Why does everyone want to DPS?
by Elizabeth Wachowski 
Apr 23rd 2007 at 10:45AM
You see them in the arenas and in the battlegrounds, looking for groups in Ironforge and Orgrimmar, and complaining on the forums and their blogs. They are ret paladins, balance druids, enhancement shamans, and shadow priests who would like to see their class be able to DPS in raids. But why does everyone want to DPS? Tanks and healers are precious commodities, and DPS are a dime a dozen.
I talked to a couple people in-game who had switched from one role to another during their time in WoW. Most of them agreed that DPS was more attractive than healing or tanking and gave a number of reasons:
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DPSers don't have as much responsibility. Unless you pull aggro, you're probably not going to directly kill anyone as a DPSer. Healers get blamed a lot for wipes.
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All classes are pretty much forced to learn how to DPS just to level, but may not learn tanking and healing until they get in instances (if ever.)
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DPSers get to be right in front of the boss and directly contribute to the death of the enemy. (Note: not true for dagger rogues, who get to spent every boss fight staring at the boss's backside.)
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The DPS role is seen as the more masculine and aggressive role, instead of protecting and healing, which are seen as more feminine roles. Or, as a female elemental shammy friend of mine said, "Guys just like to punch things." Oh, now I'm all gender-confused, because I also like to punch things.
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DPSers can show off their individual skill and power by comparing crits and DPS meters. What are healers and tanks going to say? "Wow, look at how much aggro I held on the mob?"
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There are simply more DPS classes than tanks or healers.
To be fair, there are also some unique challenges for DPSers:'
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Do you know how many of us there ARE? Try getting a guild invite as a rogue or hunter.
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Because there are so many DPSers, we're rarely praised and often mocked, since we're seen as easily replaceable. "Don't complain -- do you know how many mages would kill to get into this guild?"
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Some healers see DPSers as big, dumb brutes who push buttons mindlesssly. This hurts our fragile self-esteem.
So I'm turning the question to you guys. Why is DPSing more popular than tanking or healing? Which role do you like the best? What could be done to even out the balance a little more?
Census above courtesy of warcraftrealms.com, level 70s on all servers.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Instances, Raiding, Leveling, Classes
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
Einbroch Apr 23rd 2007 10:59AM
It's because they can grind and raid in one spec.
It's your specced for tanking/healing, you can't grind. At all.
Strongmark on Arthas Apr 23rd 2007 10:59AM
23 y/o male with a lvl 56 Human Warrior. LOVE tanking. Definitely not easy to learn and am only now starting to get the hang of it. In the earlier levels, tanking was a synch, most mobs stayed attached to me, but as I started going into instances at higher levels, I began to learn what its all about and the tricks of the trade. It's not as easy as it seams! I think DPS classes, especially mages, have less of a responsibility, but of course, they are vital and very useful in every situation.
My main alt is a lvl 25 NE priestess. I like to offer random buffs and heals as I'm running by, doesn't happen to me when I'm soloing with warrior, so I like to try to throw some help out there when I can.
I do have a mage, he seems to bore me. Don't like playing with him. I just started a rogue, I will see how that goes, but most likely will not play him until I have a much higher main. I have also tried a hunter on a horde server, and so far have really enjoyed the easy mode fast levelling pace of the hunter, rarely die with him. Call me an altoholic, cuz I am! :o)
Falgorn Apr 23rd 2007 11:00AM
For the most part, People associate DPS more readily with defeating an enemy, and as a more immediate extension of their prowess. It's also easier for a DPS class to survive solo outside of groups or raids than it is for a tank / healer.
The truth of the matter is, healing and tanking requires a greater sense of responsibility and to some extent maturity. Healing well requires constant focus on numerous target which is occasionally though more often not the case with DPS.
Tanking well whilst seemingly simpler than either DPS or Healing, requires skill in timing and far more awareness than any other class. So few watch their aggro, so Tanks really have to be on their toes, especially with the new end game heroic instances and Kharazhan. Tanking well is also about gearing well, as it's heavily gear dependent, and you will often find that Protection tanks go to more effort pre raid to attain the best gear available than any other class.
The pre emptive argument however is that €13 a month means you can spec and do whatever you feel like with your class!
Hub Apr 23rd 2007 11:03AM
Playing DPS is fun! With meters it's fun to have a friendly competion with others in your group. Adds another challenge to the game. Tanking is quite a bit of fun too. Healing, however, is stressful and freaks me out.
Pingmeister Apr 23rd 2007 11:02AM
My first MMORPG character was a Healer and I will never do that again.
My hat goes off to any person who could tolerate healing for a group.
Especially those folks who bring a solitary healer into a group and say "Don't worry if we wipe, we know we need one more Healer." When that group wipes no matter what anyone says that Healer is going to be rethinking that fight over and over.
Ugh, I get chills just thinking about those days.
I'M TRAUMATIZED!
Ryan Apr 23rd 2007 11:06AM
I've been a resto shaman for quite some time now. I can completely understand when a priest wants to go shadow, or a shaman wants to go enhancement/elemental, or a paladin wants to go ret, etc... Up until the expansion, all we ever did was heal. Heal heal heal... boring after a while. So I think it's pretty cool with all of the role changes. Shadow priests are awesome in 10 mans, enhancement shamans can dish out some nasty dps and seriously enhance melee dps, protection paladins and bear tanks are making life easy for healers, etc..
I like what Blizzard has done here even though it might make some hard-nose old-school people hate the game.
MacAllah Apr 23rd 2007 12:00PM
Well, personally, I switched from Holy (at 60) to Shadow, so I could level. When I hit 70 and everyone had realized Holy Priests could not hold a candle to Resto Druids or Holy Pallys (post-TBC) I stayed.
I think some of the "useless DPS" statements are true, but only for the "buff-less" classes. Sure, Hunters have a few auras, but them and Rogues are the most useless in end-game. Imp. Sap is a must and it still is pathetic compared to sheep. Mages have AB, Priests have PW:Fort, even Balance Druids have GOTW.
On the other hand... there are more people DPSing because there HAVE TO BE. A 5-man is one tank and one healer. And three DPS classes. Have you ever tried running a 5-man with two healers? They both have to be working because the lack of DPS makes the mobs take forever to kill...
I've been doing Kara for just over a month now and the same logic applies to 10-mans. Runnable with 1 (sometimes 2) tanks and 3 healers... That leaves like 5 or 6 DPS spots open, in comparison.
Just my 2 cents... if you have a choice for that last DPS spot, take a Shadow Priest: you'll get health regen (vamp emb), mana regen (vamp touch), a +5% spell dmg debuff to mobs (misery), someone who can rez... and help heal if your main healer dies. The lack of AOE sucks, though...
Scruffy Apr 23rd 2007 11:06AM
Who's everyone? :D
Basically, you got the real clincher right there in your second bullet point:
"All classes are pretty much forced to learn how to DPS just to level, but may not learn tanking and healing until they get in instances (if ever.)"
Unless I got a buddy who plays whenever I'm playing and ONLY when I'm playing, I have to solo (as a Disc/Holy priest who's seriously thinking about going shadow). In fact, this is exactly what happened from about level 20-45ish (except it was three buddies).
Now, I like the challenges in being a healer. If not for me, they'd have only a chance in hell. Not a big fan of the amount of threat a priest generates though, even with Silent Resolve.
kuchikirukia Apr 23rd 2007 11:08AM
Well, contrary to it, i love both roles, dps and healing.
when I heal, i dun have to bother much except for my latency (bad latency means bad heals!).
Dps is fun yes, but u die more often from all the aggro by ur crits.
Blackhorn Apr 23rd 2007 11:08AM
Now this is funny, because my wife also likes to punch things. To quote her: "I like to punch [poopies]" (edited for minors). In FFXI she was a Monk, the punching class, and is currently contemplating rolling something she can use fist weapons with after finding disappointment with her 70 priest, and her younger paladin.
Either way, I don't find it unusual at all when women prefer more aggressive (maybe a better word is competitive) roles in a game. The fact that they play games regularly at all suggests to me there's a better chance they like a lot of the same things I do about games than traditionally feminine facets.
That's probably it right there though, DPSers compete. "My numbers are bigger than yours". Healers and tanks can compete too, but generally people don't care about competitions like those anymore than profesonal chess or scrabble competitions. If you want to compete, you jump into the pool with the DPSers to get your own e-penis measured, even if you're a woman.
I'd bet that you could imagine any woman in your life playing WoW, and know before they logged in the first time which kind of role they'd want to play. It's not defined by gender more than personality.
I'll stop now before I hit page 2 of my comment :b
Brikk - Dragonblight Apr 23rd 2007 11:11AM
Dps is viable for PvP and PvE. When folks get competitive in a game like this, it's a lot easier to compare skill/build/talent/gear through the established standard - dps, and, by extension, PvP.
You would comparing healing meters, but outside of a raid, how often to you have two or three competitive healers? And, tanking is similar. A group that has three guys competing to try to get highest on the 'damaged recieved' meter is probably going to be a comlete disaster.
Everyone want to be the guy who kills the bad guy. Not a lot of folks want to be the guy who takes the beating from the bad guy, or, even, healing the guy who takes the beating from the bad guy.
dlanier Apr 23rd 2007 11:10AM
I'm a druid dreamstate healer with one point in moonkin. Dreamstate healing is a strategy to never go oom, with hots and nature's swift as the focus, timing in ht's. So, I can dps in moonkin and crit for 2.5k up, or heal.
Main healing on bosses suck. Meleers - almost always rogues, hmm - scream at me about keeping the tank full. I heal by HoT's mr wtfpwn, and my big heal takes 3 secs to cast if natures swift is on cooldown, so I'm working on it.
Healing on mobs and trash is easy, healing on many bosses is easy, some bosses are a bitch. I keep wiping on the first boss of shattered halls because of fear scatter send people where I can't reach them, its frankly demoralizing.
So to the question at hand - healers are almost never appreciated when people don't die, and always blamed when there are wipes.
Always. Not tank, what gear are you wearing, not rogue, how about some stamina with the leather in melee range, always, always the healer.
There are only 3 realistic main heals - priest, dwarf/draenei pref, holy pally, tree druid. I will never go tree. (resto shaman may be main heal worthy, I haven't run with them much)
I like being dps/off heal. I actually think having 1.5 healers on a raid is an deeply underrated strategy- have 4 on targets one healer for trash, 2 healers 3 on targets for hard fights.
I've been thinking about my ideal pug if I could build it.
prot warrior
me (dps/heal, cyclone)
mage (sheep, crit benefit from moonkin aura)
warlock w demonology (seduce, banish, crit benefit from moonkin aura, felguard, fear in some places)
dwarf/draenai priest (main heal, fear ward, mind control, rez)
3 clothies, all with 5% crit bonus, 2 tanks, potentially up to 6 ccs at one time depending on the mob)
Phoenic Apr 23rd 2007 11:10AM
After spending 2 years with my Rogue - Countless nights in ZG, MC, BWL, AQ - The expansion all but sucked the life out of my dps desires. We went from being a dime a dozen, to virtually un-wanted or needed in raids. Getting in Kara as a rogue is nearly impossible when your in a large guild such as mine with as many as 5-10 rogues wanting to raid.
So i bit the bullet, hung up the 'ole daggers, and leveled a shaman and druid. BOTH RESTO! Try keeping me out of a group now suckas!
Superbeef Apr 23rd 2007 11:17AM
I also think it has something to do with the "A good defense is to have a great offense" mentality. DPSers feel like if they can kill the enemy before the enemy kills them, then who cares that they're a tattered mess than a enraged fly could beat up?
Also, it does have to do with simple game mechanics. You can't kill something by healing it to death, or by tanking the out of it. The idea in most games is the same: kill your enemy. Tanking and healing are almost counter-intuitive to this idea. They're about out-lasting, out surviving.
I'm a tank. Always have been, always will be. I get my kicks by holding an enemy tightly, being a glutton for his punishment, and coming out the end the victor. But there is a certain bloodlust that goes with DPS. Big numbers. Blood. It's more visible than holding the enemy while everyone else kills it. An hey, if you have enough DPS, you don't even need a tank!
It is easier too. Tanking and healing require concentration, a rhythm, and a great amount of gear and skill. DPSing usually comes natural for DPS classes, and even when you're lame at it, you're not that lame and nobody is dead.
Everyone wants to DPS because it's human nature. Those that love to tank and heal do so because we get a different kind of thrill. The thrill of saving lives, the thrill of knowing that the only thing stopping that monster from ripping everyone else apart, is you. You really don't appreciate it until you do it. Where as everyone can appreciate one shotting a little ant with a sword swipe.
Twinny Apr 23rd 2007 11:17AM
quit yer whinin and bring something good to the raid... HEAL! I have this issue with my guild all the time, mostly with paladins thinking they will be able to tank raids... lol.
You (priest/shammy/pally) leveled this char to 70 in whatever why, great, but do you want to contend with all the other warlocks, mages, rogues, and huntards for a raiding spot, or do you want to be a critically needed healer.
its as simple as this:
become a holy paladin and always get a healing spot, Or be a retri pally, and never be invited again.
daniel Apr 23rd 2007 11:17AM
I must be grouping/raiding with some pretty special people because they let me know that I'm appreciated for healing when I do good. At first, the responsibility of healing was scary, especially when you found bad pugs that obviously blamed you for lack of healing, but as you get better you'll know when you're the problem and when the rest of the group is the problem. And as already mentioned, DPS is a dime a dozen, so don't be afraid to try out healing, it's not as bad as it seems.
Niekon Apr 23rd 2007 11:19AM
way back when in FFXI I played a healer and did not mind that at all. When in a great group then things went well... and whenever something went wrong (typically some bonehead pulled too many mobs or someone dragged a train of mobs through our group) I was the first to take the blame. At the same time I was also spending time trying to get these people comfortable with me as their healer.
But I had found it so aggravating that while playing the healing role I was not able to solo in areas that would benefit the advancement of my character.
The same thing happened in WoW when I started playing last year. I actually started with a priest and then re-rolled a druid who dinged at 70 this past weekend (I am beyond casual... I am the totally relaxed gamer type). I play the role of back-up healer okay... but in order to solo grind my way up the ladder I chose to spec Balance instead of Resto... and only if I decide to do a lot of grouping will I consider a respec to Resto.
Besides, DPS is fun to watch threat meters jumping all over the place in some instances. I'll stick to my moonkin for a while longer thanks...
Sylythn Apr 23rd 2007 11:33AM
Personally, I've never gotten into tanking because of two reasons - it's too hard to level, and if you don't level as a tank, then it's too big of a learning curve to get the hang of it later. I've read through some of the materials on the forums (tanking guides and such) - and that's a fricken full-time job to keep on top of things. I'm too casual a player at the moment to take on that kind of a responsibility in my guild.
As for healing - I don't have a problem with it. What I have issue with is that people think Holy pallies should be in the back lines with the clothies. Paladins have plate armor for a reason - so I'd rather be in there DPSing as a Ret paladin, and support healing as I can - rather than ignoring half of my skills as I stand in the back and toss heals.
Candlelight Apr 23rd 2007 11:28AM
I'm a Shadow Priest, and was asked to heal for an instance last night. I'd forgotten just how little fun it is. I am always up front with people and tell them that I am not a healer and I have zero points in Holy. The response I got last night was "well, can you heal decent?" Sure... if you can play decent.
You are blamed for EVERYTHING, including a Mage who sheep-pulls and can't shake the agro, or a Warlock who you rez, and then they back into a mob and die again. I get tired of seeing people stop attacking, and take the time to type "HEAL!" because I'm certain no Priest has ever had time to stop casting Flash Heal and type "DPS!" and it's not a lot of fun to spend the money on a 25" widescreen display only to spend 2-3 hours looking at 5 little green bars in the upper-left hand corner.
I can't out-heal your crappy gear, your inability to taunt effectively, and your pet is your baggage, not mine. I am not an excuse for people to play poorly, and I'm certainly not willing to put up with the blame for it.
This article brings up a great point: a good healer is hard to find, and should be treated with respect. Until more people do that, they will always be in short supply, and I'll spec Shadow.
GamerJunkie Apr 23rd 2007 11:30AM
@1, thats so untrue. A tank/healing spec is much better for grinding than pure DPS.
Think how many times a mage/warlock has to take death during quest grinds. Without a healer with you, you either run or die when taking too much aggro.
As a healer, you can always keep yourself alive much longer in tough situations.
A Prot/holy spec Pally is the best way to grind quests. Solo even elites without dying.