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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsBreakfast Topic: What makes a great raid leader?
by Aiden James Kosciesza 
Feb 20th 2011 at 8:00AM
Raids are a tricky thing. You have to have good tanking, healing, and DPS in the right proportions, people who listen and prepare and pay attention. You have to get those people online and motivated at the same time, and you have to be able to learn from your mistakes and change your strategy for the better. Most important of all, I think, you need a great raid leader.
When I first joined a raiding guild in BC, I was thrilled with the raid leader. He was Australian, so it was great listening to his accent over Ventrilo. I remember him as being very cool-headed and completely on top of what was going on each pull. If we wiped, he'd tell us what had gone wrong and what we were going to do to fix it, and he led us to many victories. He played a tank, a tiny gnome warrior with a shield nearly as big as he was, but he had alts of almost every class and he knew all their abilities perfectly. When he eventually decided to leave WoW due to real-life issues just at the start of Ulduar, the guild tried to go on without him, but it just wasn't the same. I eventually left and went through a few guilds with mediocre raid leaders before finally founding my own. Now I'm once again lucky enough to have a great raid leader, a paladin tank who studies the fights, analyzes the data, keeps his cool and quarterbacks our raids to victory.
What are the qualities that you look for in a great raid leader? Do you need someone calm and relaxed, or does a fiery raid leader push your performance to the next level? Is raid role (tank, healer, DPS) a factor in a leader's quality?
Filed under: Breakfast Topics, Guest Posts
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 4)
MusedMoose Feb 20th 2011 9:26AM
Also, rmokeefe76, Windhorn has a perfectly legit complaint. Being told you'll get some piece of loot if it drops and then having the guild leader change their mind because of something completely unrelated is reason enough to stop raiding with someone. It's a dick move on the raid leader's part, and I wouldn't want to raid with someone if they couldn't keep their word.
BearBryant Feb 20th 2011 8:52AM
i was a guild/raid leader through all of burning crusade and i felt i did a good job of it.
playing a tank was important to me as a leader since everyone knew that i put myself in the role that had the most responsibility. back then you might have 5-7 heals, but almost always less than three tanks.
i was there for the first kael'thas kill when the ashes of al'ar dropped, and it was gifted to me by the guild in thanks for my effort, and as a smart political move by some of the officers to avoid guild drama over a possible guild quit by some newer player after earning such a prize.
as for knowing when to tell people they suck...i was screwing up tanking the elementals during the illidan fight and actually sat myself. people disagreed with me on it, but i knew i was to blame. i sat myself and the guild got the kill in two more tries.
i was disappointed in myself, but the next weak we sure as hell killed it with me tanking. whoever is weakest has to sit...that was the rule, it applied even to me. that is important in leadership.
Garneth Feb 20th 2011 8:55AM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtvIYRrgZ04
Best. Raid. Leader. EVER.
cyanea85 Feb 20th 2011 9:02AM
There's one quality that many people overlook: Raid leaders either need to be capable of, or have someone they raid with regularly who can lighten the mood from time to time. Hours upon hours of wiping and seemingly getting nowhere will take its toll on anyone's good mood and nothing will kill a raid faster than a bad mood.
I kinda co-lead with our GM and between the two of us, we're good at injecting a little levity into our runs and breaking some of the tension.
Neirin Feb 20th 2011 12:41PM
Sometimes I think that's my role in raids. When I crack a joke I can never quite tell if people will laugh because they think it's funny or laugh because they think I'm really weird for thinking it's funny, but either way they stop yelling at each other for the 5 billionth wipe, so it's all good.
Dragonrose Feb 20th 2011 9:12AM
Now, this is gonna sound sexist, but I assure you I do believe girls can be awesome raid leaders too.
My ideal raid leader MUST have a deep, commanding voice. Helps if it's a warrior. Calm at all times, knows the fights, the players he's leading, has at least supperficial knowledge of all classes and their roles. Knows when to joke and fool around (trash, uber easy farm boss) but gets serious when it's time to get cracking and can lead the rest of the raid to behave the same way.
Now here's a little tidbit: I tried to be such leader. I failed at the "can lead the rest of the raid to behave the same way" part and had guildies blatantly disregarding what I was saying, such as:
Me: "Down the left tomb" (Syndi)
Guildies: *rush to free the right tomb*
Me: *watches right tomb break too early and people take bomb damage* ... *fume*
I think I failed the voice part, since I'm of the female persuation. >: /
MusedMoose Feb 20th 2011 9:28AM
Sounds like more of an issue with the raiders than the raid leader to me. People who'll disregard what the raid leader says will do so regardless of how commanding the leader is. Hopefully you'll give it another go someday; the world needs more raid leaders who want to be good at it. ^_^
Winter Feb 20th 2011 9:32AM
One of the best RLs I ever had was an early LK kill, and in a PUG no less. The woman communicated clearly, confidently, and concisely. She knew what needed to be done, told us what she expected of each of us, and we brought him down as smoothly as anyone could wish for.
Spellotape Feb 20th 2011 10:32AM
I would be curious to know why you prefer a warrior ... are you a RL warrior? ;) I see no reason why they have an edge over any other class. My best RL was and still is a warlock.
Dragonrose Feb 20th 2011 5:29PM
@Spellotape
No, I'm a hunter, but since I have a big background of RPGs and the hero is nearly always some kind of warrior (when not given much of a choice, ala Zelda) I guess it makes me biased. Plus it's the "tank" stigma.
Chmee Feb 20th 2011 6:42PM
Command voice really has nothing to do with how deep it is. It does take practice, though.
DeathByPain Feb 21st 2011 12:14PM
We called it the "lifeguard voice" in my old guild. One of my co-leaders had that down. (he was a lifeguard at a local swimming pool irl)
Jejin Feb 20th 2011 9:58AM
Patience and Understanding. That is the glue that will hold any raid together.
jakemaheu Feb 20th 2011 10:28AM
Heh, the last raid I was in had a member from a Chinese guild on our server; we were working on Al'Akir and during the entire Phase 3 he was constantly reminding us of where to move and "don't worry, everyone stay calm" for the entire last phase, down to us killing him.
razion Feb 20th 2011 10:30AM
We had a fantabulous mage as our partner-guild's guild and raid leader back in Wrath. He regularly contributed the most damage to the raid (only occasionally bested by myself near the end of Wrath), but what made him a great raid leader was the fact that he really knew how to explain fights.
He did so almost like a story. He would explain where people had to be and when, what they had to be doing during that time, and so on. He knew every fight in and out for every role, and could give good advice concerning particular roles (so hey, roots is a GREAT ability for Blood Worms. That Nature's Grasp thing you have? USE IT!). What was also great about this particular raid leader of course was that he was always open to people in the raid giving out new strategies to try out.
It also helped that he had absolutely amazing voice. But that's uh, besides the point. ... Definitely.
Kajira Feb 20th 2011 10:42AM
I appreciate my raid leader a lot.
He makes deadlines, and he keeps to them even if it means cutting RL people he knows out of the raid. He makes the fair and uncomfortable decisions (like who to cut) quickly and with actual regret in his voice for needing to make that kind of a call. He never forgets that we're people with schedules and with things we want to get out of a game.
He lets us goof off in raids, but we know that when he puts the ready check up it's time to shut up and run the strategy. His strategies are researched before hand, and he'll test them out on us, but then he has the wherewithal to notice when something just isn't working for US that worked for the STRAT guide, and he'll change it to meet our needs on the fly.
With Jinna of at the helm, raid time manages to be the time I have the most fun in WoW.
Gozzix Goldgear Feb 20th 2011 10:42AM
In my opinion a great raid leader brings all of the feasts, flasks, gives me all of the gear and defeats the raid bosses by him/herself... just kidding of course, but I like a raid leader who is assertive and makes sure everybody is doing everything right, not just waiting around hoping that guy who is standing in the fire to suddenly notice why he is dying and instead tell him what he is doing wrong, how to avoid it, and that they'll be getting kicked if they die the same way again.
Wonk Feb 20th 2011 10:45AM
Oddly enough my first guild leader was from Australia and I joined just prior to BC... he was exactly as the author said, he was clam, knew all the classes and organized not just our guild, but he would get other guilds together for World Dragon fights that were epic on their own.
The accent was very cool on vent and many others were from Australia too, that was almost 5 years ago and I still see folks from that guild on my server, the raid leader used to pop in until about the time of Uldar, when he quit for real life issues.
I missed that guild and never had another leader quite like him and his officer crew.
Oh, and I did have one of those raged filled, rule with an iron fist Kara leaders that you want to hide from if erred... insults in vent, blame in generous portions heaped upon whoever made the last mistake.. yet we managed to clear Kara many times under this self-appointed slave driver.
Odd that I had fun with both guilds, yet so different.
Riptice Feb 20th 2011 11:17AM
My favorite raid leader was a holy paladin that, looking back was kind of a dick some of the time lol, he was tough on us enough that we really didn't want to screw up, but on the other hand when someone did something well, even a small thing he was very quick to award praise, he could be fire and brimstone before and after fights, but during it was always calm and collected. Super knowledgeable and a rather funny guy made for a compelling, if not a little unorthodox RL.
Adoisin Feb 20th 2011 11:30AM
I am lucky enough to have one of the best guys as a raid leader in my guild. He is assertive, he makes a point to learn the fights of whatever new boss we are attempting well enough to be able to explain it to those few folks who neglect watching the video... there is always at least one. He knows how to delegate things he is not 100% sure about, like healing assignments, since he is a tank.
When things go bad, he is able to address the situation without screaming at people and being a general jerk. The other members of the raid aren't afraid to speak up if they have a question, don't understand an explanation, or have a suggestion. Our raid leader is able to offer constructive advice, keeping in mind that people have different playstyles and agendas.
Even better, our raid leader is willing to help outside of just showing up and leading the raid. He takes the time to help others get gear by tanking heroics. He will help someone find that perfect enchant. He helps with quests and advice. He's an active officer of the guild. He's a good person, and his wife, who is a guild officer too, is just as nice and helpful as he is. Our guild is very fortunate to have them in it.