Raid leading and combat roles

[kaiadam]

I've raid led as every role, and generally I'd say that they're all more or less equal, except as a healer I have to dedicate my focus target to the boss so I can see his casts, energy, hp%, etc. The simpler a class is to play, the easier it is to raid lead, obviously - there's a fairly big difference rolling my mousewheel up and down on my guardian vs watching 4 debuffs, 2 buffs, 3 cooldowns along with managing combo points & energy on a feral.

I think the reason why a lot of tanks are raid leaders isn't because it's easier to RL as tank, but as RL you gravitate towards the tank role, because you're more aware of the entire fight than the average raider which allows you to perform your tanking duty better than someone who only pays attention to tanking. I know it's aggravating telling the tank to do move a boss over that way or telling him he died because his healer moved out of range and he wasn't paying attention, whereas raid leaders are usually more cognizant about such things and would just automatically move the boss because it's the optimal thing to do at that point, and they're already aware of the surroundings and will notice that their healer is high tailing it out with a frost beam or something.

[Weightlifter]

Tanks seem the most common choice because they also do the ready checks and pulling.

[Simulacrum]

Tanks are probably the best. As soon as tanks learn the fight, they just do the same thing every time, and everybody's gonna be moving out of your way to give you room to do your thing, because you're the tank, which makes focusing on other stuff very easy - easier, probably, than for any other role. When you're a ranged dps, people will be pissing all over your vibe, by walking too close to you, or standing where you wanted to stand, or hitting you with a debuff, or requiring you to move to click off a debuff, or whatever. Tank just stands in the same spot(s) all fight every time and does the exact same thing over and over, and people love you for it because consistency is key.

Upon reflection, tanking is really boring without also doing some raid-leading on the side. I wouldn't be surprised if that's why so many do it.

[Viradiance]

Raid Leading as a tank can be exhausting, but I think they're a good role for it, since basically by definition they have to be keeping a close eye on who's where, who's attacking what, etc. It just gets to be information overload sometime.

[Deleted]

Tanks are probably the best. As soon as tanks learn the fight, they just do the same thing every time, and everybody's gonna be moving out of your way to give you room to do your thing, because you're the tank, which makes focusing on other stuff very easy - easier, probably, than for any other role. When you're a ranged dps, people will be pissing all over your vibe, by walking too close to you, or standing where you wanted to stand, or hitting you with a debuff, or requiring you to move to click off a debuff, or whatever. Tank just stands in the same spot(s) all fight every time and does the exact same thing over and over, and people love you for it because consistency is key.

Upon reflection, tanking is really boring without also doing some raid-leading on the side. I wouldn't be surprised if that's why so many do it.

Actually tanking deviated from standard tank and spank pattern that used to be popular in prevoius expansions. Blizz fortunately is getting more and more original and is inventing fights that require tanks a lot more movement and micro jobs. Tanking is more fun then what it used to be also beacuse of active migitation. That's what i like about this game. Expansion after expansion it becomes more fun :P
I still hate how they have no clue about balancing classes tho, hunter and monks are perfect example of that in 5.4. But oh wel...

Back to the topic: I raid lead as hunter. Since i can move and dps it's good class to RL with. And next patch after readiness removal it's gonna be even easier.. Hey at least when i can't compete for r1 since hunters are shit i can RL so i am still somewhat useful lol... ;S

[Deleted]

I am raid leader and play a tank, I also think the tank fits being a leader:P Though nowadays the vice raid leader who is healer helps me keeping track of things from distance.

[Oliria]

I've been raidleading for 7 years, and tanks certainly USED to be the ideal role for a raidleader. Tanking up until MoP required almost nothing, threat was a non-issue most expansions and whatever "rotation" you might have as a tank was very forgiving. Some fights had difficult tasks for tanks, but very often you where stationary for the entire fight only hitting the boss, or as an off tank you had a large amount of time doing nothing at all.

This has changed I believe, now tanking requires much more effort and so other roles might be as ideal or even better for RLs.

[Spoonman]

Im really struggling leading as a Healer. I usualy make mistakes myself because I think to much about what everyone else is doing. Best would be the player that does less i guess, and can keep focus on the raid at the same time so u dont loose it urself.

[Aceshigh]

DPS is the ideal choice of a raid leader IMO and ranged is even better since they are free to move anywhere needed in most fights but not required.

I know as a tank you couldn't pay me to RL have to many of my own unique concerns and being excluded from many mechanics makes it hard to relate. I never have no never will see the pink dino on Horridon =P

getting the pink dino as a tank sucks, it's just the worst lol

[Larynx]

Healer or Ranged DPS is best for raid leading, from the perspective of which role gets to see the most. Melee DPS is terrible, and tank is an okay choice since they have a lot of down time.

It calls for tanks to do it, but truth be told, I don't like to do it as tank. Tanks live in a paralell world in most encounters: half of the mechanics we face don't affect the rest of the raid, half the mechanics that affect the raid don't affect us. It's harder to see and understand problems with something you don't have to actually deal with, not even see sometimes. Ranged DPS has always been the better suited roll for raid leading

This is true too. The tank who raid leads my raid doesn't deal with the majority of mechanics he tells us about, so his input is virtually worthless. Like Ji-Kun, he was completely clueless about the nest group and anything he thought was a good suggestion was just pointless.

[Deleted]

I lead as a melee dps (DK) and at times I wish I was range since your vision can be pretty obscured even with max cam range as people have mentioned. I'd tend to say that it would be most difficult for a healer to do the raid leading, particularly on healing intense fights but really it depends on the person and their ability to multi-task. And, of course, stay calm during hectic parts of a fight to make sure that the group is keeping it together.

[clevin]

I lead as a melee dps (DK) and at times I wish I was range since your vision can be pretty obscured even with max cam range as people have mentioned.

I dont understand this. Zoom out. Tilt up.

[Deleted]

You don't understand the advantage a person at 40 yards out has over someone standing at melee range of the boss? Maybe I didn't clarify this in my original post now that I look back at it, but that is what I was referring to

[clevin]

Not when talking about visibility. Again, zoom out. Tilt up. If you're looking at boss crotch, that's on you - you can setup your camera to see most or all of the encounter with the exception of times when being melee dps or a tank means your back is to a wall.

Note that I've RL as melee DPS and as ranged (and as a healer) so I'm not unfamiliar with the differences. Also, the idea that you need perfect visibility to RL is a myth. You need to see certain things, but you cannot and should not be telling every single person to get out of fire, etc.

[Deleted]

I find a combo of a tank + ranged is ideal. Each calling different stuff depending on the fight.

[DechCJC]

I raid lead as a healer, it's usually ok but it can sometimes become a little bit crazy trying to call everything out whenever it's a hectic fight, like dark animus hc. Thankfully I have a mage partner who helps out, so it's usually good.

[hatchetman240]

I raid lead as a rogue and an ele shaman, and let me tell you I'm simply more effective from range. Range DPS allows you to watch the entire field instead of raid frames (healers) or be cut off from the rear half of the fight (melee). In melee I don't see as much, and I have to wait until I can see the logs to figure out problems I might have seen from range.

I delegate to others though. Healing cooldowns are managed by one of my healers (because her eyes are never far from raid frames so she can see how we're doing before a big damage spike).

[Mammoon]

Every role (especially tanks and healers) will have fights where too much is going on to call out every single thing and play their role effectively, so it is important to have good communication in a guild.

I always thought the best class to raid lead was a healer. They are the only ones who are actually paying full attention to the raid and who is taking damage and why people are dying. Much easier to make adjustments between pulls when you know which people are failing or why the tank just died, as well as deciding things like how many healers to bring and when the best time to rotate healing cds are.

Anyone in the raid can do a great job raid leading, as it all depends on the person... but having a tank raid lead just because it seems like tanks are a raid leading role is retarded IMO.

[Deleted]

I'm more of the idea that it depends mainly on what you are comfortable playing with, once you are comfortable enough with your class and have the musle memory you can raid lead with pretty much anything.
(I used to RL as resto shaman)

[Sonnillon]

For my guild the one calling out stuff, is usually the person who feels most comfortable doing it. It can be either of the tanks, our monk healer, or melee/ranges DPS.

To me calling things (the limited time I have had practice on my pala) is most easier on my healer. Followed by my tank. The most inconvenient I find it on my huntard.