PRATICALITIES: what to do before, during, and after the raid

BEFORE:

1) Be on time! Invites start 15 mins before the raid starts.

PLS make sure that when the invites start, you are on the character you're planning to raid with. Let the one of the officers or even someone in the raid group know in case you know that you can come but will be late.

2) Be prepared! Get potions, food, elixirs, and.....REPAIR!!!

Coming prepared does not only mean that you have few health and mana potions with you. You also need buffs from food and flasks to be able to down some bosses. There is food in the guild bank that you can take for raids. However, remember that you're not the only one benefiting from the guildbank so put something back. Buff food, like everything else, can be bought from the GB for 50% of the AH prices (check with an officer if you are not sure). You will mostly need to get flasks/elixirs yourself or ask an alchemist in the guild to make you some with your mats. If you are short on gold, remember that it's always worth asking in guild chat if someone has spare herbs, fish, meat etc. for sale. Guildies mostly sell for cheaper than the AH, and sometimes even give stuff away for free!

DURING:

1) There's time for joking and time for concentrating.

Listen to your raid leader(s) to know when is and is not a good time to mess around. Although we love joking and fooling around, we also want to down bosses and make progress.

During farm raids, chat is welcome and encouraged on vent. Progress raids are, however, slightly different.  During progress raids, be sure not to talk over the Raid Leader. Keep chatting to an absolute minimum, especially during the boss fights: some people cannot concentrate while others speak.

Even though you might be so familiar with the boss that you can watch a film while fighting, others might not be. Give everyone space to concentrate and give the raid leaders the vent silence they need to call out the specificities of the encounter.

2) In case of a screw up, listen to your raid leader. Wipe or not to wipe!? Don't release unless told so.

Raid Leaders call the wipe, which means that you're expected to die...yes die...so don't go heroically against the big bad dragon. no matter how much you think that you and you alone can take him down :D DO NOT realease unless told so. AND NO KITING BOSSES :P

3) After wipes, get back in action as soon as possible. BUFF- DRINK - EAT - HEAL!!!

That means run back (don't assume you're going to be rezzed unless told so), buff ppl, eat drink etc. We have noticed that the biggest time waste is not the fighting but getting back for a new attempt after a wipe. Classes with buffs should buff everyone without having to be asked to do so. Ok, ok, i know our pallies have difficulties with this.....so we're currently planning a pally camp with the topic: "how to buff in raids"

4) In case of AFK, let ppl know.

Waiting, not knowing if/when someone's going to come back can feel frustrating to others. Let us know if parents, dog, girl/boyfriend hassles you to do something and you need 2 mins or so. Use the little /AFK command so others can see when you're away and when you come back. Do this also when we're all having a break.

5) Don't be afraid to ask questions!

None of us was born with the boss tactics in our heads. If you are even tiny bit unsure about what is expected from you in a certain fight pls ask someone. Explaining takes less time than a wipe and causes less traumas hehe. If you're a bit scared to ask in raidchat or in vent you can always whisper the raidleaders.

AND LASTLY:
1) Be happy! or at least have fun.

Be happy! or at least have fun. This is a game and hence we should try and enjoy it. Blamegames, excessive QQing whether about having to wait, loot, wipes...not appreciated. Remember that raids are group efforts and YOU are also part of the group. This means that if someone needs to be explained tactics or something similar making falling asleep emotes shouting gogogogo won't speed the raid up. They'll only succeed in making Aikon annoyed. Instead you could try and HELP explaining.

2) If you have a problem, please let us (Aikon, Deep, Grogrun, Lyk, Quegan) know.

If you have a problem, feel like you've been treated unfairly, want to know why a particular decision was made and not another please please let us know.  We are by no means all-knowing and you might be quite right feeling hard done by. Remember that if we don't know about the issue there's not much we can do :D