Which role is best for a raid leader?

[Extrakt]

A ranged dps, standing from far looking if everything goes ok. A melee dps or tank might have some problems with this if a ranged dps fucks up. He can't see that. A healer probably has a healer frame right in his face.

[Kazuun]

Best leaders I met in my raider career were always healers - both tank or raid ones. So I will put my vote here...

[Djinni]

Everyone in a decent raid knows that regardless of who is the 'RaidLeader' it is a team effort, thereby elimiting the need for the RaidLeader to see and know EVERYTHING. When a team of people are on the level its very easy for each person to pick up things and relay them back to the rest of the group. Now of course some people are better at this than others, in this case have them relay it back to whoever IS the raidleader.

In general Healers and Tanks (in that order) have historicly made the best RaidLeaders SIMPLY becuase they tend to be the most aware of what is happening around them. (Maybe its something to do with always having to be reactive rather than spamming a couple of buttons for 2-8mins in the same order with your focus being on what numbers are producted on your screen)

This basically means, what most people (from a quick glance) have been trying to say is that the best RaidLeader is the one who is the best at their role regardless of what their role is. The true leaders among us are the ones who still see most things while playing their character to its optimum potential without complaining saying 'Im raidleading therefore I am going to be doing less dps/healing'

I saw someone say that Tanks generally aren't good at this becuase of the great big visual block infront of them, truth is the better tanks have their camera zoomed out far enough and at an angle so that they can see the combat area/room inorder to ensure that if they need to move they arent going to insta-gib another player in the process or that they're moving to a more raid-friendly spot.

[FatedPrime]

What kind of tanks do you guys have? People with their cameras zoomed in all the way?

When I tank I can see the entire raid from my position and quite easily RL because of this. I already have the job of position the boss/raid, so naturally extending it to more responsibilities makes sense to me.

I'm very amused by all the "tank can't see anything but the boss!" posts.

[lakhesis]

There're strengths and weaknesses to all..

Personally I dislike leading raids as DPS. To do your best in the role you need to focus on procs/timers/etc, which isn't as compatible with watching everyone else simultaneously. That said, you're probably also the role that can most easily afford to do just-enough or flat out stop doing your characters job in favour of giving instructions to the raid.

Tank is generally a decent choice & tanks tend to be the default choice. You're generally keeping a good overview of the raid anyway in this role. The down side is that certain bosses you're gonna see nothing but feet & just flat out cannot see what's going on (Magtheridon immediately comes to mind), and in some other situations you're gonna be constantly juggling adds/timers so you don't really have time to watch what's going on.

My preferred raid lead position is probably a healer (particularly a raid healer). You're already watching everyone, same as a tank, but you're able to move more freely than a tank can so you can get a better view of who's where & doing what. The down side is that when the pressure is on and the raid leader might need to make some quick calls to readjust, it's quite likely that the healers are also gonna be too preoccupied spamming heals to see the situation as clearly.

All up it prolly comes down to the role you're most comfortable performing while simultaneously watching what everyone else is doing & monitoring timers.

[lepeigne]

personally i think that raid leading as a healer makes you rush a little bit , if you need to constantly call stuff on vent you might not be 100% effective on healing

[smurfke80]

If you know what ur doing it dousnt mather what roll...however i need to say tank is the most suiting.
tank usually has the biggest vieuw over the entire raid etc and sees best what the boss is about to do or doing.

[draticus]

I think they can visually keep track of things best as a ranged dps.

The real advice I'd like to give all raid leaders is that you can not play with your girlfriend. If your girlfriend raids with you then raid leading is out of the question. Choose now. Her or raid leader. Please, for the love of god, spare the rest of the raid the inevitable drama.

[Krathdar]

i think dps, the majority of the raid is going to be dps, so why not set an example as leader and get everyone doing damage to be at their best to beat out the GM

[santoslhalper]

People might think this is absurd, but I think tanks have a natural air of authority. I think people will tend to listen to them. Also tanks lend a lot of consistency to the raid. The MT has to be solid for anything else to progress (I know, so do all of the other roles) but it's good to have that variable consistent. If other members were gone that raid, it's probably not too big of a deal to replace them, but the switching out the MT is like taking out the transmission - the raid is going to handle differently with a replacement. I have been raid leader as DPS - and maybe I'm just bad but my DPS suffered, having to constantly watch people etc etc. And a healer has very constricted situational awareness, focusing on bars much of the time. So I vote tank.

[Anowyn]

I think all roles should know everything equally in all honesty. You should learn what everyone has to do so your group can form great synergies off of each other.

However, having filled the role of raid leader many times and with many roles (Tank, Ranged, and Healer) I would have to say that I personally would prefer a tank being raid leader. While I don't care who actually holds the raid "rank" of leader, I think tanks are very suitable for calling things out and such.

I've noticed when I try to raid lead and heal that I do not perform as well. Trying to pay attention to who is taking damage, who WILL be taking damage, and what mechanics to call out for everyone I end up being behind on commands or lacking on healing. I have noticed this sometimes, to a much lesser extent, while dpsing as well. I can raid lead perfectly while tanking. Of course, this is me personally, and some other people might feel differently.