Ready Check: Real time execution
by Michael Gray 
Nov 19th 2009 at 7:00PM
I like the phrase real time execution when talking about raid management. It sounds real raid-like doesn't it? We're not fighting these bosses in a turn-based atmosphere. We're providing them some real time execution. This time it's for real, and this time, you're getting executed! No more of this "it's only a set back nonsense!"
Real time execution is not a science. It's a skill and it's an art. When you refer to "real time execution," you're talking about the actual nuts and bolts of running the raid right now, in the instance, as-it-happens, Leeroy Jenkins style. RTE is the on-the-spot management a raid leader performs to overcome performance issues the raid is having right now, which cannot (or should not) wait for down time for remediation.
Real time execution is also noticeably different from long term management techniques. In a perfect world, when you're coaching a raid member, you'd like to be able to document their issues, work with them to find solutions, and tend to their emotions and feelings. During real time execution, however, you want your raid member to stop standing in that fire please.
So, take a look behind the cut, and let's talk about executing the real-time stuff.
1. Establish your protocol at the beginning.
We've talked before about expectations, and how important they can be. The basic idea here is that by setting your raid's expectations for how you're controlling the flow of business, they'll be a little more likely to "go with the program." The idea here isn't to tell your raid members that they're merely cogs in the wheel. You're trying to set up an order of operations, and a basic way you're going about things.
You need to make sure your raid knows that you're reserving the right to make on-the-spot decisions. You can do this on your guild's official forums, or maybe in a pre-raid discussion. You don't have to belabor every point and word you're going to speak all night. But the thirty seconds it says to tell you're raid "We may need to swing some changes as we progress" could save you hours of hurt feelings later.
2. You run the raid.
Most raids are run by some combination of leadership. Guild leaders, raid leaders, loot masters, and random knowledgeable people all come together to help your raid be the best it can be. But at the end of the day, when you're running a raid real time, it's a good idea to keep it to a single point of leadership. Or, at least, keep it to a single voice of leadership.
Every person's opinion matters, and I am committed to the idea that nobody on a raid should feel like a "cog in a wheel." However, as committed to that idea as I may be, it's still very important that when your raid is actually chugging along and downing bosses, a single voice should coordinate the majority of the raid. A lot of raids use class or role leads, but the raid needs to know whose cue they're following.
One person should set the tone, the pace, and the major theme for the raid. While 25 people may not seem like a huge group, it still won't take much for total chaos to set in.
3. Set "talk times."
And while tip number two is still true, people still need the time to be heard. The raid leader should use clear, unmistakable queues that "now's a safe time to talk." Maybe it's in between pulls, or during afks. But let people share their thoughts and ideas during these times. This is the mechanism that will keep "One Voice" from becoming stifling to everyone who isn't that one guy.
4. Keep control of criticism.
I can't even guess at the number of raiders who've told me, "I know they're trying to be helpful, but I felt like everyone was yelling at me." I've heard and seen it from dozens of raid groups, with wildly different styles and demographics of players.
The issue is that frustrating raids are emotionally escalated times. The juices are flowing and raiders are wearing their feelings on their sleeves. In these situations, even a light-hearted joke can feel like a vicious jab. And while the friendliest raid group in the world will know that "Bob didn't mean anything by it," the criticism will still hurt.
This is why you need to keep real time raid criticism and direction solely as your own domain. You must be the only one to supply feedback during real time. Even then, I'd be careful choosing your words. Try to be sure to use friendly and warm language. I know it may seem frustrating and silly, but the idea is to protect the long-term health of your raid.
You certainly don't want multiple people taking their own initiative, and berating one another. That's your job. Presumably, as an experienced raid leader, you know how to deliver that criticism without it becoming biting or frustrating.
5. Keep track of what happens.
Especially if your raid is still growing its skill and experience, keep a notebook of what happens during your raid. You'll want those notes for later when you come back around to coach raid members. Jotting down your ideas and impressions during the real time event will help you remember later to actually talk to your raid members about the issues.
6. Keep an active pace.
Ever notice that every seven minutes of a TV program, commercials pop up? Or that in feature-length movies, no segment or scene really runs longer than ten minutes? There a reason for that, and it's got to do with attention span. Even the most obsessive-compulsive raider is going to get a little bored with non-stop activity at the exact same pace.
Equally, extended afk breaks and long wipe recovery times will drive your raid insane. Do your best to keep these long pauses to a minimum. And if you find yourself wiping on the same boss over and over, take a quick bio in between every few attempts.
The goal here is to keep the raid in a place where you're changing up content every ten minutes or so. You're either cycling through new trash, doing a boss, taking an afk break, or otherwise altering your pace. It'll help keep your folks a little more involved with the raid.
7. Make loot faster.
I don't care if you use Need versus Greed, DKP, a Loot Reel, or a game of darts to determine who gets the loot. And while loot is a complex issue all in its own, the pacing of your loot system should not be. Keep the loot distribution streamlined and quick.
8. Keep your explanations short.
Admittedly, some of the fights in Wrath of the Lich King can be long and complicated. Still, your raid members aren't going to remember 500 spoken words off the top of their heads.
Try and condense your speech to the most important parts of the fight. "When we get to phase two, he's going to spit fire. Don't stand in that." And while it might be helpful to two particular folks to know that it's a special fire that does a specific kind of damage at a particular rate . . . relatively few raid members are going to be able to remember that level of detail.
9. Use consistent language.
Without fail, I can't call the Skull "the Skull." I've carefully put sticky notes up on my monitor, I've thought long and hard to remember the right word. I've even had my beloved fiancee remind me during raid explanations. And then, the moment I hit my macro to queue up a Skull, I'll say, "Okay, guys, kill Triangle first."
Thankfully, my raid is used to it, and I'm consistent in that I reliably put the skull over the head of the right person. Even though I'm not necessarily saying the right thing, I'm at least being consistent about doing so.
If you use a bit of jargon, make sure you're consistent in its use. Don't alter your personal leadership pattern all at once, or you'll throw your raid members off the mark.
Summary: Try to have fun.
I know some folks will read this article and think, "He's sapping all the fun out of the game." But you should still do your very best to keep a smiling face, and have fun with the raiding process. As all these tips and tricks get to be more second nature to you, you'll find it easier to stay light-hearted all the way through.
Ready Check is here to provide you all the information and discussion you need to bring your raiding to the next level. Check us out weekly to learn the strategies, bosses, and encounters that make end-game raiding so much fun.Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Ready Check (Raiding)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
t0xic Nov 19th 2009 7:18PM
'I know some folks will read this article and think, "He's sapping all the fun out of the game." But you should still do your very best to keep a smiling face, and have fun with the raiding process.'
I work 10 hour days. I'll leave the RL'ing to someone else. Do you get benefits and 401k?
velutina Nov 19th 2009 7:22PM
Nice article. Very professional approach. I like that.
Kvothe Nov 19th 2009 7:29PM
Also to take into consideration is the guild-slang that inevitably spawns from a group raiding together. Whenever we refer to the Thorim tunnel, we call it the "Glory Hole" (for reasons no one can really remember at this point), for example. This can make it confusing to newcomers who have no idea what you mean when you tell them to run into the Glory Hole, so part of RTE is making sure everyone knows what you mean by what you say, even if you're following all of the other excellent points listed here.
Muse Nov 19th 2009 7:37PM
Re: skull. My raid leader is the same way. He'll say the name of whatever mob he's looking at right at the moment, not the mob he's talking about. We've all learned to adapt. He gets the marks right and we've hammered in the order they go in.
And, real-time is always faster than the ability to talk. So in a complex situation, by the time the leader is done giving orders, we've already carried them out. Easiest to demonstrate by, "Hey lock, could you *lock starts summoning a portal* put up a summoning *people start clicking* portal please."
Coldbear Nov 19th 2009 7:40PM
Good stuff
Dysmorphia Nov 19th 2009 8:37PM
Apologies for the tangent, but I must know, are you the same Coldbear who made the feral DPS video?
Evilmerc100 Nov 20th 2009 8:16AM
He is indeed.
Coldbear Dec 14th 2009 9:19PM
ummm... yep
Themock Nov 19th 2009 8:20PM
Great article that I appreciate as both a raid leader and raid member. Especially the part about pace. A good pace that keeps people energized and motivated is crucial. Unfortunately, I see impatient worn-out people when looking for more members. If it isn't fast enough people drop.
Vaulkner Nov 19th 2009 9:10PM
No offense, but this article reads like sitting in a business management seminar, where they throw around cheesy, cliched and overly vague terms. You get the feeling that even the presenter doesn't really know what they are trying to say.
"We need to push the envelope, think outside the box, actualize a more pragmatic paradigm!"
To be fair, you were more specific than that, that's just what popped into my head :p.
Kaza Nov 20th 2009 10:21AM
Haha, exactly! I felt like I was sitting in for our yearly business plan meetings/review with the execs. As an FYI to the author, this article wouldn't pass any review I've seen. It reads more like a textbook you would see in business management. IE - Stuffy, unrealistic and overly complex.
I suppose this article is more to set a structure for anyone new or interested in building a serious raid. The problem is there is no open paragraph describing the article as such. So instead anyone new to the scene or looking to step things up could be crippled by this article. Knowing your audience and setting up a structure that works with that audience is the key.
Jabadabadana Nov 20th 2009 4:22PM
There is a reason for this.
Guilds run like businesses, or else they run like military.
By extension, being an officer, and leading stuff has a lot of corollaries to similar real life situations and jobs.
See, you too can learn useful job skills while on your addic... *ahem* past time.
Kaza Nov 20th 2009 4:55PM
These blanket statements are too outlandish. No, not all guilds run like a business or military. The people on this particular site are obviously impressed by the article, however it is not bound in truth. The rules set above could work for a less mature and/or organized guild. To bring these kind of rigid rules to a mature raiding guild would be detrimental to the raiding environment.
My guild is primarily military yet we do not act as such. Most of us are now either in college or business men and women who enjoy playing the game. We can babble on about sports while killing beasts. That by comparison might require utter silence from a less mature guild. So once again the rules of a guild and raid should be tailored to the make-up of that raid. Not some arbitrary rules posted on a site and certainly not in the format mentioned above.
blindlinus Nov 20th 2009 7:57AM
you should also note that raid leaders should learn to be comfortable with delegating authority to other trusted players, especially if they are a tank or healer. raid leaders who are responsible for tanking or healing may want to consider passing the responsibility of making certain raid calls so they can focus on their job (think of something along the line of the sparks forming in EoE), or even the looting responsibility i raids where there is trash to be cleared. it's not a huge downside to have to wait for loot to keep moving, but as long as you're not running headlong into a boss in the next 2 minutes it helps keep things smooth and minimizes afk'ing.
timmy! Nov 20th 2009 8:43AM
Commercials every 7-10 minutes is baloney.
Nice article.
Shrove Nov 20th 2009 9:41AM
"Without fail, I can't call the Skull "the Skull." ... the moment I hit my macro to queue up a Skull, I'll say, "Okay, guys, kill Triangle first." "
I still get a fair amount of flak over the night i asked the MT to pick up X & the OT to pick up Y. Despite all the maths involved in raiding logistics raiding=/=geometry.
OMGitsadinochicken Nov 20th 2009 10:49AM
I think "Use tact" would go with this list nicely. It takes an equal amount of energy to type, "I'm busy doing raid stuff right now, can we do that afterward?" as it takes to type, "I got a million things going on right now, and your request is about 500,000 on the list." Common courtesy isn't any harder than sarcasm, no matter how busy or frustrated you are, and it shows respect for the people who choose to spend their recreation time playing a team "sport" with you.
And it might just cut down on the amount of turnover and recruiting you have to put up with because people won't feel like the aforemetioned "cog in a wheel".
Rob Nov 20th 2009 10:50AM
Good article and discussion! Our (large) guild has an overabundance of RLs and as co-GL i have a hard time getting people on the same page, articles like this I can just point to and say "i'd like you to be doing this".
monkey Nov 21st 2009 4:45PM
Good thing I'm DPS, I wouldn't know how to deal with so much stress coming from just a game. Seriously, I have nothing but respect for the people who dedicate so much time of their own to the guild, and I always try to pitch in at what I consider an acceptable amount, by leaving plenty of mats and gold in the gbank, but I can't see for the life of me who'd want a job like that in a game.