What makes you a decent Raid Leader / GuildMaster

[Squirl]

Promote good performance
Make baddies wanna kill themselves.

Sounds like my GM + Raid Leader. It seems to work.

[Deleted]

Treat Everyone with respect.
Dont Yell and scream when people fuck up, just give some encouragement to do better.
Treat everyone the same.
all my officers have equal say in how the guild is run, Think of a round table every man at the table is equal
if someone comes to me with a well reasoned and thought out explination of a new way to run things, I will consider it and see if it works to the benefit of the guild.
I will never say "Gm Privilege on that item" I might joke with guildies about it, but in the end everything is done as fairly as possible.

[Susira]

How I became a Raid Leader

Before I was a raid leader, I was the most quiet person you would ever meet. My first actual raiding guild I never talked to them, they never heard my voice. I would log off after raid to avoid talking to them. Yes I was very shy before raid leading.

I became a raid leader by one thing: motivation. Without the motivation from my friends I wouldn't be where I am now. How did I over become my shyness? I just did it. There isn't really much to it.

As I started to get more into raid leading, I noticed that many of my friends started to dislike me. Raid leading has shaped my personality and is always open to change. People see raid leading as ' They're a good player, they're knowledgeable and they know everything '. At the time when I was raid leading, I thought I would always be right and that is one thing my friends hated.

I changed myself, I keep getting motivation from everyone to keep raid leading. To sum up this section? How I became a raid leader? Motivation.


My thoughts as a Raid Leader / What goes through my mind

When I was just a raider, I looked up to my Raid Leader. I expected so much from him. When really they're the same as everyone else. They are human, you can't expect different things just from a human. So I looked back from today, and what I was as a raider. A raid leader is here to guide you, they're your friend, and most importantly they are just like you. One of the things that frustrate me the most is expecting more from a raid leader. There's no difference in: A raid leader and A friend (In my OPINION)

Cataclysm was the first real expansion that I actually raid leaded. As a raid leader or just me in general my job is to make sure things happen. That's my general rule, ALL raid leaders are different. When I raid lead, I raid lead based off my personality, because you can't be someone who your not. It just won't fit the flow. I have to be who I am, I can't just put on a hat and start raid leading. The biggest thing is "sticking with it", by what I mean by this, initially when I raid lead I just want to make everyone happy, which never happens because you make one person happy but someone else won't like it. I get to the point where I basically compromise my own integrity and my own principals as a raid leader to make someone happy. Another big thing is I just have to stick with what works and go with it. In a perfect world everyone would be happy. As a raid leader, no matter what I do I will have people that won't agree with me, I have to accept that. I have to look what is best for the guild and move on with it.

A lot of people think raid leading is a one man show. I choose what the guild wants to. I can't just choose I want to be an asshole raid leader but the guild not support it. The guild has to support whatever way I go. If I want to be an asshole, and the guild not support, it obviously won't work. If I want to be a nice raid leader, but the guild wants to be hardcore, it obviously won't work.

[Deleted]

Things that help you keep your guild / raid happy and successful:

- Good guild bank system with transparent rules.
- Good loot system. I prefer a zero-sum DKP system with fixed prices (no bidding). From my experience semi random loot systems lead to frustration and players leaving.
- Don't expect 100% attendance. It's better to have a bigger player pool and a system for rotation.
- Always have a standby! Nothing is more frustrating than 24 people waiting for a player to show up.
- Set goals like: "this week we clear MGV and the first two bosses of HoF"
- Run an up tempo raid. After wipes correct mistakes, rebuff, pull. You get more tries and the concentration level is higher.
- Have bathroom breaks. Otherwise somebody will be AFK for some minutes after every wipe. Especially in 25s. This kills your rythm and concentration.
- Have a 15-20 minute break when raiding more than 3 hours.
- Make clear what you expect from your players in terms of raid preparation, equippment, enchants, runnign LFR, etc.
- Everyone has to pull their own weight.

[Chevelle]

The way I guild lead and raid lead is mostly to everyone's standards here.

Decide ahead of time what we will be accomplishing, go through and check with everyone that they understand and can meet the requirements of raiding and time schedule. Personally assist in helping everyone (easier in 10m than 25m) understand encounters, mechanics, and their role. I always assist with reforging, enchanting, gemming and rotations with classes to optimize their DPS.

I take the time to help all my raiders because if I personally know they are going to perform well by first hand knowledge then I have no worries in raid. By then its purely on if you kill it or not and fixing minor details and nothing about them personally. Once in a while I get a bad player in the batch that won't put the time or effort into character investment so once a new player pokes his head in for recruiting I throw them into the mix and seat the bad.

I am fair with the bad, I say "I appriciate your effort in our raids and we all are grateful for how much we've achieved, but our guild is always progressing inside and outside of raid. We are always looking for talented players that can prove themselves and benefit our raid, you're more than welcome to stay with us in case we need you, but for now you're free to look for a new guild and/or raid team. I wish you the best of luck and if you need any help let me know."

You must always remember you're the leader, you call the shots and if those who agreed to follow order disapprove then they can find somewhere else to go. Just make sure your calls are for the benefit of the raid and always lend an ear to opinions.

This exactly. Your like 90% spot on on the way I am handling things in my guild.
We have been around for a year and a half now with only 2 of us in since the start and quite a few long time raiders again now. I have recruited some new people this expansion and if I notice them not pushing what they can I take them into a channel on vent with me and talk things through. Help them with reforges , rotations etc. I do this all personally.

I do really think the raidleader can be a person that is respected and liked in the guild. It is working for me at least.

I am not always 100% sure about my case in raids and do value the input my raiders give me. I have been getting complaints that I am not responding to the input at all times, but this is due to the fact that if I'd do that I'd spend my entire raid chatting and talking instead of killing stuff and I've explained this. The only thing you gotta do is make your raiders feel valued and let them know you are looking at their input but also let them know the last call is ALWAYS yours. If you have 9 people that want to do it in a certain way and you as a raidleader are confident and have things set out for another way of getting a kill. Lay down the law. If you are wrong you admit your mistake and move on.

Basicly just show your raiders that you too are a human and make mistakes.