Three's a crowd

When on my shaman, I normally pug raids. I might tempt a few unsaved guild members into some of them but usually, I go down the Pugging Path. Now, the usual raid set up for PuGs is this - 2 tanks, 3 healers, rest dps. But not yesterday! Yesterday, I two healed ICC10 man in a pug and had the most fun I've had healing since doing ToC10 with undergeared tanks and with only two healers. Both tanks I knew and I knew the healer, making me trust their abilities.

So why, if it's possible, do pugs usually run with three healers? It's pretty simple, it makes it so much easier. Usually, the healers dont know each other, the raid leader doesn't know the healers and therefore, you bring 3 to be on the safe side. On easier fights one might go into their dps offspecc but for the majority of it, the tank healer (usually a paladin or a priest) will be doing most of the work and the other two will be fighting for raid heals.

However, yesterday was different. I'd been recommended to the raid leader by one of the members who I'd pugged with in the past. I got invited, asked who my fellow healers were and the answer I got from our Boomkin Raid Leader was; "Our paladin and I'll go into Resto for Dreamwalker." "Fun!" I replied, but on the other side of the screen, I secretly went "Uh-oh." I'd never two man healed ICC, so I really didn't know what to expect.

Trash wasn't too hard, our paladin was very good and knew what he/she was doing. I was firing Chain Heals into the melee when them mobs that go "BOOM!" went, y'know, "BOOM!" We got to Marrowgar and it was all nice and smily until the paladin gets bone spiked. This is were it got fun, they'd been spiked running back into position and weren't hugging the melee, it took about 7 seconds for them to be freed. In those 7 seconds, I had fun, like, proper fun, seat of yer pants fun, omfg I dont have anyone else to rely on kinda fun. That kinda fun. I had to switch between healing the paladin and the tanks, Grid was going mental, health dropping up and down, I'd blown Cooldowns and stuff and after what seemed like an age but was in fact about three casts and a Riptide, I was back to Chain Healing stuff in the face. 3 healers might be SAFE but 2 healers is more FUN.

The rest of the first wing went nicely, I found myself prioritising more and more, an unfortunate rogue died because it was either I cast Riptide on myself, or him. If there was another healer, he probably wouldn't have died but I didn't mind and neither did he - "It happens," he said after we'd killed Deathwhisper after the second set of adds. That was the other thing, with one less healer, we had one more dps and with the 10% buff and people knowing what to do, we were ripping through at a terrifying pace.

Now, after doing fuck all on Saurfang other than Riptiding about 4 times and doing some restomental dps we moved into Plague and bloody hell, Festergut with two healers is pant shittingly scary stuff but still, it was harder, it was more fun and it was faster. We got him down with almost 2 minutes left until Enrage and then went and one shot Rotface, who, as everything else was harder with 2 healers, especially when the Mutated thing really did like our Paladin healer who I had to keep alive, while healing anyone who took raid damage, the main tank and the tank that was kiting, it was fast and frantic, but I found myself liking it more and more.

Our Leader went into tree form for Dreamwalker, which was a fun fight, even if I was only healing the raid and never got to use those portals which I still have no fucking idea what they do but the times when I was on my own, healing two tanks and the raid while they were doing something or other in a green portal, were fun. It was down to me to keep everything alive, if a tank died it was either because he got naked or because I'd failed and the pressure was definintly a rush. It took a few goes, mainly because I messed up monumentally the first time and our paladin disconnected mid fight the second but we got her do- I mean, healed her up.

I can definintly see myself 2 healing more stuff in the future, especially ICC, with this buff, you really dont need three healers anymore, take a DPS with offspecc gear and kill stuff faster. It'll make it more fun for everyone, especially those people standing at the the back, sometimes in sissy robes, keeping your sorry arses alive.