Since instancing is my favorite part of this game, I reckon now’s a good time to introduce you to the “perfect” instance group.

Group Anatomy
For a successful instance, you NEED

1) Tank
2) Healer
3) DPS

and for a less painful one, it’d be nice to also have

4) DPS
5) DPS

If you can manage to slip a hybrid into one of the fluid 4/5 spots, even better. I’ve more than once had a druid kitty pop into healer form when a pull went sour, sliding into the role of emergency healer with an ease that, quite frankly, saved us from a wipe.

Am I saying that the people who occupy 4 and 5 are useless and unnecessary? Pfft, of course not. And there are a number of instances that absolutely require more dps than 1/2/3 combo. I love my 4/5 slotters. LOOOOOVE. *bakes them cookies*

But you cannot do an instance run without 1/2/3. (Don’t send me screenshots of how a group of five rogues totally ganked such-and-such instance. I know that by posting such flippant Nevers or Alwayses I’m just begging to be proven wrong. At least 95% of the time, you need 1/2/3)

But as long as you have a solid 1/2/3 - you can slap almost any other class combo into 4/5 and still have a good run. “What about an offtank?” “You need a backup healer!” “Crowd Controoooooooool!”– no. Sometimes those are nice, but in general…just no.

Every birthday and Christmas, I close my eyes and wish for this group:

1) Tank
2) Healer
3) DPS (main assist)
4) DPS
5) DPS-specc’d hybrid

Roles
1) Tank

Your tank’s job is to hold aggro on multiple mobs.

I don’t care what flavor of tankerade you like, warrior, bear, paladin - you have one job. DPS is NOT it. I’m not here to teach tanks how to tank, but if you are the main tank of an instance run and you never switch targets or have no idea why the mage keeps getting eaten by mobs that you haven’t touched yet….go play a rogue. (not because rogues are easy-mode, but because that sort of single-mob mentality is a sure sign of a born DPSer. Fulfill the prophecy, embrace your destiny, stop pretending to be something you’re not.)

If you like seeing the big damage numbers, if you like topping the damage meters…go play a dps class. Trust me on this one, you and everyone around you will be happier. Tanks, although they do get some handy dps, are NOT there to burn down mobs. They are there to keep everything more pissed off at them than at everyone else, and most of the time that means you lose a goodly chunk of dps to do it.

I have a HUGE respect for anyone who can tank well. It’s the most difficult job in the game, and you can quote me on that. I will travel any distance for a good tank, and a great tank inspires the kind of blind loyalty from me that is normally only displayed by dogs.

2) Healer

The healer’s job is to heal.

I don’t want to hear any stories about shadow priests topping the damage charts while keeping the whole group healed. That’s the only way a shadow priest CAN effectively heal - through damage. But a shadow priest absolutely could not keep my favorite kind of group healed, not without frequent water breaks and gear that would make Magtheridon cry.

If you can’t stand always being at the bottom of the damage trees - go roll a warlock, or respec shadow and let someone else be the main healer.

You will spend a good portion of most fights just standing around. If any group member ever gets mad at a priest for just standing there, they’re a moron. While we’re just standing there, we are REGENNING MANA. Yes, mana, that stuff that keeps you alive. If you’re not a healer, you don’t need to worry about the 5-second rule, but let me assure you, the longer I “just stand there”, the -better- I regen mana.

In “easy” instances, a healer can probably toss out a little dps. And a priest healer can do some wanding. Wanding doesn’t count as casting, so you can rack up the mana while you wand, staying well outside the 5 second rule and do some not-quite-useless dps while you’re at it. Wanding can be a double-edged sword though, as it uses the global cooldown, and that second of not being able to cast a heal can seem to last forever if your tank is dying. In my opinion, the BC instances are very wand-unfriendly places. I would rather stand around twiddling my fingers and be able to react instantly when someone needs a heal than to show up on the bottom of the dps meters, yet get my group killed.

The dps I add is insignificant compared to the benefit my healing. Healing > DPS

Incidentally, Healing > Grammar as well. If I’m typing something and the tank needs a heal, I hit enter and start healing. Fragmented chat from me is common, with a lot of half-sentences and gibberish. Sure, it looks silly sometimes, but I’ll bet everyone in the group appreciates not wiping a lot more. I’m trying to cut down on the amount of chat I do during instance runs because, frankly, I just don’t have time for it anymore. And I type very very fast.

3) DPS (main assist)

If you do not know what assisting is, I pity any group that has to run with you, and I mean that in the most serious way possible. Ignorance is forgivable, but knowingly scoffing at assisting is a hanging offense in my world. I’ll go into more detail on that later, but in MY runs, everyone has an assist macro or is quick enough with their preferred method of assisting that I don’t complain. I will have a longer post on assisting later.

The job of Main Assist (MA) is always given to a single-target dps class.

Warlocks make bad MA, since they tend to swap targets to strategically apply dots. Tanks make VERY bad MA - the definition of their job indicates that they are swapping targets a LOT. Any tank who says they can be MA is a sure sign of a nightmare run for me.

Rogues make excellent MA. Their job as single-target DPS means that they stare at a single mob until he dies from sheer terror (and, y’know…bleeding profusely). Then they move to another mob and burn THAT mob down too. Depending on the group, they do not have to swap targets mid fight for any reason.

Hunters can make an excellent MA. Being far away means they may have a clearer picture of the battle, and might be able to select a mob easily and react quickly to adds. If they’re required to do a lot of chain-trapping, they would make horrible MA.

Shaman can make excellent MA. Again, single-target focus for attacks. If you want your shaman to be a backup healer, then they’re going to be swapping targets and aren’t a good candidate for MA.

You see the trend here. Look at your group. You need someone who spends 99% of the fight with the same mob targeted and who is intelligent enough to understand mob priority (IE - they aren’t randomly clicking on things, they’re saying to themselves “Oh, this group has one of those robed healers, they can really cause a mess in a fight. If we take them out early, the fights go faster because they aren’t healing anyone.” or “Ack, there’s one of those bandits, they always gouge the tank and head straight for the healer. We need to kill them first”). That person should be the MA, and anyone who EVER selects their own mob for any reason whatsoever better have a DARN good reason for it. Heck, I’m to the point where I get cranky if I need to click on my own mob when I’m out questing or farming. I love my assist button as much as I love my greater heal, and that blasphemous statement will make perfect sense to anyone who uses assisting properly.

The job of MA is not an easy one, and it -always- makes the run easy of everyone in the group. Yes. Always.

I refuse to heal for a group that won’t assign and stick to a MA.

And while they’re at it, the talented MA is also vying for top position on the damage meters without pulling aggro.

4) DPS

“I’m going to kill them all, Sir.”

This person needs to top the damage meters without stealing aggro. BOOOOOOM. I love these guys, they tend to be batshit crazy, but I love ‘em. Heck, I married one.

5) DPS specc’d Hybrid.

This fellow is extra fun, since they have the ability to completely turn a wipe around. Unexpected spike damage eat the tank? No problem. Aggro wipe and a lucky crit utterly annihilate your healer? Pffft, cake. Sure, those situations are few and far between, but when they DO happen, we loves us some hybrids, yes we does.

Although it’s always lovely when they’re topping the damage meters, I never expect my hybrids to be damage fiends. Sure, with the right gear, of course they can totally pwn and be on par with the “purebreds”. But the reason I put a hybrid in this final slot instead of just relegating it to random dps is easy.

Hybrids can do more than one thing.

*gasp* Contain your shock, please.

A typical fight will see the hybrid doing nothing but DPS.

But some fights, the hybrid may pop out and remove a curse. They may toss a few HoTs (heal over time spells). They may see that the healer is spamming greater heal on the tank, pull back, and help out with the rest of the group heals. If a tank or healer dies, they can try and fill the slot. They can toss out in-battle rezzes. They buff, they have utility spells….in short, simply by BEING there, they make everyone else in the run look better.

My hybrid does some nice and shiny damage. But the benefit of his presence goes WELL beyond simple dps, and cannot be measured by any addon.

Conclusion
With this group, we can do ANYTHING, for we are mighty.

Some of you are probably foaming at the mouth, wondering where all the Crowd Control is!?! How could I possibly post my fantasy group and not include crowd control? Not mention the benefits of sapping, sheeping, sleeping, chain trapping….

….that’s because this is MY fantasy. And more than that, it’s my reality. I do not enjoy excessive CC. I -will- have a post about it, I promise. But THIS group needs very little (if any) CC. Feel free to disagree and flame me for it - I will probably respond to well-thought-out responses on the subject with a “that’s a good point, and one I’d like to cover/discuss on my CC post.” So feel free to bottle it up and really raise a ruckus there, where it’ll be more appropriate and I’ll give you more fodder for things to complain about.

CC is extremely useful, and if used well, can make a difficult pull manageable and seamless. It can also be a nightmare. I promise I’ll post on CC. Soonish, rather than laterish. Probably.

Update : I did cover the use of CC in Heroics in this post.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 18th, 2007 and is filed under Healers, Soapbox, ~ Vonya. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.