I haven’t had the opportunity to CC as a healer since I’m a paladin, but I do use my hammer of justice a lot. A lot! I wish I did have a CC, I think it would come in handy a lot. I’d still let DPS have priority over the CC assignments (if nothing else, most really enjoy CCing and contributing more than just damage), but I’ve broken many a sweat over stray mobs.

Hope your pugs keep going well!

And yeah, I’ve fallen in love with the new level of difficulty in heroics. The first few runs I didn’t, where I felt like an ass for even existing I was doing so terribly, but I’ve gotten my confidence back. Things like getting that goddamn worm boss in stonecore down after six or so attempts makes it awesome.
One thing I’ve had to do (especially as a shaman) is get used to the concept of CCing mobs as a healer. At first I was horrified, I could miss! But as you mentioned, healers have that birds eye view that other classes lack. I see a mob casting out in the back and I’ll try to interrupt it to bring it over, or hex a mob that broke cc.
One big change from wrath is how appreciative some groups can be. It makes my day when someone in the group stops before the last boss and says “Wow, this was a really good group!”. In wrath that meant you had basic motor functions and could slap at least a few appropriate keys. Now its a genuine compliment

Thanks for taking the time to write it up!

I’ve noticed that about guild runs too. It’s like when we’d run farm content back in Wrath- when we expected it to be easy, we’d slack off and make a lot of stupid mistakes.

I love the randomness and variety of pugs too. And it’s fun, getting to discover new personalities. Not everyone is pleasant, but my good experiences by far outweigh the bad. I have yet to be invited into a 4/5 guild run’s vent, but I did invite a pug tank onto vent for a 4/5 guild run of my guild once. It was pretty cool.

About marks, I’ve noticed that when I start sneaking mine in, the tanks wisen up and start marking on their own. It’s like they’re very possessive of their marks. But yeah, when it comes to getting a group to focus fire, it’s amazing what a skull can do.

There is such a world of difference between “doesn’t know” and “doesn’t want”. There’s not much one can do about “doesn’t want”, but when it’s just a question of “doesn’t know”, the results can be surprising.

I had a similar adventure in BRC yesterday, where we didn’t let our lock do beams because he didn’t know how to do it. But after wiping a few times on Corla because the other 2 beam tanks (I had the 3rd beam- it’s actually easy to do as a healer) kept screwing up, I suggested we just teach the lock how to do it, after all, he couldn’t be any worse. He got it perfectly on his first try.

Sometimes the length of heroics is a good thing, since, when you get a civilized group, you get to meet new cool people and have a chance to bond with them. It’s a shame that once you go your own ways after the run, you can’t team up with them again.