Every Monday Scott Andrews contributes Officers' Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership.
Welcome to part 2 of my ongoing, in-depth, casual raiding how-to! For part 1, click here. Last time I talked about filling the all-important raid leader position and choosing the right loot system. Based on the responses I got last week, most of you seem to think I'm on the right track, so I'll keep going with this topic. In this column, I'm going to talk about two crucial intangibles that you need to address before you even set foot past a swirly green wall instance portal.
Send Scott your guild-related questions, conundrums, ideas, and suggestions at scott.andrews@weblogsinc.com. You may find your question the subject of next week's Officers' Quarters! For more WoW Insider coverage of raiding, see our raiding directory.3. Communicate Your Plan
Once you've found a raid leader and decided on a loot system, unveil your plan to the guild. This is the part where a lot of officers go wrong. They either fail to communicate their exact intentions or they just assume that their members will go along with whatever they want to do. Don't make this mistake.
You need to lay it all out there:
--How will runs be scheduled?
--When will raids occur and for how long?
--Who will go?
--Who will decide who goes?
--What will they base those decisions on?
--What is the immediate goal? (for example, clearing Karazhan or downing Gruul)
--What is the long-term goal ("killing" Kael'thas in The Eye)
--Will we recruit more aggressively?
--What will we look for in recruits?
--Will we have CLs (class leaders)?
--What does it take to become a CL?
--What voice chat software will we use?
--If we need a server for voice chat, who will moderate and pay for it?
--What addons will we use?
--How will loot be handled?
--Who will be the main tank?
--Will we focus on gearing up one tank exclusively at first?
All these issues can quickly become points of contention that divide your membership and cause undue friction. At this point, you've worked really hard to come up with a solid gameplan, but that doesn't mean it's perfect and that doesn't mean it's what the majority of your members want. So after you communicate it to the masses, request feedback and make adjustments where it seems reasonable and necessary.
The most important question to address is probably this:
--How will the guild change as a result of all this?
Most members have anxiety at this stage that the guild will crumble apart due to infighting over raid slots or loot, or that they will be judged unfit to raid and quickly fall by the wayside. Remember your guild's core values, and reassure people that these values won't be discarded for shiny purple tooltips. That's the easy part. The hard part is actually sticking to them in the face of adversity.
Even so, unless you've founded the guild to do exactly this, making the transition to casual raiding will almost certainly mean the guild is changing. It's difficult to anticipate exactly how it will change. Sometimes it means certain policies have to shift, such as always passing on loot that's a bigger upgrade for someone else. (It's a noble idea, but one that isn't always practical.) Sometimes it means a shift in the overall attitude of your members. For example, some people will inevitably take raiding more seriously than others, and they may start to feel like the others are holding the guild back. Changes can occur overnight. They can also creep along in the background, until one day you realize you're haranguing one of your hunters about running out of arrows during a boss fight even though she's just racked up a 50 gold repair bill, gone through 20 stacks of expensive ammo, and stayed up way past her bedtime.
What's critical is that you maintain self-awareness during this period and try to react to the changes in the guild before they turn into major problems. The best way to react is very often through frequent and effective communication with members at all levels.
4. Hammer Home the Need for Preparation
It never ceases to amaze me, but some people actually believe that, once they hit level 70 and zone into a raid instance, the raid leader will just tell them what to do and they'll somehow eventually get epics without actually trying. I'm not sure if they underestimate the difficulty or if they just want someone else to do the work, but people like this are raid-slot poison. As an officer, it's your duty to make sure everyone knows what is expected of them ahead of time. If you've told them what they need to do and they don't do it, then they really have no one to blame but themselves when they're fishing for Mr. Pinchy while the rest of the guild is fishing for Lurker.
Of course, with a casual raiding guild, you can't always afford to leave people behind. It's easy to enforce preparation when you've got 35 people to fill five groups. But what if you've got 23 people and 2 friends of the guild tagging along? If you send somebody packing, the raid might not even happen (assuming you even have the right class balance to begin with).
For casual raiding guilds, preparation is doubly tricky: You're more likely to have members who don't show up prepared, but you're also less likely to be able to bench someone for showing up without a clue. Repeatedly -- perhaps even excessively -- emphasizing good pre-raid prep will reduce the amount of downtime you face as a result of the unprepared. I have to say, though, being able to summon people directly into an instance has been a lifesaver in this regard (Zul'Aman excluded).
Some people weren't keen on my comparison of a raid to a sports team, but I stand by it. The medium may be different, but the principles are the same. You can't play a football game if you don't know the playbook and your helmet is broken.
It seems this column was destined for lists. Here are some of the things that your raid members should be doing prior to a raid:
--Read the strategies! Only the locked bosses in the Sunwell haven't been analyzed and theorycrafted and reduced to a sterile sum of their inherent stats and abilities. The information is out there and easily accessible. Likewise, study up on the trash, which is seldom as deadly but can certainly slow a raid down and hamper progression.
--Bring more consumables than you could ever possibly need! Buff potions/flasks, buff food, temporary item buffs (wizard oils, poisons, and such), health potions, mana potions, bandages, ammo, reagents (including soul shards), and repair bots are just some of the items you want to stock up on. Some encounters -- Lurker is actually a good example -- can require more specialized consumables like bait.
--Repair your gear! Duh.
--Enchant and socket your gear! Every little advantage helps. Research which enchants and gems are most effective for your raid role.
--Spec like you mean it! Don't come to PVE encounters with a PVP spec. Even worse, don't come to heal with a DPS spec, tank with a healing spec, and so on. Talents are way more powerful than gear. If you can't afford to respec, borrow the cash or do some dailies.
--Install and update the required addons! Five minutes prior to zone in is not the time to configure Ventrilo or download BigWigs. Give yourself some room for error if something goes wrong.
--Go bio! You laugh, but there's always that guy who has to bio after the second pull. Seriously, pretend it's a long car ride -- go before you sit down at the PC even if you aren't necessarily squeezing your knees together.
My apologies for all the exclamation points. Can you tell I feel strongly about this topic? Yes, all of these things take time. But just like a sport or a test or whatever analogy you want to apply, you can't excel unless you put in the effort up front. Officers need to set the example for everyone else, so make sure your officers in particular do what they must to be ready.
There's still quite a bit to cover on this topic, so expect at least one more column about it next Monday, if not another the week after that. To those of you who have written me about unrelated topics, I ask for your patience.
/salute
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
4-14-2008 @ 11:20AM
Percinho said...
Salut!
/knocks back Pastis
sorry, though you were proposing a toast...
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4-14-2008 @ 11:42AM
guesswho? said...
in before loot drama
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4-14-2008 @ 11:49AM
Pied said...
Another item to add to the list is making the most of the gear you have. As a raid leader there's almost nothing (except no flasks/elixirs/food/oils etc.) that drives me more nutso than the player who has solid gear from drops and refuses to put applicable enchants/gems on/in 'em.
I don't think I'm alone when I get the "How can that person not put forth the simple effort to make the most of the gear the whole guild/raid helped them get??"
Great topic! On a side note I was the GL of a guild who's "tag" line was "We raid casually but don't casually raid" :)
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4-14-2008 @ 12:07PM
h8rain said...
Our guild just started raiding (past weekend was second time). Our first attempt at Kara, we treated it like an instance (roll on loot if better for main spec, if no one needed, then off-spec). We got all the way to the Curator, but couldn't down him.
This past week, we started a DKP system. We however did not have any hunters available or Shadow priests. We did not get very far (downed Midnight).
I agree with you on on a casual guild can raid, but rules and preparation has to occur. Because it is all on timers, a starting raid guild (not with "uber epiks") can't just stop for someone to pee, oh crap I forgot to repair, out of bullets, etc.... We are just getting started, so a lot will just be growing pains, but preparation, in my opinion, is just sooo important.
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4-14-2008 @ 12:51PM
Adam said...
Trust me on this one - DKP in Kara is a terrible idea. Save it for the 25 mans. It'd be like having UBRS DKP.
4-15-2008 @ 1:10PM
Charlie said...
Agree with the reply.
No DKP for Kara. Loot Council the "big" drops, like any weapon for the most part (the healing maces, mindblade, etc), and any exceedingly rare item (trial fire trousers comes to mind, there's lots of cloth-dps, and not very many of those trousers). Really you should only be loot counciling instead of just rolling when there's a big gap in attendance. Say DPS A & B are rolling on Mindblade. DPS A comes everyweek for the past 3 months, always comes prepared, and is one of your best palyers. DPS B has only made it to two or three raids, always forgets something, always has to borrow consumables, and doesn't even have his gear fully enchanted. This is a situation where your going to want to Loot Council the mindblade to player A, to reward attendance and preparation.
Remember! The goal of ANY system is to reward those who come the most often. That is the basic tenant.
4-14-2008 @ 12:08PM
Akks said...
Nice write up. As the GM of a casual raiding guild I couldnt agree more with the emphisis on prep prep prep!!!. But you are right when you are casual it is hard to hold everyone to a high standard and if you get too picky the raids won't happen at all. With us the more serious people always end up carrying a few people who just logged in and have no clue and were brought along just to fill out the raid. Such are the woes of semi-casual raiding, lol
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4-14-2008 @ 12:20PM
Ambril said...
This is an excellent write up, I think. Particularly whereas section 3 is concerned. These are all important questions. Failing to address them or failing to come to a concensus on them spells doom for any raiding guild. Preparing to undertake raiding can be as simple as printing out this list you've established and tackling them one by one amongst the leadership. Get that stuff straight in a manner that is acceptable to the guild is half the battle towards downing some fairly serious raid bosses.
Section 4 can get iffy. Not that I do not think it is all valid advice... it absolutely is. The problem can be that sometimes these issues strike at the heart of "casual" raiding. Not meeting these requisites are undeniably a failing of casual raiding guilds, but often in the casual environment people will defend their right (as casuals) to not take them seriously. These things are at the heart of the frustrations people most often have with casual raiding guilds and can present the greatest strains. Divides over mandated speccing and studying strats and add ons and consumeables are a problem in the casual environment and it is very often extremely difficult to reconcile between members who approach them with varying degrees of seriousness. If casual guild leadership pushes too hard, the complaint will undeniably come that they are trying to make the guild too "hardcore".
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4-14-2008 @ 12:28PM
Ambril said...
In that light, I might say it can (at times) probably be harder to administer a "casual" guild than a "hardcore" one at least insofar as a more hardcore guild will empower its leadership to be more forceful and be more accepting of it. If you're running a casual guild, you will always be walking a sort of tightrope over how hard to push things or over whether you are pushing hard enough.
Either way, if anyone thinks running a casual guild will be easier than a hardcore one, they are probably mistaken. I'd much rather be an officer in a hardcore guild than in a casual one ~ not for any sort of power, simply because hardcore guilds tend to have clearer boundaries.
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4-14-2008 @ 12:48PM
David said...
We took an alternate route that people might find interesting - the SGA-Arathor (Small Guild Alliance). This is a guild alliance for raiding that gives those of us in the guild a chance to sign up for either casual or hardcore raid teams without needing to switch guilds or try and change the one that we are in. Seems to be working well so far and has attracted interest from people in the guild who had never considered raiding before.
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4-14-2008 @ 1:02PM
Dedmorozh said...
My guild doesn't have problems with preparation. Getting 25 people to show is my issue. Since killing Gruul as a guild in January, Morogrim in the beginning of March I have been recruiting CONSTANTLY and I am lucky to get one solid night getting trash bosses down.
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4-14-2008 @ 1:44PM
matt said...
Getting 25 people together is indeed the hardest part of the early raid bosses. We've been fortunate enough to team up with another guild, and can now regularly run 25-man content. See if your members have good friends in other guilds, that can get their guilds to come along.
4-14-2008 @ 1:46PM
Bunny said...
On Moon Guard [A], Insurmountable Odds is not exactly a guild but a coalition of players from smaller guilds that get together. It helps alleviate the stress that more casual guilds can have when there are players who want to progress yet remain in their guild, and players who just want to do a few instances and spend more time socially.
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=5781098431&sid=1
http://insurmountableodds.guildlaunch.com/
It's been working amazingly well for quite a few months now.
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4-14-2008 @ 1:52PM
Dedmorozh said...
Yeah, I was one of the first to run Gruul PuGs Horde-side on my server. But the coordination needed is high and it isn't exactly great for creating a solid raid team. But, for T4 and the farmable T5 bosses, it is fine.
4-14-2008 @ 2:05PM
Sydera said...
Thanks for this article; it's a great guide for officers looking to build up that rarest of all organizations, the "casual" raiding guild.
My guild also calls itself a casual raiding guild. We formed when two truly casual guilds merged. Each guild could clear Karazhan on its own but not much else. Four months later, we've killed Lady Vashj. We did so by following many of the precepts you set out. What we are is less a "casual" guild than a unique type of raiding guild with relaxed rules.
Here's what's most important about our system.
1. The officers (me included) work really hard. There are no vanity posts here. We have weekly meetings to discuss guild policy and progression. With a "casual-raiding" guild, a guild usually has some players who are into raiding and some who aren't. It is nearly impossible to make both factions happy, but we try. I think the fact that we respond to complaints and concerns helps guild morale. Though it is true, for the officers anyway, that we could probably spend less time in game if we were members of a hardcore raiding guild! The hours would just be spent differently.
2. We don't have attendance requirements, so, ironically, we plan our raid rosters more intensely than a hardcore guild has to. People sign up on our website ahead of time, and the raid leader builds and posts a roster that has proper class balance. Once again, the officers do more work to accommodate the casual player!
3. Because we have a large group of raiders, the loot gets diluted a bit. If we were running 27 people in SSC, for example, everyone could get all their tier pieces. When you run 35, 20 of which stay the same and 15 of which change, people have to upgrade their gear outside of raiding. Many of our members have run innumerable heroics to take advantage of 2.3 and 2.4 badge gear. We also still farm Kara for the badges.
4. We read up on the fights fairly obsessively. Our Raid Leader posts strategies well before we take on a boss and we debate them in the forums. This is absolutely necessary when the raid group changes every time. For example, we had one player in our guild-first Vashj kill who had not been to the four previous weeks of wipes. Preparation is key for a guild that isn't a traditional hardcore guild.
I don't know that a truly "casual" guild can raid at a high level. It is possible to do so if your guild is non-traditional and doesn't follow some of the tried and true "hardcore" rules! What you end up with, though, is raids full of skilled players who play a lot, just players who don't necessarily raid every time.
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4-14-2008 @ 3:03PM
rick gregory said...
Another good article and comments. Several of the comment speak to specs, gear, enchants etc and I think there's a straightforward way to deal with this - make sure your guild wants to raid AND understands that it comes with expectations. Both points are crucial - a lot of people will want to raid but not understand that they might need to spec more seriously, gem gear, enchant it etc. If they know what's needed and consciously buy into it you will also have an easier time saying "hey, we really need you to enchant X."
Also, make raiding one of the things that the guild supports vs the focus of the guild. The former maintains the casual atmosphere... the latter means you're going to run into and inflame those 'this guild is changing' feelings.
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4-14-2008 @ 4:18PM
MartinC said...
"Trust me on this one - DKP in Kara is a terrible idea."
Sorry, don't agree. We've been using DKP since day 1 in Kara, and it has worked out fabulously. You just need a fair and equitable system. In fact, using DKP can help get those "less serious" raiders to show up more prepared, on-time, and consistently. After all, if there is nothing in place that rewards those that show up consistently, what's the motivation for anyone to?
A lot of people seem to spam the "DKP is terrible" notion a lot, and the only thing I can think of that might explain that is if they have been limited to using a bad DKP system. Don't just grab one of the off-the-shelf DKP systems and say "This is what we are going to use." Step back, ask yourself what you want out of the system, research as many existing systems as you can, and put together one that will work for your group. Give everyone visibility to the system *before* you first use it, and ask for any comments or clarifications.
Holding off using DKP until 25-mans also makes the transition to 25-mans much more difficult. If people are already familiar and happy with the system in Kara, the transition becomes much smoother. None of the "Man, this SSC raid sucks. I can't roll on the loot I want. Let's just do open rolls like we did in Kara."
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4-14-2008 @ 5:22PM
Sherem said...
Although I agree with your outline fully I would point out that short of revamping a guild roster from bottom up a casual guild will look at a list of “prep” items like this and say it’s not worth it to show up. Now I’m not talking out of my ear here I have been a guild master of a “casual” do it all guild for almost 3 years now, And Blue color Joe, and Molly mommy who play the casual guild (and may even want to raid) log on for the sole purpose to have fun and escape not to get bombarded with a bazzilion “work” like rules.
The way we get around it is 1 - be sure the guild knows we’re raiding for FUN, if your getting 25 guildys together it better be a party, not a disrupt vent get smashed fall on the floor party but a fun time …. No potty breaks!?! Common we raid with breaks to let dogs out, clean up kids, read bedtime stories and yes go bio. A casual raiding guild puts real life first it’s a fact of life face it.
Which brings me to 2 - SLOW down, so what you don’t clear the place or maybe even down the first boss, if you really want the guild members to want to improve (or be prepared) I have found you let em’ come on in and die. Afterwards you ask the raid what could have been done better 99% of the time the guildys who need improvement state it about themselves and work towards it without and boss like rules to prod them! Yeah so what we don’t clear an instance in a night and it takes longer to say we dropped , if guildys come away saying that was awesome lets do it again next week but better that’s half the battle.
Remember plugging raid like mannerisms into a casual guild isn’t always the answer you talk about raids being teams well you have professional and recreational teams professional focus on the win win win, recreational focus on the experience and the fun.
That’s my two bits
Sherem
www.battlegroundwarriors.com
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4-14-2008 @ 5:25PM
blackangely2k said...
Love these columns. Thanks, Scott!
P.S. Hope this post goes through. This blogsmith crap works when it wants to.
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4-15-2008 @ 2:59AM
Rob said...
I disagree that DKP in kara is a terrible idea. It has merits if the raid as a whole is completely ungeared. You can do kara in 70 greens/blues. It strongly depends on the guild, and will push through a core of competent, geared people. Those who aren't competent or geared will need to wait until this group can actually clear kara.
If 8/10 members of the raid are past kara in terms of gear, then sure no need. Also if everyone knows each other and are easy going. But likely or not, in casual guilds often you will have raid-mates who didn't even know they were in the same guild. And there is nothing worse that losing on a roll for a huge upgrade that you've waiting 6 months to get to the guy who just dinged 70 yesterday and joined the guild a week ago.
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