Raid Calls and You

[Eis]

I posted this up on my guild's website, but felt I might as well share it with MMO Champ as well!




So, we've all been new to raids, and we've all heard someone call "I'm dead". And you're struck with the thought, "who the fuck is I?" Well, here's some quick tips to raid calls to avoid useless information.

The main goals when making a call during a boss fight are to be quick and precise.


1) Personal Calls:
First thing to remember here is that "I" is not a person on vent. You should always speak in third person. This will make sure everyone knows exactly who you are talking about, just in case you sound like that other guy who is probably bad and dies all the time.
When it comes to what you actually say in certain situations, here's a quick break down.

Disconnects:
With these you want to try to call asap if you are lagging that you MAY disconnect.
<name> lagging, possible DC - If you have a responsibility in the raid, this is where you call for someone to cover you. Once you are stabilized, you communicate that as well.
<name> DC'd
<name> logging back in
<name> reloading UI (if applicable)

Deaths:
<name> dead - Saying anything else like "down" "oh shit" "fuck" "well see this thing just happened to me and...." is not helpful to raid recovery. The goal is always to be precise, so that if you are receiving a battle rez that can be the next thing said instead of your senseless babbling about how your death was bullshit. This is also a case where you call for someone to cover your responsibility.

Requesting Special Attention:
<name> needs cooldown - Knowing what cooldown you need is always helpful, but in the case that you need just whatever you can get, just say that. Adding what the CD is needed for helps people time it as well, if it is something like Quake or Thundershock.
This also goes for innervates, and other mana cooldowns.
<name> with <particular debuff> - This is a little bit different, as each boss fight does not require a call when someone gets a debuff. Some debuffs only need called in certain situations as well. Two examples that come to mind are Blackout during a Theralion phase, and running an orb with Wrack on Sinestra. "Blackout on Thatoneguy, get away" (to let him die) "Thatbadhunter running with Wrack" (to let your dispeller know)
There are many cases of special abilities requiring special calls, but the golden rule here is to use third person.


2) Boss Abilities:
Having calls for boss abilities is always helpful, as it helps to keep everyone focused and alert, and ready to react.
Consistency is huge on these. If you are going to call an ability, ALWAYS call it. Don't forget. Emphasize that specific timer in your boss mods and make sure you are on top of it. Also, take note if the normal caller is not in the raid, and have ONE person take over.


<boss ability> soon (optional to call <in seconds>) - "Pillar of Flame soon" "Nef soon" "Blackout in 10"
<boss ability> now - "Pillar of Flame now"
<boss ability> on <target> - "Acquired Target on Thatguyoverthere"
<boss ability> <proper reaction> (for stack, spread, switch target, move, etc.) - "Red Phase, stack" "Blue Phase, spread" "Blackout, stack"

Formatting your calls this way helps keep the calls precise, and informative.

Another very strong point to boss calls is to have someone different call each ability so that raiders don't necessarily have to listen, but know what is coming as soon as they hear that person's voice. An example of this is our raid leader calling target switches on Omni, while I call Nef abilities along with predictions. Overlapping to a certain extent is okay, but the different voices help.

If you are assigned to make a call, consistency is extremely important. Not calling when people are relying on you could lead to a wipe. You also need to understand how important your call is, if it is a major ability you need to command vent when you are talking. Commanding vent means speaking in a very clear, concise way while being loud enough that you are heard over whatever else is being said. Yelling on vent is never helpful though, so be sure to understand the difference between "commanding" and "yelling".


3) Taunts and Threat:
<name> (taunting) in 3 2 1
<name> needs to drop threat
<name> NEEDS SALV OMG

For most fights, a 3 second count on taunts should be enough.
Also, sometimes dps need to be told to watch their threat meter instead of dps meter.
And everyone knows screaming for salv reduces your threat an extra 10%.


If anyone has additional input, feel free to post! This is a work in progress!

[Agallochh]

Thank god for this guide. I never knew how to communicate properly.

[Tetriss]

um if you raid with a consistent group of people every week you should begin to know their voice, this communication guide is pure communism.

[Velenei]

Pros run 10 man and recognize people by their voices :P

I could see all these being very useful for new raid leaders though, good work

[lol]

Yea, if you raid with the same group you can basically learn their voice, this would mainly deal with a new guild that's raiding or a new member to the raid.

Guide seems well written but a bit unnecessary.

[Eis]

Thank god for this guide. I never knew how to communicate properly.

You'd be surprised how many people don't know how to communicate properly, and how much this simple stuff could really help a raid.

Pros run 10 man and recognize people by their voices :P

I could see all these being very useful for new raid leaders though, good work

Yeah, in a 10man I could see it being easier to just know who it is. The boss call stuff is helpful too though. :P
And ty!

[Deleted]

It probably depends on the size of the guild. I am in a 10 man guild and recognise everyone by their voice, as do all the other raid members.

There are some calls that can be really ambiguous though, the deep breath on the Valiona fight for instance. We have a nasty habit of alternating between calling where to stand and where the breath is going

[Dillybear]

i completely support this post. being a 25 man raider forever until recently its such a pain when people say me me me or i need this blah blah when he sounds like just another dude XD. and i also agree that they should be short and concise, because my biggest pet peeve is when some one or some people are all talking in vent during a boss encounter excessively. so ya definately a good read to put out there ty OP

[yurano]

um if you raid with a consistent group of people every week you should begin to know their voice, this communication guide is pure communism.

There is something called 25man by the way. WoW is democratic, it lets you choose.

[shokter]

Good post. One thing that gets on my nerves is over calling.

I run in a grp that does its best work in near silence. Occasionally we pick up a raider from one of the other guild groups who is used to calling out every damn thing and with a full countdown and it drives me batty. Calling 'Blackout' is one thing. Calling 'Blackout in 5...4...3...2...1...Blackout!!!" is overkill and makes me want to beat my dog. But he is so cute so instead I pet him.

[Nemean]

im sure this would be helpful for new raiders/ big guilds. But for those that run 10s, me included, we know each others voices and are able to react just as well with using "i'm down" or "SHIT".

I would definitely post to this to my old guild, very unorganized with ventrilo and calling out stuff.

[anyaka21]

I think people would be surprised how often 1) you don't recognize someone's voice, 2) people don't know how to make calls.

next point, there are a lot of pick up raids, sure not even close to the number in Wrath, but still, where you don't know people's voices, or can necessarily make timely calls on cd's and boss abilities.

Personally, I mark of a good raid leader is the ability to keep an eye on everything and making the calls on where to be, what to do, announcing boss abilities, etc... or knowing and delegating those things to other people that they know will do it. It is an essential part of a successful raid.

add that, it's also essential to the success of a raid when toons, especially tanks call for needed cooldowns, otherwise they get one shot and die. Or announcing quickly and precisely that they have died, and in the tanks case, where (in the case of an add tank ie nef adds tank), thus they can be brezzed and buffed quickly and effieciently. For example, in our first Nef kill, main tank died, called it out, hunter had already distracted shot (or whatever they do), mt got brezzed within a sec and quickly buffed and we were back to full strength in about 3-5 seconds.

Quick precise calls and reactions can and will lead to successful raids and can/will save wipes. Not using simple communication skills and you might as well go back to the dark ages of no vent.

[Deleted]

I imagine that you would know everyones voice for sure in a 10 man guild, even in my 25 man guild that has something like 35 active raiders I tell people apart by their voice.

You don't have to raid with people for long to know their voice, especially if you spend any amount of time talking to them outside of raids (which I assume alot of people do, why play a social game otherwise?).

[Deleted]

Good post OP, I know a few of our raiders could benefit from reading it - sadly. Thing is that even as a 10 man guild, I still don't know all ppl's voices. Reason is that we're a new guild (core group though) and new raiders have been replaced etc.

We've got a few ppl who still don't communicate in the way your post suggests and the way we'd like them to.

Anyways, no need to be rude to OP's post. If you don't think it's usefull - don't care? As I said, good post and my guess is that there's at least 1 person who will benefit from reading it

[Deleted]

Good work.
I'll link it in our Guild Forums .... this will rly help some people out.

[Eis]

Thanks for the positive responses. I know it's not necessary for a lot of people, but just trying to use these types of calls can make a serious impact. Communication leads to better adaptation, better adaptation leads to a stronger raid.

[Simca]

Added to http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...useful-threads

[Tore]

Good list.

Besides the things you listed, there's one glaring problem that thousands of guilds have regardless of progression/quality, and that's having too many people call things out. Sometimes the officers are overlapping duties, sometimes a raider has decided to call things he's not assigned to. They may be calling it in the right way, but with H-Nef at 11%, 4 simultaneous hysteric voices in vent all near-shouting "Crackle in 5, top everyone off" is just as bad as one person singing The Song That Never Ends mid-pull.

[anyaka21]

I imagine that you would know everyones voice for sure in a 10 man guild, even in my 25 man guild that has something like 35 active raiders I tell people apart by their voice.

You don't have to raid with people for long to know their voice, especially if you spend any amount of time talking to them outside of raids (which I assume alot of people do, why play a social game otherwise?).

Only issue here, is this is you. Sure you might be able to memorize someone by the sound of their voice, who they are, what role they are, where they are on the map, etc... but you can't put that on everyone you raid with.

The simple answer is...regardless, following simple and easy to follow, precise calls can make or break, success or wipe a raid. In other words, using good calls, naming who needs what cd, etc... can't hurt, where not following simple guides will.

[Deleted]

This guide is actually quite valuable, especially for 25 mans.

I know a lor of people will frown at it and brush it off as "common sense", but you'd be surprised by how many people don't actually stick to those rules. Especially the "I'm dead because xyz" is so very common. Even after raid-leading a guild for 6 months I couldn't always recognize everyones voice.