I want to be needed. I want to feel like I am an integral and important portion of my guild. So I ask "what does the guild need?" and the worst thing I can hear back is "play what you want". I don't want to play what I want. I want to know that what I play is going to bring something to the guild that no one(or few others) else is bringing. I want to play a shaman because of my group buffs. I want to play a survival hunter because of expose weakness. I want to play a healer because of healing. I want to be filling a need. If the need is dps I want to see whateveryone else has and pick the dps that synergizes the most. Gosh darn it.
Horde side I have a Shaman. This shaman knows an Ele shaman, a BM hunter, and a Warlock. My first inclination? To respec resto, practice healing, and recruit a tank.......
Alliance side I have a hunter. Survival hunter at that. But my guild is -full- of hunters. Suddenly I feel a desire to play a healer, or a shaman, or a MAGE or anything that is helping fill a gap we might have. Anything other than another hunter filling the same need as 5 others.
I don't think I'm the only one that does this. Sure there are people who -know- what they want to play and just don't want to play anything else. I know Ret Pallies who sadly were forced to go holy when all they wanted to do is be a Ret. Pally. And I feel bad for them. I'm not suggesting this is a good pratice.
But I don't know what I want to play. I make alts like other people breathe. If I had more time than that 10-20 hours a week I do I would have 10 60's(I'm not sure I'd be 70 yet though). What I want is to be usefull to my guild. No matter the class.
I play my Shaman now because it makes me happy to know that a certain blastyshaman wants to play with my toon. I play pox because they need the trif tank. I'm working on a mage twink because Ess said she wants to play BG's(my one true WoW love) and I want her to have a teammate. I played my hunter as a survival hunter because I wanted to provide my guild with a unique buff. I play my warlock..wait no I don't...because even though I like playing a lock no one on that server needs/wants him.
If Sidhe Devils suddenly developed a shortage of tanks or healers...? I'd be rolling a new toon that night. Course levels 1-70 takes a long time, but it gets shorter as you go(1-39 took me 3 RL weeks....not too bad compared to my shaman).
Anyways thats my view on things. I don't have a point but since all blog posts ever MUST HAVE A POINT*....here we go:
It isn't a bad thing to roll what the guild needs if you are someone who doesn't know what he wants.
Adios and radda radda.
*kidding of course.
Horde side I have a Shaman. This shaman knows an Ele shaman, a BM hunter, and a Warlock. My first inclination? To respec resto, practice healing, and recruit a tank.......
Alliance side I have a hunter. Survival hunter at that. But my guild is -full- of hunters. Suddenly I feel a desire to play a healer, or a shaman, or a MAGE or anything that is helping fill a gap we might have. Anything other than another hunter filling the same need as 5 others.
I don't think I'm the only one that does this. Sure there are people who -know- what they want to play and just don't want to play anything else. I know Ret Pallies who sadly were forced to go holy when all they wanted to do is be a Ret. Pally. And I feel bad for them. I'm not suggesting this is a good pratice.
But I don't know what I want to play. I make alts like other people breathe. If I had more time than that 10-20 hours a week I do I would have 10 60's(I'm not sure I'd be 70 yet though). What I want is to be usefull to my guild. No matter the class.
I play my Shaman now because it makes me happy to know that a certain blastyshaman wants to play with my toon. I play pox because they need the trif tank. I'm working on a mage twink because Ess said she wants to play BG's(my one true WoW love) and I want her to have a teammate. I played my hunter as a survival hunter because I wanted to provide my guild with a unique buff. I play my warlock..wait no I don't...because even though I like playing a lock no one on that server needs/wants him.
If Sidhe Devils suddenly developed a shortage of tanks or healers...? I'd be rolling a new toon that night. Course levels 1-70 takes a long time, but it gets shorter as you go(1-39 took me 3 RL weeks....not too bad compared to my shaman).
Anyways thats my view on things. I don't have a point but since all blog posts ever MUST HAVE A POINT*....here we go:
It isn't a bad thing to roll what the guild needs if you are someone who doesn't know what he wants.
Adios and radda radda.
*kidding of course.
Comments
But it's bad to have your hand forced. Being told: "we won't take a Boomkin/Retadin/DPS Warrior raiding, you have to quit playing the style you love and respec to heal/tank if you want to see raid time" is narrow minded and egotistical.
If the guild is short healers/tanks then it may be necessary.. but I've seen situations where the Raid Leader declared certain specs "forbidden" and refused to allow anyone in his raid who had that spec.
Now if the guild is short of healers/tanks than the change may be needed to get forward progress.. but throwing out a spec completely is just stupid.
And warlocks are needed.. they make yummy cookies.. and afflocks can get the baddies to do 5% less damage.. and increase the DPS of mages and other locks by up to 13% (not that I'm trying to justify or anything).
Nibuca
http://chicanery.fibergeek.com/
In Japanese we say yakunitatsu which translates into being useful/helpful but when looked at more literally it can be seen as "to fill a role". Regardless of whatever class you roll you will be filling a role and you will be useful! Class synergy and stacking tends to make that work nicely. Just not so much with hunters. <.<
"Play what you want" really does still make we want to poke the people who say it in the eyes. >.>
Being a former GM (technically I still am in my old guild) and an officer in my new guild, I can say that "forcing" specs is not narrow minded and egotistical. A job of a raid leader is not to make everyone happy. His/her job is to clear whatever raid that person is assigned to lead and clear. Yes, fun does take precedence over clearing, but who has fun wiping all the time. With that being said, like everyone has said, DPS are a dime a dozen. Pallys are the best MT healers. Druids/Shammys are the raid healers. Warriors/Bears are best raid tanks. Its my opinion and I say if you want to get a job done right, you need the right people doing the right jobs.
My guild, however, was very low on healers and, as the self-professed priestaphiliac that I am, I rolled my perky priestess. And while I love healing and priests are absolutely my forte, the inability to play my hunter in raids drove me bonker. Especially since, as the guild's GM, I was expected to do what was best for the guild while everyone else did the "play what you want" thing. All of the time. By compulsively rerolling while I was forced to drop out of raids about to step into Mount Hyjal and Black Temple last year to heal the guild's Karazhan and Zul'Aman runs. Compounded with other issues, it was almost enough to make me quit the game; it did end with me stepping down from my position as leader and eventually leaving the guild.
So, really, the optimal scenario is one in which you find that what the guild needs is exactly what you want to play. That way, everyone wins. Because, to be brutally honest, I not only want to play those classes and specs that I enjoy, but I also want to be needed enough that I get to play them.
But I am totally with you on "wanting" to do what is best for the group. I am the same way. It is what caused me to respec my druid to Resto in the first place oh so long ago.
And it is why Barrhona really does not know what he will be when he grows up. I know I love healing, and I have done tanking enough to know that I can do that, too, especially if the guild is short on tanks. But heck, Retribition is fun, too...
In that case, I think playing a "hybrid" is a good idea. I truly believe that is why SD has so many Pallys and Druids... the people that are attracted to that group are "I want to help" type of people.
My point... meh, I don't know. Just hopefully this might your thought process somehow...