For years I've been waiting for a reason to use the word "manifesto" at any point other than when I'm stumbling around in my house alone gibbering it over and over to break the silence. It starts to sound strange at that point (I get a bit of a Gollum thing going on, but that's neither here nor there).A manifesto is a declaration of intent. In this sense it's a list of actions that any raider must adhere to in order to be considered serious. I know I'm constantly spouting on about the evils of the "srs bznz" raids and, just to be clear, these are not the types of raids I'm referring to.
Win or lose, raiding can be a lot of fun, but a lot of that fun is dependent on the people you're with. You depend on them to act as a part of a team when the time comes, just as they depend on you.
Nobody likes the Boomkin that Typhoons a mob way out of the tank's range.
Nobody likes the priest that lets loose a Psychic Scream into a pack of tightly clustered enemies, only to find them coming back with many, many more.
Nobody likes the guy that spams the Recount meters, screaming "Lul gaiz I did 1st deeps!1".
Thus, here is a simple set of guidelines of the most basic raider obligations, in no particular order (leave me a comment if you think I've missed anything):
1. Know your role:
Note that "know your role" doesn't necessarily mean "know every last-aspect of your class inside and out before you even think about raiding". Everybody has to start somewhere, and people who are trying something new for the first time should only ever be encouraging, not belittled. At the same time, it is up to the person trying something new to have a basic idea of what they need.
A tank should know what abilities are important to them (Righteous Fury, Frost Presence, etc.) and a basic understanding of how threat works. Healers should know about concepts like overhealing, mana management and triage. Dps too need to understand the concept of threat, as well as knowing what rotation/abilities will provide appropriate damage in a situation, but also any utilities that may be called upon as well (eg. Spellsteal).
Like I said, you don't need to know every detail of your class, just enough to have an idea of what you need to do before it all begins. Some guilds are incredibly strict on these sorts of things - others will let you learn by doing (which, incidentally, is what we do).
A basic understanding of your role is the foundation for everything you learn along the way.
(by the way, we already have a list of helpful of helpful links for each class here)
2. Be Prepared:
Make sure you bring enough reagents for your spells, potions and food/drink to recover and make sure your gear is fully repaired before embarking on a raid. Missing something from time to time is fine, whether you just didn't realise you'd run low on reagents or your gear went yellow on the first pull, but I can assure you that a raider who has to go back to town for supplies after the raid spent twenty-odd minutes organising and summoning everyone then that raider isn't gonna get too many invites in the end.
One other thing: Be prepared to wipe. Whether you're on progression content or training new raiders or going for achievements, wipes will happen. Expect a huge repair bill during wipe heavy phases and don't stress out - I never laugh as hard at someone than when I see a raider start screaming obscenities and rage quitting and only one wipe.
Write this down kiddies (and I wish I could think of a more eloquent way to put this): Only obnoxious, arrogant f**ks expect to win all the time, so don't be one.
3. Be Respectful:
This one should be common sense, but for so many people in online worlds it just flies out the window. In any group, particularly raids, you must remember that there are other people with you who are there to enjoy the experience - they are not there solely for your entertainment. Here are some of the things to avoid whilst in a raid:
- Meter spam (it was a team effort; the team succeeded, not you).
- Generally being a nuisance (uncalled for typhoons, thunderstorms, constantly chatting during boss explanations, spamming annoying emotes, etc.)
- Criticism. Do not criticise a persons performance based on meters or what you think you saw. Feedback is encouraged, but do not be condescending ("lul ur deeps sux dued")
- For that matter, spell like an adult (no constant "lulz", "ur", "i r beet u in deeps", "pl0x", and so forth).
- For the love of Gawd, please stop frigging jumping!
Ahem. Raids are extremely difficult to get organised and running. To have a raid successfully start only to have 9-24 people pissed off at one person's behaviour, heh, believe me when I tell you that that person isn't going to last very long.
4. Have Fun:
WoW is not work. Raids are not a chore. This is not your job and it is not a responsibility for you or for anyone else to go raiding. We do it because it's fun or because it's a challenge or because it's simply funny. In any case, if you're not having fun then you're not doing it right.
So there you have it, basic guidelines for a good raider. Note that not one of these is "be awesome" or "know everything", nor are any of the guidelines considered a capitol offence should you go outside them. As long as you don't ignore them completely, you're a good raider.
One other thing I want to point out (because my guild members are entirely too paranoid about what I write :P) is that this is not being written specifically for anyone in the guild.
In fact, I can think of only a few instances where a guild raider has bothered me in some way, and I made myself clear to those people at the time. Harms Way are easily the best collection of players and raiders that I've had the privilege to spend time with and if I had something I needed to tell them, it wouldn't be said quite so publicly.
This is intended to be something of a handy reference for other people, be they budding raiders, aspiring raid leaders or other guild masters... and I honestly hope it brings them more fun moments.
-Ahz
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