The 5 Rules of Raiding
1) Be on time.
2) Be reliable.
3) Be prepared.
4) Be respectful of others.
5) Have fun!
1) Be on time.
This means being online and outside the raid instance at least 15 minutes before the raid start time. We raid casually, which means we only raid for about 2 hours at a time. The majority of our guild works or goes to school, meaning their play time is limited and many have to get up early the next morning. Being late is incredibly disruptive and unfair to the other raiders who were on time. If you expect you will be late for any reason, or know that you will be able to make it but not until the last second, let the raid leader know as far ahead of time as you can. Signing out at the raid instance the night before is always a good policy if you don't know how early you will be able to get online before the raid. If you are late and the raid has been filled, please understand that we will not hold up everyone else just in case you do make it on. It’s not personal.
2) Be reliable
If you sign up for a raid, be sure you have checked the confirmation list at least the night before the event. We try not to schedule the events too far in because people have a tendency to forget they signed up, which causes all kinds of problems. If you were confirmed, on standby, or tentative and you know you cannot attend, please remove yourself from the list.
Not showing up when you are confirmed is inexcusable. If something comes up unexpectedly and you cannot get in contact with the raid leader before the event, you need to do so as soon as possible afterwards. If you don't show up to a raid and say nothing, you have pretty much put yourself on the bottom of the raid roster permanently. All we ask is that you share what is going on so we can make arrangements to work around it.
If you have circumstances where you know you will need to be away from your keyboard periodically, let the raid leader know. If you you know that you will need to be afk for a few minutes but you don't know when. Letting the raid leader know in advance allows them to plan around it.
If you are online during raid times, we expect you to be available to raid. If you are not available to raid we expect you to log off. This is a raid guild and all members must be committed to the guild’s progression. If the raid is short on players, we need everyone to be there . If you have to postpone your arenas or dungeon queue, then do so. Finding pugs and giving them the loot we are working so hard for, when members are online and available, is not acceptable and will never be tolerated.
3) Be prepared
Being prepared is what we like to call being 'Raid Ready'. What is 'Raid Ready'?
Raid Ready means the following:
- Your gear is properly gemmed and enchanted. Gems and enchants make up a significant portion of your combat stats, and an important way to customize your gear to boost areas you are lacking in. Not having your items maximized is akin to not bothering to wear a piece of armor or a weapon. You have those item slots for a reason, and items are enchantable for a reason. Don't nerf yourself.
- You have sufficient elixirs, flasks, potions, poisons, buff food, and reagents to last you through the raid night and a reasonable number of wipes. ('reasonable' varies depending on what is on the agenda for the night) Same theory applies as the gemming and enchanting. The stats make a difference.
- Your gear is fully repaired and you have sufficient money on hand for repairs from wipes that may occur. Raiding is not where you make money, and repairs are going to have to happen.
Being raid ready is not only about the items you are carrying. You also need to be practiced in your class. You need to be running instances and getting used to your role in the group. Healers need to practice healing, tanks need to practice tanking, and damage dealers need to practice killing stuff. Raids are for testing the limits of your combat prowess; they are the final exam. If you don't know how to time your spells as a healer, keep threat and protect your group mates as a tank, or maximize your damage output as a dps class in a dungeon setting, then you aren't prepared to do so in a raid situation. Don’t stand in fire.
You must have Ventrilo to raid with us. Vent login info is on the guild tab in game. While we do not require that you have a microphone or headset to speak on Vent, being able to listen is a must. Tanking or healing roles must have a microphone. The ability to communicate is essential for progression raiding. Events occur too rapidly in raids to be typed out, and understanding fights explained verbally is much quicker and easier to understand than typed out.
Also, please have your class and raid addons in order. Required guild addons are on the home page. If you want loot, have the addons. No exceptions.
4) Be respectful of others
Just as stated in the guild charter, we expect our members to be courteous and respectful to their guild mates at all time. During a raid, additional expectations must be met.
Listen to raid leaders and officers during the raid. In the event of a wipe, please let them make the determination on whether or not to release. Sometimes we may be close to finishing the boss: by releasing you will no longer eligible for loot (due to game mechanics, not policy). Sometimes we will have someone with a soulstone or a divine intervention up. It usually takes longer to run back than to resurrect the party, so releasing wastes unnecessary time.
Listen to the raid leader or designated attendee when a fight is being explained. We don't always do things the cookie-cutter way. We often have to try different strategies due to different group makeups and the different strengths or familiarity newer raiders might have. When a fight is being explained, it is not the time to go away from keyboard without permission of the raid leader, nor should you be talking about non-raid related topics. We encourage socializing during the raid, but we also expect everyone's full attention during and before a boss fight. If you ninja afk do not be surprised to find you have been removed from the raid group.
Respect your fellow raid members. Many people are new to raiding, so please no naming calling, criticism or being nasty in any way. If you have a problem with a guild mate or how the raid is going, please talk to a officer first and immediately. Discussing issues with other guild members without having an officer either present or aware of what is going on can cause a small problem to snowball. This can also cause friction within the guild outside the raid.
5) Have fun!
Tenets 1 through 4 are all about ensuring we accomplish tenet 5, having fun! The rules we have in place are not because we are trying to be rules nazis, but because not following these practices infringes on the ability of others to have fun. Any one of these items may not feel like a big deal to you. Perhaps you don't agree that everything on this list is necessary to have a good time, but we can guarantee that at least one of these things is going to irk you if someone else is the one ignoring it. Your personal integrity is what allows us to move forward as a raid guild. If everyone follows these guidelines, it puts everyone in the best position to be successful in a raid. There is nothing like the feeling of accomplishment you can get while raiding when things go well.
