Raid Leading : Can you do it?

Have you ever been in that PUG or that old guild run and just thought that the raid leader sucks or you could do it a million times better? This may be a indication that you’re a raid leader in the making OR your just tired of being in disorganized raids.

First off, always, always try to put yourself in that raid leader's shoes. The difference between you and that person is that at that moment, they had the Westfall eggs to stand up and "take charge". Regardless the outcome.

I've been a raid leader for about a year now. Has every raid I ever done been for the glory the Alliance? Absolutely. Do I feel like I made the right decision every time? No. Am I the greatest raid leader ever? No. But when I'm in charge, things happen fairly.

The thing is, when it comes to raid leading you need a couple things. First, a fair mindset. I don't care what anyone says, if you’re going to be a raid leader you better be fair to your raiders, and fair to yourself. Second, you need to have the heart to do it. Ask yourself. For the greater good, can I tell this person they need to step their game up? And if they can't can I be the one who asks them to leave? If you can't. You should stop reading here and keep on being a raider. Secondly, your going to need knowledge. Knowledge is power. Seriously. And the most important thing in my eyes. Communication.

"What type of raid leader do I r be?" Well, you’ll defiantly want to be one that uses somewhat correct grammar and "I r be" isn’t getting it. When deciding what kind of raid leader you have to be, generally, you have to look at your group and their goals. "What? I have to put other people before me?" Yeah. Rather it be 9 or 24. You do. If your not that selfless stop reading now. So. Say you have a 10 man team working ICC inside of your guild. Is the guild hard core? This means be there or be kicked. Or. Is it casual raiding? Meaning, let's set this up for Saturday and go with what we have. The more "hardcore" it is, the more stern you'll have to be. Does that mean you’re going to cuss every time you say something? No. But when you get someone stepping out of line you'll have to fluff their feathers. You'll also have to monitor performance and be on top of knowing what good performance is per class. For example. From a DPS perspective, not every class is going to be doing 13k DPS. If it's something more casual than being a Cartman and telling everyone to kill Boars for 3 months srait isn’t going to work. Chances are in casual you have a group of people who get on best they can and raid for the fun of it, not the blood, guts, and glory. So with these types you have to be slightly more patient but still assertive.

When it comes to raid leading, there is no "one size fits all" type of style. The only thing I can tell you is to be consistent. If you’re stern all the time, you can't go soft. As soon as you do. Chances are, they will start walking on you. And if you’re more laid back, don't turn into a Nazi warlord. Your outcome will not be beneficial. I assure you. If you are changing your raid leading style than let everyone know. Talk to your raiders and find out what’s working. After every raid I do a good and bad section. What went well, what went bad, and what can I personally do to improve.

"Well, I r pugging. What shall I be then's?"
This comes with experience. Me personally? I am always friendly, or try to be, (I’ve had to teach more than a couple of the all mighty king slayers what's what.) but realistic. If I'm recruiting for 8/12 in ICC 10 I talk to the people before hand to find out what kind of people they are. If I sense anything out of line they don't receive an invite. I rather wait 15 minutes for a good player who's nice than rush into ICC to have the one ass clown who says, "Well. When we downed the Lich King last week. This is how we are did it." Speaking of which...Before you ever step foot into a raid to lead it. KNOW WHAT YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT. Do the research, know the fights, be prepared. If you don't. Than when Billy says, "nononono that's not how you do it. This is how you do it" Than you’re not going to have any ground to stand on.

"Wait...you said your friendly? That's not what good raid leaders are..."
Why not? I never said I can't lay down the law. (No I don't go around smiting people nor do I get the satisfaction from kicking raiders) If I’m friendly, than it opens two doors right off the bat. The first door, is that people are going to read that and reflect what they see. "Man, sure is nice to get into a friendly raid." The second door, "Ah man. This guys a push over. Time to start showing some ass." Yeah. Go ahead buddy, that clears you out before we clear the first trash. :)

"Ok. I have my raid and we're walking in...What now?"
Well first...you need to take a break from reading this and wait for me to finish in another post. :) Thanks. (To be continued.)

How to spice up your raid~

So. With Cata right around the corner, (You can actually see Death Wings tail poking out) if your guild is still raiding than you've probably noticed it's slightly drudged. My guild is on the Lich King (I'm proud of us :D) and wipe after wipe it's hard to keep moral up. So, here's a couple tips.

BREAK TIME
Be sure to encourage the occasionally break. If your on one boss or working on one, take the time to give your raiders a break. This keeps things organized by minimizing the BRB's. This also keeps people fresh and real. Don't make it a 30 minute break, keep it sweet and short. If it's too long of one some raiders will lose their mojo and other's will get angry.

Bring in the clowns
Pick on a couple of your raiders. (Only the ones you know you can) Make jokes about them and their job. Positive ones are always good, "Hey Billy. I'm going to need you to slow down the deeps. Leave some for the rest of us." Or a negative one (within reason)"Billy your making Paladin's look like huntards." (I know. Corny, but try them :D)

Sound Boards
When we were doing Onyxia every week just for fun and practice, I'd raid lead the entire thing using the Onyxia Raid Leader sound board. (More DOTS we need more DOTS) That type of thing. For ICC or anything, just pick a random one, but don't make it TOO loud to the point it hurts your ears. And not too annoying of a one just something simple and funny and if anyone starts whining cut it out.

Toys and Pets
The dreaded train. Believe it or not. Defiantly fun especially if you have the wrecker or lil XT. Paper Zephrils and Happy rocks and all that can defiantly break the simplicity. Pets...some of them interact. We all know the black cat and the skunk.
Here's a small list
Grunty (fights Zerg)
Lil' K.T. (shoots critters)
Mojo /kiss
Pengu or Mr. Chilly /sexy
etc.etc.(Google interactive wow pets for a list)

What not to do for fun
Kicking raiders. Don't do the kicky game. In times of stress they won't like it.
Death Contest. "Woa! Did you see how far I fell?" Not such a great idea because it's a waste of guild repairs and that can be testy to certain raiders.
Leeroy pulls. Don't. Just don’t...

That's about it. You know your guildies or your raiders. Just try to make these last couple of weeks fun for them and yourself.

Know something I don't? (Probably) Post any ideas below this.