Be realistic

Knowing if you can actually fill your needed role is important. But you have to be honest and realize that just not everyone is open to allowing off-specs into raids. And while you might get into a raid eventually, are you actually a regular player? Are you someone who is actually contributing to the raid as a whole?

The whole goal is for you to play an active part in your raids daily successes, not sitting on the sideline hoping for a pity invite. So really you have to ask yourself from the outset if your guild and raid leader are open to giving you an honest shot.

One way to go about doing this is to get support from key members of the guild. Class leaders and officers can do a lot in getting you in on raids. Of course, it also doesn't hurt if you are an officer or guild leader yourself.

Healing has long been the widely accepted, much debated, raiding role of most hybrids. Most of the discussions regarding hybrid viability in end-game raiding are on helping hybrids in non-healing areas. This leads to a lot of discussion on the class boards that revolve around making other trees equally viable, or at least making them as desirable as the healing role. The outside audience generally views hybrids as healers first. Sure, the concept of a protection paladin, a feral druid, and a enhancement shaman enter the discussion on occasion, but at the end of the day, the popular opinion is if you have healing spells, you are healing.

This very attitude has long dictated many hybrids specs. For many hybrids, the desire to see end-game dominated their desire to play what is known as an off-spec build. These players bit the bullet and went the healing route. This isn't to suggest all players chose their healing spec because of outside pressure. Many healers really did want to heal and enjoy the art of healing.

Regardless, the attitude of many hybrids is to look down at those who spec for healing regardless of the reasons. Who's to blame them though? Often these players are playing an off-spec themselves. The retribution paladin or the "Boomkin" have been on the receiving end of these attacks for a long time, and all too often it's the healers making these very attacks.

Each week, Jason Lotito contributes Hybrid Theory, a new column on hybrid classes in World of Warcraft.

I've never written an article about myself. I've never thought about what I should say if I was introducing. Despite being confident in my ideas (some call this arrogance), I'm actually quite humble about my accomplishments. I didn't want to start my column with an introduction. I wanted to show you exactly what it is you were going to get rather than just talk about what I intended you would get. Actions speak louder than words, though in this case, my words were my actions.

Frankly, my first article was a smashing success.

But now it's time for me to introduce myself to you. To give you an understanding of whom I am, where I come from, and my experiences as a player.