Knights Of Sparta

So you want to Raid?
by Unikorn (updated by Tree)

Lots of people in the guild are getting progressively higher in levels and experience and there is talk about what gear you need to do this and that instance and are interested in raiding with the guild, so I thought I'd write a little guide to raiding in general.

Firstly what is raiding? When you reach level 85 the 'practice' part of WoW ends, that is levelling, and a new part takes over, and that new part is all things level 85. Although there are other things to go before it and along side it, such as heroic dungeons, grinding rep or saving for epic flying mount, one of the main things that level 85's do is raid.

A raid is like an instance only slightly different in a number of ways. Firstly they involve more than five people, all current Level 85 raids need at least 10 people (the larger versions need 25 people but KoS have made the choice to stay with the more intimate 10 man versions). These increased numbers require an increased level of co-ordination making raids a whole new step up from a 5 man instance.

Secondly raids don't reset like instances and this is a good thing because they are damn hard. A raid will stay at the point you have reached, normally for a week. (A raid week runs from Wednesday to Wednesday and the raids reset at the server down time.) The weekly 'ID' can be extended week on week so that bosses you've killed stay that way as long as you want them to. This means a guild can spend as long as they like chipping away at a raid, getting a little further each run. A typical raid is a lot bigger than a normal instance and while very well equipped, very experienced people are able to burn through a raid in one sitting, a new guild with players new to raids will need to work on it over many nights and weeks. This provides the goals that guilds set themselves, if last week you managed to get 3 bosses down, this week you are going for 4.

Thirdly raids provide the means for level 85 progression. Since you no longer have XP and levels to worry about, what replaces that is gear. The better your gear the harder content you will be able to crack. There is a vast difference between someone geared to raid Dragon Soul (currently the hardest raid) and someone who turned 85 earlier today. Bosses in raids drop epic gear (the purple stuff that is the next step up from blues) and they also drop Emblems that allow you to buy more epic gear. If you want to progress in the game at level 85, you really only have 2 choices, either PvE (raid) or PvP (arena/rated battlegrounds).

Fourth raids are a challenge, this is where the game gets harder, this is where the game starts to push you further, and the best thing is, there is no short cut, you just have to crack it. If you struggled in the Deadmines at level 16 you just came back at level 20 and it was easy. For the moment level 85 is the cap so if you struggle in Dragon Soul you can't go away and get more levels, you just have to work at it, until finally you crack it.

And that is the joy of raiding, cracking it. When you work on a boss for days or weeks at a time, and the first time you try him you wipe at 80%, but then slowly over the coming days and weeks you get better and better and the % health the boss is on when you wipe comes ever downwards, until one day the boss dies before the raid wipes. The feeling you will get at that moment is like nothing else in WoW, everybody will be cheering, it will be posted in guild chat, its like a guild wide ding. Then you move on to the learning the next boss, and so on.


So what do you need in order to raid?

1. A raiding attitude.

Some people don't want to put the time, the money and the effort into learning the new content. They want to let others put in the hard work while they sit out for what ever reason. Then once a boss is learned (this is called 'on-farm') these people will suddenly want to sign up to raiding those bosses, they are along for the easy ride and basically the free epics. They are tolerated by guilds because they make up the numbers when a regular raider can't show up for ever reason, but they also destabilise guilds and normally eventually leave because "you are not progressing fast enough".

They destabilise because they moan about not getting picked for the easy runs, once they are easy. A guild master/Raid leader will remember his/her core of players that helped crack the new content and will tend to want to reward and help that core because they know that core is what will crack the next lot of content. So if one of that core wants a particular item and wants to raid tonight, they tend to get picked. The along for the ride type people moan about how unfair it is, when the raid leader says "I'm picking Bob tonight, because Bob has been there all along and was one of the people who helped get this boss on farm, and Bob really needs the gloves this boss can drop", to which the response you get is "but I signed up before Bob and therefore it's my right to go, it's unfair, cry, cry /gquit"

They eventually leave the guild, either for the reason above or because "you are not progressing fast enough". The core of a guild raiding team will typically be 10 plus spares, a normal 10 man raid guilds core is about 15-20 people out of which 10 who are going out tonight, computer broken down, are ill etc. get picked. This allows people to not have to raid every night and gives replacements and stand ins. So what happens is the 10 of you (the core) get fully geared up from Naxx, you then have to keep running it even though there is nothing of use to you any more, but bring along 2-3 newer people in order to gear them up and increase the numbers ready to progress to the next raid.

This frustrates those that are only along for the gear boost up because there is nothing new for them, so they then claim "this guild isn't progressing fast enough for me and /gquit to find a 25 man raid guild they can "tag along for the ride with". Fortunately as the raids get ever harder these type people get found out to be lacking in actual raid skills and desire to raid and they normally cant progress to the really hard raids.

So if you want to raid, raid for the right reasons.

The right reasons are: I want to experience new content and go to the hardest places in WoW and I'm prepared to work at getting there. I know and understand that I can't get to those places alone and I don't want to personally gear up, I want the guild as a whole to gear up so they can help take me to those new places. I play WoW to be challenged, this is after all a game and I like playing games on the hardest level and beating them on the hardest level. Raiding is the hardest level and that's why I like it, I want to get guild firsts and be there when bosses go down for the first time, that's what raiding is all about, I don't want a free ride.

If you go into raiding with that attitude you won't go wrong.


2. Gear.

It's not hard to get the necessary gear to start raiding with the guild, all you need to do is run the heroic level dungeons. Use www.wow-loot.com in order to work out which instances you need to run in order to get gear for a specific slot. You should build up your reputations with the various Factions who will sell you some very nice gear. It's also worth checking out what the various professions can make. And don't forget your Justice and Valor points running those dungeons are gaining you.

If you respect your fellow guild members and want to pull your weight, you will make the effort to get kitted out as much as you can pre-raid, if you are DPS then you should be 'Hit capped'. It doesn't matter too much if you don't quite hit all the needed requirements, but please don't turn up wearing green items you got from quests along the way. Raiding requires effort and the first step is to make the effort to get your gear up to scratch. A raider in Greens is just a drain on the other 9 and they are likely to let the rest down when they are called upon to perform a specific task.


3. Enchants and other stuff.

If your gear is good enough to raid then it's good enough to spend the money to enchant. This includes armour kits and spell thread as well. Research what is affordable, I'm not saying get the really expensive enchants on a blue item, but at least get something. Money is not hard to come by at 85, so take the time and effort to get the mats and find an enchanter (we have some guild enchanters, tailors and leatherworkers, and the ingame guild pane will list them all) and get your gear enchanted. To get a head enchant you will need to buy them from a faction, requiring you to get reputation with that faction, so work on that, and shoulder enchants come from Therazane so again you'll need to work on rep to get those.


4. Consumables.

4a. Flasks. You can have one guardian and one battle elixir up at any time, or alternatively a flask. Flasks last through death so although they first appear expensive they're worth it if you are going to wipe a lot. Which provides a better buff will depend on your role; do some research as to what's available. Raiders will be expected to have either a flask buff or two elixir buffs up at all times, so bring enough to last a session. Yes this is expensive, go farm the money or the mats, raids are not something to be taken lightly and you get out what you put in. People who can't be bothered are not the sort of people you want raiding alongside you. Flasks can be bought from the guild bank at the start of a raid for a substantially reduced price. Sometimes flask cauldrons will be given at raid start but don't rely on that to be the case.

4b. Buff food. The same is true for buff food, there is a buff food out there for everyone, some have +spell power, others +attack power, whatever your class and role then there is a buff food for you. Learn which buff foods you need and stock up, the same thing goes for buff food as elixirs, have plenty, no excuse. There'll often be a feast thrown down for the whole raid, but don't come to rely on this, and the general buffs from the feast may not be as good for you as specific food, so always have your own in reserve.

4c. Scrolls. Now this one is not common and I wouldn't expect it. A scroll will stack with buff food and spells but not with flasks and elixirs.

4d. Buffs. This one is fairly obvious, buff everyone up. However what you need to consider is that raidwide buffs use reagents. Consider you are the only priest and you can buff stamina, spirit, and shadow resistance, that's 3 Devout Candles straight off, now imagine we wipe 10 times learning this boss, that's another 30 candles. Basically if you are a group wide buffer then bring a lot of reagents.

4e. Mana/Health pots. Have a large stack of both, at least 10 of each. If you are a caster I would have 20 mana pots. Don't rely on other people (druids innervate, Shaman mana totems etc) always have the means to keep yourself going through long fights. Some of the boss fights can last 10 mins, be pro active not reactive and don't skimp on money, this boss fight is the reason you saved that money, now is the time to blow it.

4f. Trinkets. While we are on the subject of using things, have your trinkets on your action bar or have them macro'd to your spells and use them, especially during boss fights, and again use early so you can get a CD and use a second time.


5. Come repaired.

Its simple, its obvious, you'll be surprised how many people don't.


6. Come on time.

If we post that the raid is starting at 20:00, that means I want to be going through the door at 20:00. I want you outside the instance, all repaired and with elixirs, potions, food etc. ready to go before 20:00. If you are not there on time and another (more willing) member of the guild offers their services, don't start moaning about your lost place when you show up 10 mins late. If you're not there and ready to go at the start time, we will wait only if we have to, as soon as an alternative presents itself, we will take it. You need to take it on the chin, accept you were late and lost your place and not cause drama about it, but wish your replacement good luck and vow to be on time for the next run. At the end of the day, it's only a game, I have seen more guild drama regarding replacements than almost anything else.


7. Know the guild boss tactics.

Nothing is a substitute for being there and seeing the bosses first hand, but you can do some homework. Read up about the boss fight tactics in the forums of the website.


8. Have the right add-ons.

There are certain add-ons that are compulsory, these will be DBM (deadly boss mods), and maybe others (like oRA2) depending on the raid leader. However there are other add-ons that can make your raiding life a lot easier and should be considered. The list is almost endless and I won't go into specifics here, but its worth searching the Internet for class forums to see what other people the same class as you recommend.


9. Come prepared to be subservient.

A raid is a complicated and difficult thing, one wrong move and you're dead. Once we step foot inside that raid the raid leader and other officers are in charge. If they say we attack mob A, then that's what you do to the best of your ability. If you thought mob B was better to take out first you bite your tongue and attack mob A. You don't argue, you don't cause trouble. Afterwards feel free to come to the forums and write a flaming attack on why mob B was the better choice and next time we'll do it your way. However during the actual raid there has to be structure and discipline and that sometimes means going along with things even if you think there is a better way of doing it. It's an unbelievably hard job running a raid, you are getting /w from all directions and have a million things to worry about, having people arguing about strategy is that last thing you need. Guys there won't be a raid at all unless someone is prepared to step forward and lead it, trust me their job is bad enough, try not to make it any worse.


This pretty much completes my guide, but if you've read it all you'll see the theme is fairly consistent throughout. Raiding rewards those that put the effort in, remember it's not just about you, it's also about 9 of your fellow guild members. If you are a decent person and a decent raid member you desire to push the whole guild along new paths and you'll get to go along for the ride and have fun doing it. If you are a greedy person only out for yourself, you will get found out eventually and while you might manage short term success you wont ever get long term raiding because you are not what raids require.

Come to a raid, as best prepared and equipped that its possible to be at your current level of gear, give the raid 100% of your effort, and don't complain about the bad times, but celebrate the good times. Enjoy taking on the best and hardest that wow has to offer, revel in new content and don't allow yourself to get blinkered into epic rewards only (purple haze). Raiding is some of the best fun you can have in WoW, don't let the greedy, grabbing minority spoil it for you, enjoy raiding for raiding sake, for the fun, for the comradeship, for beating new content and let the epics be just an end to a means and not the focus of your raiding, and you will have fun.