Building a better Raid Leader

I’ve been thinking about how I want to write this post for quite a while. I have a somewhat hardcore raiding mentality…yet I am the raid leader for a casual raiding guild. I’ve been doing the job for years and from what I am told, quite well. To be honest, Raid leading and I have a love/hate relationship and it can really be a strain sometimes I love being the “Go too” guy. I love picking apart boss fights, developing strats, identifying problems and solving them in creative ways based on the pool of raiders I have to work with. I take almost as much pride in raid leading as I do as a main tank. But don’t be fooled, it’s not all rainbows and sunshine. Raid leading tends to lead to an overwhelming number of misunderstandings and conflicts. For any RL to be successful he requires the support his or her raid group. He must earn their respect and therefore they will “follow him into battle.”

Some months ago I was very burned out with the job, maybe it had something to do with the game in general but all I knew was that it was time to take a break. In that time we made some progress…but it just wasn’t the same. I found that part of what makes this game so much fun for me is doing that job. I was discouraged because I felt as though the guild wasn’t behind me and so it felt like I was herding cats. More specifically I found that quite literally almost every call I made was questioned. Normally if its 1 or 2 times a night, no big deal but when it’s so frequent that I spend more time defending my logic than actually raiding….= Burnout.

So I took my break, recharged my batteries, and here I am right back at it! Getting the guild back into 25s is likely what prompted my return and despite whatever conflicts have arisen I haven’t faltered. The frustration of being challenged midraid is gone! It seems that I’ve once again earned the respect and trust of my raiders so look out Arthas; we’ll be knockin’ down your door in no time!

Now to the actual point of my post: What makes a good raid leader?? I’m sure just about everyone has their own answer to this question. Some like a raid ruled by the hand of a wrathful god! Others like a silly yet intelligent leader. Some expect 3 hours of progression standup comedy …and then there are those who expect me to speak as a pirate while we mop the floor with boss after boss just for the lulz.

So what’s the best way to Raid Lead?

I think it depends on the group you have to work with. Brotherhood of Oblivion is full of all sorts of people and it’s hard to please everyone at the same time…try as I may I can’t always leave everyone with a feeling of satisfaction at the end of a raid night. My style is unique…or so I’m told. I try to keep things casual and fun and silly but make sure we make the most out of the few hours of progression raiding we have to work with each week. There are a few basic qualities that every good raid leader should posses:

First: RAID LEADERS ARE NOT INFALLIBLE! We make mistakes! We can and often are wrong! Any good RL knows when to admit that he/she has made a mistake or a bad call and most importantly doesn’t feel bad about doing so!

Second: Because all raid leading is like herding cats to some degree…Posses a firm hand and a sharp tongue BUT only whip those out when absolutely necessary.  These weapons in my arsenal are not meant to upset anyone! They are used to give me a desired effect and keep the raid on track. No one should ever take anything I say personally in a raid.

Third: A good raid leader must always see the bigger picture and place the needs of 25 people ahead of any 1 person. Now this doesn’t mean screw anyone over and over and over…. This means that because it’s basically impossible to keep everyone happy at all times, occasionally you are going to have to do things such as ask someone to sit for a week, or change specs, or participate in a strat that they are not fond of. In the big picture the needs of one are outweighed by the needs of many.

And lastly:  PATIENCE!! Take your time! Go slowly! Give the raid enough time to digest the instructions you’ve given or the boss fight you just picked apart and explained for 15 minutes. Not everyone can pick up a fight with the snap of a finger.

So I want to open this up. I want to hear what other qualities a RL should have. Do I basically have it down? Am I flat out wrong? What can be improved upon?

My GamerDNA Designation:

The Achiever motto:

“No goal unfinished!”
Description:

Best, first and most are the favorite adjectives of the Achiever. They love comparison not only against others, but also with themselves. They enjoy setting goals, surpassing previous performances and hitting new milestones. They tend to have lots of high scores, badges, trophies and other concrete evidence of their successful endeavors–and they love it if someone notices these. However many enjoy the quiet satisfaction of knowing they simply did better than most.

Secondary influences

Achiever Killers like to be the best-of-the-best at everything the game has to offer including PvP. They often mock Killer tactics such as surprise and stealth as “ganking” because they prefer a more controlled arena where fighting skills can be compared in a straight forward manner. Achievers often look to 1v1 duels for proof of their superior play and are frustrated by “rock paper scissor” game mechanics because of this. Their prowess in PVP is generally supported by a large degree of understanding and possession of the best equipment and skills.
Achiever Explorers are interested in the PvE aspect of a game more than anything else. The AE thrives as a solo adventurer, counting coup with each new destination and discovery, poking into every corner of a map and toying with each nuance of a game mechanic. AEs prefer not to be hampered by a group and usually find PvP to be more an annoyance than a feature.
Achiever Socializers appreciate groups, clans or guilds for than just pure social fun. An AS relishes the camaraderie of cooperation within a top flight team, savoring the renown gained from successfully pitting themselves against the grand-challenges of a virtual world and attaining goals that cannot be reached as an individual.

Enter: Lazy Blogger

Hello everyone and welcome to my failtastic blogging experiment. I’ve tried this several times before and always end up letting it slide after a  few weeks so lets hope I manage to stick to it this time! I guess I should start out by explaining a little bit about myself so here goes…

I am a 22 year old component level circuit board technician. I work for one of the largest and most dominant consumer electronics service companies in the US. In my spare time I enjoy World of Warcraft a great deal; hence, the blog. Ironically, I hated WoW and everything it represented before I started playing. I’ve never considered myself a “gamer” but I’ve always played something. First it was Counter-strike which I played since beta and competed in many season of CAL (Cyber-athletics Amature League) and CPL (Cyber-athletics Professional League). Next I was sucked into the whole Diablo thing and quickly moved to my very first MMO. Eve-ONline. For those of you who have never heard of this. It’s a futuristic MMO where you are a lone pilot or the vessel of your choosing. The game has a very interesting backstory and had it not been for the persistance of my WoW friends I might still be playing EvE. It basically came down to my friends buying me WoW and asking that I try it for the free month you get with purchase. So in my noobishness I agreed and rolled a young and impressionable human paladin named Macharious about a week before Burning Crusade was released. Several months I was 80 and took over as GM of my guild. Global Gaming Syndicate on Azgalor. Eventually I failed as GM and the guild fell apart. I was still rather noobish but decided to continue playing. My guild has always meant a lot to me. If it wasn’t for these friends of mine I would have never started playing. We reformed as our current guild: Brotherhood of Oblivion. I served as GM for 2 and a half years before I gracefully stepped down. I still log on often and greatly enjoy the game.

Now that I’ve bored the hell out of you all I guess I should talk a little bit about what this blog is actually going to focus on. I’ve never really been a huge fan of traditional blogging. I’ve read quite a few and don’t often see anything I like. So let me assure you that this won’t be the semi-coherant ramblings of a POed WoW fanatic. I prefer to inform rather than complain. I’m one of the oldest prot paladins on Azgalor with a lot of game and raiding experience. I have several other toons I enjoy a great deal including my somewhat neglected fury warrior and my lovely Nelf holy priest. I’d like to help others with these classes and specs as well as receive some constructive feedback. COmpare notes, that sort of thing. Also, because I love my guild so much, it might be nice to keep my readers up to date with guild related current events as well as all the lawltastic moments we seem to have from week to week. Thats all for now, stay tuned for more!