#0 - Feb. 16, 2010, 7:33 a.m.
4 years as being a healer, being expected to be a healer, being suckered into healing, being told it was only temporary...
After 4 years, even if everyone had been great to me, I'd still be bored with it for starters. Every class gets 3 different specs. Why should someone have to heal and heal only for all eternity just because they have a spec that can be a healer? I want to explore other options. I want to see the game from the front line, rather than the back ranks. Many people have put their time in as I have. We're tired of it, worn out. Time for some of those people who have never played a healer to step up to bat and make a healer to play.
Healers have always been treated like they are the scum that the scum wipe from the bottoms of their feet. Unless it's a heroic or a raid, or some difficult to solo group quest, nobody wants us around.
It's that whole self-serving attitude of so many players in wow. As long as they get what they want done, as long as there's something in it for them to make it worth their while, they'll play along. How many people actually just step into a role and help just because they like to help? Not many. Yet, everyone expects healers to have this mindset 24/7. They act like we owe it to them. Like we should be grateful that they even allowed us to go on a run and heal them. They think we exist only to ensure their success and personal gain. To help them fulfill their own agendas, but we, as healers, don't seem to be entitled to having any agendas of our own in their eyes. At least, when we ask for help, we don't get it. "Oh well, I got what I wanted. Who cares what that healer needed?"
More and more people are putting so many restrictions and requirements on raids and runs that anyone new coming up as a healer is soon frustrated at trying to be a healer and just stops. So many people with so much potential...wasted. They vanish like thieves in the night, only to surface days or weeks later as just another DPS or Bad Tank.
The old school healers have even begun vanishing only to reappear as DPS and Tanks, but no new healers are stepping up to fill the spots they have vacated. This is where the shortage comes in.
The constant complaints by people who don't heal, don't have a healer, don't know the first thing about healers and the art of healing...the people who think we can just go endlessly forever healing and healing and never need to sit down and drink...and then call us fail when we finally do go out of mana, while innervate is still down and potions are already popped, and then someone dies or the group wipes. Nobody wants to be known as a failure, but when even the Tank is willing to risk a wipe just to shave off 30 seconds from the run for each time that the healer would need to sit down and drink...that's just bad form.
I can sum it up like this:
The constantly being rushed.
Constantly being harassed if I can't keep up or need a break.
Putting up with ill mannered players.
Putting up with bad/badly geared and/or inexperienced tanks.
Boredom.
Being made to feel like the weakest link...always.
The constant disrespect from other players. (I'm there doing YOU a favor. Then you're going to diss on me or have a fit because I want that caster ring that yours is already better than?)
I've compared notes with many others. You wouldn't believe how many people are fed up with healing. If you see 1 person speak up and say how much they love healing...you'll find 10 more people who would say they hated healing if you asked them how they liked it.
The worst part is being hemmed into the role with no hope of escape. You're geared to heal, you're raiding as a healer. You're not going to be allowed to roll on gear that isn't for your spec. I love these guilds that try to recruit you, saying they'll help you get geared up, even as whatever spec you'd like to actually play as...but when the time comes to put their money where their mouth is, all they want you for, is just another healer, and they don't even want to help you get better gear for that. "Oh, just run non-stop random heroics until you have all the badge gear." Maybe I was thinking the guild would run with me, and not leave me to get stuck healing complete strangers from other servers who need roll on everything that drops whether they can use it or not. There's not a lot that drops in heroics that I could use or call better than what I have on at the moment, but not competing with ninjas for the few items I could actually still use would be nice.
Granted, this is just from my perspective, but I'm pretty certain that I'm not alone in my feelings here.
