raidleading
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Hard modes and raider morale
Karl, writing over on the WoW Livejournal, has an interesting set of thoughts about hard modes and just how they work with raiders' morale. Hard modes are designed to give raiders something extra -- if you've conquered the normal modes of raids like Ulduar, hard modes are put in there by Blizzard to offer you some extra risk for a corresponding reward. But as they've become more and more routine, some raids are taking on the hard modes even before they've cleared the whole instance, leading up to a night of wiping on early hard modes, and then wiping on later progression. And wiping all night is never good for any raid's morale.Of course, this is one of the causes for the way the Crusaders' Coliseum in patch 3.2 is designed: instead of having both hard and normal modes constrained to one instance, you can run a 10 or 25-man instance in normal mode all the way, leaving the Heroic mode open when you're ready to do some wiping.But then again, think about what the mindset is here -- players are throwing themselves on early bosses' hard modes even when they haven't beaten the end bosses yet. It seems like most raids will take any opportunity they get for more loot, no matter how tough it is, and that's what's leading to all of this "glass chewing" Karl is talking about. Even if Blizzard gives players the option to run a normal instance without worrying about hard modes, won't players still just run Heroic anyway, for the better gear?
Ready Check: On wipes and wiping
Ready Check is a weekly column focusing on successful raiding for the serious raider. Hardcore or casual, ZA or Sunwell Plateau, everyone can get in on the action and down some bosses. It's not easy, though... Wiping. That wonderful process whereby your raid becomes nothing but a pile of corpses, and you have to pick yourselves off the floor and start again. It's an essential part of raiding, whether you're dying to well-known content or progression bosses, and some people are even rumoured to enjoy it. However, repeatedly wiping on something for various reasons can really lower your raid's morale, and presents an interesting problem for any raid leader.Let's take a look at the problems and challenges arising from wipe nights, or even a failed try or two at something on farm.
Ready Check: Progress raids and You
Ready Check is a weekly column focusing on successful raiding for the serious raider. Hardcore or casual, ZA or Sunwell Plateau, everyone can get in on the action and down some bosses. Or wipe to them. Again. And again. And again... This week, we look at progression and what it means to you. This week, we were going to present a column on Brutallus, in similar vein to our Kalecgos and Zul'Aman timed run walkthroughs. However, we'll be leaving you in suspense for another week, as disheartening 1% wipes prevent us from actually having killed him yet. So, until we manage to eke out that final drop of DPS, we present WoW Insider's handy guide to Progress Raiding and You.There are two main 'classes' of raid, progress and farm; progress raids involve conquering new content, such as facing (and killing) a boss for the first time, whereas farm raids are easy rides through familiar territory, with clean kills and quick epics. Obviously, there's some middle ground, when you kill something for the second or third time -- but at some point the fight becomes repeatable, easy, and unlikely to warrant a second trash clear, earning it the title 'farm'.
Leading casual raids, and doing it well
This must be the season for casual raiding leaders to get their tips-- both Clockwork Gamer and Sanya Weathers at Guildcafe recently posted some great tips for raidleaders in charge of making sure that dragon ends up dead at the end of the night. If you've found yourself in charge of a large group of MMO characters recently, both writeups are worth a read for sure-- the tips range from the practical (start earlier than you plan, because things will take longer to get started than you think) to the emotional (keep it fun, address drama when it happens, and make sure everyone remembers that these are not the only epic drops they'll ever see).Raidleading is a tough little pasttime, and casual raidleading more than anything-- people are on your raid with all kinds of different reasons and a larger variation of abilities and gear. I especially like Clockwork Gamer's mantra: "raiding is dying," and that's truer with casual raiding than anything else, in any MMO you play in. It's not easy to be a casual raidleader, but these tips will definitely help you get to where it's worth it: a big down on a progression night.
Jumping up and down
Are you a jumper? I am.Some people just do it all the time. The easiest simple move in the game-- every character can do it at almost any time-- is to hit the space bar and jump. And some people do it constantly.Of course it drives some others nuts. 9 times out of 10, there's probably something better you could be doing than jumping-- even in an instance, you could be crafting, or summoning, or drinking for mana, or organizing the groups, or getting food and water ready, or organizing your bags. Why are you jumping? Stop it, you're giving me a headache!Then again, I jump all the time. Usually, it's actually to signal impatience-- if I'm ready for a pull and we're not pulling, I'll start with the jumping. And if I ever feel helpless-- I've been spell interrupted, or I'm silenced, or in PvP, where there's nothing for me to do while I'm sitting stealthed defending by a flag. Some times when I'm surrounded and getting murdered in PvP, I'll jump just for the heck of it, like a last laugh against death (sometimes I even do the /laugh emote at the Paladin that's tearing me apart). Or sometimes I'm raidleading and I want to get the raid's attention. There are lots of good reasons for jumping around.But many times, there's not, and I do it anyway. Are you a jumper?
Have You /hug'd your raid leader today?
Good raid leaders need to have a lot of tools in their tool basket. People skills, the ability to manage people and understand people is critical. Tactical skills, being able to study an encounter, look through a combat log and understand what went wrong, and being able to make the adjustments to complete an encounter more efficiently and more easily next time is critical. It's a political job, keeping groups happy and managing everyone's expectations. It requires time, effort, and a lot of knowledge. So give your raid leader a /hug.
