1. #1
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    Raidleading tools

    Hey guys,

    A group of friends and I have started our own guild this week with the goal of killing Ra-den before August. This will be my first time raidleading since Vanilla. As with everything I do, I want to prepare myself properly beforehand.

    What tools would you recommend for raidleading? Specific addons? Certain websites/guides?

    Anything that can help me get ready would be a plus. I researched some things of my own of course, but I might have missed some nuggets that I'm sure you guys can provide.

    Thanks for the help.

  2. #2
    I find the addon RBS aka Raid Buff Status very useful. You can check to make sure everyone has been buffed with one click, and you can set it to announce to the entire raid as a reminder. It can also be set to whisper everyone a reminder if they forgot to buff.

    "I'm not yelling at you. My addon is!"

  3. #3
    Watch video's for one, can learn so much so much from that.
    Good raidframes, dbm/bigwigs, a cooldown tracker, run live logs on world of logs. (recount/skada could work to I prefer live logs tho).

    But main thing is just fully understanding the encounter in advance.

  4. #4
    Deleted
    The biggest tools are your eyes, ears and mind. Having a sense of what is going on, and what is going wrong, is a necessary.

    As for addons and tools. I suggest running WoL to keep logs of the raids, use recount for in-game combat log. I like PhoenixStyle even though it is not updated as much now as back in T11, but it is still a solid tool on many fights.

    Try to get a basic understanding of your raiders classes so you know what raid utility they have. You should also learn their basic stat priorities and make sure they are gemmed/enchanted/geared correctly. If you feel like a player is underperforming, try to learn their rotation and make sure they are doing it right by checking logs.

    All in all, by sensible, aware and be on your toes.

  5. #5
    Herald of the Titans Dangg's Avatar
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    No offence, but killing Ra-den until August is quite some goal for a friends guild with a first time since Vanilla RL.
    Of course I could be totally wrong as I don't now your/your friends experience...

  6. #6
    I have been raid leading now since Firelands, just normal modes though, so nothing like what you plan on doing, but hopefully I can be of some help anyway.

    My biggest suggestion, don't do everything on your own, get people in your group to help make raid calls, strat suggestions, etc. If you have all the pressure on yourself you may not last long. Having a support system will really make your job easier and more enjoyable!

    Make sure you have a basic understanding of the classes in your raid group. Nothing to the extent of knowing rotations, but make sure you know the utilities provided by your raid team and how best to use them and know enough to tell when someone is struggling with their class. A good starting point for this is Icy-veins or the class guides found here.

    As for addons the biggest ones would be nice raid frames and dbm or the like. Make sure your raid frames are easily visible so you can know when things are going badly and where help may be needed. DBM (or similar) should be set up so you can easily see when abilities are coming up so you can have your raid prepared for them. Also run a combat log so you can analyze your raids performance and see where improvements can be made.

    Good luck! Raid leading can be a very rewarding experience and hopefully you have success!

  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by Dangg View Post
    No offence, but killing Ra-den until August is quite some goal for a friends guild with a first time since Vanilla RL.
    Of course I could be totally wrong as I don't now your/your friends experience...
    ^This. Getting a Ra-Den kill in 6 1/2 weeks would be nothing short of an absolute miracle. That is basically on the same pace as Method, and they went into this tier in full BiS heroic gear from last tier on several alts each.

    Starting a fresh raid group and getting in before August would be quite the achievement.

    Trust me, I'm not trying to rain on your parade. I'm only telling you this so you aren't hearbroken when it doesn't happen.

  8. #8
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    As said earlier in this thread, you're awereness during the raid is the most important thing.

    An addon that my life alot easier as raid leader is Ora3. This keeps track of all the raid cooldowns if you are managing them. You could also assign an healer to do this so you can focus on what's going on.

    Next to that WoL is your biggest friend, especially when things aren't going as they are supposed to.

    And get an addon that keeps track of buffs/flasks/food. I personally used Raid Slack Check (or something like that).

    Most important thing i can't stress enough: preparation!

  9. #9
    Deleted
    Quote Originally Posted by Dangg View Post
    No offence, but killing Ra-den until August is quite some goal for a friends guild with a first time since Vanilla RL.
    Of course I could be totally wrong as I don't now your/your friends experience...
    We're 6/13HC in 25man (first 6 bosses) and the 10 of us that split off are the best of the team that thought we could do better on our own. I don't think Ra-den within the month and a half with an average ilvl of 534 is overly ambitious. It is a goal we can aim for, and if we don't set a challenging, yet potentially obtainable goal then we're not going to get the progress we want. But you raise a valid point, I am inexperienced, but I can change that

    We've got an interesting opportunity on our server within an 11/13HC guild, so we can exchange ideas. It's definitely a nice asset we have there.

    Thanks for the quick replies everyone, I'll sort through them tomorrow
    Last edited by mmoc112630d291; 2013-06-14 at 08:41 PM.

  10. #10
    Herald of the Titans Dangg's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dekadez View Post
    We're 6/13HC in 25man (first 6 bosses) and the 10 of us that split off are the best of the team that thought we could do better on our own. I don't think Ra-den within the month with an average ilvl of 534 is overly ambitious. It is a goal we can aim for, and if we don't set a challenging, yet potentially obtainable goal then we're not going to get the progress we want.
    Ok I assumed you had no prior ToT experience, because youÄve asked if guides are needed in your opening post.

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dangg View Post
    Ok I assumed you had no prior ToT experience, because youÄve asked if guides are needed in your opening post.
    I was informing for guides that might be constructed especially from a RL perspective. I should have clarified that.

  12. #12
    Ora3 or Hermes to track raid cooldowns is probably your best bet, and I usually use Raid Buff Status to see if everybody has everything. There is also one to track battle rez, but if it's 10 man then it's not that much of an issue.

    I don't think you need much more than that for raid leading.

    The rest is really preparation with good strats... no addon can help you with that.

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by Lorol View Post
    My biggest suggestion, don't do everything on your own, get people in your group to help make raid calls, strat suggestions, etc. If you have all the pressure on yourself you may not last long. Having a support system will really make your job easier and more enjoyable!

    This exactly right here is the biggest suggestion you'll get other than using your brains.

    If you try to do it all on your own, even if its 10m your going to get extremely overwhelmed especially in heroic modes. Have someone possibly be a loot master besides you, its one less thing for you to do. Run something other than loot council for a loot system. My personal suggestion is EPGP, its less drama & less stress and its fair when done right.

    Also be sure if you don't feel like raid casting make sure someone else will (another phrase for calling things out over raid such as tank swaps thunderstorm, etc). And last but not least make sure you have someone possibly running the essence of the guild. This may take some time to understand but the essence of the guild is the morality & social aspect of it. Whether you want to believe it or not alot of the top guilds are very social & have good morals. They may not sound like it in their kill videos but they were wiping on that fight for over probably 50 attempts in one day, I'd be mad too. Someone to keep spirits up & someone to keep socialization going on. Just make sure to buckle down & get serious during attempts & pre-pulls.


    Best tips I can give you.

  14. #14
    Deleted
    Quote Originally Posted by Angarin View Post
    This exactly right here is the biggest suggestion you'll get other than using your brains.

    If you try to do it all on your own, even if its 10m your going to get extremely overwhelmed especially in heroic modes. Have someone possibly be a loot master besides you, its one less thing for you to do. Run something other than loot council for a loot system. My personal suggestion is EPGP, its less drama & less stress and its fair when done right.

    Also be sure if you don't feel like raid casting make sure someone else will (another phrase for calling things out over raid such as tank swaps thunderstorm, etc). And last but not least make sure you have someone possibly running the essence of the guild. This may take some time to understand but the essence of the guild is the morality & social aspect of it. Whether you want to believe it or not alot of the top guilds are very social & have good morals. They may not sound like it in their kill videos but they were wiping on that fight for over probably 50 attempts in one day, I'd be mad too. Someone to keep spirits up & someone to keep socialization going on. Just make sure to buckle down & get serious during attempts & pre-pulls.


    Best tips I can give you.
    Great advice indeed, thank you.

    The nice part is that our team has been absorbed by another guild. As far as daily affairs go, they have their incumbents taking care of most of it. I also won't be an officer for our team, and tank swaps will be called out by our MT officer. We won't use a loot council and have decided upon distributing loot as a team. We are lucky that our setup has minimal loot competition, and discussing loot in group based on BiS lists and stat priorities will give everyone a sense of contributing on that factor.

    I will almost exclusively focus on tactics, making sure I know the fights completely, making sure we execute as planned and adjust as necessary, track raid cooldowns, but most of all I will put my own mind to use in both analyzing logs and the situation at hand, something I'm fairly proficient at.
    Regardless it's nowhere near a one man show, and we are going to tackle it the way a flat organization tackles crossfunctional teams.

    Thanks again for the tips. It's an exciting change of direction that will spice up my raiding.

  15. #15
    Vox Immortalis guides are about as thorough as you can get. gabestah is the youtube user.

    loggerhead is a nice little addon that turns combatlogs on and off automatically based on zone.

  16. #16
    Deleted
    Perfect! Thanks.

  17. #17
    Deathnote is a nifty little thing, along with RSC.

  18. #18
    Personally I find bloodlegion's cooldown tracker to be very helpful too
    Originally Posted by Zarhym (Blue Tracker)

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  19. #19
    My two cents:

    1. Make sure you are getting information from multiple resources, its the raid leaders job to make sure everyone has the tools needed to prepare, so have a forum with boss threads, and scour the internet for information for killing each boss you go to work on. Go into the week knowing which bosses you are capable of killing and being fully prepared to kill them.

    What I use for every boss: World of Logs parses (know how to read these in-depth, expression editor for how they handle specific abilities, dmg done/taken for comparisons later, see which classes are making the fight easier, etc. Read MMO for potential nuggets of information, you can search the forums for key words about the boss you are looking into, use wowprogress to determine which boss to go for (which has been killed the most) as well as to watch kill vids from various perspectives (its important your raiders know about this to and take advantage of it), it doesn't hurt to talk with many raiders before the raid night about the boss you'll be working on and discuss strategies. Finding out little tricks, communicating with other top guilds, and reading the dungeon journal are all also useful things to do. Its good to get various strategies from diff. boss kills and decide which one will work best for your comp.

    2. Be able to play your class well while putting little focus on it. Its very important as a raid leader to be as attentive of everyone else in your raid as you are of yourself, that means while everyone else can be tunneling their dps and dealing w/ mechanics you need to be dpsing without thinking about it much and watching the raid / making calls throughout the encounter. This is a skill that takes practice and you'll always be improving on, its important to play a class that you understand well already or can learn easily or you'll get too distracted to raid lead effectively or you'll do bad dps and hold the group back.

    3. The most difficult part of raid leading is dealing with the roster, make sure people are meeting expectations, make sure you clearly set expectations, and deal with the people who don't meet those expectations or put themselves before the raid. You are the dictator of the raid core; that means its up to you to affect the change in the raid you want, and remember building a strong raid takes time and commitment, don't give up over a few bad weeks or losing people.

    4. Have your raid contribute to strategies. Make sure people know to post anything they find in the forums, get people communicating about the boss beforehand and make sure people know they can make suggestions during the raid through whispers, or however else you prefer. Just make sure everyone understands that at the end of the day its your decision which direction to go.

    Credentials: 13/13H raid leader, World 200 - W30 raiding experience in previous tiers; if you needed to know.

    One thing I forgot is make sure you and your raid understand that you are the raid leader first and their friend second. Being the bad guy is never fun, but if you want to get somewhere people need to know that they can't use you to slack off.

    As for addons I don't really use anything, google docs is amazing for making graphs for certain boss fights (heroic ji-kun, horridon, twin consorts placement, lei shen explanations), I also use spreadsheets for tracking cooldowns for fights like megaera and you can make use of mmo's raid buff utility or create your own version of it in a spreadsheet. Deathlog is a good one to have or just have skada and have the deaths enabled (though it won't show very far down).
    Last edited by Harekrsna; 2013-06-15 at 06:05 PM.

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