Go Team! Becoming an Effective and Reliable Raider

To follow up the previous post's negativity, I thought I'd touch on some cheery, sentimental stuff. Let's see, I'm just gonna dig through the trash bin of my post ideas.... Ah, here it is!

That's right, baby, teamwork.

I'm sure many of you have heard all about teamwork, from your raid leaders, guild leaders, whiny battleground leaders (I laugh at your randomly-bestowed position of power), coaches, teachers, parents... phew. Each of these individuals recognize the power of a properly constructed and maintained group.

Fortunately, I'm not going to preach about how awesome groups are. I'd probably get sick of myself real quick. What I am going to go over, however, is a raider's responsibilities in a raid group.

And by raider, of course, I mean ret paladin.

When enjoying new content, raid responsibly.

First and foremost, COME PREPARED!!! That means the following:

• Read up / watch videos on boss strats
• Bring enough flasks to cover the entire raid period, plus one or two extra
• Bring your own buff food (yes, it is possible that your raid can run out of Fish Feasts) i.e. Dragonfin Filet
• Have your gear repaired before entering the instance
• Have enough reagents to cast Wisdom on the dumb shaman that doesn't remember that Mana Spring Totem overrides your Wisdom (there are still people that don't realize this... *irked*)

Got all that? Good. Now, here's a big one: show up on time! Wait, no; show up at least 5 minutes early. Sitting on your ass for 5 minutes isn't going to kill you, and it's going to show your raid leader / guild leader that you're on top of your game and that you care about raiding.

When you got your spot in the raid and you're nice and cozy, you're getting close to being a team player. I have two remaining suggestions. The first?

Don't be this guy. Although that's a good idea...

Pay attention! By this, I do not mean focus on DPSing the boss, staring at your rotation and hitting attacks the moment they come off cooldown. I mean be aware of the fight. In other words, you need to develop a sense of situational awareness. Rhidach has a good post on the topic from a while back that's definitely worth a look. Your DPS isn't gonna do any good when you die from standing in a void zone / fire / other generic idiot trap. Watch what's happening around you; don't fall for the idiot traps.

The second: communication and listening comprehension. Ok, that's kind of two things, but they're fairly related. If there's a mob loose, speak up! Don't be afraid to talk in Vent; if it saves a wipe and ensures a kill, it's worth it. Do not, however, blabber over Vent during attempts, or even during raid time. The raid leader and his or her assistants are trying to coordinate a group of 25 people to do one, solitary task. Don't be an asshat.

As for listening comprehension, LISTEN! Yeah, it's that simple. Turn your Miley Cyrus and Selena Gomez down (don't worry, you can have it playing softly in the background, which is actually how I like to listen to my Mil.... ahem, moving on). Being able to hear everyone in Vent is crucial. Well, almost everyone; at the very least, your tanks, healers, and raid leader.

In fact, fellow ret paladins and melee DPS classes are fairly important too if they have something to say... Ok, I'm changing my answer back to everyone. It's my blog, I do what I want.

Not only do you need to be cognizant of what people are saying, you need to instantly process this information and act on it. If your raid leader or other authority figure tells you to switch targets, you switch targets. Switch your seal if you have to, just be on top of it. If you are told NOT to bubble, DON'T bubble. I know, I know, bubbling is fun and exciting, but save that cooldown when necessary. Unfortunately we don't spec into Divine Sacrifice anymore since the nerf; RaidSac provided a great example of both listening comprehension and situational awareness in providing your entire raid a mini-Shield Wall.

We can still reminisce on such glorious former responsibilities though.

In essence, just use common sense, pay attention, and be willing to follow some orders to get stuff done. I mean, come on, the Lich King ain't gonna kill himself, right?