Cataclysm Saved 5-man Instances

This post is in response to a good friend of mine, particularly this blog post: http://cellotlix.blogspot.com/2011/01/ghostcrawler-youre-fucking-moron.html

Wow, that’s a lot of angst. My natural response is to defend the game, a source of delight for myself. So, I will dialogue against your position. I apologize if anything I say is too antagonistic; it is not intended to be.

As a tank/dps, I view the changes to healing from that perspective, which admittedly limits my anger. I don’t see this so much as a nerf to healers as a challenge to tank/dps. In Cata, you are no longer free to say when you die, “IT IS THE HEALER’S FAULT!” In Wrath, that wasn’t necessarily the case.

For example: Heroic Trial of Champion, tank was standing in the Death and Decay on the last boss. Never moved out of it. At least two melee dps were dancing in and out of it to deal some damage. The healer never went below 50% mana. A source of raid-quality gear, when run by a reasonable healer and a stupid tank, is completely manageable. This is the norm of Wrath: dangerous mechanics are safely ignored, because the healer COULD heal you through. That potential carrying, though, becomes a burden for healers. It’s your DUTY to heal through the fail. A tank dies, the subtle undertone would always be, “But the healer could’ve done better.”

Now, as a tank/dps, I cannot say that, even theoretically. Example: If I run in, even as a 76 tank in a 74 dungeon, I empirically observe I will die if I pull too much or ignore fire or dots or don’t use my cooldowns. I, and I ALONE, can help the healer keep me alive. If I die, the burden was on my shoulders, never the healer’s.

In ironic contradiction to your assault, Ghostcrawler and Blizzard are trying to move the community away from the “Blame the healer” mentality, not pushing them towards it. If the healer COULD save your sorry butt, there is the subtle but easily attainable implication that she SHOULD. If she cannot, the burden is not upon her. Now, people are still in the Wrath mentality, assuming that this is still a manageable burden. If things work well, it is entirely possible that healers will be judged, not more, but less!

But what if they don’t convince people that this change is the case? What if people still yell and complain that the healer should keep them alive, when it is not their capacity to do so, given player stupidity? Put simply, that is not Blizzard’s capacity to solve. Indeed, it never was.

Telling Blizzard they need to make a fun environment for healers is like telling them they have to moderate the Internet. Anonymous self-centered people are far more vocal then IRL self-centered people, always. Blizzard cannot make these people stop judging you without giving you a 100% of success, no matter what the failures of your party members. Even then, people will stick out their tongues and say “Healing is EZ Modezors!!11one.” This was the place of DPS in Wrath. It doesn’t matter how many bosses you kill, you’re still expendable, replaceable meat, a warm body to fill out a raid or party quota.

In summary, the healing changes Blizzard made were not out of hatred of healers, but out of love. The trajectory of Wrath style 5-mans was easy to easier, inevitably putting blame on the healers as the decider between success and defeat. Cata dungeon philosophy, however, reminds us of the group nature of 5-mans. Your healer is now a person, one who needs your help. She is not and never can be again an anonymous stream of endless heals, which if insufficient, imply failure on her end. DPS have regained their dignity: we need to interrupt, CC, do things BESIDES our rotation. Tanks are weaker now; they can no longer be the rockstar instaqueue gods who bless us with their presence (though undoubtably some will continue in this manner). The tank needs his healer and dps, just as they need him.

It is my contention that Cataclysm has been a great equalizer. Tanks are not invincible. Healers are not pocket Jesuses who can raise all runs from pits of defeat. DPS actually do something besides DPS. It's a sharp and ugly transition, but it was necessary. Therefore, I am grateful.