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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsBreakfast Topic: What roles do you play?
by Allison Robert 
Jan 22nd 2010 at 8:00AM
Right now my main spends her time tanking and healing at an even 50/50 split. Healing's made me a more observant tank; I have a better appreciation of what a heal team goes through to keep my furry rump alive. Tanking hasn't exactly made me a better healer -- the two roles are so different that I even wind up redoing a portion of my UI while jumping between them -- but it's made me more forgiving of tank mistakes, and also left me in a better position to gauge whether a problem is the result of the tank or another group member. Damage-wise? Oddly enough, playing as a tank/healer for so long has made me into a hesitant DPS at best. I hate losing aggro to anyone as a tank, and hate healing oblivious DPS who pull it, and that's made me incredibly paranoid about my threat as a DPS. I watch Omen way more than I worry about my rotation.
So what role do you normally play in the game? If you change roles at all, do you notice experience from one role having an effect on how you play others?
Filed under: Breakfast Topics
Reader Comments (Page 3 of 7)
Robmac Jan 22nd 2010 8:30AM
I started WoW as a pure dps by playing a mage for about 2-3 years, and all i just got used to was just pew pewing and and maximizing my dps, which was perfectly fine but i felt i was missing a part of the game so i leveled a Paladin to 80 and started tanking and the experience was different right off the bat. As a tank you need to know exactly what’s going on at all times which was totally different, it totally change the game for me, it was completely opposite then dpsing which was stand there and a couple mash buttons or AoE.
Ever since i started tanking however, I have given healers and tanks a lot more credit then i used to (not just because they keep my ass alive) because their roles or extremely more complicated, and always seem to get blamed in the end of a wipe which may/most of the time be true.
Slog Jan 22nd 2010 8:32AM
I've played a hunter as a main for since Vanilla, however, for the last 2 weeks I've leveled a holy priest (currently 43) as pure healing and leveling via LFD, and I am loving it! A whole new dynamic to the game for me, definitely a challenge and major fun, more-so than I had on DPS.
paragorillabear Jan 22nd 2010 1:21PM
If you wanna try something really fun, level as a Shadow healer -- it's viable up until the early 60s but you have to be extra sharp. It was a great boot camp for me.
mdt0310 Jan 22nd 2010 2:37PM
I do DPS 90% of the time, and occasionally try my hand at tanking (but usually when my group outclasses the instance.)
Darias.Perenolde Jan 22nd 2010 8:33AM
I've always said that "Darias has been holy since level 10." When I had time to raid (Naxx and Uld), being a Flash of Light spammer, I sought after the PvP trinket relative to FoL. So, a friend of mine and I did 2v2 just so I could get the arena points for it. To do it though, I went with that PvP Protection healing spec...when it still worked.
I got the trinket, and continued to PvP, but eventually abandoned the Prot spec once they changed things around. Instead, I started tanking with it, and it worked for a good bit at least as an off-tank.
With the new LFG tool, I found more opportunities to tank...and got hooked. Granted, my gear wasn't top-of-the-line, and the spec from "OMG! lrn2holdagro!" comments needed reworked. However, once I made a few adjustments and cashed in some Emblems, one of my officers commented the other day, "D, I just can't get my head around you being a tank. You're actually pretty good."
Now...I almost shy away from healing. Someone asked for an in-guild LFG starter last night, but he wanted to tank. I wasn't quite ready to go, but part of it was I think that I wanted to tank...and didn't want to heal. LOL
Katalliaan Jan 22nd 2010 8:35AM
It's good to have something of every role. I have a shaman that's dual spec'd resto/ele and a prot paladin. When a pull in OK I made went wrong (tried to grab a pat, but DPS warrior was too close to second pat; second pat and nearby static group joined in - everyone but me died), I could almost imagine the healer's reaction, and did what I would want the tank to do if I was in the healer's position - res the group.
Eleventide Jan 22nd 2010 8:38AM
After getting enough characters to 80, I made a point to atleast try everything. I've always been mainly DPS, and I don't imagine that will change.
Although I enjoy progression, I'm a fairly casual player (partially due to time difference between my time zone and server time limiting how much I can realistically raid).
As such, I have tried tanking and healing in heroics but havn't taken either role into a raid setting yet. I don't imagine I will ever take tanking any further, but raid healing is something I may be interested in (Troll druid in cataclysm perhaps).
In the end it comes down to me preferring a role that alows me to relax a little bit more. I found tanking really stressed me out and I wasn't really enjoying it. Healing is something I could get into. I feel I can deal with the responsability, yet the one thing that puts me off is how tunnel visioned I get. Perhaps that's something I could sort out with a nice UI.
scottbailey22 Jan 22nd 2010 8:40AM
my main (pally) is tank/dps but also got the gear to heal if needed.
my old main a warrior thats been stuck in outland for nearly a year ive now specced him prot. to level in the random pug system.
Andrew R. Jan 22nd 2010 8:39AM
I transferred to a new server to raid in the mornings and they needed a healer. My main has been a hunter for nearly three years now and I recently started leveling a paladin as a tank. I now know why tanks and healers hate PUGs so much. I've also loved tanking instances and can't wait to try healing.
Elionene Jan 22nd 2010 8:40AM
My first character was a hunter, and is still my main, but when my wife started to play, I leveled a druid tank with her priest. I liked leveling as a tank, but I sort of burned out on it in level 80 dungeons. I'll still tank if needed, but it's not my favorite thing to do. At some point I leveled a restoration Shaman so I could play all of the roles, and I've found that I love it. Almost enough to make me give up the hunter, but the hunter is pretty heavily vested in Icecrown raiding, so that's not likely.
And then I made a DK, and started tanking some early Icecrown instances and had a blast. Something about the style and carrying a huge swords makes is a lot more fun for me that druid tanking ever was. It makes me want to level other tank and healer classes and see what I like best.
Zero Jan 22nd 2010 8:41AM
Healing all the way. i have just found it an interesting challenge. I play a Resto shaman and Druid.
james Jan 22nd 2010 8:49AM
I started off as Balance with my Druid, but with the 20 minute waits for the pug finder i rerolled healing. i was worried at first because ive seen soooo many people yelling at the healer for "sucking" but i waited until i had the gear and then respecced tree form. At first i loved healing, it felt good to be able to make a badly geared tank live through things they shouldnt, or keep a tank alive long enough that slow dps could down a boss.
After a while i started getting tanking gear because i figured healing would get boring slowly and wanted a change of pace, so i started getting badge loot and random drops.
I then went and duel specced and picked my feral tanking spec. That first pull was nerve breaking, random mobs running after people, people pulling threat, missing cool downs, you name it i did not do it that first run. But slowly i picked it up and have become a better tank, ive tanked Ony 10 and almost every heroic. Im pretty confident in my abilities now that ive gotten better gear and understand rotations.
Since i have done this swap i have gained a far deeper appreciation for my tanks and healers, the crap they have to deal with when stupid players enter the game with them is amazing. Ive started letting people die when they pull agro one to many times, makes my life easier having one less person to protect or heal.
every one should try these rolls, it makes the game alot more fun and you learn alot more than the amazing pew pewness of them game.
Rhaycen Jan 22nd 2010 8:43AM
When dual spec came out my alts went the way of the dodo and I became a tree-cat. After several months of agitation and irritation with my dps numbers and the whole energy system one of our main tanks left the guild.
Since I already had most of a feral set suitable for tanking I have since taken the 2nd tanking spot in our ICC raids. Most Heroics I still heal though.
Sometimes still do cat-dps in my bear-spec when needed. 2000-2500 dps is more then enough dps for heroics.
Fartmasterking Jan 22nd 2010 8:50AM
i used to play the warlock dps, which was fun...my main goal was more trying to observe and learn wtf is going on around me during a raid and use my mighty typing skills to warn people not only "when" the fire is going to come up and start killing them, but "where" to move before said fire comes out.
Once my warrior tank got to 80 last month.....oooo i have tanked every instance i can grab my hands on, hell i even level from 70-80 in the new lfg.
I don't hate people in my group, too negative an output for me, i just have a fun time deciding who in the group sucks ahead of time, and acting accordingly
Dragundam Jan 22nd 2010 8:48AM
Started out DPS since it's just what you *do* when you solo, then when I joined my guilds and forced myself into groups on my paladin, I found myself helping all three out. I appreciate all three classes now, but still, I have to stay dps, even if we are at the bottom of the respect totem pole ('no matter what, it's the dps' fault. *roll eyes*).
Tried tanking; okay with my guild (no stress, no screw ups), pugs... I pretty much just generate more stress than threat. *wheezes into paper bag even though that probably will just drop threat even more*
Healing, I'm just crap at it unless it's some little group quest. Probably help if I actually got a healer's UI instead of Blizzard's default.
PictoKong Jan 22nd 2010 11:55AM
Grid + Clique is wonderful
P.S: on my resto druid, i also got an addon so it show the HoTs i have on the grid frame
crassh Jan 22nd 2010 8:49AM
my main is a prot warrior offspecced fury, i leveled as prot and absouletly love tanking, my second lvl 80 is a disc/holy priest, just started raiding with my priest which has given me a whole new look on the game and i absolutely love healing, dpsing, meh its a fun change for an hour or to but i get bored way to easily. my next toon im going to level out is going to be my mage but i still know he could never replace my tank, although my tank has only been coming off the bench for raids, otherwise im spamming bubbles with my priest which is soooo much fun.
i honestly feel like if everyone who has a class at 80 that has a protection tree should give it a shot at least for a couple of months, youll learn things about the game you never knew, not to mention your situational awareness will go threw the roof because you are now required to focus on so maney more things. if you got a class that can tank, try it, give it a real shot, not a one heroic failure then quit, talk to a tank you know who is good and ask them for tips on rotation, gear selection, and how they go about handling a fight. trust me, yes we tanks can and do get pissy with the aggro stealing dps or the slow reaction healer at times but when a new up and coming tank is starting to ask me questions on how to tank it always brings a smile to my face and wants me to see them succeed.
oh, on a side note to any healer that is just hitting level 70 and up and wants to get a glimpse of what raid healing is like, go to AV, over and over again, stick with the main group, youll learn what buttons to push when and where they are located without the whole wipe feast from running heroics for the first time. i leveled my priest from 51-80 in AV and never had a single doubt in my mind that i knew what i was doing when i jumped into heroics shortly followed by raids.
Teg Jan 22nd 2010 8:52AM
I play as a healer mainly. I've found I'm more aware of how much damage I'm taking when dps, how best to play to decrease the damage I've taken. But if it's on a boss that I've only ever healed before I find myself really lacking on the dps strats. I'm so used to staring at health bars that I sometimes don't know the boss's abilities.
Uriahworld Jan 22nd 2010 8:52AM
Been Warlock since I started in '05.
Never raised an 'alt' til this xpack, which I now have 3 maxxed.
Prot Warr, Holy Priest, Dps DK. Still a DPSer though, focusing on the warlock4life!
Technically my warlock tanks on occasion... Illidan... Blood Princes...
Jordan Jan 22nd 2010 8:55AM
I like to imagine when I'm tanking what I would want my tank to do. I would always want that mob's butt facing me, and not only that single one, but all 4 or 5 of them, and clumped together so that AoE's can burn them easily. I would never want my tank to be running into the fray while I was drinking up from 10% mana, meaning I won't get healed and thus, I am a quick, but wise tank. Playing other classes/roles really does make you understand the game better. (That means YOU suck less.) I'd recommend it to everybody who hasn't.