The Angry Raider

Everyone loves a list. The last list I did here was the Feral Druid Weapon Buyer’s Guide, which I honestly need to update, and barely existed in list form (it was more of a bullet list). Matticus suggested people post more list posts, so here’s mine: five truths about raiding.

1. Every player has his or her own reason for being there. There are so many reasons people raid. The thrill of boss kills, the prospect of gear upgrades via loot, reputation gains, and completing quests are just a few of the more common reasons people raid. Some others are the feeling that there’s nothing else to do in endgame, getting one’s money worth, the social aspect of raiding, and assuaging feelings of guilt. No particular reason is better or worse than another one, but nobody agrees on that point. Sometimes, people have nowhere else to go.

2. Egos are rampant and it’s hard to keep them in check. Whether it’s the warlock watching the meters constantly or the mage going on and on about having the best gear, you’re dealing with 24 other people who all believe they’re the best at what they do. Or they should, which leads me to number 3.

3. The raid leader/guild master will often have a sense of entitlement. This leads to issues like loot privileges, bench privileges, and group makeup in the raid, even when those things directly hurt the raid. I’ve seen raid leaders get preferred loot on Ashes of A’lar just because they’re the person who leads the raid. In that particular case, morale fell through the floor, but people kept on going because it was a top guild and they had nowhere else to go (see #1). This doesn’t happen in every guild, but it happens more than it should. This is a point I’m going to expand upon in a future post.

4. Some people aren’t cut out for raiding, but nobody knows what to do about it. Maybe that mage is really nice on Vent but dies on Naj’entus at the pull. Or it’s the BM hunter who puts out 600 DPS but just broke up with her boyfriend. Or it’s the priest who has great +healing, but panics on the constructs in the Gorefiend fight. For raids to be successful, everyone has to give 100%, and some people just can’t do that. That doesn’t mean they can’t raid at all–they just won’t be in guilds that go very far. But what can you do when you have people like this in your guild? Kick them out? Bench them? Not let them in to begin with?

5. Raiding is expensive. Repairs, buff food, potions, scrolls, arrows, reagents, good gems, and good enchants don’t come cheap. Nobody should ever show up to a raid without all of the appropriate consumables and gear, nor should anyone not have enough money for repairs. But they do (see #4).

Do you agree? Disagree? What did I leave out?