Shifting Perspectives: Don't be a failkin
Every Friday, Shifting Perspectives explores issues affecting balance druids and those who group with them. This week we are finding our thickest layer of skin and honing our beaks as we take a stab at how to deal with one of the worst words a balance druid can read from the fingers of mutants.
There are many names that balance druids go by these days: moonkin, boomkin, doomkin, spamkin and critchiken are just a few. Sadly, though, there is one more name which has been cast at many balance druids throughout their time in WoW: the highly stigmatized failkin. Being called a failkin isn't a pleasant experience; being called out negatively in any light is never a positive experience. People do not like to fail. They don't like messing up, and they like it even less when others make mention of it. There is little that can be done for the sometimes jerk-ish attitude that other players in the game may take toward what happen to be innocent mistakes, but there are a few things that you can be familiar with in order to better present yourself in a group setting.
First and foremost, know that many of these principles apply across all level ranges and all forms of group content. Whether you are running a dungeon on your low-level alt, getting your daily heroic done or raiding with your guild, you should always keep proper group etiquette in mind. It's not only polite, but people will recognize the difference and it can make the playing experience better for not only yourself but others as well. For all of the features, content and other perks that are in this game, no one can deny that it is the players themselves that are the driving force behind what makes WoW so enjoyable. As a single-player game, WoW would have long been dead and forgotten. It's the interactivity of playing with other people that keeps players around far more than anything else. Even though a majority of players focus on their guildmates, other random players matter just as much. In all of my time playing alts or running instances on my main, I find that I am grouped with random players just as often as I am with my guildmates.
Players like other players, but they also like winning at the game; in the case of WoW, this means completing the task at hand as smoothly and effectively as possible. Following are some basic guidelines that you, as a balance druid, can use in order to better assist in making all of your grouping experiences as enjoyable as possible for everyone involved.
Communication
Communication is key at all times when dealing with other people. We use it often in our everyday lives outside of the game, yet I find many times that players don't often bother with such things once they enter the game world. Despite WoW's being a highly social game, it is common to see players just off in their own little world, concerned with only themselves instead of what others might be doing. This is a sure-fire way to not only lessen your gaming experience, but also potentially to significantly hinder your chance at success.
I'm not talking about being a way-too-bubbly chatterbox who feels the need to spill his life story to every single dungeon group that he happens to get (although there is nothing wrong with being friendly toward your fellow party members); rather, I'm speaking in terms of communicating what you intend to do. I've seen it far too often, mostly on my lower-level alts, where a tank will run off to gather a large pack of mobs yet the DPS will open up right away on the first target that's pulled. This is generally frustrating to the tank, as they lose aggro, but it is equally frustrating to the DPS who have no idea what the tank intends to do.
Even though we are not tanks and thus have no control over such things, consider yourself to be the icebreaker in these situations. Ask the tank how they'd prefer to handle the pulls; ask him if he wants you to open up with AoE at every turn, if he's going to be pulling multiple groups, or if he is going to be marking specific kill targets. Usually these only apply in the lower-level dungeons or when doing heroics with a newer 80 tank, but it's still nice to know even when doing your daily dungeon for the 500th time in a row.
Entangling Roots is awesome
CC is a dead concept these days for most people. It isn't too often that you'll ever see someone call out for a CC target or even consider using the abilities at all. These people are generally wrong, however. I cannot even begin to mention how valuable CC abilities are, even today. They may not be used as frequently as they were in the past, but they can still be a highly valuable, life-saving tool when used properly.
First, know when to use your CC. CCing any mob at random isn't going to automatically make you helpful, and there are even times when using CC can hinder your group far more than it helps it. Great opportunities for CC effects are usually when you see a loose mob running towards a more squishy target (particularly the healer). In these situations, Cyclone is not the spell of choice; rather, you should fall back to Entangling Roots. A rooted target is far better than a banished target in so many ways. Even though the target is still able to attack at times, they are also not immune to being taunted back by the tank, whereas with Cyclone, you could potentially cause your tank to waste a taunt and the mob will still be running towards the wrong target once the effect ends.
If you're a hardcore raider thinking this has no application to you at all, then think again. Entangling Roots is a great spell, and it can save lives. There are two prime examples of times when Entangling Roots can be effective: first on heroic Deathwhisper and second on heroic (and even normal) Saurfang. Heroic Deathwhisper is a fight with lots of things going on, especially during phase 2, and it's quite easy for one of the adds to get loose and start heading toward someone they aren't supposed to attack. A quick root here can save someone's life, as these adds are easily capable of one-shotting people.
Another good opportunity to use CC, particularly Entangling Roots, is on additional pathing mobs. This applies mostly in many earlier dungeons where there are often lone pathing mobs that can join into the fray. It isn't always wise to CC here, but sometimes it is. For example, if you are running with a warrior tank who has just used Thunder Clap, then consider using roots to snag that new mob before it has a chance to break away and start chewing on someone else. A very observant and skilled tank is capable of handling it on his own, but these are the times when it is better to be safe instead of always assuming someone else will handle it.
The last situation where roots can be useful is against runners. Usually it is best to just try and nuke these mobs down; however, sometimes runners get off with more health than you could take out solo, or they get a last-second heal or have a HoT on them. If you notice a mob running away and it still has a significant amount of health, consider rooting it instead of nuking it. This is more true if you are the only one actively targeting the mob. This stops the mobs from aggroing new packs and allows time for other DPS to come and help deal with the situation instead of your being a Lone Ranger.
Finally, when using Entangling Roots, it's smart to make sure you have an addon or macro set up to announce it. Remember, communication is key to success, and letting the group know that you are using a CC ability keeps them aware of that fact so it doesn't randomly surprise them to find a mob sitting off in a corner.
Healing isn't just for trees
We've all heard it before, I'm sure: Druids are a hybrid class and we should make the most of those abilities. Those who follow me generally know how much I disagree with that statement. If you are a DPSer, then your job is to DPS, while it is the healer's job to make sure that you don't die. To a large extent, this is true, especially during raid boss encounters that have shorter enrage timers. This doesn't mean that you should completely abandon your additional utility, however, merely that you need to know how to use it intelligently.
Specifically in low-level dungeons, it isn't uncommon to see healers running out of mana rather quickly. Mana regeneration is terrible for just about everyone at that stage of the game and not everyone is running around with full sets of BoA gear. Always keep an eye out for your healer's mana while in a 5-man, especially during those instances where mobs will randomly Mana Burn characters (as they have a very annoying ability to single out healers moreso than anyone). If you find that your healer is out of mana, then start tossing out some heals. Also watch out for times when the healer might be CCed -- this happens extremely often in Wailing Caverns, especially during the boss encounters where one of them has a 20-second sleep. I cannot say how frustrating it has been on my non-healing-capable alts to see a tank go down when a healer is otherwise unable to perform his job while there are two other healing-capable players who did absolutely nothing to prevent it. If you have the capacity to save your tank, then do so; it could very likely prevent a wipe.
In a raid setting, healing is something that you need to be much more careful about doing. DPS is highly important and it is the main reason that you are going to be in that raid. Still, there are a few times when healing yourself does have its benefits. Again, heroic Deathwhisper is a good example. Players can end up spread out a lot and you don't always know what your healers are going to be doing at that point; they may be running from ghosts, they could be mind controlled, they could be desperately trying to save a tank or they could be moving out of Death and Decay. You don't need to heal yourself at the drop of a hat, but if you've gone five seconds without someone hitting you with something, then dropping out to get a few quick heals off so you aren't at risk of being instantly gibbed is a smart move.
