The Beginning

My World of Warcraft raiding experience has mostly followed one guild that I won't name. We are not a top 100 guild, we are not even at top 1000 guild at this point in time, but as such, we learn how to adjust for things within raids that the top end guilds simply do not have to adjust for. Lack of raid awareness, lack of trust between players and at some rare points, lack of player skill. At the current point in time we sit alongside 3 other guilds at the progress level we are at and 1 world top 20 guild. Recruitment is limited so we always deal with what we have. This blog is really aimed at the guilds in our position, that need to adjust and formulate fight strategy as we do.

On with the show!

Basic stuff for a guild at this level:

1. Progression! Make sure your officers/raid leaders are coming in with a strategy they want to try fully done. You are not a top 50 guild, you will have plenty of resources. You MUST stick with this strategy for the maximum allowable time before it's obvious that it will fail. The killer with this level of raiding is too many strategy changes. Raiders get confused when, for example, there is a strategy change every attempt and they have a new role. Take your time to explain any strategy changes.

2. Keep it simple! I cannot stress this enough. When explaining a strategy break it up into each individual role (Melee DPS, Ranged DPS, Healers, Tanks). Explain each part separately eg. "Ranged DPS you are going to...." so that each individual can get into their heads exactly what their job is. If they want to know more about what everyone else is doing and why, they can do outside research.

3. Keep ventrilo(or teamspeak) silent during attempts. You can allow anyone and everyone to call out important things (add spawns on Lady Deathwhisper for example) but have one specific person calling for key elements like Bloodlust and Divine Guardian. If you are calling for a Bloodlust after a certain event, do not begin your sentence with "Bloodlust". If you do start with "Bloodlust" then the more than likely result will be an instant Bloodlust instead of a well timed one. Providing a countdown to bloodlust is also handy for player with pets / cooldowns.

4. Keep conversation light and happy. This really is harder than is sounds. With a guild of this caliber and a great variation in skill level and understanding there are bound to be conflicts. Don't beg for people to stop, don't command people to get along, and do not participate in any of the conflict that happens in a volatile role. Defusing arguments is an acquired skill, at least one of the officer group should be able to do this very easily. In all reality it is just like babysitting, use a stern but not angry tone, point out the futility of the argument, compromise. One sentence I find works 99% of the time(and you might find it quite funny), while said in jest, usually gets player to reflect on their arguments is "Now, now children, play nice." or "Play nice in raid chat". One argument that pops up regularly within a raid senario for me is along these lines:

*We have just wiped*

Player 1: "Can we mark [mob / player] I can't see it."

Player 2: "Why can't you just see it yourself, it's not that hard."

Player 1: "I can't see it because of [blah]."

Player 2: "That's not an excuse"

*Argument Continues*

The very simple solution to this problem is just to mark the target that Player 1 wanted to mark. It does not effect the players that do not need it and it helps the players that do. If 1 person speaks up, it's most likely he/she speaks for at least half the raid. In all cases, if it does not adversely effect someone, just do it. Marking a target, having a raid warning or simply a call on vent could be the key to those 5 or so people lagging behind to come up to par.

TL;DR

1. Have a progression strategy fully planned before entering the instance

2. Keep explanations short and simple, specifically defining each player types role.

3. Keep ventrilo(or teamspeak) clear during raids and have a assigned person for calling important cooldowns

4. Keep raiding life happy for everyone. Defuse argument and instantly make changes adding such things as markings, raid warnings or vent calls should they not effect anyone adversely.

There are most specific boss strategies to come, detailing the problems we encountered with each boss, but for now this overview should hopefully get your mind working on some positive ways to improve raiding for your guild.