Healer Dilemma Follow-up

So far, so good.

This week I made some charts.  One chart listed all the healer loot desires they posted on our guild forums (except for two healers, who simply haven't told me what they want.)  The other incorporated those desires into a plan for rotating our healers in and out of the encounters.

Loot was not the only rule I followed when creating this plan.  We have a policy, for instance, that member raiders have priority on new content.  So for progression bosses, I automatically slotted those who had achieved member rank or above, as I only had six who fit that description.  I also kept a count of how many encounters each healer was being slotted (hooray for actually learning to use the spreadsheet!) so I could maintain some general semblence of equity.  I separated assignments due to rank or loot from assignments to fill in the other slots by font color, so I could know where I was free to juggle things around without seriously annoying anyone.

On raiding nights, I found, of course, that there had to be some changes.  One of my healers, for instance, had to be a couple of hours late.  Having my plan on the spreadsheet made it simple for me to adjust the healing assignments and still quickly see if I was maintaining some kind of equity among the rest of the healers.

I told the healers in healer chat up front that I had made a plan, taking into consideration their desires to be in for certain bosses, and I would be rotating people in and out according to that plan.  Everyone seemed to accept that well.  I did not ask for volunteers to sit out, although a few did volunteer.  I think one particular recruit was concerned I wasn't sitting him enough, because he kept whispering me to tell me it was ok if I sat him--he didn't mind.  I answered back that I knew, and thank you . . . then slotted him according to my plan.

As it ended up, healers in general got more playtime then I had planned.  This was because we had several other people missing on Tuesday night, so healers respec'd and filled in as dps or in one case, a tank.  Kudos to my healers, with their fabulous attendance, being prepared to step in and step up when needed.

I suppose what I worked up couldn't really be called a true "rotation," because it didn't just rotate people mathematically regardless of boss.  But there were no complaints, and people seemed to be glad we at least had a plan.  For our needs, I think it worked out pretty well.