There are a few unwritten rules to raiding that, normally, everyone is expected to follow. It would make PUGing raids a whole lot easier. The problem is that noone wants to do anything to have succes. People let others drag them along. You all propably know those chaotic naxx/ulduar/PdC/ICC pugs where everything goes wrong. Even if the boss/trash or whatever else is explained, some people just walk in and do damage but don‘t bother to move or switch targets. Everybody in TS is talking, someone has their music too loud and thinks everybody want‘s to hear their horrible selfmade deathmetal music, Rogues/Hunters/Pallys who think they decide when its time to pull and so on and so forth.
The purpose of this blog today is to let you know some of the unwritten rules.
15§ of unwritten Raid-law
§1 Don‘t take it for granted that you were invited.
§2 Be polite to others and give your best and you might actually land on their ignore list.
§3 If you need to go afk (=away from keayboard) then write it in the raid channel and say it in TS.
§4 Do not leave without reason and notice.
§4.1 Let the raid leader know ahead of time how much time you have.
§4.2 Don‘t leave after 2 or 3 whipes. This is a normal amount in a raid, especialy in a new raid instance like ICC.
§4.3 Don‘t leave a group/raid after a specific Boss only because the loot you needed didn‘t drop.
§5 Don‘t use childish language. (for example many !!!!!!! ?????? ALL-CAPS)
§6 Don‘t cuss, insult, or shout about people who made a mistake. Mistakes are human and the other 24 Toons are controlled by other humans just like you.
§7 Unless you are the raidleader/classleader/person instructed to say things, be silent.
§7.1 Shut up during Boss explanations.
§7.2 Shut up during the Boss encounters.
§7.3.1 Turn off voice activation if you are in a loud surrounding or don‘t know how to make proper adjustments so that people don‘t hear your breathing/music/family etc..
§7.3.2 If you should want to leave voice activation on and people complain about the things mentioned in §3.3.1, then either mute your mic or turn it of. It only makes it harder for those people to concentrate that actually want to concentrate.
§7.3.3 Turn off/mute your mic if you are watching TV/Youtube or anything else funny/scary or that provokes loud emotional respones like laughing, cheering etc..
§8 If you are not the raidleader/class leader/person in charge of something then don‘t pretend to be. They will talk to unappropriate acting raidmembers. If they made a mistake or you at least think so, whisper them or talk to them in a seperate TS channel.
§9 Do what you are told.
§9.1 Turn off your mic/mute your mic/ switch to push-to-talk if instructed so.
§9.2 Switch Targets if instructed so. (Frost Orbs, Lightning Elementals in VoA for example)
§9.3 Stop damage when instructed. If your full damage is converted over to the tank he will die. There are only few healers that can actually heal your massive damage plus the Boss damage.
§9.4 Move out of bad stuff. Not just when you are told, but always. The Direction can be instructed by the Raidleader or whoever is responsible. Move out of the bad stuff in that direction if this is the case.
§9.5 Skull first. Unless it is otherwise instructed, you fucus target skull then X then the rest in the instructed order. If no order is given you may also AE the trash/adds.
§9.6 CC (=Crowd control) the instructed mob and keep it in CC. If you are instructed to Sheep/shekkl/stun a certain Mob, then do it. If the CC runs out and it is possible to renew the CC, then do it.
§9.7 Do not attack a Mob in CC. Do not AE if there are Mobs in CC close to the main targets.
§10 At least take a glimpse at the boss guides* all over the internet if you know that you will be in a certain raid.
§10.1 If you are joining a raid unexpectadly and you do not know how the Boss is to be dealt with, tell the raidleader or person in charge.
§10.2 If someone asks if anybody doesn‘t know the Boss and you don‘t, speak up.
§10.3 If the Boss was explained, follow §4
§10.4 If you PUG raids, then make sure that you use the same tactics as this guild/group.
§11 If possible avoid AE damge. If you are a range damage dealer, stay away from the exploding/AE mobs. There is a reason why you are a range damage dealer.
§12 The Raidleader/Lootmaster decides how the Loot is distributed.
§12.1 The spec you are currently playing in is your main spec unless agreed otherwise.
§12.2 If you are the Lootmaster, then don‘t ninja.
§12.3 If you are the Lootmaster, then stick to the Lootsystem* you agreed on.
§12.4 If Blizzards Need/Greed System is beeing used, only need on 2nd spec if noone else needs it for 1st spec*.
§12.5 For the standart 1st before 2nd System follow the Lootmasters instructions.
§13 Don‘t ever, EVER post the damage meter*.
§13.1 If someone asks for the damage meter then you use the function to whisper it to that person.
§13.2 Don‘t write about your ongoing raid/post damge meter/post amount of deaths etc. in the general channel for that raid instance.
§13.3 If someone is to evaluate the fight they have there own damage meter or other tool to do so and do not need you to help them unless they ask you.
§14 Know your Class. You don‘t have to be perfect, but please at least google your priority list/rotaion and check out what Items are good for you in that instance/raid*
§15 Follow these simple rules and you will be reinvited, have more success and stay off of many ignore lists.
Annotations:
Bossguides: Bossguides can be found at wow.buffed.com and www.wowinsider.com. For other guides just google for: „BOSSNAME guide“ replacing BOSSNAME with the boss you are looking for.
Lootsystems:
The most usual Systems are DKP and 1st before 2nd need. In the DKP System you attain points for differents things (Bosskills, hours in raid etc.) which you can then use to outbid other players on items. This is normaly used in raidguilds and then the points are often saved until the wanted very good item drops to easily outbid the other players.
The 1st before 2nd need system is usualy used in PUGs to easily distribute Loot among the players. Often every player is entitled to 1 Epic, 1 Trophy etc for first need and is then put behind other players. This way it is ensured that not one single player can get all for example mage items by good luck if there are also other mages in the raid.
Rarely used but still existent, is the standart Blizzard Need/Greed system. This system is rarely seen in Raids exept maybe for quick Naxx runs.
My personal favorite is the „Lootlist Non-DKP“ System created by Calaelen. You can read all about the new system here: http://lootlist.net/
Need/Greed System: A good help to see how many have roled need is the Addon TeksLoot.
Damage meter: This show the individual and total DPS/HPS values as well as Damage/Healing done and many other things. It is also cursed at as „Penismeter“ (at least on german servers) and if posted is frowned upon just as much as the newly introduced Gearscore. It is nice for evaluating Raids and trying to find the best rotation but mostly only annoys people when posted.
These are the Basic raiding rules. If I missed some important rules, please let me know. It all seems alot but it is less than you think and most of it is just common sense.
