Raid Issues: Respecing for Raids
by Elizabeth Harper 
Feb 20th 2006 at 3:00PM
If you've attempted to join a raid or a
raiding guild in World of Warcraft, you've probably encountered this issue. Perhaps you play a very versatile
class, capable of doing many things - but in a raid environment everyone becomes a cog in the machine. In a
40-man raid each player has fairly static functions to perform and they're usually expected to spec so as to perform
them as well as possible, often at a sacrifice to soloing or PVPing ability. And with the high cost of respeccing
(it maxes out at 50 gold), it's not practical to switch back and forth between the spec your guild wants you to have and
the spec you most enjoy playing. Community manager Caydiem has noted before that Blizzard wants a player's choice
of spec to be a serious one, rather than a minor inconvenience, where talent choices are reshuffled before heading out
for any new adventure. But what do you do when the spec your guild requires isn't one that allows you to have fun
on your own? And then again, doesn't a guild have a right to expect its players to play at their best during
raids?[Image credit: PvP by Scott Kurtz]
Filed under: Guilds, Analysis / Opinion
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Tom Feb 20th 2006 3:44PM
I think its perfectly acceptable for a guild to assign a certain role to you. I do, however, feel that the guild needs to be totally upfront about what they need when recuiting. Dont just accept any old mage if you want a frost/arcane/fire specced mage. Same with Druids, Priets, etc...
On the other end of the spectrum if a player is inflexible about changing because they prefer playing their current spec then they need to shop around for a guild needs them the way they are. There is a place in the game for every spec of every class. I play on a low population server and we have plenty of high level guilds to choose from. I'm sure on the busier servers there are more than you could possibly need.
Krutch Feb 20th 2006 4:25PM
I think that the raid group has a right to expect you to do your best and help the raid as a whole. After all, you're not in the raid for your own personal gains, you're there to accomplish something as a team.
On the other hand, I don't believe that a player should have to choose between PVP and PVE. I believe that any one spec should be able to handle both efficiently, and a player that knows his or her own class very well also knows that any spec is great for any play style. The WoW boards state it the best: "Learn2Play" your class. An arms warrior can still tank and take damage; a shadow priest can still heal; a feral druid can still cure curses....