Unconventional Group Makeup
by Matthew Rossi 
Nov 10th 2007 at 6:00AM
Today was an interesting day for me in the game.
First off, I respecced to protection and tanked a Mechanar run just to help out a dude advertising in general. I didn't know him, don't know him now (don't even remember his character's name) and when I saw the group makeup - rogue, paladin, enhancement shaman, feral druid and myself - I cringed for a moment about the lack of CC and then I figured, what the heck and flew to Tempest Keep.
Quite frankly, the run went nearly flawlessly. We had one wipe on Pathaleon and that was it. I tanked, the paladin healer marked the pulls, the rogue sapped the mobs that he could, and otherwise we just dealt with it. I held aggro, we didn't die, I got a new toy to tide me over until Despair or Gorehowl finally drop or Season 3 comes out, whichever comes first. Buoyed from this experience (it was really fun to tank for complete strangers without the usual CC and just hold aggro the old fashioned way) I then went about my day.
Later, my guildmates asked me if I wanted to come along to SV. We ended up in a group with two warriors (myself, respecced back to arms/fury, and a tank), a rogue, a feral druid and a priest. One CC again, and no ranged DPS at all, just melee. This run went even better, so much so that we went back and did it again just to get some folks to revered before the patch hits. You'd think having a tank and three melee DPS on Thespia might be problematic, but it wasn't. People just ran out of the AoE without even being told.
This got me to thinking about unconventional groups. Often, people resist doing a run unless they have exactly the 'right' makeup, but I've done all of Shadow Labs witth a group consisting of a warrior tank (me) a warrior DPSing, a rogue DPSing and CCing, a priest DPSing and a feral druid healing and we did fine. Or the infamous Shattered Halls run with a warrior tanking, paladin offtanking, warrior DPSing, another paladin DPSing and a paladin healing. We called it the plate run, and no, no plate dropped.
Now, I've also done runs like these and wiped. The 'all-shaman Ramps' run did not work at all. And let us never speak again of the shaman, hunter, rogue, rogue, rogue attempt at the Botanica.
Have you ever thrown caution to the winds, ignored the common wisdom on class balance, and run a dungeon with a group of unusual composition?
Filed under: WoW Social Conventions, Virtual selves, Odds and ends, Instances
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
NekoDaimyo Nov 10th 2007 6:19AM
While not exactly a dungeon, I did a round of Horseman kills with 4 warriors and a paladin. By the combined armor total, we should have been invincible. Never did get the damn helm, though.
Rabenherz Nov 11th 2007 9:46AM
I was running Mechanaar with some others a few weeks ago: Two Hunters (I was one of them), two warriors (Fury and Tank) and a healing Shaman that wasn't speced for healing. We didn't even share a TS-room and never met each other before but it was the fastest and funniest rund I ever had in Mecha ^^
snitzle Nov 10th 2007 6:30AM
I've tanked shadow labs... most wouldnt say there is anything weird to that statement...
except, Im a warlock.
jumb Nov 10th 2007 6:45AM
BRK posted a story on his blog the other day, about someone doing a 4x hunter, 1 shammy run of slabs.
http://bigredkitty.blogspot.com/2007/11/it-sounds-kinky-but-it-isnt.html
CauthonDM Nov 10th 2007 6:41AM
I did Black Morass a few weeks ago with a rogue, mage, hunter, shadow priest and myself as a resto druid. The rogue tanked. This isn't actually too unusual for him, he has a tanking (defense and mitigation) set and keeps a list of things he's tanked.
As a group of level 64s two days after TBC lauched I did The Underbog with two hunters and two rogues. Tanking at bosses involved bouncing between the hunters, rogues and pets using vanish, FD, and very heavy healing once they'd all been used up.
Back at 60 (and still in blue gear) I ran Stratholme with three druids and two warriors. I once put together a AQ20 clearance with 11 druids. While I wasn't actually involved my guild did (almost, they got R&J which needed some help) a KZ clear with 10 druids.
Unconventional groups can make things more interesting, you just need everyone to know that it might not be the smoothest run they've ever done and be prepared to overcome difficulties they wouldn't normally face.
windsailor Nov 10th 2007 7:01AM
Did a 1 priest, 3 mage, 1 warlock run of Shattered Halls once.
Figured the 2nd boss doesn't have a threat table that works anyways...
Vixxen Nov 10th 2007 7:12AM
Funny enough, two days ago we cleared Shadow Lab with no (conventional) tank at all...
Rogue
Mage
Warlock
Shadow
HealShami
without wipe...
I also remember fondly Botanika with Druide,Ele-Shami, Heal-Shami and 2 Hunter, we even created a misdirection to the Earth Elemental as a way of CC eheh
Patrick Schriner Nov 10th 2007 7:15AM
3 Warrior + 2 Druids (1 Heal, 1 Feral) doing Blood Furnace at lvl 61/62 was my craziest and most fun run.
Tanking Slabs with my Hunter's Pet was sick as well (in a not to strong).
Patrick Schriner Nov 10th 2007 7:15AM
3 Warrior + 2 Druids (1 Heal, 1 Feral) doing Blood Furnace at lvl 61/62 was my craziest and most fun run.
Tanking Slabs with my Hunter's Pet was sick as well (in a not to strong).
Patrick Schriner Nov 10th 2007 7:16AM
3 Warrior + 2 Druids (1 Heal, 1 Feral) doing Blood Furnace at lvl 61/62 was my craziest and most fun run.
Tanking Slabs with my Hunter's Pet was sick as well (in a not too strong group).
Roki Nov 10th 2007 7:20AM
BRD run with Two locks, hunter, healadin and a shadow priest.
2xVW and the Pet tanking.
We downed a few bosses but gave up soon after >>"
Balasan Nov 10th 2007 7:22AM
As long as everyone in the group knows what to do (your example of running out of the hurricane at thespia is a very good one), as well as having each player knowing to play their class, most any group combination will work.
Saying that, I myself playing exclusively as a feral druid tank or a paladin healer, I haven't run into a group without a proper tank nor healer yet. I did run many many times with my guildies into heroics with no CC at all, and we did great! (I usually end up off tanking mobs while the healer heals 2 tanks)
Fletch Nov 10th 2007 7:36AM
My easiest instance run ever was Scarlet Monastery Armory with four mages and a shaman. Since almost everything is polymorphable, we could fight one thing at a time. And with four mages, those fights didn't last very long. As the shaman, I barely had to do any healing. Herod was a little rougher, but not too bad.
MartinC Nov 10th 2007 8:07AM
Just goes to show it's not just about the class, but rather the real player behind the class. Unconvential group makeups are fine, if you have skilled players behind them.
The same goes for the opposite. You could easily have the "convential" or ideal group makeup, and wipe endlessly, if they players don't know what they are doing.
Acceptable Risk Nov 10th 2007 8:16AM
As a warlock, my favorite run ever was a Scarlet Monastery Cathedral run. It was me, two Shadow Priests, and a Shaman. Our tank bailed on us like three pulls in and we wasted a few minutes spamming LFG for another.
I had just hit 40 and was specced Soul Link at the time. So I look at my stats and add up all of my mitigation. Turns out with an armor scroll, I had something like 65% mitigation with the Voidwalker out. Go go Warlock tank! So Thanmon and I just tanked the rest of the instance. The shaman was on heal duty, but between two shadow priests blasting VE on every other mob, it wasn't even necessary.
Best run ever.
Balgair Nov 10th 2007 8:32AM
Botanica with two priests (1 holy 1 shadow) two shamans (1 resto, 1 elemental) and a warrior sticks in the mind, not all that unconventional but it was a bit lacking in CC other than mind control, and there was one healer too many so my holy priest went smite spamming :-)
Also shadow labs heroic with warrior, feral druid, two rogues and resto shammy was initially fine but then the shammy DC'd and never came back... and we just finished it without him in the end! I had no idea how well a feral druid could heal!
Stigsen Nov 10th 2007 8:27AM
Heroic mechanar with two holy priests, a lock, a rogue and a mage, all arena specced and geared. Went smooth, was fun.
Gilestel Nov 10th 2007 8:34AM
I've spent a lot of my levelling in unconventional groups just because I want to group with my friends. It helps I can heal (though I was enhancement for levelling). It's more challenging and more fun and frankly my friends are great players who can handle a crazy run by, like, playing their classes to the full. Yes, it's a controversial tactic but it seems to work ;)
Lanth Nov 10th 2007 8:35AM
I remember a ZF run where I tanked, 'cos I was the highest level there. And I'm a Warlock.
Also, Gweryc (the melee hunter) once did a ZF run with two hunter, two warlocks and a priest. I think 4 pet tanks should do the trick.
Suzaku Nov 10th 2007 8:57AM
I think one of the problems with WoW since the release of BC is that the game's becoming very cookie-cutterish, and people are more and more shying away from experimenting with groups, playstyles, and talent builds.
It seems that, often times, people assume that there's "one true build" that's good at raiding, or PVP, and any deviation from the formula is a terrible mistake that will result in you sucking.
The same has become true for grouping. There's "one true group makeup" for running specific instances, and if one member has their talent points distributed differently, it's doomed to fail. Moreoever, people are retreating to the safety of their guilds, and PUGing is falling to the wayside; in fact, you might say it's been stamped down into a muddy ditch.
Granted, many PUGs are an exercise in futility, and can often leave you with more resentment than loot, but there's something to be said with finding that group that works just right, where everyone gets along, and you all friend each other and periodically do runs or fill in for each other in the future.
I especially think the focus on cookie-cutter specs is unfortunate, because talents are supposed to your tools for creating a unique character that best suits your playstyle. While there are obviously going to be some guidelines, I think people would be surprised at just how much room for experimentation there really is.