Raid Philosophy

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Attitude/General

- As a guild we have decided that we are a Raider guild.
- We are not a Levelling or a PvP guild.
- We call ourselves "Casual Raiders".
- We all want end-game content.
- We all know how to level toons, quest, grind, etc.
- We all have a Real Life that needs to balance the WoW life.
- Real Life comes first - this means you respect other's real lives as well.
- We expect certain standards; some that are difficult to quantify and measure.
- We expect you to be mature, compasionate and co-operative.
- We hope that you will be friends; if you don't feel like you're among friends, consider (with respect) moving elsewhere.
- We expect you to put guild considerations at LEAST on equal footing with your toon's considerations (spec/loots/raid/etc).
- We expect you to be involved with the guild, your raids and your friends.
- We expect you to keep appointments (punctual for raids or organized events).
- We expect you to be compentant - know your class/spec.
- We expect you to realize that you are NOT the best you can be, but prepared to work towards that and both seek and offer help to your guildmates.
- We expect you to be prepared with consumables or other required items
- We expect you to be prepared with knowledge gained from research on new content - guides, vids, etc.
- We expect you to contribute to the guild in the ways that your class/spec allows (pots, insoles, food, etc).
- We expect you to be in Vent (Ventrilo voice server) - even if you're not in a party or raid.
- We expect you to be patient, tolerant and supportive of you friends (especially in new content).
- We want to have fun, and we want you to have fun. If it's not fun, your friends are available to talk about why and what to do.

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Role of the Raid Leader (RL)

Raids are democratic: One man, one vote. The Raid Leader is the man, he has the vote.

The RL is the Grand High Supreme Commander and will be obeyed in everything. Any RL decision has no appeal and no higher power will have any effect.

This arrangement is voluntarily entered into for everyone who attends the raid - kind of like marriage, but less expensive.

In reality, because we are all friends, there is often much banter and discussion (because vent makes it so easy) and it is rare that the RL need make any decision that is not obvious to all. But no matter how informal things may appear at the time, the responsibility of the RL is an onerous one and he (or she) must be the most tolerant, patient, observant and dedicated person on the Raid because they must always hold themselves apart due to the responsibility. For this, you will show them respect appropriately.

What responsibility? The success of the entire raid. No matter fault, blame or reason, they still hold responsibility and are accountable to the guild officers.

There will typically be Raid Assistants (as the WoW Raid interface allows) to assist in managing the raid. Just like the titles suggest, while held less responsible/accountable than the RL, but more responsible than you. So the respect required of the RL must also be applied appropriately to the assistants when not overridden by the RL.

RL will distribute raid jobs as he/she sees fit. These may be permanent (eg, MT to mark all targets, select an enchanter to DE), or transient (eg. request the Warlock to use a certain pet for this fight, request buff changes).

RL distributes groups as he/she sees fit.

The RL will generally be responsible for switching to and from Master Loot for boss fights and also for the dispersion of any resulting loot. See the Loot Philosophy for more details.

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Raid Times & Planning

There are no fixed raid times on a regular schedule. Raid times are proposed and organized on a week-by-week basis on the web Events forum.

Generally, 9pm server time on Saturday and Sunday. There is much discussion concerning additional times, catering for different timezones and the like at the moment and on an on-going basis between teh guild officers to try to include evreybody. Until the guild is larger, the availability of people at a suitable time is the prime determinant of raiding time.

If you wish to be a part of a Raid, you must sign up appropriately on the web forum.

ONLY if not enough people sign up on the web forum will those on at the time be asked if they would attend. Even then, the RL may decide not to ask and just cancel. Do not expect a place without signing up. This includes long term members and officers.

Conversely, just because you have signed up does not mean that you will necessarily go. The raid make-up is at the discretion of the RL and the reasons may be many and varied and do not need to be explained to you. That said, all reasonable attempts will be made to include those that show an interest. If we have 15 members for a 10-man, we will organize Heroics for that time, or look to PUG some players to fill a second run. Another option is to swap players in-and-out for different bosses/parts. Rest assured that 'the guild' feels the responsibility to support you as much as it requires you support it.

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Raiding Requirements

Being level 80 is not sufficient to be included in raids. There are two other criteria that must be met; one easy to determine, the other harder.

You must have a minimum level of gear. The guideline is that you should have all Lvl 80 rare (blue) items appropriate to your class/spec. But the rule is that the RL must accept your gear level.

The RL or an officer will check on Armoury for compliance for new raiders - don't feel bad if you are rejected on early attempts, we will try to help you get there.

Often, the most appropriate course is to do BG's to get some or all of the PvP Series 1 gear (S1). This path is the fastest and easiest for most classes - even though it may not seem so at the time. From experience we know that it is a lot quicker to gear to S1 level on your own than to farm Kara for that step up. Again, follow the directions from your RL.

You must demonstrate you know how to play your character effectively in a raid - this is difficult for the guild to judge. Make yourself available for the Rep instances/heroics, talk to people (on vent), etc. If you're a new raider and you're barely entry-level gear, the RL must be confident that you can contribute sufficiently so as not to burden your friends in the raid - potentially resulting in wipes. Again, don't feel bad if you are rejected based on this. Research on your own time, read forums, seek advice and assistance from your guildies and you will get better and you will be a better person from the experience.


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Boss Research

There are heaps of really good internet resources to research strategies, phases, attacks and everything else about the raid you are about to go on.

It is your responsibility to know not only the overall fight, but your specific role in it. Significant time is wasted if the fight progression needs to be explained. Significantly more is wasted if each role has to be explained separately.

Some places to start:
- Bosskillers: http://www.bosskillers.com/
- WoWWiki: http://www.wowwiki.com/

The RL's will often give a brief overview of an upcoming fight - this is designed to jog your memory, not give you complete information.

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Mods/AddOns are SO important

The guild has decided that certain mods (AddOns) are mandatory for all raiders. Having used these mods for some time I personally agree that raiding without them is leaving far too much faith in luck - which will lead to unecessary wipes - and sometimes impossible without them.

You will not raid (or do Heroics) without the mandatory mods here:
- http://livetheheresy.darkbb.com/user-interface-f16/

If your computer is too slow or incompatible to run the non-mandatory mods, then I hope you are an outstanding player to compensate because it is likely you won't be pulling your weight in the raid without them.

You must not only have them installed, you must know how to use them effectively. If you're having difficulty learning one or more on your own, ask your guildies of the same class who you look up to for help PRIOR to a raid.

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Know YOUR ROLE in the raid

This cannot be stressed enough.
- Know your class!
- Know your spec!
- Know what all of your abilities actually do!
- Know all of your abilities timings and limitations!

Just because you learnt it at lvl 20 and have never used it to get to lvl 80, doesn't mean it's not a vital component to a certain fight.

The RL is likely to simply ask you "fear this", or "silence that" and you are expected to just do it (or explain what the RL has forgotten about that ability and why you can't) - remember, RL's are one main class too and while they almost certainly know your class better than you know theirs, you should strive to know more about your class than the RL does.

Your goal should be never to have to be asked to change your configuration. If you are ever asked "use *X* instead" and you cannot rationalise why your initial choice was better, then you (probably) fail this test.

Know what you have to do during this fight. From your research, you must have extracted what you have to do. Know the phases, the special abilities and attacks of the boss and consider what you should be doing at each point.

None of us are perfect, we all recognize that we have more to learn and can do better. Everyone must accept this, but the only one you are responsible for is you. All you can be judged on is that you are trying.

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What's Important

- Have fun - coupled with enabling the rest of the raid to have fun.
- Be the best you can at your chosen role.
- Be prepared - eg. if you need to drink for mana, start drinking straight away so as not to hold up the rest of the raid.
- Review your own performance (consider the Recount mod) and seek to improve upon it.
- Responsibility - be responsible for everything you can control; mostly your own actions.

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What's Not Important

- Loot - items are the enabler of further content; they are not a final goal. Consider that we have fully Kara/badge geared people in the guild, and *they* are helping *you* get through Kara, for no gain for themselves. Loot is not important by itself, only overall for progression.
- Blame - if you can't be constructive, don't say anything. If you have issue with particular players, take it up with an officer who's job it is to facilitate and help find an accommodation.