Don't Panic! - Raiding put simple.

Every time I am in a raid be it with my guild or in a PuG there is always a long discussion of what to do for the fight.  When I have never done a fight (which is most of the lower level ones) it all really sounds like gibberish to me.  People seem to want to give you all the information you need for the fight.  Really, I think to much information is what ends up being the reason for most wipes.  The less information you give the easier the fight will be.  That might sound stupid but at least for me it seems to help.


Quick story (yes, I am aware nothing I ever write is quick) before I get to my raiding put simple guide.  I was in a ToC 25 once where the raid leader must have assumed that everyone had done ToC so many times that he did not need to tell them much of anything.  He kept the strategy quick and simple and to the point.  I never died and neither did anyone else that was there that had never done it before.  Either this was the worlds greatest PuG or somehow 25 random people with high levels of intelligence were put together at random.  Neither really seems to be possible so his way of describing things, as if everyone knew the basics of raiding to begin with, and only giving the most important information worked.

So, the here are the basics.

The Main Tank: Go get beat on by the big guy.
The Off Tank: Go get beat on from the big guys little friends.
The MT/OT Combo: If the big guy has no little friends then you will both trade getting hit on by the big guy.

The Tank Healer: Heal the guy getting beat on by the big guy.
The Raid Healer: Heal the other people and the off tank.
The Sometime Third Healer: When you are called on you will help the raid healer.

The Melee DPS: Beat on the big guy from behind him really close.
The Ranged DPS: Beat on the big guy from behind him really far.

There you go, that is the plain and simple of it.  That is something that will cover nearly all the basics of 90% of the raid bosses.  Now, this is where the details come in.  This is where you decide what to tell people what is required of them to do.  Many, and I do mean many, raid leaders go over what I just said up there so often that the focus of what really needs to get through to the people seems to get lost.  While I hate to assume anything you must assume that everyone in a raid knows those things I mentioned above.  If you do not know them or even have to think about them then you have no business raiding.

The questions you need to ask yourself before you try to describe the fight.
1) Are there adds that need to be killed?
2) Is there any AoE damage?
3) Is there any spike damage?
4) Is there any curse/disease/other?
5) Is there anything to avoid standing in?
6) Is there anything you should stand in?
7) Is there any odd target switching required?
8) Is there anything completely unique to this fight?
9) Where should people stand?
10) Are there phase changes?

If you ask your self those 10 questions (and variations of them) and answer them the "Don't Panic!" way then you will do fine.  Answering them with long drawn out explanations will only cause confustion which in turn will cause misunderstandings and panic.  We do not like panic.  Panic is bad.

Quick example of how to explain some things the "Don't Panic!" way.

DeatHbringer Saurfang is my example for this.
1) Are there adds that need to be killed? Yes.  Blood Beasts.

Explaining it the "Don't Panic!" way.
DBM will let you know 10 seconds before Blood Beasts spawn. 
Melee stop all AoE attacks when you see that and ranged get ready to switch to the Blood Beasts.
All ranged burn them as fast as possible.  Don't do AoE on them. Don't let them hit you.

That is all, you do not need to say anything else or explain that if they get hit by them it gives blood power or that they do x amount of damage or anything else.  Stick only to the facts that matter to them getting their job done. 

Ask yourself this...
Will letting them know how much they hit for help them burn them down?
Will letting them know that if they get hit it will give Saurfang blood power help them burn them down?
Will telling them why they should not do AoE help them burn it down any faster as long as they don't?
No, no and no.  So why are you mentioning it and giving them more information then they need to get their job done?

In this case getting the job done means Melee need to control their threat on them and ranged needs to burn them down as fast as possible without AoE.  You just explained that.

I have been in some runs where the description of the blood beasts coming out ended up being a 15 minute explanation when it should take less then one minute.  If people ask questions you can answer them, but do not offer up more information then is needed.

It is kind of like what you will tell the tanks, switch when you get the rune.  Save cooldowns for when he is under 30%.  That is it. 

That is all they need to know.  They do not need to know that if they get hit with the rune on them that it gives blood power and heals him.  That is not needed information, they only need to know when to switch.  Not why.  If they want to know why they can look it up.  It is a case of do what I say if you want to live. 

Now I admit, following the "Don't Panic!" way will not assure that people will always do the right thing, but when learning a fight it is easier to deal with small packets of information instead of dealing with information overload. It will make learning the fight easier.

In every raid I have ever been in that people kept the description quick and easy things went well whereas I have been in pugs with highly over geared people that had done the content 100s of times and seen them die to the stupidest things because of long and drawn out tactical information being given out.

It is easy to panic when on information overload.
When you have so very little to digest you are more likely to be able to follow it.
More information is not always a good thing and in some cases it is not even required.

In the game I think of things in sort of the same way I do in real life when I have my workers do something.  I tell them what needs to be done.  How they do it is up to them.  I don't really care, as long as it gets done.

"Don't Panic!" should be your guilds motto.