Most stress filled position to play.

[Keenar]

As far as most players I've encountered in pugs, I'd say tank=heals>dps. This is mainly due to those who, while still putting out decent damage, pay no attention to what's going on and are really the dps'ers that piss off the tanks and heals. The GOOD dps'ers who actually pay attention, watch for stuff on the ground, keep an eye on their agro and such will actually feel more stress. And, imho, if your not getting some kind of stress and challenge, how can it really be that much fun? When I feel like playing lazy, I go fishing.

[Oowha]

This thread again.

It's scientific fact that a person's opinion of role difficulty is directly influenced by their main character.

However, I choose to present to you an anomaly: My opinion is that on heavy damage fights like (pretty much any Heroic boss you can think of here) healers have it harder (holding true to Scientific Fact you know), BUT overall raiding is more stressful on my bear, just because I'm not as intimately familiar with it.

That's because you're a bear currently ;D

But no, it's only a little challenging for healers some times, and even then it's not hard.

No class is really hard.


* also a note that the names are screwed up on my sig and I'm too lazy to fix it :< *

But I agree with whoever I read before that healing in arena can be a lot more challenging than most PvE content. I know this is kinda OT but when I come from PvP with my HPally to PvE, it's actually quite boring in comparison. It might be because I'm a HPally in arena currently :P

ANYWAY. Pretty easy game on the whole.

[Jademist]

However, I choose to present to you an anomaly: My opinion is that on heavy damage fights like (pretty much any Heroic boss you can think of here) healers have it harder (holding true to Scientific Fact you know), BUT overall raiding is more stressful on my bear, just because I'm not as intimately familiar with it.

Healers have to watch for their groups' health. They have to watch out for the threat they produce (yes healing produces threat people). They have to watch out for the boss fight mechanics. They have to watch out for the tank. They have to anticipate incoming damage. They have to think far ahead to properly utilize their skills while thinking in the present to know what to do. They have to react to other players' stupidity, such as taking unnecessary damage. They have to quickly react to changes in the plan (if there is a plan). They have to watch their mana. They have to do all sorts of things to keep your sorry asses alive. And who gets ALL the blame (usually) if there is a wipe, or people die, or whatever? The healers. "OMFG why didn't you heal me?" "You were standing in the green gunk and were taking too much damage..." "OMFG stop QQing. You're the healer its your job!" "But you were standing in the..." *votekick*. :/

We have to adapt. We have to be able to change. We have to watch our mana. We have to do a myriad of other things to make sure everybody doesn't burn to death. And we're the ones who usually get crap when the group wipes.

Healing is no stroll in the park (I am sure other roles have it hard too, I'm just stating what healers have to keep in note, watch for, and do). And that is a fact. (I am agreeing with you btw)

[Gallahadd]

I voted Tank, as it's what I have the most experience in, and at times it can be VERY stressful. if there had been an option I would have put Healing as a second, I've not healed properly in Cata but I've got alot of friends who play healers and I know they've been stressing hard since Cata came out, trying to adapt to the new healing style.

dps never has, and never WILL be stressful in any way, unless not being number 1 on meter's stresses you out.

[dbgokux4]

I think stressful is the wrong word. Like others have said, you shouldn't really equate stress to a game. Games should be funzo mc. dunzo (fun and that's all for those that don't understand stupid speech). Maybe the term is...exciting? I think having to be aware of all your surrounding mobs to pick up and make sure your threat is always right making sure someone doesn't blow up a random add is fun and exciting. I think having to make sure no one dies even if they're not supposed to be getting hit is fun. I think having to know when to stop attacking, move, interrupt, or off-heal is exciting too.

But yeah, even saying it's "good stress" is a stretch. If you're in a guild that stresses you out or chews you out for doing something wrong, I'd say leave. It's not worth it. If you're stressing, stop. It's the opposite of what you should be doing. Just have fun, screw the world, ride together, die together. Etc....FUNZO!

[tibben]

I would say:

Healing > Tanking = Melee DPS > Ranged DPS

in terms of stress. I've done all of the above and on progression encounters you may need your tanks geared to the teeth, but it's the healers that typically make or break the encounter. Doesn't matter what gear everyone is wearing if your healers fail to keep people above the minimum required health level at each point in the fight. There's also the added stress of mana management in this expansion, which can get stressful on progression fights. And, of course, if someone dies it's always the healer's fault (unless you are in a guild that recognizes when people are standing in fire and blames that person instead).

I grouped melee with tanking because it's typically harder to see what you are or are not standing in when you are standing on top of the boss. Tanks have the added stress of getting that initial aggro and then knowing exactly where to stand, when to stand there and how to pop CDs to stay alive. Tanks are also often called on to pick up adds and that can be stressful if you've got jumpy DPS that want to burn everything down before you can even get them close enough together for your AoE abilities to hit them all. Melee are often called on for interrupts, especially in this tier, and in most cases where interrupts are required one missed interrupt or one interrupt at the wrong time can very easily cause a wipe and you have no one to blame but yourself.

Ranged DPS is almost always the easiest and least stressful position on any fight. You are rarely called on to do anything outside of DPSing and not standing in bad things. As a hunter I have the added benefit of dropping traps on some encounters, but that's not exactly stressful or challenging. Hunters may also be called on to kite, but we're pretty good at that so unless you just suck at things that your class should excel in then ranged DPS is pretty relaxed in the stress department.

[Mithrilina]

Pfff...

All a dps has to do is shoot/cast/hit stuff, perhaps interrupt the odd cast (which can be somewhat stressful if you're 200 dps behind the first spot on Recount, catching up, but it's your turn to interrupt), try not to overaggro (and remember to blame the tank when they do) and not stand in nasty stuff. /yawn

All a tank needs to do is stand there and shout at stuff, occasionally taunt something or kite some other thing, remember the odd tanking cooldown once in a while (and remember to blame the healers when they forget to use said cooldowns), try not to lose aggro (and remember to blame the dps when they do) and try not to stand in nasty stuff. /double-yawn

Healers, on the other hand, have to manage their mana pools, pre-cast heals to coincide with incoming damage whenever possible, perform "triage" (translation: heal everyone up to full), and make up for tank/raid stupidity when they're standing in nasty stuff AGAIN. Oh, and healers shouldn't stand in nasty stuff either.

Healing is way more stressful than any of the other tasks, in general. On some fights healing can be a bore for sure, but most of the time there's enough incoming damage to tanks and/or the raid and multiple things that people fail to avoid standing in to keep the healers' job interesting and mildly stressful at the very least. Heroic modes, make that very freakin' stressful.

[Razzles]

As a healer who has rolled a tank alt, I find tanking a lot more stressful. Having to set the pace in a group is a lot harder in my opinion, simply because there are so many different types of people you have to deal with. As a healer, you're more of the 'unseen backbone' of the group.

At least that's my opinion.

[Yorda]

If you measure stress in terms of failure tolerance, then in a normal encounter healing > tanking > dps. DPS failure results in low DPS (moderately reduced raid output), tanking failure results in some number of dead DPS and possibly healers (dramatically reduced raid output), healing failure results in dead tank and imminent wipe (total loss of output).

It depends a lot on the encounter, obviously. Short enrage timers increase stress on DPS, heavy incoming damage increases stress on healers, large numbers of dangerous adds increase stress on tanks.

[SycamoreTree]

I've done all three on three different characters. Started as lock dps in vanilla/BC, then DK tank in Wrath, and now druid heals in Cata.

DK tanking was the most stressful this game has ever been for me. I almost threw my computer out the window a few times. I was the Sartharion tank for Sarth 3D when it was still progression, so the whole fight was on my shoulders. If I died, it was a wipe. I had to nail that cooldown rotation. I was thinking about in my sleep!

I will say that healing is pretty stressful in Cata, but nothing compared to how DK tanking was in Wrath.

[Deleted]

tank, no doubt. if you want to take it seriously, it's so stressful. if you want to tank like an asshole and don't care what's going on around you, then I suppose it's "easy".

[aztr0]

Healing.

You have to make sure people stay alive during all sorts of havoc. If you have a bad group the difficulty goes up 1000000000000+%

[Deleted]

Been end-game tanking, healing and dps-ing.

While healing is indeed uber hard and stressful, as you need to watch for yourself and others in the same time, tanking is as well, very stressful. Why is that? Because as a tank, YOU are the one who coordinates the raid, everyone moves after you, if you make 1 step wrong, you'll likely wipe the whole raid; in other words, if you fail - others fail.

Take for example LK 25 hc, where as a tank after each val'kyr set and defile you had to reposition, and you had to do it very quick - search for the perfect spot, announce on vent, move carefully so you avoid hitting a defile, watch timers AND check your cds/pop one/ask one from healers on vent. 1 second too late or moving in a wrong position resulted in failed defile, val'kyrs grabbing random people and subsequently, a wipe.

[ohnogodzilla]

Whatever has the job of interrupting casts that are particularly nasty and wipe your raid. (Heroic Halfus Shadow Nova, Heroic Maloriak Storms, Nefarian's constructs, just to name a few.)

[Aeriedk]

None. If you stress out while playing a game, you need to log off and learn what real stress is, sorry but this thread is sort of sad to me.

[Deleted]

Depending of the raid / boss / class / spec... I voted DPS tho.

---------- Post added 2011-03-15 at 09:13 PM ----------

None. If you stress out while playing a game, you need to log off and learn what real stress is, sorry but this thread is sort of sad to me.

You took the word "stress" too literally imo.

[Dalacia]

Healing >>> Tank >>> DPS

Interrupting Duty is pretty annoying too.

[Marath]

I would say solo interrupter on halfus HC is the most stressful... followed by being the interrupter on any other fight

[jazen]

Healer by far. tank screws up, blame the healer...dps dies, blame the healer...healer goes ooms cause has to heal the dumb asses standing in fire, blame the healer. Boss glitches and cant loot body, blame healer. I could go on, but point is clear

[Plaguerot]

Here is how i see it:

Healer: Should he/she die, mess up, or go OOM, the tank(s)/DPS will die, causing agro to go to DPS and/or heals, which means a wipe.
Tank: Should he/she lose agro or die, Aggro will go to DPS and/or heals, who will most likely die and the group wipes.
DPS: he/she tries to not agro mobs and doesnt stand in the fire.
To me, it seems that both healing and tanking have alot of stress on them, as messing up can easily cause wipes. DPS not as much, but still.