Some Outside Advice

[Efluvious]

I agree with most aspects of this post. All of it is important in it own regards. The underlying nature of it all that I feel is that you need to make the effort to learn your class so that you can play effectivly and efficiently, obtain reasonable (not the best) gear through regualr instances or crafting it, be on time for the raid which I find drags everyone down if your consistantly late because it doesnt show you are interested (yes I am guilty of it too), and be patient!.

An optimal spec and rotation should be added here I think as well. We all have different play styles, but certain spec's offer much more than others (this is a general comment, not directed at any one). For instance, a warlock in tier 4 is better off spec'ing affliction until certain stats are optimal to switch to the most boring, yet effective, spec: destruction. This doesn't mean that destruction won't work at all before that, it's just not quite optimal against bosses. That example is a bad one actually since destro is fairly okay as long as you are over 100 hit rating (optimal 202 hit).

Not everyone is going to get in the raid, the raid leaders have gone to great lengths to learn about these places and what the set up should be like. You need X number of Tanks, X number of Healers, and X number of various DPS including some CC, this is difficult when your given too many of class A and not enough of class B. Your chances of getting in a raid are a bit better if you are consistent with your raiding character and you let them know ahead of time OR you ask them to include you the following week. This is a benefit of being in Ironsong. ASK! No one is going to chew your head off.

Agreed just adding to this: "The raid leaders have gone to great lengths to learn about these places and what the set up should be like." Everyone should be doing this, not just the raid leaders. It makes the life of a raid leader sooo much easier when you help them in this way. It will mean several wipes avoided most likely.

As for the whole meters thing...and this is entirely my opinion all together. The only meter that should be used is a Threat meter. Any kind of DPS/Healing meters are a distraction and overkill. There is no better teacher than experience. A wipe could be because there was not enough healing (or healing wasnt paying attention *coughs*), or the enrage timer ran out and you obviously dont have enough DPS.

This is where I differ. If I were training for a marathon and had the intention of doing well in it, I would try to measure my performance and improve. If I did not measure certain things, I might think I am ready when I am not. Maybe I hadn't even been running a full length of a marathon while training! What a shock it would be to think that I had been running a marathon once a week in training for the competition, only to discover that I had been running three miles only! There needs to be some friendly competition, a happy medium.

Meters can be used for personal bests, comparisons to others of the same class/spec/gear level and, well to be honest, finding dead weight in a raid. Believe it or not, there are people that have been on autofollow during boss fights soaking up gear. We've seen one or two in the tribe, and in the days of MC it was easy to do. The meters we're talking about are pretty light. Wow Web stats on the other hand provides a huge breakdown on everything. (this link will only be working for a couple more days) An Eternity raid day stats The one I linked directly to is a Brutalus kill. You can click on any name and see their exact stats: average hit, crit %, gains (like buffs, potions, heals, procs) misses, who healed this player, etc etc.

This doesn't mean that you will be perfect, or you will be judged by it, it is a tool for personal improvement. Also, unlike threat meters, a dps/healing meter tracks everyone else, whether they have the meter or not. *Big Brother's watching* hock: :crazysmile:

Just a bit of personal advice and comments. I have a habit of attracting people that disagree when I talk about raiding. But I hope at least some of it is helpful.

I'd be one of those that disagrees on certain points. :crazy: