Of Druids and Heals and LFR

On the WoW front.
I finally transferred my druid from the PvP server, Deathwing, to a PvE server, Icecrown. I'm pretty happy with the change. There's something comforting about not being flagged every single moment I'm not in an Alliance only territory. And if I was flagged, and came upon someone of the other faction, there's a higher probability they won't attack me.
LFR

 So I finally took the plunge and tried out LFR. I've only done the first half, Siege of Wyrmrest Temple, and will probably take down Deathwing tonight (or fail epically). I only did LFR because my friend really wanted me to, and I kicked and screamed through the whole thing.
For some reason, my entire body was against the prospect of LFR. I promised to do it one day, but then I would put it off. I did that a couple times before I finally felt I had to get it over with. After work, on said D-Day, I laid in my bed, wanting to play, but completely unable to force myself online because of what I faced. I resisted it down to the very end, where I finally felt guilty for not going with my friend, who I had promised the pleasure of my presence over and over.
It's amazing how the body functions. It knows when something can cause harm and sends warning signals. I should've listened to those signals.
Okay, I'm being dramatic. I made it through unscathed. But it was not fun, not enjoyable, and uneventful. In fact, it was downright boring and I felt almost embarrassed that I, a once hardcore raider, had participated in such things.
The LFD Era
Since the end of WotLK, people have debated whether the LFD system was a good or bad addition to the MMO world. Although it helped people find groups in situations where it would be more of a headache, the system brought a different kind of headache. Players fostered an environment that was insensitive, greedy and hurried. It's not so much thanks to "anonymity," as it is to, "whelp, I'll never see these guys again, so who gives a crap." It made new dungeons difficult to learn if you were the newbie (especially a healer or tank). It allowed for people who shouldn't be, to charge right in, hoping for a short queue. Realm communities weren't nurtured the way they used to be. You don't really meet anyone on your realm, nor do you create relationships with your people on your friend's list. While PuGs were always a hesitant commodity, they still had their uses.
 It's something that I think made Cataclysm such a...cataclysm for WoW. Of course, none of this mattered if you had a decent guild that was fairly active, which was something encouraged in Cata, but a majority of people still use the LFD system.
The Hardcore Casual Gamer
And so here comes the final product of the LFD Era. The LFR. Don't have a raiding guild, but want to raid? No problem. Here's a LFD x's 5 (cuz 5 x 5 = 25 ((man)) ) The idea behind the LFR system is pretty noble. I don't have a raiding guild, and I wouldn't mind getting a chance at raiding. (That's a possible lie btw, considering how I resisted going so much.) A lot of people should be allowed to see the final endgame content, to add closure to their expansion experience before MoP comes out. 
My old guild members, who now play SWTOR, always accuse WoW of just handing out prestigious titles, achievements, and gear to anyone and anything that moves. Playing the game had lost its sparkle; it's motivation for being special. At first, I kind of scoffed at this. Ex-hardcore players who wanted to be treated as casual, but didn't know how. They're all great players, and work so hard at what they earn. They're probably the reason I've never found another guild to join, simply because they had set the bar so high. But I still didn't think that offering casual gamers a chance to experience endgame content usually reserved for hardcore, isn't a bad thing. Unfortunately, we must look at Blizzard as what it is, a company that wants to make money. So of course, they have to cater to those that give them money, those 95% or whatever who are casual.
So that's what the LFR system is for.
But I mean. Come on. Is the vast majority of WoW players really that incapable of doing something together as a team. So much so that you have to dumb down everything. I stood in crap, and was able to heal myself through it. (I will explain this more, since I am saying how stupid people are and this is also a clear sign of stupidity)
My entire LFR experience was me coming to the realization of what the LFD/LFR system was assuming of us as players. We cannot do menial tasks or communicate with each other, and even basics such as, don't stand in the fire, can't be deathly on first impact.
Oh Raid Leader, where for are't thou Raid Leader
I took a deep breathe and joined the queue. The evil realm that is, LFR. I was fairly confident that the first fight would go fine, since I had downed it on normal 10 man when Dragon Soul first came out. I had the mace to prove it (note without the words Raid Finder, or lower ilevel). So everything was going fine, until the phase when he summons gigantic rocks out of the ground and you have to hide behind them. So that's what I did, but the original rock I chose was too close to the boss, so I was caught in the black crap. I couldn't find another one close enough for me to get to, but far enough from the boss to work properly, so I was waiting to be the first casualty and subsequently pointed to and laughed at. Well, I didn't die. In fact, a well placed Rejuvenation and a couple Nourish's, and I survived.
And then I realized, I was jolted back into the reality that I was in LFR. I wasn't going to die from standing in the fire. At least not right away. In fact, I could easily heal myself.
And thus began the adventure through 4 bosses. No explanations, no talking. Only yelling was when we wiped because they killed the wrong ooze (or something) and we were all called n00bs and stupid and other things I associate with beloved battleground fails. Rolls took forever and were really confusing. I have never seen so much text scroll through my screen so fast.
Healing Meters
I was really interested to see how healing stacked up in 25 mans. In my 10 man, I easily held the number 1 spot. But after the nerfs resto druids faced in 4.3, I had heard horror stories about 25 mans. We no longer had special utility, purpose or heals to back us up. Woe is druids. I feel this way as well, but I don't have the experience to back it up. In 10 mans, I was still numero uno, and I rarely struggle in other healing situations. Even in PvP, I'm pretty good at holding my own until I'm run over by Horde.
Well, I didn't struggle per-say in 25 mans. I spent most of my time in 4th place, never too far behind the others. Most of it was from not really knowing what was going on, or that kind of "tourist" syndrome where you stare in awe at all things new.
Anyways, after that wore off, and the boredom of the mundane fights set in, I began feeling down that I was pretty sure I wasn't doing so well. It brought me back to a post Beruthial posted about gear and relying on it to make us better. In short, she was a under-geared compared to a large amount of people around her, but still pulled top heals. She then analyzes the uses of Tranquility, Tree of Life form, and how much Harmony up time she had. I hate Harmony (our Mastery), and think it's a horrible stat theory wise. (In reality, it's not bad, but I think in relation to druids, it's a dumb idea).
So feeling down after being 4th for a couple fights, I remembered reading this post and decided to get back to what I was, a good druid healer. I remember once wondering why everyone's heals were so much higher and I was unable to get anything in other than overhealing. Then I looked at my buffs and saw that I had not one, not two, but THREE Rejuvenations ticking on me. When did Rejuvenation spamming come back in style? It angered me to no end. But I knew the only thing I could change was myself and focused on that. The last two fights I really shined. I remembered to use Tree of Life form, did not hesitate to use Tranquility, and tried to keep Harmony up as much as possible. And my healing improved. No amount of Rejuvenation spam could keep me from that top place. It made me feel legit again. Man I'm a sucker for 1st place.  
What I took away from this?
One, I took away a trinket and a shoulder token. I'm not entirely sure if the trinket is a good upgrade, since it gives a Haste proc, but the shoulders are exciting because I can now get my 2 set bonus. I got 250 Valor points for taking up 30 minutes of my time.
But what I really took away from this experience is that raiding is dead to me. I no longer want to raid, wish to raid, or feel the need to raid. If I want shiny gear, I'll just farm Heroics. If I want to do something team like, I'll pvp. I enjoy leveling still and probably will continue to, but until MoP can prove me otherwise, I'm over raiding. Or this thing that LFR calls "raiding". I can't be sure.

Crap...I have to do the last part of LFR for my friend. -_-