How do you prepare for MoP as a raidleader?

[makketota]

So I'm making a 10-man guild with some of my friends for MoP but I haven't really raid leaded much before. I want to know if there is any place I can get more in-depth information about bosses and trash that is not easy to come by in youtube videos and the ingame journal. I really want to do my homework this time since I'd like to get into heroics as soon as possible. Also any general advice about raid leading would be appricated (and useful tools/addons)

[Deleted]

You need willpower and patience. Lots of them. I would never lead a raid, much less a guild because I KNOW I cba with these qualities in a game.

[yjmark]

Not specific to MoP, but more toward raid leading:

icyveins.com will be your best friend. In addition to great descriptions, it segregates fights into Tank/healer/DPS viewpoints. wowhead is great too.

Get an addon like RaidBuffStats. This helps you know who is slacking on buffs.

Make sure you have in-game information that lets you know timers, buffs, etc... DBM is great for a lot of them, but a customizable buff/debuff frame addon (like Raven) and raid frame addon (like Vuhdo) will also help significantly. You need to know who has what and when.

Finally, and most importantly, I recommend that you try to get used to talking during fights. To practice, turn off your mic, and practice calling out the important stuff. Like on Spine - call out when there are enough bloods down for the Amalg tank to drag through. On Ultrax - call out who has the Fading Light debuff, and when Hour of Twilight is being cast. Things like that. They may seem silly and obvious, but you'd be surprised how much it really helps out.

[Maijah]

I like Icy Veins and L2R, personally. Though I'm not sure if L2R has been updated recently. Other than checking out a variety of sources and cross-referencing them, the best tool will be to actually experience the content. If you are raiding with friends and don't necessarily have to placate new recruits looking to progress, just take the time to learn the encounters with your group. Your methods and how you handle raid leading should come naturally after a few raid nights.

That being said, not everyone can raid lead. It takes A LOT of time to effectively prepare for a raid. You need to understand the boss mechanics and also have a clear idea of how you'd like your specific raid group to approach the fight. You need to be diplomatic and unafraid to call for changes or be outspoken. This doesn't mean that you should always call people out, though, either. You need to find a balance and also decide what type of raid group you will be leading. This will determine which type of raid leader you will be. Don't forget about feasts, flasks, repairs, etc. A lot of raiders will expect these things, and often you will find little help from other raiders when it comes to gathering the mats.

As for add-ons, I used to love EnsidiaFails, but I haven't updated it in forever so I'm not sure if its as effective as it used to be. Recount, Skada, Omen, etc. are probably necessary. I also like GTFO because sometimes I'm so focused on my raid/raiders that I forget that I need to avoid standing in things, too. Best of luck!

[Count Zero]

Get a logging addon (like Leolog or Easylogger) to auto turn on your combat logging whenever you're in a raid instance, so you can then upload (or, preferably, live log) to World of Logs. Analyze your parses afterward using the CompareBot at raidbots.com.

Youtube videos and sites like tankspot, icyveins, etc, should be more than enough info for boss strats. Between those, the in-game journal, and wowhead/wowpedia, you will know everything there is to know about the boss mechanics, and from there you can detail a strat suited to your own group(s).

Having a guild website I find helps tremendously -- you can post links and videos so your raiders are at least minimally-familiar with the encounters beforehand, and you can detail your specific strats there, as well. It only eats up valuable raid time if you have to explain the basic fundamental mechanics of an encounter that everyone should be able to find out outside of raid time, then during the actual raid you can tell people their specific jobs.

As Lord Gaga said, yep, takes a lot of willpower and patience. You will be having to deal with the quirks of several other people and direct everyone toward a single goal. You'll need to minimize how often you lose your cool (preferably never, but we're all human), and you'll need to be able to squash any drama that arises, while being fair.

And, again, as I said, having the guild website can help a ton -- you can detail exactly what your guild identity is and what is expected of your members/raiders, to make sure everyone is on the same page. Having things in writing is a lot more solid than just giving people a rundown once, and it aids in dispute resolution as you can just point to your rules and say, "This is what you agreed to when you joined". You can find plenty of places to host a site for free, plenty with templates / themes / whatever, so you just fill in your info.

Decide what you want your guild to be and figure out as much as you can about how everything will operate. Be transparent. Be tough but fair (as in, have your rules and stick to them, but take the time, when you can, to evaluate each situation on its own without adhering blindly to rules that may or may not truly serve their purpose).

It's good you're starting out by asking questions and trying to figure the best way to go about things. I think this speaks to some good qualities for a guild officer. Also make sure you have a good idea of who else you would want to be officers in your guild, as it's rare that any one person could juggle everything alone. If nothing else you will want one or two other people's perspectives to draw from, at the minimum.

Good luck with your guild. Keep us updated.