After capping my rogue

[Epi]

One of the big differences between raid instances (or at least Molten Core) and the rest of the game is that many characters don't need to multitask in raids. [...] For healers other than the main tank healers it's the reverse - instead of only needing to watch five health bars they now need to track forty. So healing in raids is relatively harder than the other roles. Healing errors are also more serious - a healer taking ten seconds to say Hi to their family can cause three people to die, a DPSer doing the same means the boss takes an extra fraction of a second to take down.[right][snapback]104118[/snapback][/right]

Well, probably I was not clear enough - although our guild does not do regular MC runs, it does not mean that I never participated in one (I did), and we do 20-man ZG (and now AQ-20) regularly (from my experience, it's quite similar to 40-man). In other word, I do realize that raid healing is quite different from healing in 5-man... and I like it, BTW :P. One of the main reasons why I consider Priest my main now is that I found raiding with Hunter quite boring - hitting only 3 buttons in the same order (and 2 more in the "oh, crap" case) is far cry from what healer have to do... even when things go as expected. ;)

Not sure how how it relates to the other players' reaction, though, - my point was (and still is) that in raids I still getting full respect for the job done, and complains about inadequate tanking is much more common.

Healing in 40-man raids is very stressful; by comparison, 5-player groups are a cakewalk.  One of the big problems with healing is that you CANNOT take a break. [...] Just a few seconds away from your computer and people die.  You, as a healer, are always required to be ready and up for every pull, or else you get the usual "I didn't get a heal, WTF."[right][snapback]104139[/snapback][/right]

Don't quite agree with that. I mean, yes, healing in raid is much more stressful (= more fun ;)) than DPSing in the raid, completely agree with that. However, you CANNOT take a break in the 5-man group (where you are the only healer) either. Quite the opposite, you CAN sometimes take a break on the trash mobs in raid - there are other healers out here to cover your arse and cross-heal your party. It's that tank and CC'ers who must be ready for each pull, and the healer pretty often is still drinking at the beginning of the pull.

Regarding 'the usual "I didn't get a heal, WTF"' - I got this, probably, one or two time in my priestly carrier. I hear the words "thanks for the healing" much more often - that's why I suspect we're playing diferent games... or don't know what. :unsure:

Whereas with a DPS class, there's always ways to get better gear and do MORE damage and be more useful, healers have a cap on their usefulness based on the incoming damage to the group.  Then you get in a situation where the group doesn't need much healing or action on your part for a stretch of 30 minutes...and then all of a sudden crap happens and you have to ramp it up like crazy.  Some people can't just ramp up like that right away after 30 minutes of tedium.  In short, you could be a fantastic healing player but you don't get to do what you're good at a lot of the time.  This reduces the satisfaction level.[right][snapback]104139[/snapback][/right]

Yes, I agree completely with this point, but think you oversimplified a role of other classes in the raid. I did some raiding with my Hunter (including MC), and believe the same pattern is applicable to all others as well. You don't do nothing 30 minutes (except for mindlessly hitting the same 3 buttons), and then suddenly you need to react quickly, send your pet to intercept that add heading to the healers, try to grab aggro ASAP... For healers, it may be more noticable, but the issue does exists for everybody else too. That's why I like small groups better. (OT: my biggest gripe is the Blizzard position of "good items requires at least 40-man raid to get" - I don't want/need cheese, I'm quite ready to put my efforts to get an upgrade, I just want to do it in more fun small party - let it be very difficult, but don't require gathering 40 players!)

-Miiko, lvl 60 nelf Priest (and Yolka, lvl 60 nelf Hunter & Bangalash, lvl 60 cat)