08-15-2005, 08:37 PM
As far as druids go, I've found that our (Basin) guild runs are far more open to letting druids run around in forms as opposed to labeling them as healers. I've done a lot of high-end instance main tanking, and damaging when we've had enough healing power. However, this is very gear-dependent. You really have to get the right druid who's been focusing on gear for all forms, not just on healing.
It makes a huge difference: my base DPS for cat, going from caster form, is around 70dps; with bear gear, 85 dps, and with cat gear, 100 dps. (that's before adding skills into the mix)
Contrariwise, HP goes from 3.2k for cat gear to 3.7k for healer gear to 5.5k for bear gear, and bear AC goes from 5k to 8.8k.
Really nice part is that I can switch roles within an instance; thus, for a 5-man Baron Strat run, I can go cat for most of the run since a priest main healer is plenty, and for the Baron fight, I can go healing. If you just have two or three characters and pick one, you're locked into that class for the entire run.
As for hunters, we used to have a lot of them running around, but they've been sort of dwindling lately - my impression is that hunters tend to feel like 5th wheels in instances, which is unfortunate since I like grouping with hunters. The dead zone also doesn't help in cramped instances. But yeah, I would say DPS and CC flexibility - the freeze trap comes in really handy in almost all the high-end instances, just not in raids. Especially since you can trap almost anything that's not a boss...
It makes a huge difference: my base DPS for cat, going from caster form, is around 70dps; with bear gear, 85 dps, and with cat gear, 100 dps. (that's before adding skills into the mix)
Contrariwise, HP goes from 3.2k for cat gear to 3.7k for healer gear to 5.5k for bear gear, and bear AC goes from 5k to 8.8k.
Really nice part is that I can switch roles within an instance; thus, for a 5-man Baron Strat run, I can go cat for most of the run since a priest main healer is plenty, and for the Baron fight, I can go healing. If you just have two or three characters and pick one, you're locked into that class for the entire run.
As for hunters, we used to have a lot of them running around, but they've been sort of dwindling lately - my impression is that hunters tend to feel like 5th wheels in instances, which is unfortunate since I like grouping with hunters. The dead zone also doesn't help in cramped instances. But yeah, I would say DPS and CC flexibility - the freeze trap comes in really handy in almost all the high-end instances, just not in raids. Especially since you can trap almost anything that's not a boss...