WoW raid roles: do healers HAVE to heal?

Basically, raid roles are dictated by class. Warlocks, rogues, mages, hunters, and warriors are basically DPS classes – more or less. While priests, shamans, paladins, and druids are commonly for healing and support.

But the latter classes aren’t just stuck to being healbots, they also have talent builds for DPS, or at least the semblance of it. Shadow priests, feral and balance druids, retribution and protection paladins, elemental and enhancement shamans are the types considered off spec. Warriors, having fury and arms builds are also considered off spec since their tank role is set aside in those builds.

Raid roles aren’t really templates for players, are they? So whichever works for the players would do to enjoy the game.

Basically, raid roles are dictated by class. Warlocks, rogues, mages, hunters, and warriors are basically DPS classes – more or less. While priests, shamans, paladins, and druids are commonly for healing and support.

But the latter classes aren’t just stuck to being healbots, they also have talent builds for DPS, or at least the semblance of it. Shadow priests, feral and balance druids, retribution and protection paladins, elemental and enhancement shamans are the types considered off spec. Warriors, having fury and arms builds are also considered off spec since their tank role is set aside in those builds.

Raid roles aren’t really templates for players, are they? So whichever works for the players would do to enjoy the game.