Guide to Raiding (Reposted)

Since I'm going to be helping out Crimson Wing, I'm reposting some of my old guides. Note they aren't exactly the same as the original, as I had to edit some stuff here and there. But the essence is the same.



I heard lots of people asking noobish questions and such, so I'm gonna try and answer all of them here, regarding raiding. Enjoy.

First of all.

What's an Instance?

An instance is a closed world (private and shared only by groups) reproduction of a dungeon, divided by 5, 10, or even 20, 25 and 40 people. We tend to dub the 20+ people instances as raids, but they all work the same. They usually yield great equipment, but you need coordination and skill in order to overcome these challenges, but most of all, have fun. Unique encounters are here and the rewards are plenty.

Now you're thinking, "nice let's own them". Not so fast. You need your own organized raid, with healers, DPSers, and tanks. "AMG what's that" is what you're thinking. Read on then.

What are Raid Roles?

Raid roles, is basically, what you do inside a raid. You can be a DPS, healer, or a tank. Of course there's the hybrids. I'll pick an example. We'll take a look at the paladin, as he can do anything, raid wise. Using his talents, you could make him do lots of damage (Retribution) heal your party (Holy) or be a tank (Protection). Therefore, you need to know what to use and what not to. I'll go indepth on these 3 roles later on, there's more roles, but these are the primary ones. Firstly, some terms.

Threat and Aggro

When you're attacking a mob (enemy), do you realize it has its target on you? When you're alone that is. This means that the mob currently has aggro on you (meaning that you're its primary target)) and that you have the most threat (the number that decided who is aggroed. (targeted) On a raid situation, the ones with aggro must be the tanks, and everyone else cannot have aggro, because they might die in 1-2 hits in most cases. Now onward to the various roles..

DPS

DPS, or Damage Per Second, are basically, the ones who will dish out the pain. They're specialized on making the most damage, to destroy bosses and mobs alike the fastest as possible. You'll need to watch your threat though to avoid aggroing the bosses. Addons such as Omen would help out.

Tank

The tank is an extremely defensive character designed to protect the raid from the bosses' equally extreme high damage, although their offensive is supposedly crap, so they're like meat shields. Their job (aside from staying alive as much as possible) is also keeping aggro. The bosses' target must ALWAYS be the tank, otherwise you'll see some people dying instantly.

Healers

Who doesn't know what this means... These are the guys who will keep you from harm. They'll die in problably 1 hit, their damage will be very low, but without them, your tanks can't live and if the bosses use area damage, so might you die. So we all grow to depend on them. They should let the tank hit the boss 1 or 2 times however, or you'll have something called overheal. Which is basically the healer gaining aggro because the tank didn't have time to get threat.

Light and Full DPS

You might or might not have heard of these "terms". When you're fighting a boss, you have to be extra careful so you won't steal aggro and get 1 shot, as a boss will hit a non-tank very hard. Light DPS means, that you will attack the boss without using skills (auto attack). Full DPS means that you will dish out all the pain, trinkets, cooldowns, skills. We tend to use the % hp of the boss to know when to use light and when to use full dps. For example, when the boss's % is at 98, we use light dps. And then at 96%, we'd use full dps. Understood?

So how's Loot?

This is where some people mess up. Let's take for example, a healing plate helm drops. Would you give it to a Holy or a Retribution Paladin? You have to stick to a spec, and stick to the corresponding gear. Because it's your role in the end. In the example I pointed above, the helm in question would go to the Holy Paladin. Knowing your spec and the items it belongs to goes a long way into not being named a ninja, and trust me, being known as a ninja is a BAD thing.

What's a ninja?

Ninjas are the lowest lifeform you can find in WoW. First of all, they do not know how to pick their equipment, so they'll need everything they get their hands on. This is for example, a Holy Priest (healer) needing on healing plate. (something they can't even use) Also would be a class needing on something they CAN use but doesn't correspond their spec. (Fury Warriors needing on shields)

No No No... Lettme correct ya

Holy Priest rolls on Warglaives, and Fury Warrior rolls on healing trinkets