Jehoram's Manifesto on Entry Level Raiding

I'd like to preface this by saying that the thoughts and ideas contained herein are my own. I in no way pretend to represent the Blades as a guild. All the numbers, plans, links, etc are posted here as J's thoughts, not the Blades' thoughts.

Raiding, it can be a great experience, it can be a horrible experience. I personally think there is a lot of fun to be had in seeing new instances and killing new bosses. Raiding should be fun for everyone involved, that's where your responsibility as a new raider begins. One thing you should know is this: Being level 70 has little to do with your raid readiness. You should be prepared to spend time developing your character well after you hit 70 to the point where you are truly ready to raid. Skill and gear wise. Anything less is disrespectful to those you fight beside.


The Costs

The average entry level raid runs probably 5 hours. In addition to those 5 hours, maybe an hour of prep time is required, travel to the raid zone, bag clearing, grabbing your off set, consumable purchases, etc. Those 6 total hours are multiplied by 10 people making roughly a total of 60 man hours for a 10 man raid, I'll use Karazhan as the template for this manifesto. In addition to those 60 man hours, each raider has a cash expenditure associated with the raid. Purchasing pots, elixirs, flasks, stat food, reagents, the inevitable repair bill, respeccing fees, etc. I'll call this an average of 100g per raider (I feel this is very low and a conservative estimate, remember, these are entry level raiders so consumables are a must for success) for a grand total of 1000G. The purpose of this exercise is to illustrate the total raid commitment. 60 hours and 1000G is a significant investment, and as such, you as the entry level raider should feel some sense of responsibility concerning your involvement in the raid and some sense of value for the time that others are spending to achieve your common goal.


Kill, or be Killed (the cold hard numbers)

Every boss in every raid, in essence, is a gear and skill check. Take for instance, our illustration of Karazhan. In my experience, Karazhan requires that the total raid dps is at the very least 3000. Given that the average entry level raid group will require 3 healers and 2 tanks, this essentially means that the 5 “dps” need to be doing roughly 600 dps each with some safety factor provided by the tank's dps. Do you know your heroic dungeon dps? You are asking 9 people to come with you and spend their time on a raid with you. You should do them the courtesy of at least having some sort of gauge of where you are damage wise and what you can do to improve (more on this later.) Tanks, you need to be at some respectable mitigation and HP level for your class/spec (ask guild officers/captains/veteran raiders for some advice if you need it) or else you are wasting the time of the 9 other people on the raid. It's my opinion that this is not the Blades' way. Healers, you need to have a level of gear commensurate with the encounter you plan to attempt. This is different for every class, but you should know your heal output. Can you safely heal most any heroic? Are you far enough over +1000 healing to be considered ready for raiding? (again, officers/captains/veteran raiders are a good source of knowledge)


Gearing (you knew this was coming)

Green gear has no business in Karazhan. For the most part, even quest blues are very suspect. Not to sound harsh, but it's true. Again, are you asking 9 people to join you in battle, or are you asking 9 people to carry you through a raid? I'm of the opinion that there's nothing more noble than the former, and nothing more despicable than the latter. So, how do you get ready? How can I gear myself to raid without raid gear? I'm glad you asked.

1.PvP. For anyone save warrior and paladin tanks, merciless gladiator's gear and weaponry is amazing. It far outclasses most lower kara drops and puts you squarely in the “ready for Kara and beyond” category. Brutal Gladiator's gloves and offhand require no personal or team rating and are typically some of the best items available in their slots. Make an arena team, play 10 games a week, get welfare epics. It's a tried and true formula. Heck, make a new team every week so you get back to 1500 rating to start, it's only 80g per week split 2 ways.

2.Crafted. If you're not into pvp, that's no problem. There are amazing crafted gear pieces for every class. Cloth wearing tailors have a built in source for amazing starting gear to carry them well into Kara and beyond. Yes, it costs money and materials but you are trying to do your best here, not just be dragged through a run. There are also great gear pieces for leather, mail, and plate. Plus, we have guild crafters who can and will do your combines for free, just ask. Here's the rub; You have to know what's out there. Spend some time on wowhead or maxdps.com or kaliban's loot list, or wherever you like to look for upgrades and know what's out there that can be crafted. Also, look in the guild bank, I'm sure Dave will be willing to make you a good deal on any materials for your upgrade gear that are in the bank.

3.Reputation Vendors. There's some great blues and even purples on those vendors for an up and coming raider. Shattered Sun vendor in particular. Does it require time to get your rep up? Yes. Should it? Yes. Leveling in heroics and higher level normal dungeons gives you a chance to hone your skills, gauge your raid readiness, and go after those few great dungeon drops. I personally was exaulted in all reputation factions other than Keepers of Time before the first time I set foot in Kara. I'm not saying that should be the case for everyone, but if you're looking to contribute to the raid to the best of your ability (and you should be) then you do what you must.

4.Heroic and Normal Dungeon drops. There's some great dungeon drops out there. I personally use a ring in my tanking set that drops from normal Arcatraz and a cloak that drops from normal Steamvaults. I've tanked every boss in Kara, every boss in ZA. Gruul, Magtheridon, Hyjal trash, Tempest Keep trash, etc. The point is, some blues have all the right stats in all the right places. They are ideally itemized. That's not to say all these drops are blue. There are great purples to be had in heroics as well.

5.Gemming/Enchanting. There's no reason not to have all your gear gemmed and enchanted, glyphed, shoulder enchanted, leg kitted etc. It's not that expensive and you can really boost your key stats with not much effort.

6.Badges – Last but certainly not least. Remember those heroics you were running to get ready and get geared? Well the badges add up fast. Even just 1 or 2 quality badge upgrades can really go a LONG way in making you raid ready. We're talking Black Temple quality gear here, far outstripping anything from an entry level raid.


Putting Your Time In

Any successful raider will tell you that they didn't just hop into a raid, listen to the raid leader, and take the boss down every time. Time outside of raid time is vital. I've presented just a few of the things that make a successful raider below.

1.Know your class. Every class has a certain spell or ability rotation that can really enhance their effectiveness. Talk to the guild leadership, look on elitist-jerks.com's spreadsheets, check out maxdps.com whatever you do, know your class. Know what spell or ability you should be casting when. It will do wonders for your effectiveness and it takes a HECK of a lot less time than hunting for gear. Also, know your utility abilities. If a mob needs to be interrupted, know that you can interrupt, and how, and what the cooldown is roughly. Stealth mobs coming up? Cast detect invisibility before they even ask for it. Dots and debuffs up on the tank? Cleanse that garbage.

2.Be prepared. Before raid time, have all your consumables bought, have all your reagents, assume there is no mage and have water/food on hand. Be repaired and ready to go into battle.

3.Know the encounters. Spend some time on any of the myriad of spoiler sites (some stickied on the Blades forums) and have a basic understanding of the fight, and your role in the fight. Entry level raids will have some explanation of the fight over Ventrilo, but be ready. Spend a half hour reading over the fights before the raid, I guarantee you'll save that half hour back during the raid.

4.Have the right mods. Some WoW purists will disagree, but having the right mods will really enhance your gameplay. A raid mod like bigwigs or Deadly Boss Mods will give you key boss info like timers (somewhat inaccurate) proximity warnings for when you need to spread out, etc. Omen threat meter, live it love it. Your tanks will love you for it and you'll know when to back off to save getting splatted into goo. From a Pally perspective, get PallyPower, it makes buffing assignments go fast, and rebuffing go fast. Remember, we're not just dealing with your own time here, we're dealing with 9 other people's time and time is valuable.

5.Limit your AFK (doesn't really belong here, but I don't know where else to put it). AFKs happen, life happens. Try to be courteous of the others in the raid. Raids will have a set AFK time, if you can wait 15 more minutes to go get a drink, please do. Don't AFK after a wipe and before a rez; it's irritating.


The take home message!

Be honest with yourself, your character, and your ability. If you aren't ready to raid, there's no shame at all in getting a group together to do something that moves you closer to raid readiness. Respect your guildmates and their time. Some members of the guild have been raiding a long time. Kara is easy for them. But remember, not all that long ago, they were where you are. They did most, if not all, of what is written above and got through it.

Here's the synergy of being properly prepared; the more you're willing to put in the time to help yourself, the more others will be willing to put the time and effort into helping you. People notice when you're being lazy and asking for a free ride, they also notice when you're giving things your all and asking for a hand. Guess who's going to get more help and more responses in guild chat for help?

*climbs down off his soapbox*
*waves goodbye to the audience*
*sighs at his wall of text*

Jehoram

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