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Finally, Eruadan is a valued member of the tribe and raid. He shows up regularly and contributes to our successes. He and I had a conversation back when I was running ZA runs, and at that time, I told him he could raid with us with the spec that he enjoys playing with. It was my decision.

I'd just like to clarify that, while Eruadan's spec is not an optimal raiding spec, and while I've suggested that he would do better with CoH, the meat of my suggestions were based around keeping his discipline spec intact. There IS a way to make discipline work, for healing, and that's exactly what I was trying to help with. Afterall, until halfway through T5, when I realized for myself how suboptimal it was, *I* was the token discipline priest in our raids.

But I understand that he doesn't want an ounce of my advice, and that's the last of it he'll get. The rest of this post uses my interaction with him as an example, but addresses a more general concern:

No coaching is important. In that context, I'm an experienced raider "coming down" on an inexperienced one, bludgeoning him with my opinions as though they were facts. But I think this situation really highlights a deeper problem than the no coaching rule was meant to prevent, and one that is inherent in the noble IST goal of being an inclusive guild with inclusive raids:

What happens when you have someone who doesn't want to get better?

This was what I was trying to get at, in my original post of outside advice. I think the ideal of allowing alternative, non-optimal specs that are fun to play, is a good one. Eruadan should be allowed to play a discipline priest, if he really doesn't enjoy playing a holy one. That's part of IST's philosophy and part of what keeps people coming to IST, right?

But does that mean he can just cast mass dispel over and over again, because he likes that spell best and he might have invested some talent points in it? What if he runs out of mana within the first minute of every fight? Are the other healers allowed to expect him to change his play style, if they aren't supposed to critique his spec? If he happens to not like their suggestions, and continues on his merry way casting a useless spell, ignoring any advice given to him, what happens?

Obviously this is a corner case, not one that is actually experienced, but it is analogous to casting flash heal repeatedly on a tank (ie. casting the wrong spell at the wrong time and making the other healers work harder as a result). Is it acceptable to not care about playing your chosen spec well, or about the adverse effects your decisions might have on others?

I had assumed the answer to the latter was "no, you should always be prepared to fulfill your role to the best of your ability." I thought that was part of the requirement that raiders show up prepared for a raid, in the IST raiding rules. If the answer is "yes, you can do whatever you want, and if you don't want any advice, nobody should give you any, and you can keep coming along," then...well I'll be happy to shut up and wish you all good luck. I'm sorry if any of my suggestions were non-constructive, I just (grossly) misinterpreted the philosophy.

I'd like to close with some perspective: when I was raiding MC with IST as Bloodfeaster, I was a terrible warlock. My raid spec was abysmal, my DPS was laughable, and my gear was rarely (if ever) enchanted properly. The other warlocks in IST were all very friendly to me, and never made me feel like my spec was stupid, or unacceptable, or that my performance was sub-par (in reality, ALL of those things were true). But, at the same time, when I saw that there were other warlocks (Damoxian, Eveline, Tetsumis) who were doing so much better than me, I had to ask them for advice and learn how to be a better one. I'm glad I did, because I became a better player for it. I just don't understand the mentality of someone who doesn't want to get better, and I don't understand why that's acceptable to everyone who IS trying to get better.