Even as heals, I can't even secure a spot on raid group; either I'm not as well geared as the other healers (who have ascended/all the right sigils and runes) or I face a catch twenty-two situation where I need a Forsaken Thicket mastery... that can only be earned by raiding Forsaken Thicket (which is impossible since I have yet to have slain a boss).
Here's how it goes:
I sign up for a raid, get kicked until a raid keeps me.
Raid leader PMs me and asks which classes I have, I tell them I have heal/boon & condi engineer build and heal druid, tells me to switch to druid even though my heal engineer is BY FAR the best equipped (orange-yellows with full engineer rune set and optimal stats for build) but nevermind that I'm told, go Druid or go home.
Gets into raid, spends thirty minutes to an hour waiting for pull.
Pull eventually does happen, I toss Wisp onto boss and start auto-attacking while positioning myself so the most amount of people get healed. Put up force wall on boss when projectiles fly out, and teleport to downed players to help rez (which is apparently something I'm NOT supposed to do as heals? Am I saving people or not?). Save vine for when debuffs need to be cleansed or CC barrage, and pop Avatar once I've refreshed wisp/vine. Using glyph of healing (because it's AoE and benefits from druid traits, but I suspect going spirit build with spirit heal would be much, much better). Using spirit ultimate for additional healing and for emergency rez.
We wipe, group leaders start inspecting people and looking for the weak link, and it comes down to me. "Why don't you have Forest Thicket Waters?" ... "Because I haven't killed a boss yet" I reply. "Well, sorry, we're gonna have to cut you." Another group: "Why are you wearing yellows and blues? Why are you using the Adventurer rune set?" ... "Because that's the best I have (crafting is a migraine and outrageously expensive (or time consuming, if you farm mats yourself) to level up... and isn't this supposed to be a game where gear doesn't matter?" ... "Sorry mate, we're gonna have to cut you."
So apparently my options are to either spend an indeterminate amount of time playing a game in a way that's not fun just to get "the best gear" (despite the game supposedly not being about a treadmill), or I have to get a trait so I can raid that can only be obtained by... raiding. Starting my own PuG only ends with either the group not forming in a decent time (people leaving before it's fully formed or can't get "the right roles" according to the party chat) or me planning like an idiot because apparently the guides don't tell you everything (and if I give someone else leadership I pretty much go back to the initial problem).
I'm genuinely confused about this.
Some help please?