Role Changes

[Moknim]

Since the realm is down, and I have been thinking about this, I thought I would post to force all of you to read the ramblings of my mind (mwahahaha)


So I started raiding at 70 as a tree, continued into Naxx and up to Uld. HMs as a tree. Now I raid as a resto-shammy in a 25 man.

I have come to the realization that I don't really enjoy healing that much. My tree has become a bear, I have a hunter at 80 that I am enjoying playing, and I occasionally tank on my warrior. I don't even do the daily heroic on my shaman just because I don't want to heal anything. I would rather bear-tank (which is pretty mindless - 2 buttons is hard) than heal anything.

Healing, in theory, is really appealing to me - it is probably the most challenging role in the game and there is a lot of decisions/choices to be made to play your class (especially a resto shaman) to the fullest. Knowing my personality, this appeals to me (and is why I started, and have continued, healing in raids). I feel like I am pretty good at it (not the best, not the worst - a solid healer) but have just gotten bored of it.

Just curious if anyone else had similar "role burn-out." Mixing it up from Tree => Shaman extended my interest in healing, but I have hit a wall. To those players who have always been one spec (Heid as a retadin is one that comes to mind) - is it just the spec you love so much? What do you do to mix it up/keep it interesting?

I realized this the other day when doing a ToC25 GDKP and realized that Tranq. Shotting Icehowl was the most exciting thing that had happened to me in a raid since Ulduar HM's.



(PS - I will still be there on Thursday with my banana heals, Cele. But there will be copious amounts of alcoholic beverages involved.)

[Grayslin]

I've been dps since vanilla. I started tanking on my DK about 6 months to a year ago and never looked back. It doesn't give me a fun number to rate to some kind of finite accuracy exactly how good I am, but the experience itself is so much more rewarding. It really changed the game for me.

[Yichimet]

I have healed on a resto shaman for the 4 years I've had this character. I don't have any other 80 alts, and while I like DPSing for a change--enhancement rotation is fun!--I still enjoy healing more than anything in this game. I'm not half bad at it, I find it way more challenging than anything else when the shit hits the fan, but I guess I don't have the experience to speak of for tanking. *shrug*

[Skaadvik]

I absolutely love healing. I've been doing it since BC for raids, and since WotLK in PvP. Since I was Shockadin in BC, I spent a lot of time healing anyway.

[Vyn]

Ugh, I did 1-60 healing on both a priest and a shaman, and I'm fairly sick of it now.

Tanking ftw. Warriors rock, which is why I've... begun... to level mine again.

[Alphaeus]

I've healed, ranged dps'd, melee dps'd, and tanked at lvl80.

Overall, my two all-time favorite to play are holy priest and protection paladin.
(I have 3 priests over lvl74 @_@)

It's fun to mix it up a bit, and switch what roles you're playing, even several times a night. Seeing an encounter from all the possible perspectives also makes you a lot better at said encounter, imo.

[Agnarr]

I've never liked healing. Too stressful. The priests I've rolled have been DPS specs, one shadow and one smitespam (which is honestly -very- fun, at least it was when 60 was max).
Tanking is fun. DPS is fun, but when the only thing you have to worry about is standing in fire, gets kinda dull.

[Ansha]

Since the realm is down, and I have been thinking about this, I thought I would post to force all of you to read the ramblings of my mind (mwahahaha)


So I started raiding at 70 as a tree, continued into Naxx and up to Uld. HMs as a tree. Now I raid as a resto-shammy in a 25 man.

I have come to the realization that I don't really enjoy healing that much. My tree has become a bear, I have a hunter at 80 that I am enjoying playing, and I occasionally tank on my warrior. I don't even do the daily heroic on my shaman just because I don't want to heal anything. I would rather bear-tank (which is pretty mindless - 2 buttons is hard) than heal anything.

Healing, in theory, is really appealing to me - it is probably the most challenging role in the game and there is a lot of decisions/choices to be made to play your class (especially a resto shaman) to the fullest. Knowing my personality, this appeals to me (and is why I started, and have continued, healing in raids). I feel like I am pretty good at it (not the best, not the worst - a solid healer) but have just gotten bored of it.

Just curious if anyone else had similar "role burn-out." Mixing it up from Tree => Shaman extended my interest in healing, but I have hit a wall. To those players who have always been one spec (Heid as a retadin is one that comes to mind) - is it just the spec you love so much? What do you do to mix it up/keep it interesting?

I realized this the other day when doing a ToC25 GDKP and realized that Tranq. Shotting Icehowl was the most exciting thing that had happened to me in a raid since Ulduar HM's.



(PS - I will still be there on Thursday with my banana heals, Cele. But there will be copious amounts of alcoholic beverages involved.)

I started out with a Nelf balance druid in vanilla, because I wanted to be an elf and I wanted to be a mage; and that was as close as you got then. Balance sucked--Hurricane was its 31pt talent up til after I hit 40; moonkin form was aptly called "oomkin" for its mana issues after 1.8. I started subbing into feral, so I could go cat or bear at low mana and still do something. I started tanking 5mans like this, grew to like it. Eventually, I went 30/21 feral/resto (the old pvp spec, which in MC was a decent healer and could still operate outside of raids fine). Finally, I just went flat-out 11/33/7, the cookie-cutter feral tanking build. I tanked MC, Ony, AQ20, ZG and a little of BWL.

I never wanted to be a healer, and so I was thrilled when presented with the (still somewhat sparse) opportunity to raid-tank instead. In BC, I tanked full-time, though I also finally had the opportunity to make an elf mage--what I wanted to do to begin with.

I still enjoy tanking, but my bear-tank is now an alt, and my mage is my true favorite.

[Lisbet]

Actually Mok, Heid spent huge chunk of time as a healer. He didn't do Ret till almost the end of BC. In fact, he has a half dozen 60 holy priests, three of which are horde, because his class of choice was a priest until they release Draenei. He holy pally healed till sunwell came out, and hasn't looked back. He even has a resto druid as an 80 alt ;p

I started out as a mage. I love dpsing hardcore, and I keep trying to do it (Lis was shadow for a hellva long time, my shaman is ele/resto, ret pally anyone?) but the fact remains that I'm just a better healer. I don't particularly enjoy playing whack-a-mole with green bars, but I do it anyways. Besides, you have no idea how maddening it is to have to stop dpsing to heal because a healer in x heroic/10m/25m pug etc is doing such a terrible job.

"OMG how can you be bad at 'green bars go up!' *pull hair out, press heal buttons*"

Raiding in WoW is a two sided blade - if you do what you like you may not ever see a raid slot. So you do that thing you don't really ever enjoy doing because you're either better at it then everyone else, or because its a guaranteed spot.

Healing is probably the least forgiving job to do in the game - even more so then tanking. It doesn't matter -what- happens, it is the healers fault because its their job to keep people alive. The only time its not is if you're failing with everyone alive and healthy - then its the dps's fault. Never before then, and failure due to dps is usually never the case.

[Emyi]

Healing is probably the least forgiving job to do in the game - even more so then tanking. It doesn't matter -what- happens, it is the healers fault because its their job to keep people alive.

If the tank dies, then it is the healers fault.
If anyone else dies, then it is the tanks fault, unless DPS do not know how to manage aggro and let loose 10k crits in the first half second, then it is the DPS' fault.

This excludes the 'gear' argument.
This also excludes the various fights where AOE is retarded.

[Swerto]

If the tank dies, then it is the healers fault.
If anyone else dies, then it is the tanks fault, unless DPS do not know how to manage aggro and let loose 10k crits in the first half second, then it is the DPS' fault.

This excludes the 'gear' argument.
This also excludes the various fights where AOE is retarded.
You're obviuosly not an avid raider.

Most raid encounters (lol heroics, if you're judging by these you are a silly person) have everyone in the raid taking damage throughout the fight. It is the healer's job to keep people alive.

It is the tank's job to keep bosses on them and off the healers and DPS, it is also their job to make sure they use their cooldowns at the right places to make it easier on the healers.

IT is the DPS's job to stay out of the fire, to stay behind the boss, to interrupt, etc. etc. etc.

If anyone dies, it is someone's fault, it's too easy to just pin it on the tank or healer. EVERYONE has a role to play, that's the draw of role based combat.

[Orrusk]

I have always had fun rotating between different roles. One reason I initially leveled a paladin. When I hit 80 I went around as prot till I had a relatively decent set of tanking gear, then had fun switching to Holy to work on a decent healing set, and then lastly the same with Ret. I did this in TBC as well however only did Holy and Ret in Vanilla.

I think the part I enjoyed about that was going from a good geared tank to a lesser geared healer. It kept the content really interesting to see it from all different spots and also since I had worse gear when I switched it made it more challenging.

I would have to say Ret is my favorite overall. Near the end of every expansion I always found myself running around with a 2h weapon as Ret and normally lvled the new content that spec.

[Gorvena]

I did get pretty burned out on tanking in BC, so I leveled my mage. Now, as much as I love playing Belicosa, I find myself tanking with Gorvena whenever I get a chance (the guild wants my mage dps/table, so mostly in pugs). Not sure I'll ever go back to hunter though (poor Chingaso).

[Lisbet]

You're obviuosly not an avid raider.

Most raid encounters (lol heroics, if you're judging by these you are a silly person) have everyone in the raid taking damage throughout the fight. It is the healer's job to keep people alive.

It is the tank's job to keep bosses on them and off the healers and DPS, it is also their job to make sure they use their cooldowns at the right places to make it easier on the healers.

IT is the DPS's job to stay out of the fire, to stay behind the boss, to interrupt, etc. etc. etc.

If anyone dies, it is someone's fault, it's too easy to just pin it on the tank or healer. EVERYONE has a role to play, that's the draw of role based combat.

No, no. Its always the healers fault. The only time it isn't the healers fault is if a dps peals the boss. THEN its the tanks fault.

A dps died in fire? "WTF I GOT NO HEALS"

A Tank eats a spike w/ no cooldown up "WTF WERE MY HEALS"

you die "OMG WHY DIDN"T YOU HEAL YOURSELF"

Least forgiving job. Obviously a dps is supposed to be smart enough to move out of the fire - but have you -ever- pugged anything on Twisting Nether as a healer? :P Or as any class?

Always the healers fault ;x

[Skaadvik]

Besides, you have no idea how maddening it is to have to stop dpsing to heal because a healer in x heroic/10m/25m pug etc is doing such a terrible job.

"OMG how can you be bad at 'green bars go up!' *pull hair out, press heal buttons*"

This used to happen to me all the time when I raided as ret, I had to stop running healbot because I would instinctively stop dpsing and start casting heals if people were low.

[Keraph]

I've been holy on Cerr since BC raiding as well, and I've never gotten burnt out on it. I get bored with raiding in GENERAL on occasion, but I have a solid ret set as well as a DK I made with the intention of raiding DPS, but I'm decidedly most satisfied raiding as a healer. I guess I feel like I'm doing the most that way. I've seen how DPS raiders get sucked into the whole "OMFG I NEED TO DO EVERYTHING I CAN TO MAX NUMBERS OR PEOPLE WILL THINK I'M A HORRIBLE HUMAN BEING" (That's a direct representation of how Nadea raids, btw :3), and I just don't want to play the meters game. I don't have a ranged deeps, and maybe that could be fun for me too, but I have three viable melee DPS characters, and I just never enjoy raiding as DPS. Maybe I'm just sick XD

[Moknim]

Let me add to this - the ONLY thing that keeps healing interesting is the fact it is so demanding. If it were as 'simple' as DPS is, I wouldn't have done it to start.

Keraph may be right - it isn't so much that I'm bored of healing, its that I am bored of the raids in general. Tranq Shotting icehowl was interesting because it was something I could do that could make or break the raid (I was the only hunter). I just don't have those feelings of adrenaline/excitement anymore. There isn't any "Work on a boss for 3 weeks (or more) to finally see him down" for me these days.

I think that is what I missing. Which is no fault of healing in general.

[Keraph]

I know what you mean, which is probably why Valithria Dreamwalker was like, the best thing to ever happen to my life (Sorry Nadea! :O ) It was a break from the norm, a shift in how we were doing things, if only for one fight, and that was really exciting! So yeah, it could just be the whole "falling into a pattern" thing, which is what occasionally makes raiding boring for me

[Imirak]

I absolutely love healing. I've been doing it since BC for raids, and since WotLK in PvP. Since I was Shockadin in BC, I spent a lot of time healing anyway.

I prefer healing in pve, but it sucks for me in pvp since I tend to do that solo.

[Lailinarel]

I played a rogue from about 2 weeks after this server opened till about the time ZA came out, which was when I started really kicking my prot warrior into gear.

Two 70s, and now at 80, I've got four geared 'mains'.

My warrior is geared for pvp, tanking and both arms and fury pvp, my pally has a pretty solid pve and pvp healing set (and a bleh ret set) I've got a 5k dps unbuffed combat rogue, and a DK who is pretty much a saronite whore, but can hold his own on both dps and tanking.

I unno, role changes are fun, it's a fair bit of work to 'competitively' gear multiple characters for multiple roles (and pvp) but it's very rewarding because I can really do whatever I want, whenever I want.

Working on my hunter next.
>.>
Or Warlock.
<.<

[Lisbet]

Warlock!

[Skaadvik]

I have a level 80 prot warrior who I rarely play because the simple fact is that I am not good at warrior tanking. The same goes for druid tanking. Paladin tanking came (heh) naturally to me (yes I realize it's easymode, but being good at anything takes ability), but healing has and will continue to be my role. I enjoy it, and I'm a hell of a lot better at it than anything else.

[Turnip]

From a slightly obsessive compulsive point of view : healing is much more relaxing for me than DPSing ever was.

There's a theoretical cap to how much you can heal during a raid. As long as the raid (and in my case the tanks) aren't dying I'm doing fine.

While DPSing on the other hand, it's important to squeeze out every single last drop you can. No roof exists here besides game mechanics. Lining up CDs, consumables, trinket/ability procs while maintaining perfect positioning and spatial awareness... no thanks.

Making squares fill up is so much easier!

[Dahnek]

I have heard the same from quite a few "zen-healers" on various servers. I myself never could dig deep to find that kind of serenity in the maelstrom. Dps however was always second nature.

[Ashae]

My first class was a mage. I was burnt out on it at level 7 pre-bc. xD I couldn't stand it.

My next class was a priest.. And that priest became my first 80. I griefed all shadow priests cuz holy was the funnest thing ever to me. But then I went shadow.. Then I burnt out on all the priestly stuff and leveled my shaman to 80. I got tired of resto and ele.. Never really cared for enhance. Rolled a rogue. Got it to 42 as subt. Still play it, but only BGs.. Leveled a druid to 43, still kindof play her. But now I've got my mage to level 62, and I must say that Arcane Barrage makes EVERYTHING look boring. Arcane is all..Nomnomnom..