I was just curious, and maybe its only among the level 25 to 30 groups I hunt with.....but why don't Druids heal more often?
Within the past 2 days I was using my friends lvl 27 Warrior and was with a full group doing Black Fathom Deep. A Druid was the only healer. BUT all the Druid did was stay in Cat Form and fight. We barely made it through and we all died.
Next....a Druid was only healer in WSG Battleground. He had to be forced by all of us to stay out of Cat Form and heal. And he did a lousy healing job.
I myself rather fight in Cat Form and I dont like only healing.
BUT when I find myself the only healer....I just Heal and it is amazing to see how effective we are as healers. I realize that having just one healer and its a druid, the groups stay alive.
Why are Druids so against healing and rather have group die?
Does this change at level 50+?

It really depends on how one is specced, if you are fully feral you have little mana and healing will rapidly deplete it, having said that of course they should heal when it is needed, but it is not their "job" to heal people.
Having done some raids lately as a fully feral specced Druid, it took only all of 45 seconds before I was asked why I was not healing someone, and I was not even in cat or bear form.

I dont think it depends on spec as much as it depends on gear and the person playing the character. Some people play a Druid to be nothing but feral and dont ever collect healing gear.

In my opinion any Druid that is played well will have different sets of gear, evaluate each situation, and then assume the role that will most benefit that situation. Like most others I have a ton of gear that I carry around and my favorite addon is Itemrack, would suck not to have it. I can be a feral dps machine, however with a couple clicks on Itemrack (before combat ofcourse) I can become a healing machine with 8000+ mana.

In the end people will play the way they want to play and thats the way it should be.

As Anubrims signature says "Dont be a cat. Dont be a bear. Dont be a caster. BE A DRUID! ". Unfortunately, there are those that can't see past spec or one branch of our abilities and that's all they do.

More often than not, as people level they figure more and more out and can use more of our abilites concurrently and are not locked into any one role.

Just another one of those, "Everybody wants to DPS..." cases. A poor excuse for Druids tend to be the, "I'm a so and so spec'd Druid, so I can't do so and so task...". The truth is, even if you aren't IN spec, your gear can still make you a competent healer/nuker/melee. That's what it means to be a hybrid class.

For example, if you're a full feral spec'd Druid, and you don a full set of Dreamwalker Raiment and misc. +healing gear, your +healing will still top 1,000. Yes, your heals will not be as strong per cast as a Resto. Druid, but hey... you do have about 2,000 more mana from your HotW buff, compared to a Resto. Druid.

There are obvious benefits for being a Resto. spec'd Druid in +healing gear, but a feral spec'd Druid can manage just fine. Give a feral Druid some spelldmg gear, and you can still see some pretty numbers... just not as insane as a Balance Druid. :)

Basically what it comes down to is... that Druid you're talking about... is a solo player, with no team play skills.

A 'good' druid can heal a 5 man while nuking. So, being in a position where you need to be the main healer does not mean you do nothing but heal. My guild relies on me to assume the role of what ever is needed. As a druid, I pride myself in being able to do just that. I'm a balance druid with a few points in feral. I have no problem healing with my healing gear, nuking or tanking. That is the beauty of our class. I highly recommend the mod 'Outfitter' that will help in switching roles as needed during raids. Mostly, the other players that try and tell you that you are a healer are the classes that have little options within their respective classes. They don't understand versatility because their class does not allow them the option to be versatile. Not really their fault. As druids, we should be showing the other classes just how valuable we are in raids and pvp by being druids. Healing when needed, dps when needed, crowd control etc etc.

Just my 2 cents.

I'm feral and as with most I spend my time in instances/raids as a healer. I have a mana pool higher than most restos under t2 gear 8700 buffed. I also carry 500+healing gear at all times and most instances up to AQ are easy heal runs. But, there are those druids that only want to do their own thing...its cool. Not unlike a tanking Pally or a Shadow priest, of which I have found a large number that also complain they don't want to heal.
As a side note, Druids have the most efficient healing in the game (even feral specc'd) that's why we are so much in demand at end game and why we spend alot of our innervates on priests. A well played druid will be a main healer, off tank when needed and provide dps to take down the last of a mob at any given time...relish this abilty because NO other class can do what you can, if you choose not to exibit those skills fine, but know that will also exclude you from many of the more elite portions of the game.

I dont think it depends on spec as much as it depends on gear and the person playing the character. Some people play a Druid to be nothing but feral and dont ever collect healing gear.

In my opinion any Druid that is played well will have different sets of gear, evaluate each situation, and then assume the role that will most benefit that situation. Like most others I have a ton of gear that I carry around and my favorite addon is Itemrack, would suck not to have it. I can be a feral dps machine, however with a couple clicks on Itemrack (before combat ofcourse) I can become a healing machine with 8000+ mana.

In the end people will play the way they want to play and thats the way it should be.

I like your philosophy in your sig. I want to be the most diversely talented Druid that i can be... Ideally, I would like to effectivly assume different roles based on different situations. That being said, there's still a LOT i have to learn... (one of the MANY reasons i find this particular board so helpful)

what is this "itemrack" that you speak of???

another question: Once BC is released, and we can level to 70, will there be more talent points to go along with that?

Druids that don't heal properly haven't discovered they are druids yet.

The reason for the class existing is to cover whatever role is required at any given moment. I heal when there is no healer, tank when there is no tank, DPS if things need to die faster. If there is a role that you find distasteful, Healing for instance, then roll a class without that role, or live up to your druid heritage and fill it when needed.

If you don't like healing, play a warrior. They can both tank and DPS, with no healing required. Don't want to tank? Play a priest. You can heal or DPS, but nobody will ask you to tank.

The best, indeed the only, druids are those who can step up to the plate and make the party move, regardless of what is needed at that time. All the rest just haven't found their class yet.

skwidrific

[QUOTE=skwidrific]
what is this "itemrack" that you speak of???
QUOTE]

Itemrack, Wardrobe, Swiftchange are all mods that allow you to quickly designate a set of gear that you can change into with the push of a button. I carry 4-5 sets at any given time and to look through and change out each peice each time I need to is too time consuming. Rather I use these to completely change out my gear to my desired function i.e Tank, Heal, DPS, Nuke, Fire Resist, Nature Resist etc....
If you are in combat Blizz will only allow you to change out your weapons, so the rest of your gear will stay static until combat is ended.

It makes me soo sad everytime I come across one of those "I'm FERAL/BALANCE, I DON'T heal, my DPS is MUCH more important" threads on the official forums. Sadly there seems to be a number of druids out there who honestly believe their DPS is more important than their versatility. Most druids even condone this attitude, but it's surprising to me the number of druids that support it.

Honestly if my guild ever had a druid that believed their DPS was too important, and they refused to heal anyone except themselves, I'd boot them from the guild myself. I'm full feral, my healing gear is still mostly 5man blues, but I'm still a damn good healer when I need to be. Raiding is about the group, not about yourself.

If you're not raiding, fine, do whatever... but yeah. I feel like kicking the druids that raid and refuse to heal in the nuts.

More on that rant side, gawd, I had the joy (sarcasm) of doing a pug MC run with a guild that had one of those druids a couple weeks ago (I was on my hunter cause my druid was saved). This druid was in all epics, he was geared out yes, but he was a freaking cocky SOB and he annoyed the *** outta me. He refused to heal when we were obviously short on healers on domo, and low and behold wiped on him because of it. His guildmembers supported his attitude, which is what astonished me the most. Then on a bad trash pull instead of you know, popping out and healing the tanks or tanking something (what most druids would've done)? He stayed stealthed, let us die, and laughed at us. His guildies just laughed about that too. And when we finally got to Rag, he of course refused to heal, insisted on DPSing with the rogues. We were short on healers again, but even worse, we were short on people with decent FR, so the ranged DPS kept going down cause we had no one healing us whatsoever. We wiped 3 times then called it. I was soooo pissed, cause one try his guildies actually asked him to tank Rag since he did have good FR gear. I mean, jesus, I'd KILL for a chance to tank Rag on my druid, but I'm lacking the FR (still), and this stupid cocky dumb*** gets to tank him just cause he outgears everyone. Anyways, he died too, and we wiped again, which made me slighly happy (just the fact that he died), but still.

/rantoff

Maybe he is crappy at healing or just think it's boring. I don't know about you guys, but I don't pay a monthly fee to play a game I find boring. It's not only a waste of my money but also my time.

Sure, I have no problem healing myself if needs be, but you shouldn't automatically asume that a player that CAN heal is by default a healer. So, instead of asking for a druid or a priest for your instance-run. Ask for a healer. GL. :)

i do not enjoy the healing aspect of a druid particularly and i choose my druid back a couple of years due to the forms and the variety they bring to the game. i've always been feral from day 1.

i enjoy being able to do almost anything to help out a group / party. esp when doing the 5 / 10 man type of thing where a druid versatility is perhaps more useful.

however i always heal when needed and have collected the usual cenarion and then stormrage set to make sure i can heal for raiding. although i also collected as much good feral gear as well. in MC i was usually ok to go kitty dps and even some tanking if we were short on warriors. in BWL i was almost entirely on healing duties - apart from going bear to help tank at Neffy on the draconids which was always fun.

so whilst i always prefer to be in feral forms i've done my bit of healing when necessary cos even specced feral i feel i can heal very well. and ofc with talents my mana pool is close to 8k buffed in a raid - not to shabby !

its still nice though to get into tank mode and have like almost 8k HP and 15k+ armour :)

as has been said what annoy me the most is others automatcially assuming i will heal and only heal cos i am a druid. if i offer to help out in a 5 man or even go do some test of skulls for people all they think i am offering healing. they find it odd when i say sure i'll tank it for you.

its nice when you get the odd enlightened person who asks for a tank rather than a warrior or even says warrior / feral druid wanted :)

Enlighten your guild on the whole feral thing and you will actually get them to undertand the whole "druid" does not always mean "heal" thing. On that note ... after almost a year of play I have respecced to resto and now happily do the twist in ToL form.

Well if the Druid is the only "healer type" in your group while doing a dungeon.....and the Druid refuses to ever heal......therefore nobody is healing your group.....the group dies.

In the BG's I'll heal when and if I want to. In a group if I'm the primary healer, thats what I'm doing. One thing some morons in the group need to understand though. Insect swarm makes you get hit less. So me putting it on the mob is a form of healing. And if you say something about it, I'm less inclined to heal you. Lots less.

I'm a feral. I'm specced that way, I have a lot of experience at it at a raid level, and I've concentrated my gearing that way.

Will I heal? Yeah, I will. But I'm almost never in that situation. When I'm forming groups, I'm usually the tank. If there's a warrior who really wants to tank, I'll look for a healer. If someone else invites me -- not that I generally do pickups -- they understand that I'm a feral, and a more effective melee than healer, and that we should get a healing class.

Thus, I'm almost never in the situation where I'm the only healer in the party. If you don't get yourself cornered into doing a job you don't want to do -- you don't have to do it.

If they really DO need a healer, a real healer? I have a level 60 Holy/Disc priest for just such occasions. I don't mind healing, but I'd much rather do it with a character that's build and equipped for it (even if his gear is clearly inferior). I don't pull the priest out too often, though.

As for the battleground -- unless you're in AV and tanking Drek'Thar or Vanndar, or one of their buddies, I'd never expect a heal. They're nice and helpful, but I'm not telling anyone what to do unless it's in a situation that practically mandates it.

There are 10 kinds of people.. those who know binary, and those that don't.

There are 2 kinds of people.. those who do want needs be done and people who posture.. and I really don't wish to be a poser.

Do you see anyone you know in this?
http://www.obsessionmatrix.com/heal.jpg

lol I love that picture, sums up the problem completely. When I first saw that I laughed my ass off.

That's the thing with healing - someone's gotta step up to the plate and do it, and we have to be willing to do so at least sometimes in such situations as above, otherwise it really just is... that dumb.

I see it the other way. Getting yelled at to heal while I am tanking 3 mobs, the Warrior is DPSing.

Really, it comes down to Feral Druids are first and foremost melee classes who can be secondary healers. If you are making a 5 man and want a healer ask for one, not for a druid. If you are raiding, ask for healers, tanks, dps. Much better than asking for Druids because you think they are healers.

its nice when you get the odd enlightened person who asks for a tank rather than a warrior or even says warrior / feral druid wanted :)

Amen!

tbh.. it's good in some way that some ferals refuse to be healers.
Don't get me wrong.. ofc a feral can be an emergency healer (and should be).. but all theese bullheaded people that refuse to heal might just enlighten people that not all druids are mainly healers and change the public view on us.

Maybe it's not the best way of proving your point.. but some part of me likes it anyway. Sorry. :)

And tbh, ferals ARE getting more accepted on my server (at least bear tanks). You see more and more LFG requests like "bear tank or war tank needed" or "kitty DPS with imp LotP needed". Maybe we have theese bullheaded ferals that refuse to heal to thank for this.. I dunno. :p

I do have to say this is always a hot topic when it comes up.

So I've been on all sides of the fence... hated healing when I leveled feral... switched to a more healing spec and healed with the best of them etc.

After my guilds progression slowed some I started leveling a rogue and realized just how limited our feral abilities are compared to the real thing. While we can dish our the feral damage with the best of them, we are NOT a rogue. Rogues have a lot more utilities that we do not. My friend is leveling a warrior and has the same to say about being a warrior.

We are a hybrid. We can play multiple roles and do each of them to about 80% of the level of the real thing. IMHO, caster*.8 + rogue*.8 + warrior*.8 + healer GREATLY outweighs any one of the other classes.

If you want to be just feral, you're playing at 80% of the potential you would if you played the class you're emulating... what's the point?

If you want to be just feral, you're playing at 80% of the potential you would if you played the class you're emulating... what's the point?

First of all. My main is nowadays a rogue.

Second. Maybe they like the roleplaying aspect of it. Maybe they want a challenge. Maybe they.. I don't know.. _LIKE_ to play a feral for no perticular reason whatsoever other than that they like it.

Who are you or I to tell them that they aren't playing the game "correct"?

Pff. Elitism at it's finest.

I see it the other way. Getting yelled at to heal while I am tanking 3 mobs, the Warrior is DPSing.

Really, it comes down to Feral Druids are first and foremost melee classes who can be secondary healers. If you are making a 5 man and want a healer ask for one, not for a druid. If you are raiding, ask for healers, tanks, dps. Much better than asking for Druids because you think they are healers.

I'm 100% feral, but I'm still a healer, and a good one at that.

Spec is less important then gear. A true druid will have some healing gear so they can be a healing class as well. Nublets spec feral and say they aren't healers.

Again, if you don't want to heal groups, please make a warrior and stop giving druids a bad name. Any druid worth knowing would never say they aren't a healing class. They are a healing class, a tanking class, and a DPS class. The joy of druidism is being whichever one of those is needed in the moment. Lose sight of that and you aren't a druid anymore, you become some gimped warrior, a rogue with no CC, or a HoT Priest.

Groups/Raids should be asking for healers/tanks/DPS, and as a druid we should be replying, "I can do that! Take me!" Then when the tank drops you can tell the group, "Get either a tank, or a healer, I can do either." No wonder others don't understand our class, most of us don't even understand it ourselves.

Agreed on the tanking bit tho. People need to learn we cant tank and heal at the same time.

Well I leveled up as a feral druid in my early days and since I made level 60 I went to Resto. It took me a while to get decent healing gear but once I did I never looked back. I am much more use as a healer in groups/raids than I am as dps. Dont get me wrong, one of our feral druids is in the top 5 dps and he is damn good. I pride myself on how well I heal my 5 man groups in TBC and I outheal any other class. Yes, ANY other class. Druids are the BEST healers hands down. A Resto druid with decent gear and skills cannot be equaled. I find the new instances a real challenge to heal and I dont miss being feral really. I do have some nice feral gear once again due to the very good green/blue quest/instance drops and enjoy soloing once in a while for quests. I have over 10.6k AC in bear form which is pretty sweet. I was only T1 geared before the expansion. The only other person who outheals me on raids is another druid who had 5/8 T2 and some other nice weapons.

I do agree with those who play druids for their other skills. This is a game that shoudl be fun for all and if you want a healer, then ask for a healer. If thats a priest or a druid, make sure they know they are there to heal. Blizzard made some very nice changes lately for druids in the 2.0 patch that has put us in the front for healing. I for one like it and love to play that role. Being a great dps in groups/raids is nice, but if you are a kickass healer, you will be sought after in any group.

if you don't want to heal groups, please make a warrior

If you don't want to tank, please make a rogue.

If you don't want to DPS, please make a priest.

I have a warrior. And a priest. And a rogue.

And I'd rather play my Druid, thanks. Generally, I tank in 5-mans. There just aren't that many good tanks around. In fact, it's pretty much all I've done in 5-mans in the Outland until I got pulled into a group with a prot warrior 3 levels ahead of me in the Slave Pens.

And in that group, I DPSed on most of the fights, occasionally popping out to heal, and I helped heal on the boss fights.

But if a group really needs me to be the only #1 healer for something like an instance, I'll let them find one, or I'll play my priest.

OK, I am very impressed with what Blizz has done in this expansion. They have made it so druids can be druids again. I am specc'd feral, but carry about +500 healing gear. I also carry a DPS and Tank set at all times. So in the 5 mans, I usually go tank or dps...but I also find myself healing alot as well. That being said, we had our guild meeting this past weekend and we were going over future plans and the druid class was called up...I am the only Druid above 50 in the guild (currently 63). So the aspect on druids now is that we CAN be more than healers. On the Furnace runs, I now out dps our rogues...one of which was running Naxx before the expansion. I even got a, "Dammit Bryne, slow the f@ck down we cant keep aggro on the tank" (also Naxx raiding). I have some really good gear from ZM and Tellkarr but still green in comparison, what does it is the spec...with ILoTP, OC, Mangle and now Maim, we dish out major DPS.., but the point is, I also main heal these instances when needed, and main tank. Whats that mean...I get to go on virtually every run we do now in BC, If you think about it, this gives us a great opportunity we haven't seen in a long time. So I basically get a crack at what I want and need, plus it keeps me from PUGing it too much. So, rejoice all you multitalented druids, our day is here and I for one love being able to do most anything needed in this game. Cheers!

Its kind of funny...my guild has the same 6 or 7 people that keep on breaking ground in the new BC 5 mans and I've been offtank/backup healing/dps in every new instance run. I'm specced heavily feral (the only raiding druid allowed to not have 21 pts in resto for NS) but I also have about +520 healing. When I know that there's a good chance that i'll be backup healing I make certain to wear a 2 or so pieces of stormrage even if I spent most of the time in bear as OT. I've lost track of how many times I've been critting shreds for 1.6k with mangle up on boss fights, but also popped up for a barkskin tranquility (now an amazing spell but the CD does suck) that completely saved the group.

In the UD instance in Auchodin *spelling!* there are 5 man skeleton pulls that have odd aggro behavior. We shackle one, target one for dps and tank 3 others. Our guild MT stays on the dps target (and maybe one other) and I corral the other 2 or 3 via swipe. This strat works like a charm and by the time he pulls each one off of me they already have a good chunk of life gone thanks to swipe crits and I'm then free to toss a few lifeblooms. Its awesome fun.

This is exactly what I signed on for when I rolled a druid and spec'd feral. Thank goodness that blizzard finally figured out how to let feral druids shine.

OK, I am very impressed with what Blizz has done in this expansion. They have made it so druids can be druids again. I am specc'd feral, but carry about +500 healing gear. I also carry a DPS and Tank set at all times. So in the 5 mans, I usually go tank or dps...but I also find myself healing alot as well. That being said, we had our guild meeting this past weekend and we were going over future plans and the druid class was called up...I am the only Druid above 50 in the guild (currently 63). So the aspect on druids now is that we CAN be more than healers. On the Furnace runs, I now out dps our rogues...one of which was running Naxx before the expansion. I even got a, "Dammit Bryne, slow the f@ck down we cant keep aggro on the tank" (also Naxx raiding). I have some really good gear from ZM and Tellkarr but still green in comparison, what does it is the spec...with ILoTP, OC, Mangle and now Maim, we dish out major DPS.., but the point is, I also main heal these instances when needed, and main tank. Whats that mean...I get to go on virtually every run we do now in BC, If you think about it, this gives us a great opportunity we haven't seen in a long time. So I basically get a crack at what I want and need, plus it keeps me from PUGing it too much. So, rejoice all you multitalented druids, our day is here and I for one love being able to do most anything needed in this game. Cheers!

I read a lot of people saying that they finally are able to be versatile as a druid again, getting to tank, heal or dps depending on the situation. While i really hope this is true, and i hate to be a pessimist, all i wanna say is dont expect it to last forever. Cos most people who has said this are lvl 60-69, and none of them are yet to start raiding in BC.
Maybe this will change back to pre BC when raiding starts, and druids are forced back into healing, i hope not but think its to early to say yet.

Its like saying "yay im getting to do everything as a druid" at lvl 50-59 doing scholo, brs, brd and such. When truth was that once u hit 60 u could delete ur feral and balance tree if u wanted a raiding guild (ok im exagragating, but u get the point =P ). So.... "dont sell the fur until the bear is shot" as we say in norway ^^ (pun intended =P )

Truthfully, I don't want to force a person to do somthing they don't want too... chances are they'll suck at it cause their mindset is focused on another thing. That said, I don't want to group with them either.

Druids are like anyother class... there are plenty of bad apples amongst the bunch.

To the OP, the same can be said for Paladins or Shamen.. most people aren't joining BG's to heal. I'd suggest stepping up your game and joining pre-made groups... there be healers there.

Tejaye, I agree with you.. I've always been a full resto druid until recently... I re'specced to balance the other day for a change. I also think its harder at lower levels to have the gear to support all aspects of the class. Maybe it's just a good idea to find out if your druid is spec'ed to heal before you start...

I refuse to heal.

I'm specced feral and I'm geared for feral. I don't want to heal. I don't want to nuke. I want to shred faces with my kitty claws. I want to stand against the tide of angry pixels trying to eat the healer healing my fuzzy butt. So I don't join groups that are looking for a healer. It's as simple as that. If the healer leaves, we find a new healer or go our seperate ways.

Im Feral, I carry a set of gear for healing. I get asked for 5 man instances all the time. When I get the tell I ask them what they expect. If they say "Well we need a healer" and I dont feel like healing I let them know. Problem solved. As a rule I just stay clear of pug's anyways.

Do I pop out of a feral to toss a heal in...Absolutely!
Do I pop out of feral to innervate... Ofcourse!
Will I heal for an instance if asked..Sure If I feel Like it.
Does anyone have the right to tell me how to play my character... Nope! Last I checked, it's my name on the credit card that blizz charges.

If I dont wanna heal I should play a rogue? Rogues cant do what I can, why would I. Same goes a Warrior, Mage, or Priest. I've played them all and while they excell at the obvious, none of those classes have the utilites and flexabilty that I do.

People are always cutting down feral druids. Do you hear Feral druids yelling at Resto's for not tanking? No its absurd, but what would the resto say? Im not specced for it. Damn right, who wouldnt. So to say a feral druid isnt a druid because he refuses to heal in an instance is silly. If your resto I bet your rarely in bear form...Does this mean your not a druid because your not tanking more? Come on, lets think this through before you start hitting people with the nub bat.

I will remain feral specced until I get bored with it. I will not change my spec to please others or because the majority says druids are useless unless resto...
I Will continue to respect others in thier choices of how to play a character. Some of you who posted here need to respect that and stop hating.

I will pop out and toss a heal or two if I think they'll do something worthwhile, but most of the time... it's not worth it. Especially in pvp. Innervate however is something I will definately try to use if I can find an opening for a quick shift.

I won't heal for an instance group though. I'll find another group before it comes to that.

I dont think it depends on spec as much as it depends on gear and the person playing the character. Some people play a Druid to be nothing but feral and dont ever collect healing gear.