Breakfast Topic: When I left you, I was but the learner
by Matthew Rossi 
Oct 26th 2009 at 8:00AM
And then I realized that, without really even paying attention, I'd sort of taken the job over entirely. It just seemed like what I should do: even when I forgot to mention an element of a fight like Gormok's spell lock, I just found myself calmly explaining things in a voice that, frankly, I didn't really even recognize. It was as if I was comfortable telling people what to do. Almost without realizing it I'd started telling people what to do in a raid, and they were doing it. The whole thing was somewhat surreal all told.
So how about you? Ever found yourself leading a raid, an instance, or just a charge across AV without really expecting it? Or are you always in charge in WoW? Are you a leader, a follower, or a bit of both?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Breakfast Topics, Instances, Raiding, Wrath of the Lich King
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Macdoggle Nov 6th 2009 7:34PM
I am the ultimate drunk softball leauge father.Fear my raid leading prowess.
Becca Oct 26th 2009 8:12AM
Recently I began pally-tanking after years of playing a warlock and then a ret paladin. I've started chiming in on ToC and Ony runs about the strategy we're using, even giving advice to raid leaders that I've played with for years -- my former mentors and teachers are now receiving a bit of instruction from me. And while I'll probably never fully lead a raid, as a respected tank, I have a lot of say in how things are done. It's rather satisfying. :D
Daddio Oct 26th 2009 8:14AM
I know how it feels, I played with a small group of friends for a while, all of us in our own respective guilds. Suddenly, I became the impromptu raid leader and I was forming the groups, telling everyone what they needed to know. I even became the guild leader of the newly formed guild among our friendship. It was an interesting process.
AmazonLily Oct 26th 2009 8:13AM
I've never been in charge of anything in WoW unless telling my leveling partner what the quests were about counts (he was too lazy to read the quests himself as he was not much of a reader). I pretty much retired from being any type of leader in a game when I started playing WoW. When I played Guild Wars, I led a guild and several PVP battles (a few guild vs. guild battles), but I found myself getting too worked up and stopped having fun. I'm fine with other people taking the leadership reigns instead. So I suppose I'm a follower and retired leader.
krice Oct 26th 2009 8:27AM
I had that experience when I was raiding with my shaman around the time that Ulduar was released. Towards the end of our time raiding Naxx before 3.1 came out the raider that had been our healing lead moved across the country and was out of raiding for about a month. During that time the rest of the healers kind of rotated around giving healing assignments. As one of the newer healers I never really got put on that duty too much, which was fine with me because I'm normally the quiet one that doesn't say much and just does their job. Well, once Ulduar came out I found myself chiming in a bit on healing discussions and trying to work out what we could do better. Before I knew it I had assist, was rearranging groups, and had all of the healers looking to me for directions even though they had twice the experience I did. It was a bit of a surreal experience and I was never quite sure how exactly it happened, but I enjoyed the role during my time in the guild.
Chukie Oct 26th 2009 8:28AM
As the main tank for my guild its more or less expected that I lead something in a raid despite not being the formal raid leader.
At the very least I handle all tanking assignments. At the worst Im telling the entire raid what to do.
But Ill be honest my "explanations" are terrible for people new to the fights. I tend to take a very minimalist approach to raid leading. You should know the mechanics of gormok so dont be surprised when I say well switch on 3 stacks. I may remind healers to heal the people affected by Jaraxxus' incinerate flesh but I expect the healers to sort out among themselves whos primarily watching for it. *shrug* I wont lie its lead to some hilarious wipes :P
Josin Oct 26th 2009 8:29AM
As a tank, I frequently find myself forced to lead an instance group, which isn't nearly as satisfying as what you described.
However, I have on occasion slipped into the role of de facto raid leader, and found it quite enjoyable. When our raid leader was feeling a bit under the weather, I took to reins and led a group of our newer members through a series of one-shotted Ulduar bosses, including an Auriaya kill with only 9 people. Our raid leader kept the healing assignments under control, but I explained the fights, marked the targets and kept morale high. It was a great run, and I was happy to see a lot of new guild members getting upgrades, as well as proving their skills.
Joost Oct 26th 2009 8:33AM
I somethimes lead raids like VoA 25 or Onyxia and most of times I lead party's. It always makes me so excited when we do get the bosses down. I also find it quite strange that I like to lead such things, because IRL I normally am more of a background person that likes to follow. It just makes the game so much more fun. Can't find a group for VoA why don't just make one and lead it. Thrust me it gives a rush of adrenaline.
Nadia Oct 26th 2009 8:43AM
People in my guild who are still leveling call me Tom-tom. They ask me if they're in the right place to find a quest item or NPC, and about the lore behind dungeon bosses.
LilBanshee Oct 26th 2009 12:23PM
I've had a similar experience, but my nickname is 'LilWiki' because when other people blindly flail around looking for information I just pop open wowwiki and give them the answer. Plus I occasionally read strategies and lore on wowwiki in my spare time, so the line between what I just know and what I can quickly find out becomes a little blurred.
When I started raiding Kara in BC with my casual guild, I wasn't the raid leader by any stretch of the imagination, I just tagged along and occasionally pointed out an important ability that wowwiki said a boss had but which the raid leader didn't mention. A while later, the more serious players left the guild to join a more serious guild and us casuals were left behind to fend for ourselves. With nobody else being particularly well-versed in the strategies, I became the de facto raid leader. Since then, I've led this casual guild through all of tiers 4 and 7, and half of Ulduar. Now, I'm the co-GM.
To this day, I prefer if someone else organizes raids and such, but I end up having to do it because nobody else can or will.
Hoho Oct 26th 2009 8:47AM
Most of the time I just remind people of things that leader has forgot to say. Though on a few Ulduar runs I've been promoted to leader a few times after explaining fights better than real leader.
I'm just patting myself here but I think it's quite nice to get a pug that had 5 people who never got past Kologarn to kill all keepers except Mimiron but get to P4 on first try. Sure, explaining things took almost 5 minutes but it was certainly worth it :)
Firefoenix Oct 26th 2009 8:53AM
I'm usually the quiet mage who would just stand at the back and do my job although when I'm tanking on my Dk alt I find that taking charge is really fun. I also like explaining fights and taking up leadership in places like naxx for fresh 80's.
In battlegrounds I usually don't speak up because I'm afraid I would make an idiot of myself.
Poppy Oct 26th 2009 8:58AM
I take a leadership role, both officially and unofficially, at work. I find it very restful to have others take the lead in WoW and do my best to be a good part of the team and to support raid leaders/guild leaders to do their jobs. So I guess in contrast to the rest of my life, I am a follower in WoW.
Another factor is that whilst I'm a competent player it doesn't come naturally to me, and I'm too busy concentrating on doing my job well to be telling others what to do.
Jayfitty Oct 26th 2009 9:03AM
The first time I ever raided was in Karazhan as an off-tank. My first night there I felt like I had no clue what I was doing but the raid leader was impressed and within a few weeks I became the main tank and eventually became the raid leader. By that point though it felt natural to lead, which is why I ended up becoming a guild leader years later.
curtisrutland Oct 26th 2009 9:51AM
I had a similar experience in Naxx 25. I didn't really start playing until Wrath, so my first raids were OS and Naxx. I came in there not knowing a damn thing. After about 2 full clears, I started explaining fights more clearly than the officer leading could. I got nervous that I was stepping on toes...but he promoted me to a raid leader and I've been leading the guild's raids ever since.
Vogie Oct 26th 2009 9:01AM
While I'm not much of a raider, I do love wowwiki, wowhead, and wow.com... so I tend to be the go-to guy in my guild whenever people want to know something, from rep to lore to various game mechanics.
Ryan Oct 26th 2009 9:02AM
36 minutes after i hit 80 on my main I was leading 24 other people through OS. Tauren are natural leaders. Ever since then I have lead countless raids and I somehow seem to fall in as natural leader.
to bad its just in-game :(
LeggMyMuoio Oct 26th 2009 9:25AM
I haven't really led any raids (excluding VoA) since Karazhan. I don't mind helping new people of my own class, telling them what we should be doing exactly, but leading progression is just too stressful.
Zinn Oct 26th 2009 9:25AM
I sometimes have to jump in as RL for our altraids simply because I'm the one with most experience among them. Our altraids usually consist of slightly undergeared people who want a shot at some tougher content, but can't join our hardmode-raids. I have some alts who fall into that group but also some well geared chars who do hardmodes/heroics every week. I got some great feedback from my RL:ing and noticed I started taking commando even in our regular raids, becoming the "shouter" to keep everyone alerted on things to think about. And it's great fun!
Zinn Oct 26th 2009 9:29AM
I forgot to mention; since I play several different classes I can give info about what different roles should think about. My tacs usually go something like "well as a healer you should think about this and as a tank you have to do that and that" etc. I'd like to see more class and role specific tacs from RL:s overall.