way. Most of the time I just give up in the 20s. Made a DK to use as a bank alt and leveled it to max out professions but over all I was not that happy with how DKs work. I also made a rogue, a priest and a paladin at some point, all stopped in the 20s. I might go back to them some day. The druid however, that interested me. More so after the looking for dungeon tool came out. I liked the idea of instant query with my baby bear, but more on that in another post.
Leveling a druid is like is cheating. Whoever says that hunters are ez-mode to level has never played a druid, that's for sure. Hunters take a lot more work and effort then a druid. Don't get me wrong, I love my hunter but if they ever decided to make class changes, I would level a ton of druids and then change them to the other classes. A monkey could level a druid fast. Add heirloom items and that monkey will be breezing from 1 to 80 in no time.
While the druid was not the second character I made it was the second character I leveled up all the way. Most of the time I just give up in the 20s. Made a DK to use as a bank alt and leveled it to max out professions but over all I was not that happy with how DKs work. I also made a rogue, a priest and a paladin at some point, all stopped in the 20s. I might go back to them some day. The druid however, that interested me. More so after the looking for dungeon tool came out. I liked the idea of instant query with my baby bear, but more on that in another post.
Leveling a druid is like is cheating. Whoever says that hunters are ez-mode to level has never played a druid, that's for sure. Hunters take a lot more work and effort then a druid. Don't get me wrong, I love my hunter but if they ever decided to make class changes, I would level a ton of druids and then change them to the other classes. A monkey could level a druid fast. Add heirloom items and that monkey will be breezing from 1 to 80 in no time.
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