Post by drazzl on Oct 18, 2014 10:37:54 GMT
How to Get on the Raid Team
Talk to the Raid Officer, Drazzl (me).
We want to see what you're capable of to decide which team to place you to. Because of how easy it is to acquire an assortment of raid gear, gear is no longer proof of a player's skill. We want to see first-hand how you perform before we bring you into a raid. This can done through partying with us through a dungeon or lfr, and in some cases for dps just to see numbers on a target dummy. If you want to go with an alternate route, we will accept more objective measurements from proof of completing challenge modes or proving grounds (Silver for Normal, Gold for Heroic).
Two Teams
We will be embracing a two raid team model to better fit activities to people's ability. Raiders will be evaluated based upon their current skill and given access to the raids they are considered able to handle. Note the use of the phrase "current skill." People will improve over time and these evaluations will change. Second, help is always available if you want to improve your skills.
The Heroic team is for people looking for more serious raiding, while the Normal team is for those who prefer a more casual approach. We are working towards a Mythic team and will strive to maintain a third team when that happens, to maintain raiding opportunities for players of all skill levels.
We will be asking for all members on the Heroic team, who also wish to raid with the Normal team, to do so on an alt, and not with their main. There are a few reasons for this. The first is the satisfaction of playing an alt and not being limited to one toon. This will allow players to branch out of their respective roles instead of always being locked into a healer or tank. The second is that we want the Normal team to be viable on its own merits, not carried by over-geared players. We feel this does players an injustice to always carry them, never letting them appreciate the difficulty of the encounter and thus the chance to learn from the experience. Third, this makes it an easier transition for these alts to become mains should a player wish to change them. However, we would like to discourage people from constantly changing what toon they consider their main. Consistency is important for a player to be able to pull their weight, which is itself a moving benchmark as the team progresses.
Expectations for Raiders
Be Punctual. Raid events will be set to begin 15 minutes earlier than normal going forward. The goal is to be inside the raid and underway at the normal 6 server start-time. So, we're adding in a 15 minute leeway to get the group organized. This added time is a buffer for people forgetting things, adjusting gear, or also gives time to be sure if we need to get a pug and to get one. Note, we understand fully if people join the raid later in the night because of real life, that is the benefit of the new flexible model.
Know the Fights. Asking for the fight to be explained as we're getting to the boss is not the time. If we spend 5-10 minutes standing around explaining the fight, you have not wasted 10 minutes, but 90 minutes of everyone else's time. It is disrespectful to your teammates to come unprepared and not value their time. There are ample guides out there on the internet both in visual and written form, and take as long to go over as an explanation during raid time. If you are still unclear after viewing any guides, that is fine, just ask before the raid begins - we will be happy to go over any details you're unclear on.
Be Efficient. While we're raiding two nights a week same as ever, that is split amongst 2 teams, so progression is going to slower than we're used to. As such, it is important we make good use of the time we have. If you need to afk, do so during trash pulls when it won't keep us waiting. Don't wait for loot to be distributed before advancing through the next waves of trash. We will be handling loot as we go. And as before, know the fights, we don't have the time to lose explaining them during the raid.
Be Prepared. Have your gear sorted out and get your bonus rolls earlier in the week.
Be Consistent. It is 2 separate issues whether a player is skilled and their toon is geared. Players who are inconsistent in their attendance will lag behind in gear. If this gap becomes great enough that the player cannot pull their weight, they will dropped down a difficulty until it is fixed.
Perspective on Raiding and Attitude
Raiding is a teamwork centered approach to problem solving. Every player brings personal expertise to a unique encounter with varying obstacles. Know that all of the tools are there, you just need to align them correctly.
Teamwork is a loaded word with books to be written about it. We'll keep this to a few words. Give to your teammates and they will give back to you. It is not possible to do, but over-communicate with them.
Raiding requires emotional resilience to be able to fail many times while still believing success is possible. A wipe does not mean you suck, it means you made a mistake. Get back up and try again, learn from the mistake. If you chose to let that mistake define you, then raiding is not the sort of thing you should be doing. Lapses in performance are normal as we learn new fights and commit them to muscle memory, and then there are just off nights and carelessness.
Your skill as a player is not a static thing. As such, there is no loss of face if you are not evaluated as highly as you'd like. The goal is to have fun ultimately, but this is the sort of fun derived from being challenged, not partaking in a turkey shoot. It is you vs the game, not you vs your fellow raider.
We will be maintaining a public list of raiders' standings. This will include rosters for both teams over who is cleared for what difficulty. It will likely be including records of what class/role people are using so that people can see what we have or need. It may also see a resurrected survivability score, a ranking of the how often the player dies during encounters. We want to dispel the drama that inevitably ensues from raiding, and step one is being open and honest without fear of shame. If you don't like your rankings or numbers, that is incentive to work harder, not give up or be looked down upon.
You will improve over time. This is not always a linear sort of improvement as drops in performance are often tied to awareness and simply needing better information layouts via addons or that someone is playing a class or role not suited to their skills. In many cases, the biggest obstacle to a raider's improvement is their own stubbornness to change their habits.
Help is always available if you ask. Workshops will periodically be offered, but help is not limited to those time periods.
Loot Distribution Rules
We will be primarily using the system wherein the boss drops random loot instead of the personal loot system. We feel this is better for the team since someone is usually able to make use of anything that drops. We're pretty courteous with loot distribution letting undergeared people get first picks and otherwise people just rolling off as needed. However, we want to add in a few caveats to codify this a bit more.
• Tanks and Heals have first priority in getting any Tier pieces and Trinkets for their main spec. We rely heavily on them in our efforts and need them at their best.
• If the gear is a significant upgrade for someone (roughly 10 ilvls), they have priority over someone looking for a BiS piece.
• Main spec take priority over off-spec roles. Largely no longer an issue since gear swaps over, but side pieces like weapons, trinkets rings and neck pieces do not change stats.
• Raiders with consistent attendance have priority over inconsistent members.
• Pugs will roll at highest priority anyone else rolls at. Pugs are there solely for the gear and it is unfair to them to be barred from rolling. We accept these rules for the good of the team. Pugs who run with us often will be informed of our normal loot rolls and be asked to abide by them.
• All else being equal, players will roll.
Talk to the Raid Officer, Drazzl (me).
We want to see what you're capable of to decide which team to place you to. Because of how easy it is to acquire an assortment of raid gear, gear is no longer proof of a player's skill. We want to see first-hand how you perform before we bring you into a raid. This can done through partying with us through a dungeon or lfr, and in some cases for dps just to see numbers on a target dummy. If you want to go with an alternate route, we will accept more objective measurements from proof of completing challenge modes or proving grounds (Silver for Normal, Gold for Heroic).
Two Teams
We will be embracing a two raid team model to better fit activities to people's ability. Raiders will be evaluated based upon their current skill and given access to the raids they are considered able to handle. Note the use of the phrase "current skill." People will improve over time and these evaluations will change. Second, help is always available if you want to improve your skills.
The Heroic team is for people looking for more serious raiding, while the Normal team is for those who prefer a more casual approach. We are working towards a Mythic team and will strive to maintain a third team when that happens, to maintain raiding opportunities for players of all skill levels.
We will be asking for all members on the Heroic team, who also wish to raid with the Normal team, to do so on an alt, and not with their main. There are a few reasons for this. The first is the satisfaction of playing an alt and not being limited to one toon. This will allow players to branch out of their respective roles instead of always being locked into a healer or tank. The second is that we want the Normal team to be viable on its own merits, not carried by over-geared players. We feel this does players an injustice to always carry them, never letting them appreciate the difficulty of the encounter and thus the chance to learn from the experience. Third, this makes it an easier transition for these alts to become mains should a player wish to change them. However, we would like to discourage people from constantly changing what toon they consider their main. Consistency is important for a player to be able to pull their weight, which is itself a moving benchmark as the team progresses.
Expectations for Raiders
Be Punctual. Raid events will be set to begin 15 minutes earlier than normal going forward. The goal is to be inside the raid and underway at the normal 6 server start-time. So, we're adding in a 15 minute leeway to get the group organized. This added time is a buffer for people forgetting things, adjusting gear, or also gives time to be sure if we need to get a pug and to get one. Note, we understand fully if people join the raid later in the night because of real life, that is the benefit of the new flexible model.
Know the Fights. Asking for the fight to be explained as we're getting to the boss is not the time. If we spend 5-10 minutes standing around explaining the fight, you have not wasted 10 minutes, but 90 minutes of everyone else's time. It is disrespectful to your teammates to come unprepared and not value their time. There are ample guides out there on the internet both in visual and written form, and take as long to go over as an explanation during raid time. If you are still unclear after viewing any guides, that is fine, just ask before the raid begins - we will be happy to go over any details you're unclear on.
Be Efficient. While we're raiding two nights a week same as ever, that is split amongst 2 teams, so progression is going to slower than we're used to. As such, it is important we make good use of the time we have. If you need to afk, do so during trash pulls when it won't keep us waiting. Don't wait for loot to be distributed before advancing through the next waves of trash. We will be handling loot as we go. And as before, know the fights, we don't have the time to lose explaining them during the raid.
Be Prepared. Have your gear sorted out and get your bonus rolls earlier in the week.
Be Consistent. It is 2 separate issues whether a player is skilled and their toon is geared. Players who are inconsistent in their attendance will lag behind in gear. If this gap becomes great enough that the player cannot pull their weight, they will dropped down a difficulty until it is fixed.
Perspective on Raiding and Attitude
Raiding is a teamwork centered approach to problem solving. Every player brings personal expertise to a unique encounter with varying obstacles. Know that all of the tools are there, you just need to align them correctly.
Teamwork is a loaded word with books to be written about it. We'll keep this to a few words. Give to your teammates and they will give back to you. It is not possible to do, but over-communicate with them.
Raiding requires emotional resilience to be able to fail many times while still believing success is possible. A wipe does not mean you suck, it means you made a mistake. Get back up and try again, learn from the mistake. If you chose to let that mistake define you, then raiding is not the sort of thing you should be doing. Lapses in performance are normal as we learn new fights and commit them to muscle memory, and then there are just off nights and carelessness.
Your skill as a player is not a static thing. As such, there is no loss of face if you are not evaluated as highly as you'd like. The goal is to have fun ultimately, but this is the sort of fun derived from being challenged, not partaking in a turkey shoot. It is you vs the game, not you vs your fellow raider.
We will be maintaining a public list of raiders' standings. This will include rosters for both teams over who is cleared for what difficulty. It will likely be including records of what class/role people are using so that people can see what we have or need. It may also see a resurrected survivability score, a ranking of the how often the player dies during encounters. We want to dispel the drama that inevitably ensues from raiding, and step one is being open and honest without fear of shame. If you don't like your rankings or numbers, that is incentive to work harder, not give up or be looked down upon.
You will improve over time. This is not always a linear sort of improvement as drops in performance are often tied to awareness and simply needing better information layouts via addons or that someone is playing a class or role not suited to their skills. In many cases, the biggest obstacle to a raider's improvement is their own stubbornness to change their habits.
Help is always available if you ask. Workshops will periodically be offered, but help is not limited to those time periods.
Loot Distribution Rules
We will be primarily using the system wherein the boss drops random loot instead of the personal loot system. We feel this is better for the team since someone is usually able to make use of anything that drops. We're pretty courteous with loot distribution letting undergeared people get first picks and otherwise people just rolling off as needed. However, we want to add in a few caveats to codify this a bit more.
• Tanks and Heals have first priority in getting any Tier pieces and Trinkets for their main spec. We rely heavily on them in our efforts and need them at their best.
• If the gear is a significant upgrade for someone (roughly 10 ilvls), they have priority over someone looking for a BiS piece.
• Main spec take priority over off-spec roles. Largely no longer an issue since gear swaps over, but side pieces like weapons, trinkets rings and neck pieces do not change stats.
• Raiders with consistent attendance have priority over inconsistent members.
• Pugs will roll at highest priority anyone else rolls at. Pugs are there solely for the gear and it is unfair to them to be barred from rolling. We accept these rules for the good of the team. Pugs who run with us often will be informed of our normal loot rolls and be asked to abide by them.
• All else being equal, players will roll.
