A snippet from Flash of Moonfire (read the full story here) –

I queued for normal ToC on my feral because I wanted the Black Heart, and being that I wanted in faster, I queued for both tank and dps. When I first did that I expected to go as tank to be honest, but it ended up being that about half the time I ran normal ToC I went as dps. Tanks love this place, and only one tank can go at a time.

The Black Heart dropped. I immediately rolled Need for it.

Then the party immediately said that what I’d done was not cool, that I shouldn’t have queued as dps to roll on a tanking trinket. I explained that I do both and queued as both. In retrospect I could have said something at the start of the instance like “I’m here for the Black Heart. If you don’t like it, leave and I’ll switch over to my tank spec and we’ll requeue for another dps,” but I hadn’t thought it would be a big deal.


I feel for you Hana! Something similar happened to me a couple of weeks ago.

I don’t like playing feral in instances, so I queue Drucie as a healer; both because that’s what I love doing, and because I get fast queues. I roll on both types of gear – healing mostly, so I can heal the heroics more effectively, but I’m also on the lookout for nice feral pieces for Drucie’s main set. She is a feral druid – don’t be fooled – I just don’t want to play feral in 5 mans. Call it a quirk. Besides, healing is what I’m good at, so it’s better for the group all-round.


If you heal the group, you can only roll on healing gear. Ever.

Apparently, and nobody informed me of this earlier, but APPARENTLY you’re only “allowed” to roll on gear that fits the job you are doing *right now*. That’s the rule. I don’t remember seeing this rule anywhere, but I’ve since been told that’s how it works. If you are a healer and you roll on DPS or tank gear, you’re a ninja. Likewise if you tank or DPS a run and you roll on healing gear – ninja.

Oddly, though, if you’re a tank and roll on DPS gear, or a DPS with a tank spec and you roll on tanking gear – nobody bats an eyelid. To demonstrate – here’s an example:

  • I ran a normal TOC5. I queued as healer.

  • The tank was a pally, and we had a rogue, mage, and DK as DPS.
  • Tanking plate dropped. The pally and DK needed. The DK won. Nothing was said.
  • DPS leather dropped. I rolled need. The rogue rolled need. I won. Something was said:


    Figure 1: Tell me how you really feel.


Like Hana, in retrospect, maybe I should have had a macro that blurts out “Hi, I’m here for XYZ, if that’s a problem, speak up now”. But hey, I see tanks rolling on DPS gear, DPS DKs and pallies rolling on tank gear – clearly for their dual spec – and I don’t think to say anything. Evidently, though, if you cross the line and roll on healing gear as DPS, or DPS/tank gear as healer, that’s ninja behaviour.

I’m a fair person. Oftentimes, once I have won something, I will pass on subsequent greens and shard rolls to be nice to the others in the group and give them more winnings. If two items drop from one boss and I would like both, I will take one and pass another. I don’t take +hit gear over casters, and in runs where I’m able to roll on cloth, I don’t do it if clothies need. I’m not a jerk, I’m not greedy, and I’m not a ninja.

I mean, geez, yesterday I felt bad rolling Need on an “of the Eagle” green on my lowbie priest because it was level 23 and I still had half a level before I could wear it.

But “You can only roll on gear that matches your role in the group” is the most stupid idea ever, and I won’t be sticking to it just because DPSers are greedy and don’t want to compete on rolls. Sorry, but I don’t enjoy being feral in 5 mans, so I heal groups to get feral gear. It’s my subscription, and I won’t be forced into a role that I dislike just because you feel morally outraged that I came in wearing a dress but want to roll on your “rogue loot”.

(PS – if he hadn’t been such a jerk, I would have just traded it to him if he really wanted it.)


OHAI, JUST FYI, I’M GONNA TAKE ALL UR LOOTS

I now have a macro. The macro’s icon is a giant blue sad face, to represent QQ over a dual-specced feral/resto druid rolling on DPS leather, waaah.

It says,

“Hi – I queued to heal but my main spec is Feral. I intend to roll Need on both healing and feral loot if the item is an upgrade for me. If this is a problem, please speak up now.”

Perhaps I might change it to include something like, “If there’s something specific you want though.. let me know, I won’t roll against you.”


Personally, from what I have seen, Need rolls are often made by people on behalf of their dual specs, and I don’t think I should have to have a macro to explain my intentions, purely because I am crossing that healing vs dps/tank line. But I refuse to be branded a ninja – so from now on, all groups will get a nice little canned warning note before we start, to avoid any confusion.

It’s unfortunate for some people that they only have one set of gear for both specs and so feel slighted because everyone else wants to collect twice as many items – and I’m also sorry that you have a longer wait time than I do- but the fact is, I put in equal effort, and I have equal right to roll on drops – whether it’s healing or DPS leather. If you have a problem with that, you can wait for a new group, or for a new healer.

At any rate, I’ll be “warning” groups in the future, so nobody can finger-point.



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