Call for submissions: Qualities of an outstanding raid leader
by Lisa Poisso 
Jun 11th 2010 at 11:00AM
We're looking for an article that outlines the qualities of an outstanding raid leader. Effective raid leaders obviously wield in-depth knowledge of the encounters ... But how else do they make the raid a success while encouraging everyone to want to come back for more? Your article should clearly explain why successful raid leading means more than yelling at Group X to move to Point Y when Event Z occurs.
Submissions should be between 500 and 1,000 words. Artwork is not mandatory, but any you choose to include must be your own work or from creative commons. We will not accept articles submitted under player names or pen names; please use your real name and email. We'll only be accepting the very best article.
Ready to submit? Read up about our guest post program, then sign up for Seed and submit your article here. (You can't see the article page unless you have a Seed account.) Unfortunately, we are currently only able to take submissions from individuals living in the United States; we hope to be able to accept international submissions in the future. We'll accept submissions for this assignment until 11:59 p.m. EST on Thurs., June 24. Good luck and good writing!
Filed under: WoW Insider Business, Guest Posts
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
(cutaia) Jun 11th 2010 11:01AM
When I lead a raid I end up sounding like a pilot describing the scenery you'll see if you look to your left.
Andhar Jun 11th 2010 11:09AM
You're about 477 words short. Try using some more adjectives.
Andhar Jun 11th 2010 11:10AM
That's a reply to (cutaia)'s comment. Who do I have to kill to get an edit/delete button around here?
(cutaia) Jun 11th 2010 11:17AM
S'ok. I'll stick to breakfast topics. I'm better at chatting than teaching, anyway. :)
pancakes Jun 11th 2010 11:14AM
Aversion to fire.
Unless it's Aran. Then, Affinity to fire.
Miz Jun 11th 2010 11:18AM
Has to be patient and have a cool atitude.
Has to be empathic and know how to calm players down in the various situations that might appear.
Has to know all fights which are going to be done in the raid night.
Has to be able to communicate the tactics in an understandable, short, concise way.
Should have good grammar. While this is more region-dependant than skill-dependant, a raid leader who talks in flawless grammar always inspires more trust in me than a raid leader who barely seems to understand English.
Should always have a plan B. If a healer doesen't show up, he shouldn't just stay silent for half a hour, than disband the raid. He should always have a plan for whatever situation might appear, even if the plan works or not.
Has to have a moderate knowledge of all classes, their skills and their main attributes, both for assigning roles and for distributing gear.
Has to keep up with the news. Has to know when a new raid is released or when the mechanics of a class change, and adjust the raid calendar and raid roles respectively accordingly.
Falcom Jun 11th 2010 11:27AM
@andhar
You have to kill hogger hard mode. It can't be done.
dentonphilip Jun 11th 2010 11:29AM
Shame you don't take submissions from the EU, I was definitely up for writing an article for you guys. Very good title for an article might I add.
SunGod228 Jun 11th 2010 12:03PM
Meh you aren't missing much they pay you like $10 for 500-1000 words IF your article gets picked. And the odds of your article even getting looked at are really really small when you competing against hundreds of submissions.
(cutaia) Jun 11th 2010 12:08PM
Actually, the little 200 word things like Breakfast Topics are generally $10, while stuff like this is $25.
Let's face it, though...most of us who submit articles aren't doing it for the money anyway.
Baba Jun 11th 2010 12:51PM
yeah I was up for a submission (although it'd be phail).
Why can't WoW.com accept EU submissions? I bet it's 'cos your computers won't recognise proper english, for example "Colour" :D
(cutaia) Jun 11th 2010 12:57PM
Thanks a lot Baba...you just broke my video card.
It's not actually wow.com that doesn't accept submissions from the EU. It's AOL's seed.com, which is still technically in beta. It has something to do with the legal side of it and it's beyond the control of the editors here.
N-train Jun 11th 2010 4:04PM
It's because writing an article for Wow.com, while its only a small payment and a one-time thing, it technically counts as temporary employment, and therefore becomes the subject to half a squillion rules and regulations on international labor that the Seed program probably can't deal with.
Maybe when Seed gets out of beta they'll cross that bridge, but until then all our international friends are just kind of stuck.
Bromacusii Jun 11th 2010 11:34AM
my raid leader poses
my raid leader is MT
my raid leader is better than your raid leader
my raid leader is raid leader and therefore better than you
my raid leader leads the raid and therefore has all the rights in the world
my raid leader has a brother who is best raid healer
my raid leader knows i'm best raid dps cause i'm an OPed pally
my raid leader secretly wishes that our rouges/hunters could out dps me
my raid leader has another brother who is second best pally dps
my raid leader scretly lives with his mother
my raid leader would kill me if he saw what i just said
my raid leader likes killing things casue he's a warrior (so uncivilized)
my raid leader.....i don't know what else to say about my raid leader
Neuropox Jun 11th 2010 1:15PM
Paladins OP raid dps? What patch are you on?
krizzlybear Jun 11th 2010 11:51AM
An outstanding raid leader assigns odd goups left, even groups right. That means 1, 3, 5, 7 left, 2, 4, 6, 8 right. He assigns 7 and 8 to whelp groups. He tells his raid to listen the f- up, to dps very very slowly. When he means slow, he means f'ing slow. He takes -50 dkp from people who get aggro because they did not know what the f- to do. He warns about the f'ing tail, and that if anyone in his raid gets kicked into the whelps, they lose 50 dkp again for not being where the f- they were supposed to be.
An outstanding raid leader knows there is no aggro reset. He knows after 2 sunders, you can do damage to it. He tells the raid to nuke it, DoT it, to help the whelp groups, and when on phase 2, to nuke it as hard as possible, to get it down as fast as possible. He makes sure there's DoT's on it on every time, two rows, shadow word pain, warlock curses, rend, everything.
An outstanding raid leader doesn't see enough DoT's. Moar DoT's. At 40% he instructs his raid to stop DoT's. After that, to throw moar DoT's. Moar DoT's. Moar DoT's. Moar DoT's.
(cutaia) Jun 11th 2010 11:51AM
This is simply amazing.
Where the hell did [1. Local] go anyway?
Aedilhild Jun 11th 2010 12:24PM
"Whatever the f- you do, do not stand next to other people" comprises one of the finest moments in online animation history.
Adam Holisky Jun 11th 2010 12:32PM
Today you have won the internet.
Spelio Jun 11th 2010 1:27PM
LOL
PS: Raid leader wants you to "hit it like you mean it".