Best Raid Spot to be Raidlead

[Aoyi]

Healing is possibly the best role for raid leading from my experience. As tank, raid leading can be a little rougher to see what's going on around the room. I haven't done any raid leading as a ranged dps, though it would be a bit tougher to perform optimally while doing so. I've done quite a bit of raid leading as melee dps, but you do really suffer in personal performance while trying to spin your camera to keep an eye on all the action. It was a bit easier before Legion nerfed the camera max range. Given all 4 options though, I would definitely pick healing as the preferred role to handle all callouts.

[LoLcano]

I would say anything beside healer , i was a healer raid leader and during OH SHIT moment of encounter where every health drop under 50% and everything is on cooldown i was way too focused on hp bar and healing to talk and tell people what to do ! during normal phases of encounter healer do just fine

[Anastacy]

Best raid leader I ever had played a Shadow Priest.

[Ragedaug]

Whoever says Tank raid leaders cant see how you fail, please stop, before i simply say "git gud".

What makes a raid leader from a scrub that reads the timers of his screen is the ability to play the game at near maximum potential while spotting how shit your raiders are during the fight and adapting instantly to the situation.

Yes the new camera doesnt help, but doesnt mean its not possible, its just more hectic at certain fights/angles now than it was before, but doable.

Also, every respectable guild/raid would have "Announcers" along with the raid leader if something is getting out of hand with tracking, because the raid leader is in another side/room/dimension.

This has been my experience. Raid leader's main purpose is to call out audibles. Make tactical changes as the fight requires. Decide who to rez, etc, etc. For announcing timers, it is sometimes the tank, but in the guilds I've run with, the announcer is who has the best vantage point during the part of the fight that the announcement is needed, or what's being announced. A ranged DPS leader might be the person to announce "switch" when the adds come in. Healers often announce positioning to mitigate incoming damage, tanks call out incoming boss damage spikes, etc. Typically the strategy is already discussed and understood by everyone before we start the encounter, so we don't need a leader micromanaging the fight.

Saying that, most tanks I've run across have "follow me!" type personalities. I would assume that type of person is drawn to the role, so I think inherently more tanks end up being leaders or to say, a higher percentage of leaders are tanks over any other role.

[muto]

Probably a Shadow Priest since it's easy to play unless you're playing StM then it's pretty chaotic.

[Simmias]

I can only assume that you think you're better than you actually are. Sure, it's possible to raid lead as a DPS, but if your rotation has any mechanical complexity at all you are going to lose a lot of efficiency. Take pre-patch Frost with double ice lance - you're telling me that there's time to make regular calls and shout out assignments when you're also shimmerlancing, moving to running lance, re-positioning constantly and also handling mechanics? Literally losing 2 or 3 seconds of uptime in the 5-20 yard range to run off and soak would massively shaft your efficiency back then and guarantees sub-standard DPS.

The point is that while you can raid lead as a DPS, in doing so you lose a shit ton more efficiency than a healer or a tank. If you're in a guild where all of the DPS are performing near-optimally, that probably doesn't hurt your raid too much, but where extra DPS is needed it's probably better for the Tank or Healer to make the calls.

I'm not going for world first, so losing a few seconds doesn't matter.. Stop trying so hard, no-onoe cares.

[Zubacz]

Anything but a healer, in my opinion. Healing takes way more attention than other jobs.

[Balir]

Watching (and talking to) players from top guilds - Ranged DPS seems to be the preferred RL spot. Main reasons are - Tanks usually have A LOT of the screen obsured by the boss. Tanks like to communicate to themselves and concentrate - especially on progress. Farm mode not a real issue. Generally not a healer either because they are frantic and have chunky raid frames on screen. Ranged dps has the clearer view of the battlefield.

Best example I can give is Method. Sco's the GM and MT, but he hardly says a word. it's Roger Brown as RL (and Hunter) that generally leads. Kuznam was Mage for a lot of his time in Method/Serenity too.

[munkeyinorbit]

No clue, but every single raid leader i've ever had was a healer or tank. You absolutely can't raid lead as a dps, dpsing requires way too much attention and button smashing.

Agree with this. As a range dps, you are way too busy DPSing and dealing with mechanics. Best role is tank. Easiest to play in game.

[Simmias]

As a range dps, you are way too busy DPSing and dealing with mechanics. Best role is tank. Easiest to play in game.

Nah. Good try though. I raid lead just fine, and as shadow, which can be one of the trickier ranged roles when it comes to maxing dps. Someone needs to get better at the game if you're challenged by mechanics or doing your 'rotation'.

[munkeyinorbit]

Nah. Good try though. I raid lead just fine, and as shadow, which can be one of the trickier ranged roles when it comes to maxing dps. Someone needs to get better at the game if you're challenged by mechanics or doing your 'rotation'.

lol. I play the hardest spec to get right. Get your hand off it mate. I didn't say it was impossible, I was answering the question. Before you get outraged about someone maybe you should understand what it being said. I might be "challenged" when it comes to raid leading and dpsing, it's still a lot harder than tanking and raid leading. Nice try though. One day you will get the rise you want.

[Deleted]

Best RL is someone who feels comfortable overseeing the fight while playing their own class well enough not to be a burden... simply as that. Having good leadership skills is the most important factor.

That said for the sake of this argument I'll mention that the vast majority of raid leaders I've encountered since I started playing have indeed been tanks. A couple of them have been healers. Two raid leaders I had were Warlocks and I've also had 2 Rogue raid leaders, haha.

It's possible that because tanks tend to be in control of when to engage a boss they'll have that natural leadership position. I found that when I was tanking I felt more inclined to take charge, even though I'm usually more of a follower than a leader. Healers can be good too, but I did notice that if you're raid leading as a healer you may do slightly less healing simply because you're focusing on watching everybody else as well.

I'd say melee DPS is the hardest role to RL from and tank the easiest, but that's just my opinion.

[Simmias]

lol. I play the hardest spec to get right. Get your hand off it mate. I didn't say it was impossible, I was answering the question. Before you get outraged about someone maybe you should understand what it being said. I might be "challenged" when it comes to raid leading and dpsing, it's still a lot harder than tanking and raid leading. Nice try though. One day you will get the rise you want.

There are no hard ranged to play. Please get better at the game before replying to anything.

[Noodleface]

I raid lead (and guild lead) as a primary tank.

I rely on other raid leaders to help out (usually a healer, a dps, and another tank).

I don't know why you'd want just one, as long as they work together.

[RestoSpirit]

Who ever said this was about you? The question is: "What is the best role for a RL", not "What role should Simmias play to raid lead", you absolute tool. Theoretically speaking, DPS is sub-optimal, and that's all I was saying. Stop making this about you.

I like the implication that I would give a flying fuck about what your opinion of me is. Clearly, I was tryharding and fishing for accolades from random fuck-fisted idiots over the internet, rather than just trying to answer the question under discussion.
Infracted

Hey,

I have to disagree, Im playing healer and when pushing your class to the limit may it be DPS, healer or tank you can't raidlead, or at least 99% of the people can't. As you can see in Method where Scripe (shadowpriest) is raidleading, an exceptional dps-player can raidlead and do top-dps. Same goes for Kuznam (ex-serentiy) or Rogerbrown (Method). I agree for most causal guilds who tend to overheal the fights a Healer or the Tank are the best roles for raidleading, but once you push yourself these roles have to much going on to raidlead. When trying to clear content early the tank has to move the boss/adds perfect for meele to maximize DPS. Healers have a lot of things going on when you try to underheal a fight to make the enrage timer while undergeared.

In my opinion the best way is to spread the tasks. We have a main-shotcaller (Mage) who will most of the time just read the dbm-timers for everyone and call certain things (maybe if someone needs to soak something or we need to use Bloodlust early to push a certain overlap). Me as a healer will call most of the heal-stuff like cooldowns, dispells and spothealing if someone fails. One of the tanks will call meele-relevant stuff like "Care Im going to move the boss, don't stand in front". A second range-shotcaller (boomkin) will call very specific mechanics, e.g. the Lunarbeacon targets on mythic-sisters, because there is to much going on in the last phase for one person to call everything at once.

Cheers
RestoSpirit

[Simmias]

Who ever said this was about you? The question is: "What is the best role for a RL", not "What role should Simmias play to raid lead", you absolute tool. Theoretically speaking, DPS is sub-optimal, and that's all I was saying. Stop making this about you.

I like the implication that I would give a flying fuck about what your opinion of me is. Clearly, I was tryharding and fishing for accolades from random fuck-fisted idiots over the internet, rather than just trying to answer the question under discussion.
Infracted

and yet the poll has said otherwise. Don't be mad, get better at the game and then maybe (big fucking maybe here) you'll realise how wrong you are. Or you can keep getting butthurt over trivial shit.

[Deleted]

In terms of how much you can actually see? Ranged.

I raidlead as a tank (which many raids tend to do) which is great in many situations, but almost worthless on bosses on which you can't see shit, because the bosses knees is all you actually can see. Something Blizzard has made a bit better over the years.

[Raiju]

2/10 Mythic. K. I'll take your advice with a pinch of salt. Let me reiterate: I didn't say that you can't raidlead as a ranged DPS, I said that it's not optimal, and that is DPS is the primary factor limiting progression, which it often is, that other roles tend to be more suitable. I never said that it was gamebreaking, and the only situation which I highlighted as being particularly problematic was that in which your spec requires an unusually high APM; outliers. Pre-patch Frost Mage was one of those. Sure, you could do great DPS while making calls if you wanted, but the focus and the APM required to do exceptional DPS when the stars aligned (read: by abusing mechanics that Blizzard never intended) would have made raid leading far from ideal. Raid leading with Frost in its current state? Sure, no problem. You might want to take a look at your raid leaders, man. Don't seem to be doing all too well.

Yes, you can make calls as a ranged DPS, but if your spec is particularly intricate and fast paced, you don't want to be making all of the calls yourself. Supporting a main raid lead or sharing the responsibility among others? Sure. No problem.

(Also lel, a poll of 600 or so MMOC users' unqualified opinions is definitive proof, aye? P sure that the popular vote is how Aus ended up with Tony Abbott)

Good to know you're better than method / serenity / so on.

[Deleted]

No clue, but every single raid leader i've ever had was a healer or tank. You absolutely can't raid lead as a dps, dpsing requires way too much attention and button smashing.

Don't tell me what I can't do!

https://www.warcraftlogs.com/ranking.../13#metric=dps

On a serious note, I would argue that healing requires much more attention than DPSing because you have to react to raid frames, and unless your raid is perfect at avoiding avoidable damage, then it won't be as predictable as a DPS rotation. DPS rotations are pretty predictable most of the time and there are often windows where you know you will be spamming the same button for 3-4 globals which gives you more than enough time to read the situation. I have noticed a slight drop in DPS performance since I picked up RL last tier, but it's just the difference between 99% and 95%, which won't determine a kill in the end, and if it does then I can step up the DMG. Talking while focusing on rotation is also a learned skill, after a while it becomes easier to focus on gameplay and explain things at the same time(comfortable keybinds help a lot on this). However a healer does have the benefit of that a lot of the knowledge required for being a RL and/or a healer overlaps(knowing when damage is coming in and how to deal with it in order to minimize it), and you are also already watching raid frames as healer.

TL;DR imo Healers are best for RLing, IF they are capable of performing their healing responsibilities without it requiring intense concentration. Otherwise a ranged DPS will have an easier job maintaining their rotation while also fullfilling their RL role.

[Simmias]

2/10 Mythic. K. I'll take your advice with a pinch of salt. Let me reiterate: I didn't say that you can't raidlead as a ranged DPS, I said that it's not optimal, and that is DPS is the primary factor limiting progression, which it often is, that other roles tend to be more suitable. I never said that it was gamebreaking, and the only situation which I highlighted as being particularly problematic was that in which your spec requires an unusually high APM; outliers. Pre-patch Frost Mage was one of those. Sure, you could do great DPS while making calls if you wanted, but the focus and the APM required to do exceptional DPS when the stars aligned (read: by abusing mechanics that Blizzard never intended) would have made raid leading far from ideal. Raid leading with Frost in its current state? Sure, no problem. You might want to take a look at your raid leaders, man. Don't seem to be doing all too well.

Yes, you can make calls as a ranged DPS, but if your spec is particularly intricate and fast paced, you don't want to be making all of the calls yourself. Supporting a main raid lead or sharing the responsibility among others? Sure. No problem.

(Also lel, a poll of 600 or so MMOC users' unqualified opinions is definitive proof, aye? P sure that the popular vote is how Aus ended up with Tony Abbott)

and your progression and experience with raiding is what? guessing you will be the type to talk a load of shit and not say what it is. You've been proven wrong multiple times and can't admit it, get a clue or get out before you make a fool of yourself. Just kidding, it's too late for that.