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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsTesting strategy reading abilities, Part I
by Adam Holisky 
Jun 5th 2008 at 8:00PM
Everyone reading this site knows that it's pretty important to read strategies for the various boss encounters in WoW. No matter if they're from Boss Killers, our own Ready Check, long threads over at Elitist Jerks, or home made modifications, studying boss fights outside of the game is essential to success.However sometimes it's kind of hard to tell if everyone is actually spending the 15 minutes to read over and understand the strategies outside of the raid. This is particularly troublesome for the raid leaders and officers, since some of the fights can be very hard to explain without first having an understanding of where and what things look like.
We're having this problem in our guild right now. Not that big of a problem, granted, but it's still something we'd like to get better at. So last night our guild master made a map of the Kalecgos play field, detailing where everyone should stand (I know that some readers will comment that it's not necessary, but it's what works for us). In the bottom right hand corner there's a derogatory yet funny message about yours truly, something along the lines of a suggested act I can go do to/with myself. It's obvious, it's funny, and it sticks out like a sore thumb.
Tonight the GM will go around and ask each of the 35 or so raiders we have in the guild, "What was out of place on the strategy map I posted today?" If they can't answer correctly, they won't be raiding with us again anytime soon.
Admittedly this is a tad underhanded way to test if some folks actually went in and read the strategy or not, but I think it's a good one. Tomorrow I'll report on its success, and look at some other possible ways to test if your raiders have read up on the strats.
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 2)
Milktub Jun 5th 2008 10:58PM
I'm torn on boss strategies.
For one thing, I like succeeding. No one, including me, likes spending an evening getting nowhere on a raid. No one enjoys taking three or four or more hours out of their day to clear trash and then wipe repeatedly on a boss.
On the other hand, I like surprises. I like facing a boss and saying afterwards "Oh Wow! I didn't know he'd do THAT!"
So I don't read a strategy on the first try. Go in and do it. Yeah, that means a wipe. But then I'll tab out and read a strat before the second go.
And yes, reading a strategy, watching a kill video or seeing a flash animation diagram only gives you part of the idea. Theory is one thing, practice is the other. I've done dps in heroics before with a well geared, newly re-specced tank ... but that tank has never actually tanked before, so things fail over and over again. Yes, that tank has seen others tank. They've seen the fights. They have the gear and the talents ... but they've never actually punched the buttons.
Kawanda Sep 6th 2009 4:54PM
This really depends on whether your guild's raiding philosophy aligns with your personal philosophy. It's all well and good to try and tackle encounters from a fresh start, and I applaud anyone who is able to raid consistently like that. However, if your guild expects you to read the strategy, and you decide not to, it's really a selfish act. There are 24 other people in the raid that expect you to be prepared for the encounter to a certain standard, and you would essentially require them to wait on you to figure out the mechanics of the fight. If you did this on your guild's first attempt of Gorefiend, and you got targeted by SoD, then you would essentially screw over your entire raid.
amasen Jun 6th 2008 3:29PM
My guild raids 2.5 hours a night 3 nights a week. This week we all came into Hyjal and in 2 days of attempts (and never before setting foot in there), we got 3 new bosses down and Azgalor to 40%.
The only reason we were able to progress in the time we did was because most/if not all the people took the time to read up on the strategies for these fights. None of them are hard, but with as little as we play per week we would have literally spent and entire night on just one boss if we didn't have boss mods and already know what to expect ahead of time...
I think if you are the person who has the time to see what happens first and then work out solutions to it, then you are one of the hardcore elite... And my hat is off to you because you make it possible for the rest of us to do these fights.
Ryk Jun 6th 2008 1:09AM
This is a terrible test.
It is entirely possible to read the strategy, laugh at the joke and still get the GM's question wrong. I don't know how your raids go, but if we aren't insulting each other, something is wrong.
I would just view the insult as some much needed comic relief and not even think to mention it when someone asked me "What was wrong?"
Furthermore, it was posted this morning, and you expect people to see it tonight??? Yea, I check my guild page daily - especially when I'm not raiding - and if he's asking 35 people, some of them aren't raiding. Assuming the question was posed exactly as is suggested here, it is in no way a surrogate for determining who does their homework.
Now labelling Kalycgos as "The Giant Flying Spaghetti Monster" might have gotten you somewhere ... but not this.
Mike Jun 6th 2008 5:33AM
And you don't think that could just be seen even more as obvious comic relief?
I think the example of "get out of Flame Wreath fast!" is the best one so far. Others could be "Leave the mace until last" on Kael, "Huddle up in the center on phase 2" for Vashj, "Ignore the constructs" on Teron etc.
There are parts of every fight that are easy to change and make it obvious if people actually bother reading the strats.
Daimon Jun 6th 2008 8:44AM
Our RL is a resto druid with a patience voice, and he bothers explaining step by step what needs to be done, I'm one of the MTs so when i'm Mtanking (or not) I always help him to make ppl what they need to do, I know when some1 is taking unnecesary dmg and pointed out asap.
Imo you can make ppl read the whole strat or you can force ppl to have the patience to hear a long explanaition before the pull, with that helps a sorting of sport commenting min by min or % by % of what is happening or when do we need to do this or that in real time in the fight.
Wipes help in progression, If you fear to wipe, don't come to any 25man, as long as everybody knew why we wiped to avoid it later; if they can't, replace him/her w another player.
daltonj001 Jun 6th 2008 8:57AM
My personal favorite is at the beginning of the raid the raid leader says very clearly on vent "I'm going to do a ready check, answer NO. If you don't answer "No" then you're either not on vent or you're clearly incapable of following basic instructions. In either case, you're not raiding."
This also works well for PUG Karas.
DEONA Jun 6th 2008 3:31PM
this is precisely why i am afraid to take deona (level 61 holy priest) into a raid. i'm new, i study........i'm at work right now....shhhhhhhh corporate big bro doesnt like this stuff
so my point is...........not everyone reads the same thing & gets the same point of view. everyone has their own mindset. so how does one person determine if i "get it" or not get it?? that seems some what IGNORANT.....in my humble newbie opinion (playing since january, 08)
Salty Jun 6th 2008 5:13PM
At an absolute minimum, please read wowwiki to find out what has the potential to kill you and what could potentially cause you to wipe the raid. Maybe after you’ve been there and seen it a few times, spend a little more time reading detailed strategies or at the very least participate in your guild’s discussion about the fight. If any of these concepts seem absurd, you shouldn’t be getting involved in high-end raiding.
This is not ‘the rule’ for all raiders or boss fights (many can honestly be snoozed), just for our guild and our raid. Generally it’s just sound advice anyone can follow with a minimum amount of time (probably shorter than it has taken for you to read as far down as this comment).