So, I was reading a post over on Root and Branch, entitled Enabling Failure, and it brought to mind a lot of discussions I had with other players during the beta and shortly after the launch of cataclysm. It really is a drastic change in playstyle from 80-85. I remember at level 80, I was a demi-god in wow. I was nigh unstoppable. There were very few mechanics that couldn't simply be brute force healed through. Especially in the heroic dungeons, previous tier raids, and early bosses in icc.
It felt great being so powerful. A good healer could heal anyone through nearly anything. In reality though, there was very little skill involved in this kind of healing. It was really just a matter of having decent gear and pressing your buttons in a timely manner. But, the near god-like status of healers had some very bad side effects on the general wow population.
First, it took away nearly all accountability from an individual for their actions in a group, and transferred that responsibility to the healer. Over the course of the two years of wrath the "healers that could do anything" bred a new breed of wow player. The wrath baby. And I mean that in the bad way, not just someone who started playing in wrath. (I started playing in wrath btw.) These are the guys you met up with in your randoms, that never moved from any type of damage whatsoever. It was the mage who went entire dungeon runs and cast only blizzard. The guy in your icc run, who had good gear, and the appropriate achievements, but had no idea what he was doing and had no clue what the bosses did. He just ran up to the boss and smashed his face on the keyboard until the purples dropped.
We've all seen that guy. We've all been in a dungeon run or raid with him. And, I'm willing to bet, damn near every last one of us, just healed him through it. It made us look better
on the meters, and we managed to kill the boss anyway. So, who cares right? The problem was, that as the content became easier and easier, the players became worse and worse. Which in turn, meant that the content had to be even easier to accomadate all the poor players it was breeding. Which made the healers even more god-like. It was a vicious cycle that was dragging down the skill level of the general wow population, and bred a deep seated loathing among the skilled players of this new wow generation.
Fast forward now to cataclysm. Blizzard saw the problem it was facing. The healers were far too powerful, and the skill level of the average player was not up to par. And to top it all off, there was literally zero preparation for endgame raiding. What this meant was, that a new player, stepped directly out of heroics where he had never had any need for a spell besides blizzard, and into the top tier raid. Into your alt runs. Your pug runs. And into your guild. So, in order to remedy this, we got cataclysm.
To address healer power, healing spells received a very minor increase along with a hefty mana increase. Blizzard needed to reign in healer output, and the sheer number of powerful spells available to cast during an encounter. It was a slap in the face to most. Adjustment was necessary in not only technique, but in attitude as well. As healers, it was our jobs to keep all the green bars full. Period. Regardless of what was happening, our job was to cast our biggest and fastest heals until the bars were full again. However, at level 84, the new paradigm really kicked in. Suddenly, I was oom in a dungeon run for the first time ever. I actually had to BUY water, and carry it around with me. Not only that, but people were standing in all kinds of crap, taking tons of damage. And my heals were so small relative to their health pools. The biggest adjustment that any healer has to make on their way to 85, is that they can no longer heal through stupid.
I'm not gonna lie, it hurt my pride a little. The first months were rough in the pugs. Healers still felt like deaths were their fault, and so did the general population. I know I felt guilty whenever someone in my group died, and I couldn't keep them alive. The vast majority of the time, their death was 100% their fault, and the damage was 100% avoidable. But, I had gotten so used to being able to keep everyone alive, I still felt like there was more I could do. After a little while though, the proverbial light bulb turned on. I was a healer, yes, but I was no longer solely responsible for the lives of the people in my group. Without the resources to heal through copious amounts of unnecessary damage, a large amount of the responsibilty for staying alive fell back to the tanks and dps where it belonged. And I loved it. I still do. If that guy standing in the fire died, it was no longer my fault. It was his. And it was freeing. After a while, I discoverd it was simply more mana efficient to let the stupid players die. Not only that, but it actually increased the groups chances of survival by not wasting a now precious resource trying to keep stupid alive.
Of course, there was some healer backlash at the beginning. People still stuck in the wrath mentality. People still thought a good healer could heal through anything. And they played like it. They pulled like it. And, when you inevitably couldn't, or gasp, needed to drink, well, it was obvious that you were just terrible. And it was you who was holding the group back, not the lack of cc, or the tank not using any cooldowns whatsoever, or the abysmally low dps, and it definitely wasn't due to people standing in things that did obscene damage, but were totally avoidable. Nope. The amount of damage they were taking couldn't possibly have anything to do with why they were wiping. Right? But, as these people went through healer after healer, pug after pug of failed runs, gradually even the stupidest people began to catch on. This healer is a good healer, but he simply no longer has the means to heal through all the bad. Gradually, this sentiment permeated it's way through the general wow community. And things actually got pretty good for a healer, especially if you were good. Suddenly you were appreciated. People apologized for taking unnecessary damage, or breaking cc's. The wow population began to take responsibility for their own actions.
This healing change did something else positive as well. Since the healers no longer had infinite mana, heals were smaller relative to health pools, and avoidable damage was higher, people were actually forced to improve. They actually needed to know what the bosses did before they facerolled through it. They needed to dust off their spell books and actually learn how to properly play their class. Horrible dps was no longer an option. They had to play at least acceptably well. Without infinite mana, the moment a boss battle began, the clock was ticking. The dps now had to kill the boss before the healers mana ran out. Healing went from, keep all the green bars full, to keep all the green bars from depleting completely as efficiently as possible. In cataclysm, when you entered a boss battle, you and you're group WERE going to die. It was just a matter of when and how. But you WERE going to die. Your job as a healer, was to keep the group alive as long as possible, and the rest of the groups job to kill the boss before it was no longer possible. And to take as little damage as possible in the process.
In order to get through a difficult instance, it actually required an entire group of competent players. Their was a need for at least some minimal communication. People were forced to learn how to play properly. And, best of all, there was finally some preparation for raiding. There was fire, and if you stood in it, it would actually kill you. There were mechanics that required the tank to move the boss without cleaving the dps. Mechanics that required the tank to *gasp* use his cooldowns to survive. Healers had to manage their mana. Decide who needed healing right then, who would be ok for a while. Who would be better off dead. It was rough for a while, but the skill level of the average wow player actually improved. I run into far fewer truly awful players now than I ever have before. They're still there, but many of them have improved. To mediocre at least. And I can deal with mediocre in pugs.
Overall I approve of the cataclysm healing changes, and really enjoy them. Healing is far more interesting and rewarding than it has been before in my wow experience. Not only that, but they have brought about many changes that have been nothing but good for the health of the game in general. It was difficult to adjust to at first for some, but the end result was worth it. All the dungeons were doable. All the achievements were doable. Myself and a few friends completed the heroic dungeon meta before we ever stepped foot into a raid. It wasn't easy, but it was doable if you were willing and able to adapt and understand the fight mechanics and execute them properly.
Of course, things are much different now. I vastly outgear the current heroics. Most healers do, perhaps not as much as I do, but most do overgear them. With 4.2, and the easily attainable 359, 365, and 378 pieces, mana is much less of an issue. And I'm not so sure I really like it. Even while working through the latter part of heroic t11, I rarely ever had anything even resembling a mana problem. I'm not sure exactly where, but somewhere between ilvl 356 and early 360s, my mana problems just went away. I'm actually reforging OUT of spirit now. It was nice while it lasted, but we're already close to the wrath playstyle, except we now simply use spells with longer cast times. But that's a topic for another day. Overall, the cataclysm changes have been good, and hopefully the next epansion will raise the bar a little further. But for now, it'll do.
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