Don't let them tell you how to play your druid!Follow

Ok, so this is going to be sort of a rant post here.

I'm currently in a guild that has Kara on farm, has done ZA numerous times up to zul'jin (phase 3 still kills us), has done mags and gruuls a lot and is getting into the ssc/tk raids. We have some guild members that think they're the know all of druids and it really really bothers me. I'm probably the best resto druid we have gear wise... and hopefully skill wise.. And I like to think that I may have a clue on how to play my druid.

So, there are 4 other resto druids in my guild that when they ask me for advice for speccing, gear to use and what stats to stack I gladly tell them what I think would help them and I never say that "You have to do this!" Well, we have people in my guild that do say this and it drives me absolutely insane. People who haven't played druid shouldnt tell you how to spec, what gear to be using be it cloth or leather. Hell, all my first healing epics were cloth. I don't like when people tell my other fellow druids to be a leatherworker or go alchemy for some epic crafted gear, IE: Windhawk set and Alchemist's Stone for healing/spell damage, take up whatever profession you feel you want. I've seen people on gchat saying that as a resto druid you should be stacking intellect over spirit, mp5 over spirit and so on and so forth. This crap just drives me nuts. I've been told before that spell crit isn't important for a boomkin by guild members and that boomkins can't push out good dps. Don't listen to the nay sayyers.

I've been lucky enough though that my guild leader is a fellow druid and is completely tolerant of my wishes to sometimes dps raids instead of heal, or even go feral and try to tank some things.

This is something for all you new and starting druids out there, don't let people tell you how you should play your druid, do what is fun for you and what makes you enjoy the game. Read the message boards, read the guides and figure out what you think you would like and try it.

I think a lot of you will feel this way, and I really want to know what you guys think about people like this.

The guild I just joined had (note past tense) a shaman that, for what at first was an unknown reason, was always ripping into me for my gear. Turns out he fancied himself an expert because he had a druid with badge/T5 sets for feral tanking/dps and resto.

What he was blissfully ignorant of was his reputation in the guild. He was useless. His gear was very good for the content we were running, but his knowledge of game mechanics and execution of his role rarely exceeded mediocrity.

Our GM/Raid Leader is an extremely well geared Prot Pally (relative to the content). He knows the fights. He also has an extremely well geared Warlock (content relative) that he brings in when necessary for things like Leotheras demon phase, etc. He tanks Kara badge/alt runs despite the fact that there is currently nothing in Kara for him and he's long since picked up every badge upgrade he can use. The fights we've been doing in SSC and TK have nothing for him. In short, his presence there is for two specific reasons: 1) to help out and 2) leadership.

Tonight, the Shaman/Druid logged on (well past the scheduled raid start time) to find that...geez...there was no spot for him. Of all the people he could have found fault with, he chose to find fault with the GM. The GM was selfish for taking a spot in SSC when others still needed gear from there. Nevermind that the shaman was well over 1.5 hours late. Nevermind that we're in the middle of a guild merger and we needed our most experienced guild leadership present to iron out the differences in strategies between the two guild groups.

The Shaman/Druid is no longer a member of the guild.

I take my direction in terms of gear choices, stat goals, etc. from "global" sources. If the cutting edge druid raiders all agree that X stat or Y piece of gear is the way to go, I take them at their word. Scrubby McFrostmage has **** to contribute to the discussion. The know-it-all prot Warrior has no basis to challenge the source of my information. In short, I make a point of determining the most reliable sources of information to apply in progressing my druid, and if someone who thinks they know something they don't takes issue with my decisions, they're pretty much S.O.L. if they expect me to go along with their demands.

In the end, yeah, take the advice of people that have equal or greater experience than you as a DRUID. As someone said, don't listen to Scrubby McFrostmage (lol), listen to those that have the experience. Now, if the people telling you to do something different are druids then you need to re-evaluate what you are doing. But, druids can be such a complex class that no one that hasn't played one will not have a very good idea of how to gear/how to play them.

My resto gear (main spec)is good enough to heal Hyjal, and Feral is good enough to MT though Kara, but I am never above looking for advice from other druids as to how to improve myself. As someone pointed out this forum is great for that, but for people in-game just take their crap advice with a grain of salt, or donkey punch them in the face.

And to add to what Astarin said, most times us druids will be part of raiding guilds to heal as resto (80 percent), and tank as feral (20 precent, forgive me if my percentage estimates are off). If you are expected to play a certain role just play it and get gear for your off-spec as the opportunity arises, that is how I have gained gear for my feral while playing resto for the most part.

My Guild is amazing!

They let people specc as they like, and try to make a group out of that, and not the other way around. Sometimes people respec when suddenly something is missing, but we all do so in good spritis.

Our rais leader also offer ADVICES and not orders. I'm was the only moonkin in the guild for a long time, and from the start they admitted the did'nt really know that much about them, and let me chose how to equip myself (Even though they did have some really good opinters and advices, they do know a thing or two about WOW).

Anyways, Good leaders and Guild mates make all the difference when it come to WOW.

I tend to agree with everyone on the fact that unless someone has a class that they shouldn't be throwing out their two cents in a "If you don't do this you're an idiot" kinda manner.

I'm an Officer and a Raid Leader in my guild and I pride myself on scanning forums, websites and speaking frequently with people of all classes/specs in my guild and on my friend's list to find out everything I can about everyone.

I will help out anyone who has a question, regardless of spec/class but I will never, ever try to push something on someone. That's where most people go wrong. Plus, if I don't know, I'll look it up or send them in the direction they need to go to find it.

Some people think maybe I should tell them to just go look it up, but if one person asks, I might as well find out right? I mean someone else might ask, or I might roll that class myself and knowledge is knowledge. What's it hurt?

When you're raid leading, your raid is depending on you to maximize dps/cc/tanking/healing to the highest standard in order to make the raid successful. You HAVE to have at least a basic knowledge of all classes to succeed in this. If you don't want to spend your time doing this, then it's simple. Don't be a raid leader.

In the end, if you don't want someone to give you advice on gear/spec/playstyle, then research it yourself and when they throw in their two cents make them look retarded with a wall-o-text on how you are doing it the "best" way and they can STFU and then give them advice cause you researched their class/spec too. heheh