Of the many different character classes in WOW, each having a
different accepted role, there is one lauded as superior by
those who play them, and scoffed at by those around them. There
are a few responsibilities that must be filled for a group of
adventurers to succeed in a dungeon. There must be a “tank,”
someone who gets the attention of the monsters they are
attempting to kill. A healer is important to keep the group
alive. There are damage dealers who are primarily responsible
for slaying the monsters in melee or from a distance. Characters
in charge of crowd control stall certain targets to make taking
down others easier.
Each class generally fills one role with ease and can switch to
another if it is needed. The Warrior, for example, is first and
foremost a tank. Warriors are given the most abilities to
generate and maintain the focus of the foe. But in a group with
two warriors, or if another class wants to try their hand at
tanking, the warrior can be used as a damage dealer. The WOW
Paladin, normally used in instances as a healer and support
character, can generate cause enough threat to hold the targets
attention.
The Druids of Azeroth, made up of the Night Elf and Tauren
populations, have an interesting mix of abilities. To WOW, they
are the shape shifting Jack of all Trades. They can heal the
party, with efficiency topped only by the Priest. In Cat Form
they can deal melee damage and sneak around their enemies with
the guile of a Rogue. If shifted into Bear Form, they are
capable of performing tanking roll of a Warrior. While in
Moonkin Form, they can dole out massive damage by raining down
arcane and nature spells on the target. This wide range of
abilities makes the druid the ideal member of any party, if one
person fails, the druid can switch over to the vacated role and
pick up the slack.
This is not often how the party views the situation, however. In
small instance groups of five people, the druid is often taken
only if they are willing to be a healer, despite their
versatility. A druid desiring to fill another role, especially
the popular role of damage dealing, is shunned. The WOW
developers gave druids certain abilities, such as moon fire or
faerie fire, which are very visible spells. These spells have
beneficial effects for the group, but a druid casting them on a
target will often be ridiculed from the party for ‘wasting mana’
that should be reserved for healing.
The issue stems from two major problems in WOW. The first is the
lack of healer classes. There is only one class out of eight on
each faction that is a dedicated healer, the Priest. There are
two other classes on each side that are capable of healing, the
Paladin for Alliance and Shaman for Horde, then the Druid. The
low amount of available healers leads to less players playing
them, which feeds right into the next dilemma. The second
problem being that most players are too shortsighted to see
beyond the Druids healing ability. There are many people with
the immutable mindset that if a druid can heal, he should heal.
While they are an effective healer, they are quite effective at
every other role they can fill as well.
No one would ever accuse Blizzard entertainment of being hasty
with their decisions. WOW and their other games have had their
release dates pushed back many times. In the past hardcore fans
of Blizzard’s work know that this delay is for the best, the
company labors to produce the finest quality product. The Druid
went through months of internal testing and balancing before the
concept became a reality. By giving the druid all the basic
abilities of a rogue, a warrior, a mage and a priest, it is
quite clear they had a greater intention for the class than
staple healer.
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