In Death and Taxes, pallies heal and priests DPS
points out (probably discovered via the Armory) that every single Paladin in Death and Taxes (our Guild of the Year last year) is specced for healing-- right down the line, they're all 41/20/0. And as if that wasn't interesting enough, later in the thread, paladin Nidhogg of D&T posts, and actually lays out just what every class' role is in their raids. There's some surprises:
Our warriors tank
Our paladins heal
Our druids heal
Our priests DPS
Our rogues DPS
Our hunters DPS
Our warlocks DPS
Our mages DPS
Our shamans heal
As Pally Sucks says, priests DPS? While all the paladins heal? Nidhogg says the "utility + DPS" of shadow priests is something they can't pass up, so their priests are in shadowform (with one holy for spirit). In addition, he says all the paladins are specced for healing not because they're forced to, just because they like it. And they put 20 points in Protection, Nid says, because he likes having them for PvP.
So what does it mean for class balance when you've got the hybrid healing instead of the main healing class in one of the most advanced guilds in the game? Sure, Paladins can do DPS, but when it comes down to it, a raid who knows what they're doing makes them healbots, and asks priests to all go in shadowform.
