A Guide to Raid Leading (World of Warcraft)

Are you an aspiring raid leader? Or maybe you have lead many raids but are looking for more insight. This guide may hold some of the answers to your questions. I have been playingWorld Of Warcraft since the vanilla ages, raiding since the beginning of the Burning Crusade andleading raids soon after that. This guild will cover the styles of leadership, decision making, how to deliver criticism, attitudes, how to deal with conflict and assist raid leading.


In my opinion, there are four main types of leader. Each one is not chosen but instead is more likely to be a result of the leaders personality.

The Angry Leader:
These are people who have little tolerance and lead through fear or punishment. The AL
give no second chances, leaves no room for mistakes and runs their raid like a slave camp. Do as your told or you will be removed from the raid. This method can be effective, but only in an established guild. Being so strict will prevent those who wish to raid from screwing about and keep them on their toes instead of zoning out. This method of leadership has no place in PUG raids, there is no loyalty to a guild and no ultimate punishment except being removed from the raid. In most cases a leader with little tollerance will make PUG want to leave before the leader has a chance to remove them. I would not recommend using the AL approach in any raid however as it really takes the fun out of what is ultimately meant to be a game.

The Unsure Leader:
Have you ever been in a raid where the leader can't decide what option to take? This is
the UL. Unsure leaders are often unsure of themselves. You must be able to make fast decisions and stand your ground when challenged. The UL will often get caught between two options and in most cases confuse themselves and the raid. Unsure leaders make horrible progression leaders and even worse PUG leaders. However this does not mean they don't know how to raid, it jsut means they have trouble choosing between the yellow brick road and the dark alley way. When you start the next boss fight half the raid walks down one
and the other half, down the other. Ultimately, these guys simply suck at leading.

The Easy go Lucky Leader:
This kind of leader can do well in a PUG raid, but only if the group is
experienced and decently geared. The EGL leader is more of an organiser then anything. The group itself is in command and the leaders decisions are almost always based apon the majority vote. As long as the leader state what strategy will be used during a fight, things should go well. Without a leader a raid is a shambles, with the EGL leader the group makes its own decisions over all, but they also have direction and certainty. It is important however, not to allow the raid to become confused over two different options. One path must be chosen or failure is almost certain.

The Balanced Leader:
This is where you want to be. The most successful leaders consider the opinions of a
raid like the EGLL but their decisions are based upon their knowledge. Balanced leaders are encouraging, but also know when it is time to stand their ground. Once you make a decision, you go with it. Changing your mind only creates confusion. It is advisable to give praise as a leader, but do not give praise to someone who is quite obviously doing something wrong. Strait up tell your team both the positives and the negatives.


Knowledge:
It is important not to lead a raid which you do not know inside and out. The only exceptions to
this are; if the rest of the raid is less experienced then you or; if it is a guild progression raid and everyone is learning, with the leader organising. If you find yourself leading a raid with a more experienced player, it is advised to consider their suggestions. Just make sure they don't end up trying to lead. Unless organised, two leaders can cause some serious confusion for the raid.

Dealing with conflict:
Mainly a problem which occurs in PUG raids, conflict can threaten the break up of a raid group. Despite universal server rules on looting and behaviour, many people couldn't give a rats arse what the raid leader or the raid thinks.

If conflict arises from behaviour, both sides must be silenced and fast! When a raid comes to a halt while two people argue, the rest are getting impatient and pissed off. Step one is to tell both to stop typing / talking immediately and focus on the raid. Step two is threatening to remove them both if they start again.

If conflict arises from looting, it is simply the raid leaders choice. Be careful. The smartest way of deciding who out of two people should get loot is (A) comparing the situation to your already stated loot rules from the beginning of the run and (B) if there is contradiction within your rules for this context, pole the raid. State to the raid why each of the two believe they deserve the right to loot and the other does not. Then do a readycheck. Yes for one person, No for the other. The looser cannot compete against the majority decision. This prevents them from pinning the blame on you as a leader, for the decision was not ultimately made by you.



Decision Making:
If you are driving down the road at 300 km/h and you come to a split, how many seconds do you have to decide which way to go? The answer is non. The same goes for a boss fight. A seconds hesitation can mean the difference between success and failure. The point of this is that although one road might take your the long way around the race course, its still better the smashing into the barrier in the middle.Imagine you have two strats for killing a boss. Strat (A) is obviously the best way. Start (B) is doable but has some flaws. 70% of the raid including the leader knows how to do strat (B) but not start (A). The other 30% know how to do strat (B) but also know strat (A) is much better and strongly disagree with strat (B). This is where you as the leader must make it very clear which strat you are going to chose. Obviously you will choose (B). The reasons for this are: You cannot lead a strat whcih you dont know and the majority know strat (B) and therefore a larger % of the raid is likely to be coordinated. You have more chance of survival if everyone follows the lesser strat and works as a team, then half doing one way and half doing a slightly better way. The raid is the car and you are the driver. Turn one way or the other and make sure you stick to that way and so does the entire car.

Despite how organised you may be or how experienced your team is, unexpected shit can and will happen. What do you do when your fighting a mini boss and 4 adds unexpectedly run out of the shadows and start beating on the healers? This is when you start giving direct orders. Stay calm but think fast. Direct a tank to the new adds and direct the other to do both the previous jobs. Once the healers are safe you have a few more seconds to figure out what to do with the newly acquired enemies. Make sure either all dps are on your old adds or all dps are on the new ones. Speed in the key here. Avoid aoe and make sure your raid is focused on reducing the number of enemies present. In addition to this you make need to change your strategy mid fight.


Here is one example: Your are fighting one of Sartharions drake mini bosses. The strat is that when the portal comes and the boss becomes immune, all but one tank and healer enter the portal and kill the add.You have the boss to 75% HP when a patrol comes around the corner. Quickly direct your off tank to pick them up. Direct all dps to the adds, focus firing one down then the other. The boss becomes immune. You tell
the raid to ignore the portal until the adds are dead and the off tank is free to enter the portal and tank the dragonkin inside. A sucessful leader never freaks out when the unexpected occurs. They just deal with it.


Your roll within the raid:
While trying to do all of the above you are also trying to do your individual job within the raid. This is my advise to you: Never ever ever ever lead a raid as a healer. It is important for the raid leader to be focusing on what everyone else is doing aswell as themselves, where as a healer must keep full concentration on keeping people alive.

The easiest roll to play as a leader is DPS, it often doesn't take too much concentration to keep your dps high and if you focus on what someone else is doing for a moment, it isn't likely to be detrimental to the raid.

If you are an experienced leader, or good at multi-tasking - I would suggest leading a raid as the main tank. This gives you full control over the pulls, full responsibility for picking up unexpected adds, and the ability to hold up the raid until you know they are ready to start the fight. Nothing is more annoying then a tank either; not going in when you tell them or going in before the raid is ready. There are multiple occasions where I have swapped from a DPS to a Tank roll within previous guilds just so I have physical control of the direction and pace of the raid.


Assist Leading:
The raid assist role covers the more physical aspects of leading. This includes marking enemies, typing raid warnings, posting ventrilo info, giving out healing assignments, tanking assignments, sorting out groups and backing up the raid leaders decisions.


Duel Raid Leading:
This is where two people act as one unit. Their decisions are decided behind the scenes in officer chat or in a private ventrilo channel. Although Two people are giving orders, their orders do not and must not conflict with each other.

Having a co-leader can be a great asset. Just the knowledge that you are not completely responsible for each decision gives more confidence and strength to stand your ground. Co-leading is a force to be reckoned with when leading PUGs that have stubborn members. Two sets of eyes means double the chance of reacting fast to an unexpected situation. While one focuses on what has just come up, the other can focus on keeping the main body of the raid on task.

Duel raid leading should be conducted by two experienced leaders who have a similar style of leading and a great deal of consultation is needed to prevent confliction in decision making.

And there you have it! One very bias guide to leading a raid in World of Warcraft. If you have anything to add or any questions, comment below!

Good Luck!