Replacement tanks & healers...

[Worba]

I just wanted to say "thanks" for all the times I've been in a group when one of the main roles drops - either because the player is in a snit over something or just due to RL issues, and one of the DPS steps up to fill the role.

Maybe I've just been lucky, but easily 90% of the time that's happened, the replacement does a perfectly good job and gets us through the rest of the dungeon (especially telling in cases where the quitter thought the group was "bad", when in fact they themself often proved to be the weak link)... and even that other 10% when they tried and failed, still deserves a /salute for making the effort.

I know from doing it myself that when you go in as DPS, it's no fun having to watch your numbers stuck at 0 while you dutifully spam heals because some other guy skipped out and left you stuck with the job (often the bailer was some know-it-all who didn't think a "mere DPS" would know how to do what they do)... but again, it IS appreciated - rock on.

[Morven]

Yes, the people who do this deserve credit & a glass raised in their honor.

And while hunters can't do this (being a solely DPS class), our Tenacity pets sometimes do a hell of a job when a tank unexpectedly quits in the middle of a pull or the healer hits lag and can't save the tank.

[cowmuflage]

Yeah hunters are good sometimes. It's the only time I'll heal a hunter pet. Can;t stand the ones who demand I do so when I'm trying to heal the tank so we don't all wipe. XD

[Morven]

When I heal, it's this priority: (1) Me: if I die so does everyone else; (2) The tank, since if they die probably everyone else does; (3) the DPS players; (4) Pets of any variety (hunter pets, mage elementals, warlock demons, etc.) I try to keep everyone alive if I can, but players who don't understand that there is and must be a system of priorities are annoying as all hell.

I think the times people "don't get it" is if I'm low on mana (which is generally because something just went wrong that needed a bunch of expensive heals). In that case, I may not heal pets and may let DPS get kinda low, because I need to have reserves. Fortunately, being a resto shaman specced for Telluric Currents, I can recharge in combat, but not as quickly as everyone would like.

[Kayb]

I have on many occasions had to throw my pet in as tank when a player has a hissy fit. A few times I've been lucky enough to quickly dismiss a cunnin/fero pet to summon a tanker. On the odd occasion the pet did better than the player anyway, and we managed to finish the dungeon lol.

There have been a few times too where I've told a healer to stop healing my pet and focus on the tank >_<

[Karin]

Reminds me of the dungeon group I had where it ended up being just me and a healer before everyone else ditched group after a near wipe (I survived, apparently). I switched to my Vile Sting and us three pretty much finished the rest of the dungeon without another wipe. Even my scorpion had no problem against the last boss while I dpsed a few spark adds that were sometimes on me and sometimes on the healer. I never had very many other situations like that at all where my pet became a better tank or the only tank but there were plenty of times where I'd make my pets pick up a stray mob that may go for someone other than the tank and hold them off until the tank realizes it. It's that kind of situation that makes me glad I have Intimidation sometimes. Better my pet get beaten up than a player that can't wear mail or better, especially if one of them is the healer. Then there were those times where, yes, the tanks weren't exactly top notch.

I have never intended on begging healers to heal my pets when I have Mend Pet or any pet self-heals going. I know pets are their last priority, which is fine because they can always come back for another round by their masters if they die first.

[Melentari]

I've been running into this a lot lately, while levelling a little paladin. I've tanked so many dungeons as ret - and pinch-healed, even with my tiny mana pool. There was one tank that refused to come in the dungeon (and for some reason, the rest of the group wouldn't kick her) until the last boss and then got mad when she couldn't pull aggro off of me. She at least had the grace not to roll on either of the items that the bosses dropped.

[Worba]

For myself I seem to run into this most on my tanks - I've been queuing for a lot of the obscure / older dungeons like Escape From Durnholde, or Forge of Souls, etc... personally I run them for mog gear but alot of players just seem to stumble into it and consider it too much work for lower ilvl stuff, so they either bail outright or else get lazy and expect to be carried.

When it's a DPS who does that, they can usually be replaced (or else you manage with a smaller group), but when the healer bails you're usually stuck unless a DPS steps up to fill the gap.

[Clou]

I've been doing this a lot on my Druid alt, I've found. The tank dies to something or other, and I find myself in bear form popping Challenging Shout and praying the healer is awake. I'm more of a healer than a tank, so even on my Feral, I find myself dropping form to heal when pulls go wrong and it looks like a wipe. It's kinda hard to refrain from doing the same during these 'semi-tank' moments, just cause I'm so used to soloing, where I'd just throw rejuves on myself while questing and such.