So, you want to raid? A Tree’s guide to your first raid.

I remember a time when raiding seemed really exciting and elite to me, but also shrouded in mystery.  I had no idea what tier gear was, much less how to get it.   But I wanted to learn.  If this sounds like you, fear not.  Do a quick search and you’ll find lots of posts about what minimum gear requirements you should shoot for to raid the current content, and how you might go about gearing up.  So let’s assume you’re there.  You’re rocking your 1500 or so spell power (for Naxxramas), your mana regen is in order, you’ve got some nice badge gear on from heroics, a couple sweet crafted items that you farmed mats for… what now?

Setting up your system to raid

The first step to being raid ready doesn’t have much to do with your actual toon, but has much more to do with your computer setup and interface.  The first place to start is with making yourself voice capable.  Although WOW has a voice chat interface available, by and large this system is not very clean and the majority of raid groups rely on Ventrilo for voice communication.  It is a good idea to download and install this software prior to putting yourself out there as a potential raider.  The software is free and the initial setup is pretty simple.  You will definitely need to have working speakers for raiding, and most raid leaders will also want you to be able to speak, so hook yourself up with a microphone, as well.  Mics are readily available and pretty cheap.  You can get one for about the cost of a monthly subscription to WOW.  Work on getting your push to talk key bindings ready to roll.

You might also consider installing some addons that help tremendously with raiding.  If you have not used addons before, you will need to find a good platform to download from.  I’ve heard a lot about sites like Curse.com having viruses and keyloggers attached to some of its downloads, so you might think twice about getting your downloads there.  A friend of mine (smooches, Bricco!) recommended wowmatrix.com for this reason, and it is what I use and recommend. 

Addons are sometimes a touchy subject, and personal preferences vary widely.  However, there are a handful that you should very seriously consider installing as a raiding resto.  Most importantly, I’d recommend Deadly Boss Mods.  This addon will provide important information about boss casts and timers and will provide you with important warnings for the raid instance. 

Additionaly, I’d recommend either Healbot or Grid for healers.  Keeva at Tree Bark Jacket has done an amazing job evaluating and comparing these two healing mods in the past month or so, so definitely head on over and check it out before making your choice.  While you can certainly raid without such an addon, it will slow your ability to heal by a considerable amount in comparison.

Finally, you might consider a raid frames addon, such as Xperl, which will allow you to set up and customize your character frames for raiding.  This is such a huge help when you don’t have to pull out every single raid member’s health bar from the default interface raid tab in order to have them up on your screen.  Xperl and other raid frame addons are highly customizable and allow you to set up your user interface in the way that best suits your aesthetics and playstyle.

There are, of course, hundreds of other raiding addons available, and as you become more familiar with raiding you might want to experiment with adding others.  These three, however, I’d place at the very top of my list of raiding addon necessities.

Setting up your playstyle to raid

Wow, you’re coming along nicely!  You’ve got your toon all decked out in shiny gear full of enchants and gems, got your glyphs in order.  You’ve installed all these great addons and have fiddled with them until you like they way you want them to look on your screen.  The next step I’d recommend is to run some heroic instances to practice with your new setup and gear, and try to think like a raider.  Here’s some things that raiding trees do, or should be doing, that you can practice before ever joining a raid:

• Mouse Turning:  do you use your keyboard keys to turn your toon around?  Did you know that there is a much quicker way to do this?  Try practicing turning by holding down your right mouse button and dragging.  You might be surprised at how much more quickly you turn.  For trees in raiding, mobility is key, mouse turning and learning to strafe can be invaluable, which leads to my next point…
• Move around:  Try to run heroic instances that require you to move around a lot while healing for practice.  You’ll be doing a LOT of this in raid instances.  The final bosses in Heroic Nexxus and AN are a good place for this kind of practice, as well as a timed CoT run if you can get one.  Learning to heal on the fly will be invaluable to you.
• Develop your “hive mind”:  Raiding is very much about being a highly functioning part of a collective.  Therefore, try to play your heroic instances with this in mind.  If someone dies and you have mana, res them as soon as you can and immediately put the correct buffs on them (Mark or Gift of the Wild and Thorns when appropriate).  If these buffs drop off over time, refresh them asap.  Try to anticipate damage or problems for your party members and head them off before they happen when you can.  Start thinking of your innervate as not just a personal mana pool deepener, but a group one so that if someone’s mana dips precariously low, you’re casting innervate on them before they need to ask.  Keep HoTs up on Warlocks in your group if you see their mana dipping so that they can tap at will.  Use your battle rezzes as strategically as possible.  The more you develop this group consciousness, the better you will be once you start raiding.
• Know your buffs:  If you aren’t sure what the best food, potions, or flasks are for Restos, check this post by Druid Heal! for a great menu.  In addition, it doesn’t hurt at all to do a little research about buffs available from your fellow raiders.  This way when your raid leader does a ready check, you can hold out for buffs that you may not yet have, but should.
• Rethink your spells:  Spend some time actually reading your spell tool tips.  Think about how they might be used differently when you are in a group with several healers and a large group to keep on its feet. 

Setting up your toon to raid

While raiding, as I mentioned above, is about being part of a collective, there is also a good deal of personal responsibility involved.  It is up to you to make sure that you are prepared.  In game preparation for raiding includes purchasing enough buff food and potions to get you through the raid.  Remember that you may wipe repeatedly, and food buffs and potion/elixir buffs disappear upon death.  Flasks persist through death, but are much more expensive. In addition to pots that buff your character, also bring a stack of mana potions and a handful of health potions.  Drag these potions onto your action bar so that if you run low on health or mana and need a pot you don’t have to scramble through your bags to find your potions mid-fight.  Also bring more reagents than you could possibly use.  I personally bring 2 stacks of reagents for Gift of the Wild and 1 stack for battle rez to every single raid.  It’s much better to have too much than to be casting Mark of the Wild on everyone because you came up short.  You should also empty your bags before a raid of extraneous items.  Finally, visit your local armor or weaponsmith and repair your armor.  It’s no good to anyone if 2 pulls into the raid you need someone to drop an expensive repair bot or you need to leave the instance to travel to a repair location.

Setting up for the raid instance you want to see

Raid bosses often have a steep learning curve, so it is best to set yourself up with every advantage possible before meeting them.  Read raiding strategies at sites like WOWwiki, Bosskillers, and Tankspot.  Watch videos at these sites when available and, if not, do a search for strategies at YouTube.  I personally try to read at least two strategies for every boss and watch at least one video before encountering them the first time.  I take notes, so that I can quickly review the major points right before the boss encounter.  Then I listen to what my raid leader has to say about a boss encounter and the raid’s specific strategy for that fight.  It’s much less scary and confusing if you have some idea going in of what you are going to see when you get there.

Setting up a group to raid with

So now you’re ready to rumble, you master of the universe,  you!  If your guild raids already, ask your officers what the protocol is to sign up for the raid roster, and follow it.  If your guild does not raid, you have a couple options.

1. LFG – You can flag yourself as LFG for the raid instance you want to run, and wait for an invite.  If you go this route, I’d recommend putting “resto” or “healer” in the comments so that you don’t get whispers looking for tanks.
2. Chat Channels – Keep your general and trade channels open and hang around in a city.  Regularly you will see people advertising for members to fill out a raid.  If you see an opportunity for a raid you want to join, whisper the person for an invite.
3. Look for a raiding guild – Watch the official World of Warcraft forums for your realm to see who is recruiting.  Joining a guild is a much bigger decision than joining a raid group, so do all you can to research the guild and get to know one or two members before joining to make sure you like the vibe there.

Whether you’re pugging or running with your current guild or a new guild, always do your best to be prepared and responsive during a raid.  If you are pugging, you may get surprised by a guild invite.  If you’re raiding with your guild, you might find yourself quickly becoming a regular and welcome member of the guild’s raids.

Setting up for your raid group’s organization

Gulp!  You found a raid group and are preparing to go in.  There are some questions you need to have answered before you begin. 

1. Does the raid have a specific chat channel for healers that you should join so that you can see discussions going on amongst the healing team?  If so, join the channel.
2. Is the raid using Ventrilo?  If so, get the Vent info and join the channel.
3. How will healing assignments be given out?  Once you receive your healing assignment, be sure to stick to it faithfully, especially as a brand new raider.  Remember that you are now part of a team and everyone has their own area to be responsible for.  It can be tempting to throw heals around when your assignment seems to be holding up ok, but don’t take your eye off that ball.  If there is a wipe caused by damage spike that you don’t handle because you’re in mid-cast of Healing Touch on some other raider, you may be faced with 9 or 24 pretty annoyed people.  Keep your head in the game and make sure your assignment is your focus. 
4. What are the loot rules for the raid?  Make sure that you find out up front what the rules will be for distributing loot for the raid so that there are no unpleasant surprises down the road.

In these inital interactions, if there is anything you don’t like, if you smell a rat in any way, leave the raid.  Really.  There are more opportunities to raid than you are aware of and another group will come along.  If people are acting like jackasses, chances are they will raid like jackasses.  If there is a loot distribution that seems unfair, chances are it is unfair.  Just because you are inexperienced does not mean you are not valuable.  Be picky. This will have a long term effect because if you make the choice to raid with good and decent raiders, they will train you to be a good and decent raiders, either over the course of one run or over a much longer period of time.

Wrapping it up

Raiding, and even this guide, may seem daunting.  Don’t sweat it.  Just take it one step at a time and don’t let anything hold you back.  If you want to raid, by all means, raid.  I personally find it to be the funnest part of the game, especially with a group of people who have become my good friends.  Our raids are filled with laughter and good times, so that even if we don’t down a boss we’re working on, I feel as though we have succeeded.  The important thing is to enjoy yourself and push yourself to meet whatever goals are important to you.

See you in Naxx!

p.s. Don’t stand in fire!

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