Ok so I am one of the Raid Leaders for the Red Dragons. Some people understand what this job can entail but some just don't. I am writing this because of a little bit of Drama over the weekend.
I mentioned earlier how we had a really good clear on Kara with one of our Groups. The other Group did not do anywhere near as well. We always attempt to balance both our groups to allow equal success. This usually works well. Here is the exception.
I started on the invites. At this stage there were around 16 people ready for invites. Fair enough, I will build 1 group. Like most guild we have Members with Varying levels of gear. I tried to mix and match this group with both experienced players and those needing to improve their gear level. I had decided to sit out as I have very few minor upgrades left in Kara. Just as I had finished building group 1, a few more people came on-line. Cool, maybe we have enough for a 2nd group after all. So I form a second Group, get a couple of people to alt around and we are set.
Unfortunately I forgot to rearrange Group 1, which ended up with around 5 "Lower Geared" players.
The result?
Group 1 was in there for over 6 hours and still had 3 or 4 bosses down.
Group 2 completed a full clear in around 4 hours.
So the Drama begins. I obviously Stacked the Deck to give myself the L337 group. We don't care about the "Lesser Geared" characters. It goes on. Well after a couple of Explanation Posts by various Raid staff, things settled down.
It makes me wonder though, do people realise what it is like to be a raid leader?
Razorbax
24 January 2008
Raid Leaders
Posted by
Shane
Labels:
Razorbax
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Easy answer: of course they don't.
People are greedy - they want all the loot for minimal work.
Personally I say stick all of the lower geared/lower experienced players in a group, and let them learn the hard way how to do the encounters.... that's the only way they'll learn to raid, and the only way they'll be useful additions to your raiding team.
Stacking the deck is a good thing. People who know their stuff aren't mired with newbies, and newbies learn to be great raiders the only way there is: lots of wipes, and lots of time.
I volunteered to run the Kara B squad 6 months ago and found quite the reverse - the A squad guys were horrified about having their 1-shot run jeopardised, and given any chance possible would stack a team in their favour. Which purely from a progression point of view would be fine if the end game was 10 man content but it isn't. Their greed shone though.
The second lot of guys were in that position for various reasons - less playtime, less organised, less game knowledge, less dedication. But I found their overall willingness to pass loot to who needed it most, and their attitude was thoroughly refreshing. By contrast the self-interest of the A guys was distasteful to me.
A lot of new folks need to be shown how to raid, and we forget that we ourselves were new once and I remain grateful to those who took the time to include me in their runs whilst I learnt my trade.
It's really tough to get the balence right when choosing your teams, but I always put a couple of big dps types in with a few new guys and put a strong role-model leader type person in charge, so the run has the right attitude and mood. Leaving 10 to gleefully flounder is more likely to discourage and demoralise. Is that what guilds are all about?
Of course, you will always get a few selfish new guys who're in for some easy epics, but these guys rarely hang around for long, and usually are easy to pick out.
Stacking the deck is crucial for brand new content, but for Kara badge runs, I say give people a break and do a bit of nurturing. You'll need to them to be around when you're 3 short for an SSC run oneday.
Post a Comment