Things I don't or didn't know about instances/raids....

[MadMikey]

.... and other things in WoW.

Ok, went on a UBRS run. I severly let my team down because I just didn't know ... protocol, I guess.

At the beginning, everyone's asking "Who's got MA?"

Now I know MA is Main Assist, but I have no idea what that means so I just sit back and keep my head down.

So we're going in and I'm selected to receive the SoulStone. Cool. I have no idea what it is or what it's for. We're fighting The Beast and I die. Message pops up "Release" or "Use SoulStone".

OHHHH! That's what it's for.... I get it. So I use it. Very cool almost full health and mana.

We go on to beat The Beast and then we're fighting the General. We get wiped.

"Who has the SS?", I read.......

It suddenly dawns on me what it's for and I just want to crawl away and hide.

Should I have asked? Yes. It was definitely my fault. I felt awful.

So we're all back in front of the General and my party is asking for me to use the Fire Resist Aura (good idea while fighting dragons).........except I don't have it... Never trained for it because I never used it...... again, a team let down.....

Not a good run.....

OK, so what else do I need to know about doing endgame instances and large raid groups. No need to look like an A$$ again......

[stapuf]

Don't roll on the Valor set.

[Creeper]

Ya.. train every spell/ability you can (and btw.. tell flor to do likewise)

Soulstones are for wipe-recovery.. pally's get the SS frequently.. dont' use it until EVERYONE is dead, and the mobs have reset. Then find a safe spot and start rezzing.. rez other rezzer's first.

There is 2 key players in every raid.. MT and MA. MT is Main Tank.. almost always a Warrior for crowd/agro control. This player is important to know about because they are most likely to need a lot of healing. MA is Main assist.. this player (often a Rogue, sometimes a hunter or mage) selects targets. Whoever the MA is attacking.. you attack. Only exception to that is to pull a mob off a healer or mage/warlock. Otherwise.. only use the MA's target. This keeps everyone on the same target, and gets through the mobs a whole lot faster.

Finally.. pallys are back-up healers. Throwing some heals around will make you look like you know what you're doing .. and never, ever die with a full mana bar. Healers hate that crap :p Speaking of healers.. make sure they always have salvation and wisdom... casters in general love those two, although some mages/locks will take salvation and kings instead. Work it out with the other pallys and players .. but generally everyone but the MT should have salvation for agro control.. and most MT's like kings and might.

[strideth]

And of course, make sure to have your MA script up and running. It not too hard, just go to the Macros function in the [esc] menu, open Macros, make a new Macro, give it a name and icon, then enter the following in the text field:

/assist kraeper

where you would replace kraeper with whomever is the MA. Then hit complete and drag the new macro icon onto your spell bar, and make sure you know the hot key for it.

With this, every time you kill a mob, just hit your assist hot key and you will automatically retarget to the MA's current target.

Other than that, just make sure you're having fun ^_^

[Salyavin]

Make sure loot rules are set and agreed on by everyone before you go. Squabbling over loot is one of the things I really got sick of in WoW.

Oh, and be glad you can actually get in a party for an endgame instance.

Cheers,
Salyavin

[Ghost_of_War]

From a Hunter's point of view...

1: If you're going to pull mobs toward your instance group... let the Hunter pull. (Only if he's good.) The hunter can pull a mob much more effectively and at greater range, slowing and crippling the mob before it even gets close. The hunter can dish out between 800 - 2400 damage on a pull against a single level 58+ Elite mob, that's not including Multi-shot and Trap damage against a group of mobs. If Warriors want the aggro, as the mob approaches and the Warriors charge in, the Hunter can Feign Death effectively dropping all aggro.

2: As a Hunter or Lock... Dismiss your pets when taking "jump down" shortcuts through instances. If the pet takes the long way around when you jump, they will aggro the entire planet as they run the normal path down to follow you. (Supposedly this was fixed in the latest patch but I haven't had the courage to try it out.) This mistake is probably the biggest reason Hunters are never found in some veteran raid groups.

3: When fighting groups of mobs, make sure every mob has a Serpent Sting on them. Tab through the list of monsters and hit them all with it. Also, make sure you turn on Rapid Fire and Trueshot Aura and plunk the mobs with Multi-Shot every chance you get. If you follow this mold, you'll always be one of the top damage dealers in your group. Due to the way I'm specced, many times both my pet and I are among the top 5 damage dealers in 15 man raid groups.

[Creeper]

And if you're in MC or Onyxia... don't ever, for any reason, waste a debuff slot on serpent sting.. lol.