Dear PuG Raid Leader …

Dear PuG Raid Leader,

My main-spec is Balance.  This means that I am ranged DPS. 

Not a tank.  Not a healer. 

Not 4 fite.

Ranged DPS.

Don't worry: I don't blame you for not realizing this from the start!  Druids can be confusing, if only because we all look exactly the same.  I wish there were some convenient way that players could tell, at a glance — without inspecting our gear or talent trees — which raid roles we've chosen to specialize in.

Something really obvious.  Like feathers.  Or leaves.  Or claws.

Oh, well.  Maybe next expansion.

When I said I was happy to heal, if necessary, I meant exactly that.  I was happy to heal.  If necessary.  Not if, after inviting all of three people to your 25-man VoA PuG, you suddenly decided that the critchicken quietly fluffing her feathers in Group 2 needed to become a sapling in Group 5. 

"Ih, i want u to heal," you announced in /raid chat. 

"Okay," I replied, momentarily taken aback.  I realize that healers are a rare and precious commodity on Black Dragonflight, but five seconds and three players into forming a raid seemed a little early to call for off-spec heals.  "But I would still like to roll as Balance."

"U roll as MS resto.  OS balance." 

"But my main-spec is Balance.  If I can't roll as my main-spec then there's no reason to save myself to this ID."

"U roll as what u r."  You were adament.  "U heal."

I wished you luck with the rest of the raid and promptly dropped group. 

Of course, you must have missed me, because you continued to harass whisper me for a good five minutes afterwards.  (How sweet!)  Since you seemed to have trouble understanding why a scrubby little critchicken would abandon you and your obviously "pro" group, I'll spell it out for you.  Again.

I am a Balance druid.  BAL-ANCE.  If I had specced Resto for the raid, it would have been to HELP.  You can't punish people for HELPING and expect them to stick around to HELP some more.  If I had come late to the raid, then I would have understood — "We have one spot left and need a healer; if you're willing to heal and roll as a healer, it's yours!" — but I was the third person to join and was queued as DPS.

I have to admit, I giggled a little when I saw you spamming /trade a half hour later:

LF1M VoA 25.  Druid or pally heals.  Pro group, no bads.

Good luck with that!

Love,
Ihlana