Simple(ish) Solution to Tank/Healer Shortage

[Thundahstahm-stormrage]

@Aydligaelf-eldrethalas

Let the hunters and rogues tank, and the warlocks and mages heal.

How does this make the DPS interrupt or move out of fire? Or act like adults?

[Vaeana-area-52 (Vaeana)]

@Aydligaelf-eldrethalas

Does anyone think this would alleviate the tank and healer shortage?

Absolutely not. You can’t just add more of the roles no one wants to play and expect people to play them.

It would be a tremendous waste of time.

[Rita-velen]

Btw. This tank/healer shortage only seems to be a thing in the pug world, and for good reasons. There’s only so much a tank/healer can do if the dps are incompetent, which to be honest is most of the time in pugs.

[Adilith-frostmourne]

@Daddyflumpz-area-52

I think a very interesting idea for one, would be a hunter tank spec where the hunter and the pet shared hp, and the pet mitigated damage. This would allow for the healer to top off the pet by healing the hunter, and would add class fantasy using some big defensive pet would mean something.

this could be problematic as how it stands atm. The pet AI is not the best that they either despawn, get stuck somewhere or just dont do anything. Imagine a hunter tank dies because their pet just decided “screw you”. I think the better way for this is if they ever implement a hunter tank is have the hunter ride his pet and they share the healthpool.

[Bailbean-stormreaver]

1 tank 2 healer 7 dps. You improve the tank:dps ratio.

[Catelan-aerie-peak (Catelan)]

@Bailbean-stormreaver

The shortage is because less players want to play those roles.

Thats very true. About a year ago, I rolled a new Priest and thought I would take a shot at being healer in low-level PUG’s. I was treated badly and people were playing like lunatics - the stress from that experinece made me log out and delete the character. The moral of my story is that tanking & healing is not for everyone. I personally would rather wait in queue for 30 minutes as DPS than to try and heal bad players. Better yet, if Blizzard would just let us run dungeons in a “solo mode” I would be playing 18 hours a day!

[Avelpally-frostmourne]

@Sarama-firetree

My favorite is seeing an LFR standing in front of a boss waiting for a tank and half the group is hybrids

HAHA yea that always cracks me up. no class does it more than a warrior as well. Absolute zugzug mentality

[Podwe-area-52]

thatll make it harder to find groups, not easier.
besides, that’s a 10man raid, not a dungeon

[Bailbean-stormreaver]

It would increase wait time for tanks but they would drop for dps. And it would still be dungeons because… You’d be going to dungeons.

[Podwe-area-52]

it would increase wait times for dps.
dps are easy to find.
tanks and healers take a bit.
this would solve nothing

[Absôlution-stormrage]

@Bailbean-stormreaver

shortage is because less players want to play those roles.

That’s because the development team designs those classes to be not rewarding and additionally, designs all mechanics to not just be unenjoyable but down right hateful.

Take healers for example

Bursting? hateful
Explosive? hateful
Necrotic? hateful
Greivous? hateful

Burst healing? Hardly exists and you have to madly outgear content just to even feel strong. On my 242 hunter I feel like I can do massive damage… on my 242 healer groups STILL find a way to always soak damage to the point where you never truly feel OP unless you’re playing with a select group of friends that are smart and aware… but then… there is no shortage of tanks and healers among friends only random que’s which is what this thread is about.

And Tanks? Are they even tanks anymore or should we call them professional kiters? Most have to run away like little kids even the ones stacked in plate armor and massive shields because tanking is no longer about skill of aggro, cooldown rotation (to some degree it is here still valid) but it’s more about who can run away the longest while getting a burst threat in the first 5 seconds before running away like scared little pony.

compare with dps type counters

Storming: stay away from that while you still have fun blowing up huge numbers
Volcanic: stay away from that while you still have fun blowing up huge numbers
Sanguine: stay away from that while you still have fun blowing up huge numbers

Very few people left have the stamina or actual desire to play these types of roles because they just aren’t as fun anymore. some enjoy them, but as evidenced by their dwindling populations I’d venture a guess that I am right in my assumptions.

[Stradkiller-alleria]

This.

They need to incentivize the roles more. And people need to stop giving the tank/healer crap in the dungeon. I created a pally tank and am up to 10s/11s with him and people will give you crap after a mistake. Personally, I don’t really care and just keep going, but some people are going to be offended and not want to tank.

[Stradkiller-alleria]

@Absôlution-stormrage

Bursting? hateful
Explosive? hateful
Necrotic? hateful
Greivous? hateful

Burst healing? Hardly exists and you have to madly outgear content just to even feel strong. On my 242 hunter I feel like I can do massive damage… on my 242 healer groups STILL find a way to always soak damage to the point where you never truly feel OP unless you’re playing with a select group of friends that are smart and aware… but then… there is no shortage of tanks and healers among friends only random que’s which is what this thread is about.

This is such a good take for healers – those affixes are hard, especially if the dps won’t use the abilities they have to help limit the damage.

I don’t hate those affixes at all, but they make you scramble as a healer at the end of pulls. I am very grateful when I see some off spec throwing out heals between pulls when it’s dicey – it tells me THEY know it’s a tough spot.

[Gnasha-grobbulus]

The REAL problem is tanking can either be one of the best, most fun, things in the game…or one of the worst and most miserable experiences. The difference being if you are tanking for friends or strangers.

I don’t think many guilds or friend-groups are short on tanks at all. Random strangers trying to do group content? Yikes. Ain’t no tank got time fo dat!

[Absôlution-stormrage]

@Stradkiller-alleria

those affixes are hard

I mean, I want to go as far as to say those affixes are SPITEFUL, but unfortunately Blizzard beat me to the punch with an affix named Spiteful, which ironically, is still the most stressful on the healer than anyone else because it drags on how long before you can drink and get out of combat even though most of the time you can just root them and run away till they die… and by the time they do die tank has already pulled another huge group, adding 10 more points higher to your blood pressure.

so yes, spiteful! all of them. not just one of them

[Ghòsted-area-52]

One other issue affecting this is that your standard 20-man mythic raid comp only allows two tank slots. That means that only 10% of the playerbase (or 1 out of 10) can be tanks at the highest level of raiding.

Whereas mythic plus, etc calls for 1 player out of 5 to be a tank.

We could fix this a little by allowing mythic raids to be 15 man (2/3/10 or 2/4/9) raids or even 14 man (2/3/9) raids.

[Stradkiller-alleria]

@Absôlution-stormrage

and by the time they do die tank has already pulled another huge group, adding 10 more points higher to your blood pressure.

Real healer problems. Honestly, it’s also what makes healing fun – it’s not just a set rotation to maximize uptime with, it’s that you have to react to everything, including overpulls, and know which order to do things to save the group. But I doubt that is for everyone.

[Blackbride-frostmane]

I’m a warrior and I’m here to “heal” you.

[Absôlution-stormrage]

@Stradkiller-alleria

it’s not just a set rotation to maximize uptime with, it’s that you have to react to everything, including overpulls,

but that statement right there is exactly why there is a healer shortage. Because Blizzard puts the weight of the universe on their shoulders in randoms combined with poor class design in terms of rewarding and then it’s no surprise no one wants to play them but select few.

Yeah so what I get faster que’s when I que up… it’s just not worth it to me anymore I quit my healer.

[Echoside-icecrown]

@Sentenzà-illidan

Side-note: Bring back rare mounts in role satchels and you’ll see tanks and healers start queuing for stuff more frequently.

What’s really funny about this is how, when you queue tank for a nerfed satchel, and they try to trick you into losing the satchel when the queue pops.