Power gaming guild buying up the healers

[Kevin]

I've been partying a lot recently with some rogues. Earlier today we did a Strat run, and one of the rogues went in for a sap. It went about as wrong as it could go, and ended up with 8 elites beating on him. The urge was to rush in, and it hurt to watch him get pounded into the ground like that. But he didn't even try to fight, just typed out "Let me die!" He did, then we rezzed him and took some revenge.

When you get in with the good groups, everyone knows when to die. ;)
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Yeah, but boy did that hurt, and as a healer I've had to let people die as well. I haven't had a lot of rogues around while I was tanking and boy was it hard to not hit charge, dem shout, challenging roar and either retailaite or shield wall and see if I could tank us through. But of course the fact that a bad crate popped all those worms and all the elites were on him I would have just been another corpse.

And I still wonder what went through Treesh's head there, especially after she kept us all alive with the one group where we got adds, an eye, a bad box, a citizen that had wandered too close to my dem shout, and then people backing too far up to try and get at mobs and springing the gate trap too. I mean she kept everyone alive there and then she had to watch the poor rogue die.... The power of holy nova to pull asses out of the fire was certianly re-affirmed today though. :) I mean I was trying to get all that aggro back on me, I saw both rogues sitting at less than 5% health at times but dem shout and piercing howls and cleaves and sunders can only do so much. Everyone kicked ass in that fight but Treesh blew my mind once again there.

[Treesh]

And I still wonder what went through Treesh's head there,
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It was simple. "If it were Etheramwen in that situation, I wouldn't want a heal on me and cause a wipe." ;) That's what went through my head. Playing other classes up high is a plus in some cases. :D

[Watto44]

Just on a couple of side notes:

It's amazing how rare it is to get complimented on your "l337 h34lin6 skillZ". :P I'm lucky enough to be on a really friendly server with lots of good people, but usually the best you get is a perfunctory "thanks for the heals" at the end of the instance. And even that's rare. :D I'm not asking for people to lavish praise on me, but it gives a great sense of satisfaction and general group-huggableness when someone compliments your healing after a tough fight.

Lol, note that the same should probably be said for everyone in your group. Compliment the tank after that tough fight: they kept you alive to keep them alive. Compliment the nice rogue/shammy/miscellaneous person who pulled the mob off you when you had to go all out and drew a lot of agro. Compliment the hunter for their good pull. Blah blah blah, you get the picture. Share the love people! :D

Second thing, the OP asked about shammies healing end game stuff. Don't let anyone fool you, it can be done! It's just bloody hard. Before I abandoned him for my druid, I did a lot of healing with my shaman and got a good feeling for what I could and could not manage. (NOTE: I only ever main healed in 5man living strat, LBRS and DM West and North - north = nasty hard, king was as close to impossible to heal for with a shammy, those crits are brutal.) For a well pulled (in other words, CC was used well) I could handle all the healing duties. For boss mobs I needed one of two things: a second healer to back me up when my mana ran dry (best option), or mana pots coming out my rear end (and even then it can be dicy). The primary requirement for a shaman to MH high end instances is an excellent tank though, and a skilled group. If your group is bad, you don't have the healing oomph to pull it off.

One of my favorite memories from playing my shaman was an odd group running 5 man living strat. We had a druid tanking (and doing an awesome job of it too), a hunter, a warlock, and a rogue. We might have wipes a few times, and it might have taken us a long time, but damn! we made it to the end. Was an awesome feeling for the five of us to leave that place victorious. :D

Unfortunately, when it comes right down to it though, the main reason I switched back to my druid was that if you're going to be healing, it's a lot more enjoyable with a druid than with a shaman.

[Brother Laz]

I'm lucky enough to be on a really friendly server with lots of good people, but usually the best you get is a perfunctory "thanks for the heals" at the end of the instance. And even that's rare.  :D

I haven't played WoW yet, but I've played all sorts of War3 custom maps and that mentality is very familiar. People don't like to be forced to rely on others to help them blow stuff up. Healers are much rarer than other classes, so they feel like they have to beg you to join their group [which they don't like] and during the entire instance, their life depends on your heals, regardless of how high their F1R3B4LLZ0RZ damage is. At the same time, you're not really helping them kill monsters and plow through the instance faster. They see you as a necessary burden instead of a group member.

More firepower in the group, okay. But they don't like needing someone to do what they want to do, namely swing their doom sword or spam fireballs. Ergo, they want the healer to shut up and healbot so they can play. To the contrary, you keep pointing out their mistakes that caused the team to almost die, something only the healer noticed because he was on the verge of running oom, so they think you're a whiny crybaby to boot.

[Gorthag]

Just on a couple of side notes:

It's amazing how rare it is to get complimented on your "l337 h34lin6 skillZ".  :P I'm lucky enough to be on a really friendly server with lots of good people, but usually the best you get is a perfunctory "thanks for the heals" at the end of the instance. And even that's rare.  :D  I'm not asking for people to lavish praise on me, but it gives a great sense of satisfaction and general group-huggableness when someone compliments your healing after a tough fight.

After I installed the Scrolling Combat Text mod that shows damage & healing numbers streaming above your character's head, I really started noticing good heals. As a tank my attention is usually totally occupied trying to hold aggro, so I wouldn't always notice when heals landed on me. Now, when a giant "2300" crit heal floats above my head I know someone just saved my bacon! And since I notice it more the kudos come out more too. Healers tend to be totally shocked when I rave about their nice crit heal while the hunters are raving about their aimed shot crits :)

Gorthag

[Icebird]

I really like the Scrolling Combat Text mod - especially the additional messages like "low mana", "low health" and debuff warnings. (Geddon's Living Bomb anyone?).

I think good players can appreciate it when other people are doing their job well. I have had compliments playing both my priest and warlock - not all the time, but they are much appreciated when I get them.

Chris

[Mavfin]

No, this is pretty much cross-server and applies to all guilds.  Boltress was under the same scenario in the Lurkers guild during her 50's as a leveling Priest.  Our guild had a squad of 60's already, along with a few 50's who, as far as I know, were not joined by the already 60's-squad in instances until we were level 58-59.  This was despite getting requests by some of the 60's to "hurry up" and get to 60 faster so I could heal end-game instances.  It kind of led to my lack of desire to run such instances when I capped, and why, even though she's retired, she's come out to do the occasional BRD run for those in their 50's but still hasn't set foot in Scholomance, LBRS, UBRS, etc.  But I digress, and I don't want to hijack the thread with my whining.

[snip]

-Bolty
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I'm experiencing some of this now, Bolty. Keshi, my tank warrior, is always getting asked for help by the guildies, but, when she needs to run to Hearthglen (can't solo 56 elites well) for a quest, no help is forthcoming, no one has time. I retired her for a week, and they got the point, since she was the *only* in-guild tank above 50 at that time, not even a pally.

And, on my Alliance server (Uldum), Limited and Union are skimming the cream, especially healers, off the top of the mid-sized guilds. It's just business, and it's not your guild, it's the kind of people who jump. There's very little you can do to stop them. Those that can be bribed will jump. Simple as that.

[Trien]

Another question one could ask as well is, "How good are the healers?" Granted, in the 40-man raids with lots of backup, it isn't quite an issue a lot of the time, excepting possibly the boss fights where you need to conserve your mana since they do run long. Sure, they're getting a lot of healers into the big guild, but are they the players that are needed?

As to, "How can I win?" The guild I'm in has recently had a few players (not just healers) pulled away partly because of the whole endgame raiding issue. We just don't have the numbers to do these on our own. We've tried teaming up with some other guilds, but there've been unfortunately too many issues arising (loot distribution being one of the main ones). And when they've got most of their blue sets and are eyeing the epics... how much can you really do? Some are altruistic enough that they'll stay around to help the lower levels get caught up, and to be honest, those are the type you'd like to keep around. Others start alternate characters to bide the time. For those who really want to go for the loot/etc... I can't think of a good answer really.

I wish Blizzard would put out a HARD 5-man, instance. One that players have to be decently geared and skilled at to play. As much fun as the groupwork which is required for a 40-man raid is, it doesn't have quite the excitement nor the dynamics of a 5-man run. With the recent nerfs to all the regular L60 instances, I'm rather disappointed...

[Drasca]

I wish Blizzard would put out a HARD 5-man, instance.

Nothing's hard after the 7th successful attempt, when the challenge is static and predictable.

If I saw level 60 versions of scarlet monestary mobs suddenly popping in Dire maul, then random gnolls too, I'd be surprised and possibly interested.

Random mob spawning ftw.