Tuesday, October 28, 2008

What?! You want to be a Raider? Ok!

With the upcoming expansion and Blizzard's promise to make entry raiding more accessible we can expect an influx of new raiders.

So if you decided or just deciding whether to participate in dungeon crawling with you and your friends (or newly found friends) first ask yourself these questions …

1. How much time do you want to spend raiding?

Raiding is a time sink. There I said it. No sugarcoating here sorry. You gotta spend a good amount of time raiding to get the benefits whether 2-3 hours a week or 2-3 hours a day. Remember though time=/=skill.

2. What do you hope to get at the end of the day?

Purplz? Raiding experience? See content you haven’t seen? Is it for the challenge of successfully beating a scripted boss/event with 9(24) other players? Is it for the challenge? A sense of accomplishment? Moar purplz?!

W/e it is … remember it! Don’t lose sight of it. At the end of the day if you had fun and got what you hoped for then the hours you spent was not wasted.

For me I enjoy the challenge and the sense of accomplishment =). Of course I want more purplz I'm not gonna lie but they come and go. It's the memories in those items that will always be attached with them. I still have my old T1,t2, andT3 set in the bank just to remind me that those moments were real whether it be for the challenge itself or the memories with friends.

3. What kind of raiding guild do you want to join?

There are TONS of guilds out there are. Find one that suits your play style. Do your homework. There is no easy way to categorize them. You can do them by

a.) What content they are doing
b.) How many hours they spend a week raiding
c.) The rules on how flexible they are on attendance/skills
d.) Size of the guild

Check out the list I mentioned and see if their schedule will work for you and if they have an open spot. For a priest guide applying to a raiding guild or an overall general tip read Snarkcrafts post here.

There is no perfect guild. Even if you get into one … then it’s not perfect anymore =P.

4. What can you bring to the table?

No free lunch here =) you gotta give something in return either by attendance or your leet skillz. Can you get away from virtual fires? ok good! I hope you do that too in real life, I really do.

Ok Herc I'm ready! ORLY? Well read more and I'll give you a stack of netherweave bandage.

Herc's tips on starting Raiders
1.) Know your class - Head to your class forums, visit elitist jerks forums, or browse other blogs that talks about your class.

If your confident on the things you say about your class, people will believe you even though sometimes your wrong. Well don't go around telling stupid shit here but you know what I mean.

2.) Have a source of gold to tap into - Raiding is not cheap. Do you have a gathering profession or do you play the AH?

Nothing worse wiping on a raid only to find out you can't repair cause your broke. Another example would be going into a raid with half ass consumables while the other 24 people got their stuff together ... how can you even look at yourself?! Do some dailies or sell some netherweave bandage(6g a stack)!

3.) Turn with your mouse and keybind all important abilities/spells. It's really annoying when you first try it but just tell yourself you will need this in the long run. Especially with Naxx ... some bosses that comes to mind are

Heingan - This boss/event will show people who is either a.) lagilicious or b.) bad player c.) a & b. He is also knows as the Pro sauce for noobs hahaha <3. You can't afford to keyboard turn on this one.

Thaddius - everyone will get a + or - debuff charges. If you are withing 5-10yrds with someone who has the opposite charge you both die and people around you die. You get the idea =P. People were losing DKP left and right when we were doing Naxx back then.


Wrath is the perfect time for all raiders =) with the gear reset and all. I welcome you to the world of Raiding if you decide to take on it. Hope you find a guild that suits your play style. Happy raiding!


Next post will be Thoughts about being a Raider. Stay tuned! Feel free comment.

2 comments:

LarĂ­sa said...

Oh god, I must admit I'm a keybord turner. I suck as a raider. I'd better go training at once and get rid of that stupid habit...

Unknown said...

@larisa, man I feel bad now haha. I you use both keyboard and mouse, using A & D + mouse, to turn it will be an easier transition ... thats how I did it.

Biggest thing is keybinding, I'm still clicking some abilities even though I shouldn't /bonk.

I just recently keybinded a healthstone to it's own key because lately if you die and the Raid leaders see the report on how you died and didn't use any pots or healthstones .... yeah your in trouble.