The question comes up more often than one may think: “what is harder, tanking or healing or dps’ing?” Over the course of dabbling with many different classes and builds some things consistently show up in conversations, regardless of class, build, or role.

1. Lack of appreciation for the “other” roles.
2. Lack of understanding what the “other” people go through.
3. Awe or shock at how well one of those “other” people perform.
4. A desire to learn how those “others” got to where they are.
5. Seeing one of those “other” people do something that isn’t understood.
6. Trying to figure out how an “other” couldn’t do something some “other” could.

This list is, by no means, exhaustive or all-inclusive. Plenty of conversations have revolved around the starting lines of “I could do better” or “How could I help them” or “Could I do that?”

Every class, every role, every spec brings forth some measure of difficulty and stress. Some tend to appear much easier to perform in due to their design, such as an average damage dealer being able to perform quite well simply because the class is capable of so much. Some seem to be far more difficult simply because of the sheer number of tools at their disposal. Eventually, though, someone fulfills a role in a way that shocks the people around them. Sometimes for the best, sometimes lending itself strictly to cries of how horrible that player appears to the eyes of those present.

Speaking simply, when one surrounds themselves with above-average players it tends to skew their perception of the average player, sometimes even to the point of making the average person feel worthless or sub-par. More often than not, however, it is simply a misunderstanding of a class, or of a specific talent spec, or the “know-it-all” who doesn’t actually have a clue about what they are seeing that starts the conversation.

Let’s get this out of the way quickly: no role is actually more difficult than any other role. Certain roles, like those of tanks and healers, are generally regarded as more difficult or more important simply because they are the most visible. It is not really the role itself that is any more challenging, it is merely that these roles need a specific type of person to fulfill them effectively.

In order to understand the point a little more easily, let’s look at one specific class and the ability to fulfill any of the three roles: the druid.

Tanking

Feral combat has come a long way since the early days of World of Warcraft. Far too often statements are made that belittle the ability of the player behind the character, especially with the implementation of easier content, easier threat generation, and the proliferation multi-mob attacks and abilities. Still, a good tank will be noticed more often than not due to a number of other factors. Some of the things most often noticed are responsiveness to changing situations, reaction time, and understanding their limits and gear enough to make quick decisions in groups and raids.

Tanking itself is not actually that difficult. Those other factors, the ones that actually require something the game does not provide at the press of a button, are what separate the bad, the average, and the good tanks.

Do not be fooled. Tanking is stressful, and it is quite rewarding to know that the rest of the group is looking to the tank as their anchor in rough waters. The same is easily said of another role:

Healing

Restoration druids have been fairly easy to find since the beginning. Their arsenal of spells, and the quite different nature of their abilities, have long garnered them at least one spot in a raid. Being a druid healer is a challenge in and of itself, however, primarily due to the general lack of being able to compare their style of healing directly to any other class’s play style.

This does not make it more difficult to be a restoration druid. Again, the person behind the character makes all the difference in whether they are a bad, average, or good healer.

Healing in general is a very different game than what most people can understand and apply. In a world where “rotations” are dominant, filling any role that does not really lend itself to such a concept immediately seems alien and hard to accomplish. In truth, it is for this specific reason that healing could be considered more challenging than any other role, although that is simply not the case.

Just like tanking, healing requires a different type of person to fulfill the role in an efficient manner. Typically, the same general concepts apply from those who tank: focus, reaction time, the ability to adjust on the fly, and the intricate understanding of their limits based on the group composition. These same thoughts loosely apply to “that other role,” but on the same token one can be quite successful even without those traits simply because of the nature of that role:

Damage Dealing

“DPS is a dime a dozen.” Everyone has heard that phrase, and possibly even uttered it themselves. While true, the idea behind any game that focuses on an ability to kill entities in order to progress lends itself to an abundance of damage dealing roles.

A player can be successful in any DPS role simply by pressing buttons randomly. That is a byproduct of the way damage dealing abilities are designed. Without focus, and without an awareness of what is going on around them, and especially without a concept of “rotations” and maximizing damage output however, no one will actually be a good “dps’er.”

World of Warcraft is designed in a way that all three roles are absolutely necessary to succeed in beating a significant portion of the game’s content. It is quite easy to see instances where the tank(s) and healer(s) are quite capable, but the content could not be finished because the damage dealers present were not. Although it seems much less difficult, and significantly less stressful, the knowledge that one has to perform at their best generates its own challenges and type of pressure.

Overall Playability

Druids are, by nature, one of the more difficult classes to leverage efficiently. When only looking at one facet of the class it is easy to forget how versatile druids truly are. In order to actually master the class, and in order to honestly appreciate the levels of dedication and hard work that go into being good players, one should at least be familiar with all of the available talent specializations and have a general understanding of how to apply them.

Is mastery of any class necessary? Absolutely not. Generally speaking, very few people will ever take the initiative, or have the ambition, to do so. Without attempting that process, though, it is much, much harder to appreciate what people go through when fulfilling any of the roles available in the game, and fulfilling them well (just as it is difficult to appreciate the hurdles other classes go through without firsthand knowledge of those classes).

Note that this does not mean one has to be extremely well-versed in all of the functionality of the class, or even the best in any of those roles. For the purpose of this discussion mastery is quite strong a term, but the concept applies nicely. Realistically, if one simply remembers the following points and watches for the traits outlined above, appreciation and understanding is almost inevitable:

Points to Remember

1. Thank the people who perform well in their chosen role, or who step up to fill a need and do well.
2. A class may have an upper hand in one setting, but they’ll have the short end of the stick in another. Even with the idea of homogenization that has been introduced in Wrath of the Lich King not all classes are equal.
3. Sometimes things just do not work. Group composition, although less of a factor than before, is still something to take note of when a wall seems insurmountable.
4. A good player can leverage any role successfully. A great player really shines. Learn from them, observe how they approach a situation, and do not be afraid to ask for clarification if something seems out of place. Everyone makes mistakes or forgets to do something on occasion.
5. Frustration is never an ally. Belittling a role only serves to create undue tension, further impairing one’s ability to learn and understand what could be done to be more like “those good, other people” that someone would rather be running with.
6. Every role has its own set of challenges, of difficulties, and of stress. Every role is necessary. Every role is difficult to fill if approached with the incorrect mindset.

Personal Note: Part of why some blog is because we want to provide information that potentially helps people perform better. Sometimes people get the wrong impression, thinking that we’re out to prove that we are what others should aspire to be. This happens even more often as a result of guides, even though the intent is only to provide an easy understanding of something for those who are having a tough time figuring it out on their own, or in some cases who would rather be told how to effectively leverage a skill, ability, or even class instead of experimenting themselves.

We often forget to look at the other side of what we can provide, though: an insight into the things that some people may never experience or attempt to understand themselves. A glimpse at why one person seems better or worse than another, when it could be as simple as not understanding the way that particular class performs in a specific scenario.

In closing, remember one key point if nothing else: all of the roles require a certain type of person to effectively do the job. Some people are simply not cut out for a class or role they have found themselves in, but with help they can still be successful and enjoy the game.