"You're doing it wrong!!"

I want to start off this blog by sharing a story from back during BC.

At the time, I was bouncing back and forth between a tree and a bear.  I'm sure I wasn't a very good bear, nor a very good tree.  I was very newbish and though I tried my hardest, I always felt like I was 'doing it wrong' in some way.

I ended up leaving the guild I'd been in since I started because I wanted to see the raiding side of the game.  The guild I joined to raid with fell apart after I'd been in exactly 1 raid.  So I went to a big name guild as a tree.  At this point in time, I didn't know about any resto druid blogs, I didn't know about Elitist Jerks.  I choose my talents based on what made sense to me.  I healed by the seat of my pants and if no one died, I was content. 

I don't remember a lot of my raiding from that time.  We mostly ran Kara with some forays into Mag's Lair and Gruul's lair.  We never got into SSC or anything higher, but I remember one specific Gruul's Lair run that we did vividly.  I was running around, throwing around rejuv's as much as I could and spot healing with regrowth.  However, it got to the point people were taking so much damage that I was basically spamming regrowth over and over and over. 

It was at this point that I got a whisper from a hunter who had died.  While I don't remember exactly what was said, the basic conversation went like this:

Hunter: "What are you doing? You're spamming regrowth over and over again.  You're a noob.  You're doing it wrong."
Me (after we downed the boss): "I'm doing the best I can to keep people up when they're taking massive damage.  Sometimes I just can't wait for a rejuv and I need something with more oomph."
Hunter: "I'm going to tell the raid leader that you're a fail druid and you'll never be invited to raid again."

It was at this point that the raid disbanded and I logged off in shame.  I was thoughtful, more then a little upset, and confused.  If I was doing it 'wrong', what was the 'right' way to heal that fight? 

Shortly afterwards, I brought up the hunter's accusations with my best friends and my husband.  Was I doing it wrong?  Should I delete my toon and never heal on her again?  My husband told me to play the game the way that I wanted to and not to worry about what other people thought.  My best friend (who plays a resto shaman) told me I was a wonderful healer and that she wished I was her healing partner. 

I ended up leaving the big name guild to join a guild that all my real life friends were in.  I became their resto druid and part time bear tank.  I went to Kara, ZA, SSC, Gruul's Lair, and Mag's with them. 

I slowly came to the conclusion that I was doing something right.  People kept wanting me to heal for them.  However, in the back of my head, I still have that hunter telling me I'm doing it wrong. 

During Wrath, when every resto druid blog I read said "We're raid healers", I gritted my teeth and showed my guild that I could do tank healing.  I refused to be regulated to rejuv and wild growth spam.  I would throw nourishes around as needed, and I would demand tank healing assignments. 

So, Internet world, this blog is my chance to show people that no matter what popular opinion is, you can still do things your own way.  And honestly, in my opinion, as long as you are succeeding and having fun, you are NOT doing it wrong.