[ Opinion ] Healing Pugs is much worse than Tanking Pugs

[Gyrotex]

Hello everyone,

this is not intended as a holy war starter, or a troll post - I just need to vent and welcome your personal opinions and experiences on the topic of the thread.

I've been tanking WOW for a while, as a casual. I'm a good tank, I just have no time (and desire) to do organised raiding anymore.

I know how to pull, how to traverse the dungeons, where DPS could fk up, how to save the healer and make their life easier (most of the time).

Now, I've rolled a Druid alt and decided to switch for a bit, and go Resto.

Oh God was I wrong in my choice...

Healing Pug dungeons (especially M+) is a fking nightmare and a half, with 90% of tanks either running away like I'm bearing plague, or backing into mobs, or thinking that a ~850ish healer can handle what a ~890 (maybe) can.

DPS is a new pet-hate of its own. I mean I respect people who can dish out damage and carry their weight, but seriously guys I've seen here threads where DPS complained about not being picked into a dungeon - we, heals and tanks see SO MUCH crap from DPS in terms of their contribution, and how much trouble they are causing for the runs, that it naturally drives this pickiness, somewhat off-set by inviting higher ilevel DPS (which, I know, doesn't often mean much, but in most cases it suggests that my run with them will be easier than with your grandma who decided to roll a Hunter and just hit ilevel 830).

Gosh, freaking Eye of Azshara M+2 last night was when I said - fk this, I'm never healing 5-man Pugs again. I'm only tanking them.

Thanks for listening my vent, feel free to tell me to L2P, or share your own horror stories.

[Deleted]

Honestly, its not l2p, I actually enjoy healing pugs, especially when they stand in mechanics because it makes me feel alive/good if a pull a clutch save.

Obviously, this is only relevant if were actually able to finish the run in time/with whatever goal I set before, otherwise other people failing is just as frustrating regardless of role imo

[SirCowdog]

Well, it's probably because a tank has a lot more control over the flow of the run. You generally not only control the pace of the pulls, but where those combats take place. You can manage aggro better than any other role as well, and mobs usually act in a VERY predictable manner.

Whereas a healer's job is generally reactive. You have to respond to situations instead of create them. You're responsible for tracking 5 healthbars at once, all controlled by players who may or may not act in any predictable way. You have to worry more about keeping all of those lifebars in range, and within line of sight as well. In a lot of ways it s a much more complex job than tanking, and I respect people who are good at it.

[Cracked]

I agree man, saying volcanic is enough D priceless healing a pug that takes 5 volcanics into face in 20 seconds and after a wipe says that the healing is a bit low.

[Gyrotex]

Honestly, its not l2p, I actually enjoy healing pugs, especially when they stand in mechanics because it makes me feel alive/good if a pull a clutch save.

Obviously, this is only relevant if were actually able to finish the run in time/with whatever goal I set before, otherwise other people failing is just as frustrating regardless of role imo

I can see how this would be the case for some people - we all get thrill from different things and appreciate different playstyle.

I just found that being out of control and at the mercy of a semi-bad tank and often-bad DPS is very stressful for me.

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Well, it's probably because a tank has a lot more control over the flow of the run. You generally not only control the pace of the pulls, but where those combats take place. You can manage aggro better than any other role as well, and mobs usually act in a VERY predictable manner.

100% agree.

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I agree man, saying volcanic is enough D priceless healing a pug that takes 5 volcanics into face in 20 seconds and after a wipe says that the healing is a bit low.

Lol, that's exactly my point, even though I haven't ventured far enough to experience volcanic upon the group - you're a brave player!

[munkeyinorbit]

...fk this, I'm never healing 5-man Pugs again. I'm only tanking them...

Fair enough. Tanking is the lowest skilled role to play and has been since Cata. Healing can be difficult and I understand not wanting to be stressed in a game, but the more you do it, the easier it will become.

[SirCowdog]

Fair enough. Tanking is the lowest skilled role to play and has been since Cata.

I have to disagree with this, at least on an individual basis. DPS can sometimes require getting out of the way of things, but the overall responsibility of DPS is split between a ratio of 3:1 compared to tanks(more in raids). Depending on the encounter, tanking requires much more in-depth knowledge of the fight. Usually if a DPS screws up it can be accounted for by the other DPS. But if a tank screws up the entire raid or dungeon group will wipe.

[Heathy]

I don't mind carrying low geared tanks through some content if they are actually at least trying, there is a huge scale in the difficulty of the game right now and how quickly the game can dish out instant killing damage or put you into a very awkward situation that your barely able to recover from.

I haven't tanked for a while but i've found that playing dps is quite hard and in some ways it is harder than healing, doing good dps and trying to avoid the mechanics is actually harder than healing and avoiding the mechanics, as a healer I can try to heal anything upto the point that ppl just get outright one shot, as a dps i find myself trying to minimize my damage intake while also trying to output as much as possible. the two playstyles inevitably clash and you find yourself taking hits you could avoid trying to do more dps.

there are only a few places here and there where ppl really need to not fail some trash pulls can be absolute wipe fests if ppl aren't ready with chain stuns and interrupts. the imps in CoS spring to mind, the damage they do is impossible to heal after say m+8 or so if they don't get stunned or aoe'd down fast they will melt everyone very very quickly.

it really does get easier the more you do dungeons and the more times you get to try different affix combinations, some dungeons are just stupid with certain combinations of affixes like HoV with teeming. after a while you get to know what to expect and can react to it a lot better. for tanking its mostly learning how much trash you need for the timer so your not pulling too many.

i've noticed it can be random for healing pugs, a lot of ppl are decent but then you get some ppl who are just impossible to heal and manage to stand in everything or get cleaved all the time. i guess thats the main problem for me these days the game has pretty much reached a point where damage can spike so big that ppl either avoid shit or die and as a healer your kinda left with a lot of scenarios that you couldn't really do much about.

[Clozer]

Playing this game for 10 years.. and what i learned badly is that you have to adapt to your group.
If you are a tank that isn't stupidly overgeared for the mythic+ dungeon, take a look at your dps/heal and check out how much and how frequently you can pull.

If you are a healer then tell the stupid 5k acvm tank to stop pulling 4 groups at once, cause you can't keep up, but beeing silent and bitch about it on the forums 30 mins after the run won't do anything.

[Deleted]

You have to worry more about keeping all of those lifebars in range, and within line of sight as well. In a lot of ways it s a much more complex job than tanking, and I respect people who are good at it.

Yea except if people go out of range very much or out of line of sight while needing heal asap its not your job and it has noting to do with healer beeing good at it, its other peoples job to be in range (within reason-if your a demon hunter or monk spam rolling away from me at 10% hp just FU) and in line of sight. If you have any experience at arena pref 1500 rating+ as healer you know and understand all too well its absolutely other peoples job to know their positioning and to go to healer to - gasp- get healed.

Also no offense but seems OP doesnt really know how to tank much either, which is no surprise considering he is a casual (this game has tons of room for huge improvement but needs alot of dedication). For example he says he knows how to save the healer...what? only way to 'save the healer' is to taunt if he accidentally pulls a mob in a dungeon before anyone else. Knows how to make healer life easier...that in reality means you use your defensives and active mitigation in your rotation properly aswell as interrupt when needed...which is something you must do anyway as a tank-not strictly for helping healer, just playing the game properly.

Last but not least, OP has trouble healing a +2 mythic EoA? Welp dunno what to say except... +2 doesnt need a healer at all-you can go with 4 dps 1 tank and noone will die - unless ppl are less than 850ilvl AND fail miserably by standing in fire and shit.

Edit: and for reference i currently have a 880 tank dk, a 875 monk healer and 875 dh dps with all of whom i have achieved up to 98 percentile in warcraft logs in various fights from EN and ToV mostly.

[Gyrotex]

Also no offense but seems OP doesnt really know how to tank much either, which is no surprise considering he is a casual (this game has tons of room for huge improvement but needs alot of dedication). For example he says he knows how to save the healer...what? only way to 'save the healer' is to taunt

Oh, none taken, as you know me so well.

BTW no offense, but I'm glad we got only one elitist for a whole thread full of constructive on point non-personal discussion.

Ever heard of using BoP as a Prot pally when healer pulled aggro or otherwise in harm's way? Ever intercepted any mob in your in-game life? Watched over your tanking shoulder and charged to be between heals and a bunch of shit that some epeen-stroking DPS just pulled and brought with them?

Last but not least, OP has trouble healing a +2 mythic EoA? Welp dunno what to say except... +2 doesnt need a healer

Best of luck continuing to do whatever you are doing in those +25 without a healer world first videos that are published on MMO-C. We are all cheering for you.

On topic though - yeah, it's hard to heal idiots who pull everything around themselves and then insta-die before I even catch up with them. That's high class of playing, and totally healer's fault!

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Playing this game for 10 years.. and what i learned badly is that you have to adapt to your group.
If you are a tank that isn't stupidly overgeared for the mythic+ dungeon, take a look at your dps/heal and check out how much and how frequently you can pull.

If you are a healer then tell the stupid 5k acvm tank to stop pulling 4 groups at once, cause you can't keep up, but beeing silent and bitch about it on the forums 30 mins after the run won't do anything.

Yeah mate, I agree, and started every run as a Healer with "fresh heals here, please don't go crazy on me, thank you".

But yeah, read our friend above - totally healer's fault...

[Yunaqt]

I can agree with some of this as it's pretty stressful at time.
My resto Druid is 898 and I've healed some +5-7's that have been harder to heal than +17's, tanks that have no idea what a personal CD is or active mitagation or even what happens when you're not facing a mob or 2.

DPS that announce to the new pugs "healer I hope you know how volcanic works" then immediately proceeds to double the damage taken for volcanic plume of the entire group combined.
Yeah people make mistakes but you try cover than as best you can since every death costs you another 5 seconds so you try cover there average ass the best you can while trying to contribute as much DPS you can outside of healing.

Some pugs are just toxic as well, I did a HoV+7 with a DPS friend (his key) where the tank called out a hunter for just pulling whatever he wanted, so he got sour and proceeded to just take it to the extreme contributing literally 0 damage and just pulling as much extra trash as he could. I actually found that a bit fun from the aspect of "Fuck this guy, I don't care if he pulls these 3 huge packs to try wipe us - I'm going to keep everyone alive just to spite him" This was a bit of an extreme case though... Continued to the last boss where he of course just got himself picked up by the valkyr and we proceeded to kick him and his friend quickly followed.
Thankfully haven't had many experiences of this kind of behaviour in M+ as it's just disgusting.

[munkeyinorbit]

I have to disagree with this, at least on an individual basis. DPS can sometimes require getting out of the way of things, but the overall responsibility of DPS is split between a ratio of 3:1 compared to tanks(more in raids). Depending on the encounter, tanking requires much more in-depth knowledge of the fight. Usually if a DPS screws up it can be accounted for by the other DPS. But if a tank screws up the entire raid or dungeon group will wipe.

Sure, it is more likely that a wipe will happen if the tank goes down. This is the main argument that the Tank conspiracy has been telling us for years. Still doesn't mean it is hard. A tank's job is mainly, and I know this because I play a tank, to interrupt and to yell at the right mob at the right time. A dps has a lot more going on in every fight than what a tank has. Look at LFR? Look at all of the five mans, especially the trash. Look at real raiding. A DPS has to do their job, reduce incoming damage (because they are less likely to be healed than a tank) and perform at maximum at all times. Not when the DPS wants to. Not when there is a full moon. It is the DPS job to deal with almost ALL mechanics. Need to click a robot? DPS will do it. A shell needs clicking? DPS will do it. Need three to go through the portal. Put your hand up DPS.

Do not confuse importance with difficulty. Tanks is the easiet role to play by far. Even easier than a mage.

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... and charged to be between heals and a bunch of shit that some epeen-stroking DPS just pulled and brought with them? ...

Hahahaha. Thats some fucking great e-peening right there.

"FUCK YEAH". Instead of just casually walking over to the dps and laying down 1 aoe ability that will get threat of all the mobs in an instant because my threat modifier is increased by 500% and has made tanking the easiest role ever, I'm going to use a redundant ability, store it into my memory banks so I can go onto a forum and shitpost other people about how awesome I am".

[Shawry]

My worst experience happened this week...healing a +12 Nelths Lair with Fortified Scorpions at the end. Low DPS. No stuns.
Ouch.

[Gyrotex]

My worst experience happened this week...healing a +12 Nelths Lair with Fortified Scorpions at the end. Low DPS. No stuns.
Ouch.

What a horror. I've no idea how you guys do it, seriously.

[Deleted]

What a horror. I've no idea how you guys do it, seriously.

You wanna hear something more horrible? Try a tank pulling both packs at +12.

[nekobaka]

I stopped tanking in MoP as I did not find it as fun. I dealt with solo queue Cata heroics just fine. While healing is generally reactive there still is planned timing and choices to be made especially in chaotic groups. The mix up is nice. I do like having control at times over who dies or not of course within reason. That DPS pulling ahead and making things a pain might not get healed in time.

[Banquetto]

Also, don't forget, if it all goes horribly wrong, the healer gets blamed. No matter whose fault it was.

[Deleted]

Hello everyone,

this is not intended as a holy war starter, or a troll post - I just need to vent and welcome your personal opinions and experiences on the topic of the thread.

I've been tanking WOW for a while, as a casual. I'm a good tank, I just have no time (and desire) to do organised raiding anymore.

I know how to pull, how to traverse the dungeons, where DPS could fk up, how to save the healer and make their life easier (most of the time).

Now, I've rolled a Druid alt and decided to switch for a bit, and go Resto.

Oh God was I wrong in my choice...

Healing Pug dungeons (especially M+) is a fking nightmare and a half, with 90% of tanks either running away like I'm bearing plague, or backing into mobs, or thinking that a ~850ish healer can handle what a ~890 (maybe) can.

DPS is a new pet-hate of its own. I mean I respect people who can dish out damage and carry their weight, but seriously guys I've seen here threads where DPS complained about not being picked into a dungeon - we, heals and tanks see SO MUCH crap from DPS in terms of their contribution, and how much trouble they are causing for the runs, that it naturally drives this pickiness, somewhat off-set by inviting higher ilevel DPS (which, I know, doesn't often mean much, but in most cases it suggests that my run with them will be easier than with your grandma who decided to roll a Hunter and just hit ilevel 830).

Gosh, freaking Eye of Azshara M+2 last night was when I said - fk this, I'm never healing 5-man Pugs again. I'm only tanking them.

Thanks for listening my vent, feel free to tell me to L2P, or share your own horror stories.

I have tanked some 5 years after playing ranged dps from start of vanilla. I started tanking because I wanted control over dungeons but I would rather uninstall and quit the game than heal pugs. People are animals who stand in fire, cry over nothing and deserve 0 heals. Welcome to the tanking side. But when you tank, you will notice that you will run away from the healer as well, like you complained people do, just to keep ahead of the dps idiots who run like lost children looking for mobs to pull. Besides, you aren't there to heal the tank, they can take care of themselves pretty much, healing in pugs is now just to keep those special dps snowflakes alive when they do their best to die.

[Gorgodeus]

Fair enough. Tanking is the lowest skilled role to play and has been since Cata. Healing can be difficult and I understand not wanting to be stressed in a game, but the more you do it, the easier it will become.

You win the dumbest comment of the day award.