Lethal Shots

A post by Larisa over at the Pink Pigtail Inn brought to my attention a debate floating around about whether or not tanks and healers should be given extra rewards as an incentive to try and solve the shortage of each. The whole discussion was spawned by a guest post by Gordon (of We Fly Spitfires) at World of Matticus and has been followed with articles from several blogs (check Larisa’s article, she linked them well so no need for me to do it again).

And you know what I think on the whole idea? Bullshit. Allow me to explain my reasoning though. Below is a direct quote of Gordon’s article with my thoughts, comments, and rebuttals between the paragraphs.

Tanks and healers are the most important classes for any group. Tanks set the pace of the group, the flow of experience and man the vanguard as they lead the team into battle. Healers mend the broken bones of their companions and keep the tanks a live – without the healers there could be no tanks and there could be no group. These are the two most important classes that exist in any MMORPG. But the DPS? They’re just meat in the room.

What Gordon forgets to take into account is that a group also requires DPS to progress. Simply because DPS are more plentiful does not make the job any less crucial and far more than just “meat in the room”. ¹

Look at it in terms of supply and demand and stress and responsibility. Tanks and healers are in consistent short supply whereas DPS are a dime a dozen. And there’s a reason for that. Tanking isn’t easy and it comes with a lot of pressure and responsibility. Do it right and the group will sing your praises for days to come yet do it badly and you’re on the receiving end of every criticism and jibe. Healing is much the same and also comes with it’s own set of stresses and strains. If the tank dies who gets the blame? Not the DPS classes that didn’t burn the mob down fast enough but the healer who didn’t heal well enough. They carry the heart and soul of the party on their shoulders and all of the difficulties that come with that.

It’s a known fact that tanks and healers are in high demand. And yes, DPS are plentiful. But you can’t gloss over the fact that many DPS can barely faceroll out 1000 on the meter. Good DPS are just as rare as tanks and healers. Also, as DPS I’ve carried my fair share of sub-par tanks and healers though runs. It is amazing how shitty of a tank and/or healer you can run with if you can kill things fast enough. And while I can’t speak for Gordon, I know I have no problem calling out a DPS if they are the source of the problem.

And raiding? That’s even more stressful. Not only do we even already acknowledge the importance of tanks and healers in this situation. We have Main Tanks and even Main Healers but who’s ever heard of a Main DPS before? There’s a huge amount of pressure to do these jobs right. Sub-par DPS can join a raid (even if it’s not desirable) but sub-par tanks cannot tank one and poor healers cannot heal one.

I’m sorry, but that whole paragraph is riddled with inaccuracies and assumptions. Progression raiding is stressful on the whole group, not just the tanks and healers. Everyone has a job, and if one person fails the whole group goes down. Rogue missed an interrupt? Wipe. Not enough DPS to beat the enrage timer? Wipe. A mob not CCed properly? Wipe. See where I’m going with this? And as to the titles of “Main Tank” and “Main Healer”, Gordon is giving way too much prestige to a simple way of saying who tanks the boss, who tanks the adds, and who heals who. And I have heard of a “Main DPS”, but it is more commonly referred to as a Main Assist and is actually a quite important role when it is needed.

All of this stands to reason that tanks and healers should get bigger rewards than anyone else. I mean, it’s in our culture to reward those that do the most and work the hardest, right? Call it a Tank or Healer Bonus, and a well deserved one at that. They are more important and necessary than anyone else, rarer to find, and they’re jobs are a lot tougher and far more stressful. They’re like the mommas and papas of any group, bringing the necessary order and structure. Without a tank there is no group, without a healer there is no group. DPS can just be picked up randomly as required.

I’ve got nothing against DPS. It’s fun and there’s nothing wrong with that but they simply don’t deserve the equality of rewards. Tanks and healer should get a little something extra on the side (maybe a nice ‘Thank You Drop’ from the boss mobs they fell) because they have the hardest and most demanding jobs and are traditionally the slowest to level up (unless you turn them into DPS). They require the most effort and who can argue that as a result they should get the biggest rewards?

Again, full of inaccuracies and assumptions. Just because DPS are more plentiful does not mean they deserve less of a reward than tanks and healers. They are a key part of the group dynamic, the third node of the Holy Trinity if you will. Tanks and Healers with no DPS get nowhere. Gordon claims that healing and tanking are more difficult and stressful. Well, I’ll let you in a little secret: they’re not. I have three end game characters, a Hunter, Resto Shaman, and Death Knight tank. I have filled all three roles in both heroics and raids, and they all carry the same level of difficulty. Anyone can faceroll a DPS class, but you have to be good to earn your raid spot over the rest, paying attention to aggro management, crowd control, etc. Tanking and healing might have a steeper learning curve, but neither are too difficult once you have a little practice and a solid group of players.

Any class that can tank or heal can also DPS. It is a choice made by the player. No one is twisting their arm or holding them at gun point to play that role, they have freely chosen it for their own reasons. There is absolutely no reason to reward that choice other than to try and convince more players to tank or heal. But, while extra rewards may bribe players into filling those roles, it would only create more sub-par tanks and healers hoping to be carried by good DPS.