There is no excuse for turning up for a raid not properly prepared. Here are some guidelines that need to be followed:
- Firstly, check your toon out to make sure that they are ready for the raid you want to do. Go to http://be.imba.hu/ and look up your toon. It's only a guide, but it gives you a good idea of what gear you need to improve and what enchants you need. The blue line gives an indication of where you should be raiding and the red line shows where most of your gear updates could be coming from.
- Download and set up teamspeak ahead of the raid. You can get it from www.goteamspeak.com. You will also need to have omen threat meter installed. Download the latest version from http://files.wowace.com/sw-o.html and remember that it is updated frequently. If you need any help then ask in guild - there's normally someone online who can help. If you do not have both of these then you run the risk of causing the raid to wipe.
- Ensure you are at the meeting point on time, do not rely on a summon.
- Bring with you any pots and buffing food relevant to your class (e.g. adept's elixir and blackened basilisk for a mage). Mana oil or wizard oil can also help, depending on your class. Don't forget health and mana pots - they're essential in the boss fights. Also, don't rely on there being a mage present to provide mage food - ensure you also bring enough food and water for getting health/mana back up through the entire raid.
- Make sure your gear is fully repaired before you start.
- Bring enough bullets, ankhs, wild quillvine, etc to last through the raid.
- Ensure that your gear is properly enchanted for your class/role (a mage once turned up with fiery on his staff, just because he was getting his enchanting up). You might not want to put the more expensive enchants on blue items, but there are normally cheaper ones that can be used until you get that gleaming epic item (e.g. put potency on a weapon instead of mongoose). There are plenty of enchanters in the guild and most (if not all) won't charge a guildie if they provide the mats.
- Listen to the raid leader - they are there for a reason. There's nothing wrong with a bit of banter whilst raiding, but do not let it interfere with the raid. If it gets out of hand then you lose concentration and that can lead to wipes.
- Speaking of wipes: if the raid does wipe, don't lie there waiting for a rez. Release and start running back in. The sooner everyone is back, the sooner we can get the raid buffed up and carry on.
- Don't release during boss fights unless the raid has wiped or the boss has been killed but there's no healers left alive to rez you. If you're not there (at least in spirit) when the boss dies then you don't get any of the loot, meaning you could miss out on that lovely epic that you were praying would drop.
- Finally, as they used to say on an old American cop show (Hill Street Blues, for those who remember it), let's do it to them before they do it to us.
Karazhan
Gruul's Lair
Zul'Aman
Magtheridon's Lair
Serpentshrine Cavern
The Eye
Hyjal
Black Temple