07-01-2005, 07:29 PM
So, yes and no.
A mediocre tank needs a lot of CC and goes on autopilot. A medicre healer watches only the main tank and plays healbot. A mediocre hunter or rogue is nothing but a DPS monkey.
If you aren't using the benefits of your class, yes, you go on autopilot. What's more, some instances are EASY. You can solo pull or pull+CC everything. If you only have one mob to face, every class is boring. Tanking a solo mob is trivial and fighting a solo mob means the primary healer is pretty much just adding some DPS outside of the boss encounters and the occasional tricky bit in the later instances.
BUT...
EVERY class can contribute over and above this. A good hunter is the best puller in the game, drops traps pre- and mid-fight, picks pet targets (whether off-tanking or DPS'ing), etc. A warlock is keeping curses on multiple mobs, matching pets to targets, DPS'ing, CCing when necessary, etc. You've heard Drasca mention how he feels he really commands the field when in a group because warlocks are working everywhere. A rogue is throwing some initial CC and then playing the Aggro dance where you pull the mob then throw a feint, mixing it up with some stun lock, and if necessary ripping off to defend squishies.
I've brought all my folks up through the 40's at this point. Everybody has something to do during an instance run above and beyond the norm. The trick is just to find it. Well -- you also have to play with people who will let you DO that. I've played with groups that wouldn't let the tank tank. I've played with groups that wouldn't let the hunter pull or drop traps. I've played with groups that didn't know how to support a mage going AoE. There's a lot of people who do these things badly, but if learn how to do them well it's a lot of fun and the party just gets stronger because of it.
I'm reminded of the thread we had here at one point in time were some people were suggesting that you shouldn't DoT in groups because "things could go wrong!" Does it get boring playing a class if you're not allowed to actually play that class? Yup.
One other note. The earlier instances are designed to be do-able by people who've never seen them before and aren't sure how grouping works. If you actually know what you're doing, they're pretty trival and you get bored. If you have a group that really knows what it's doing and brings the right classes, you're pretty much zerging the early instances, no matter WHAT level you bring. I've done VC fairly trivially with 3 lvl 19/20's, for example (rogue/pally/hunter). RFD is, in many ways, the highest level "low level" instance in this respect. This are a lot more interesting once you start into the 5 or 6-man pulls in Uldaman or the marathon encounters in ZF, for example. The harder the pull, the more interesting (for everyone).
A mediocre tank needs a lot of CC and goes on autopilot. A medicre healer watches only the main tank and plays healbot. A mediocre hunter or rogue is nothing but a DPS monkey.
If you aren't using the benefits of your class, yes, you go on autopilot. What's more, some instances are EASY. You can solo pull or pull+CC everything. If you only have one mob to face, every class is boring. Tanking a solo mob is trivial and fighting a solo mob means the primary healer is pretty much just adding some DPS outside of the boss encounters and the occasional tricky bit in the later instances.
BUT...
EVERY class can contribute over and above this. A good hunter is the best puller in the game, drops traps pre- and mid-fight, picks pet targets (whether off-tanking or DPS'ing), etc. A warlock is keeping curses on multiple mobs, matching pets to targets, DPS'ing, CCing when necessary, etc. You've heard Drasca mention how he feels he really commands the field when in a group because warlocks are working everywhere. A rogue is throwing some initial CC and then playing the Aggro dance where you pull the mob then throw a feint, mixing it up with some stun lock, and if necessary ripping off to defend squishies.
I've brought all my folks up through the 40's at this point. Everybody has something to do during an instance run above and beyond the norm. The trick is just to find it. Well -- you also have to play with people who will let you DO that. I've played with groups that wouldn't let the tank tank. I've played with groups that wouldn't let the hunter pull or drop traps. I've played with groups that didn't know how to support a mage going AoE. There's a lot of people who do these things badly, but if learn how to do them well it's a lot of fun and the party just gets stronger because of it.
I'm reminded of the thread we had here at one point in time were some people were suggesting that you shouldn't DoT in groups because "things could go wrong!" Does it get boring playing a class if you're not allowed to actually play that class? Yup.
One other note. The earlier instances are designed to be do-able by people who've never seen them before and aren't sure how grouping works. If you actually know what you're doing, they're pretty trival and you get bored. If you have a group that really knows what it's doing and brings the right classes, you're pretty much zerging the early instances, no matter WHAT level you bring. I've done VC fairly trivially with 3 lvl 19/20's, for example (rogue/pally/hunter). RFD is, in many ways, the highest level "low level" instance in this respect. This are a lot more interesting once you start into the 5 or 6-man pulls in Uldaman or the marathon encounters in ZF, for example. The harder the pull, the more interesting (for everyone).