Turns out my response to Leiandra’s post garnered a whole slew of responses of my own. I remain vigilantly aware of Blizzard’s upcoming changes to our class. Our class evolution has gone from Grand Master Healer to a support medic on the front lines. That’s all we are really… a support class. Sure we’ve got all of our awesome tools at our disposal. When’s the last time anyone’s really used Holy Nova on a tactically beneficial level? Last time I spammed Holy Nova was against a certain red dragon in Blackwing Lair. But that’s when mana was infinite. Pwyff’s comments were bang on when summarizing the strength of each healing class.
If we truly were the end all and be all of all healers, there would be no need for hybrid healers like Paladins, Shamans, and Druids. All raids would be filled with nothing but Priests. The reason why there is a sort of parity along the healing classes is because Blizzard wanted to make raiding flexible for a large amount of players. If all a raid needed were Priests, then the other healers would sit out and be unused. There had to be some kind of equality so that classes could be kind of interchangeable.
Anyone like problem solving? I love problem solving. Chances are, if you’re playing WoW, you like problem solving. If you think about it, WoW is a big giant puzzle that’s meant to be solved. This is one of the assignments I had for homework in my cognitive science class. So here’s a puzzle for you:
The scenario
Three Human Priests and three Orcs arrive at Menethil Harbor, and they all wish to cross to Kalimdor. Fortunately, there is a boat, but unfortunately, the boat can only hold two creatures at one time. Orcs are vicious creatures, and whenever there are more orcs than Priests on one side of the river, the orcs will immediately attack the Priests and slaughter them. You must be certain that you never leave more orcs than Priests on any side of the maelstrom. How should the problem be solved? The foul orcs can be trusted to bring the boat back safely. There must be one creature in the boat to pilot it. If the Kalimdor shore has an Orc, and there is an inbound Orc and a Priest, the Priest will be ripped to shreds even though they’re on the boat.
Note: Each time you cross the river, it is considered one step.
The problem is solvable with a minimum of 11 steps. I’ll post a solution later. If you solve it, don’t spit out the solution in comments yet, but DO say that you figured it out.
Oh come on! Everyone knows that the boats come back by themselves… so yeah, I did it in 5 steps. lol. But yes, I solved it following your rules as well in the 11 steps. Neat puzzle. Good adaptation.
5 steps? :O You’re thinking of the chicken, grain, and fox puzzle!
One quick thing… there can’t be an end-all-be-all of anything in this game. Not for Tanks, Healers or DPS. Each has strenghts and weaknesses and are designed to work together. Blizzard obviously sees and is working on the longevity and durability issues (buffs to Meditation and to PW:S) This game will never be perfect… it’s not possible. I just don’t think it’s as bad as people seem to think it is.
BTW, that’s an old one! Cake!
Just looked at it again and solved in 6 steps!
If you’re solving it in less than 11 steps, you’ve failed one of the conditions.
Oh, I should mention. One step is equal to one pass that the boat makes when passing the river. So carrying two priests to the other side, and one priest coming back counts as two steps.
I was counting differently… it would be 11 passes in that case!
God Matt that is such an old logic puzzle
I don’t think that it’s fair to classify anyone as a Hybrid healer. While it’s true that, at the game’s release, text on the official site described both Druids and Priests as “primary healers” Paladins and Shamans have grown to be just as viable and important. After all, why “specialize” in Restoration/Holy if you aren’t going to be equal to other classes that opt to do the same? The page text was long ago changed, and I would hesitate to describe ANY of the four as more a primary healer than the others. And really, in effect, we’re all hybrids since we can each choose one or more roles outside of healing if we wanted. =)
I just realized that the first and last sentences of my above comment contradict themselves. What I mean by saying it isn’t fair to classify someone as a “hybrid” healer is that it seems to imply that they are somehow less than a “primary” healer. All four healing classes can choose at least one other role, and each has a Healy tree (sometimes with a second tree providing additional synergy as with Balance and Discipline). So we’re all more or less on equal footing in terms of “intended use.” It’s all the individual caveats of instance-healing, beginning raid healing, endgame raid healing, and PvP healing that differentiate us and are worth quibbling over. =D
I must disagree there. Almost a third of the spells at our disposal have something to do with healing (PoM, Renew, Flash, Greater, Nova, Prayer, desperate, binding, circle, etc). I don’t think any of the other three classes have that broad spectrum of capability, and that’s what I refer to when I say “primary healer”.
Paladin’s have two direct heals
Druids have a variety of hots, 2 direct heals, and a channelled AoE heal
Shamans have two direct heals, and a chain heal (and a HoT if you’re Dranei)
Is there something I’m missing? Either that or I must be woefully ignorant.