Eve's Raiding Guide

The first thing everyone should do before they go into a raid is get the proper addons. I very much recommend getting these ones (I'll try to update this after every new release of the addon, but also check for yourself that you are getting the most recent version of each addon):

• Omen Threat Meter -- This one will give you a box that tells you what % aggro you have on your targeted unit. Useful if you don't want to pull off of the tank and die :D
• ZOMGBuffs -- The best buffing aid addon I've come across.
• Deadly Boss Mods -- Perhaps the most important addon to have when you're raiding. Tells you important things/reminds you if you already know throughout the raid and gives you very helpful timers.
• Recount -- Not just for seeing how much dps people are doing, though that is useful. You can also see healing meters, friendly fire meters, etc...
• Cartographer -- Just for the dungeon maps in terms of raiding, but also has some other cool features you might like outside of raiding.
• Atlasloot Enhanced -- Not essential by any means. For looking up loot.
• X-Perl UnitFrames -- Especially good for healers to have, just plain nice for everyone else. Makes everything a lot more organized and a hell of a lot prettier.

• something it might help to know, if you're getting those annoying Lua errors: go to Options Menu-->Interface-->Help-->uncheck Lua Errors
  

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General rules of raiding:

• circles are bad, if you see any circle on the floor--don't go in it, get out of it if it spawns on top of you, circles=bad, they may look pretty but they'll kill you
  
• always wait for the tank to get aggro, never pull if you aren't the tank
• tanks and healers are the most important part of a raid, dps are easy to replace-tanks and healers aren't, so unless they suck major ass be nice to them, don't piss them off and make them leave
• if you're a dumpclown, you will not be tolerated, you will be kicked, if you aren't--god help your group, if you're the raid leader and someone's being a retard--kick them, there's better out there
• vent is important, people who aren't on vent screw up more, tell everyone in the beginning to get on vent or they will be kicked from the raid, it's easy to download, they don't need to talk--they just need to listen
• raid lead isn't just a title, you need to do things if you are the raid leader--gear check, kick people that are wiping your group constantly/aren't listening/doing the wrong thing, tell people how to do every fight in detail for tanks, dps, and healers, if you intend to raid lead and don't know all those things, keep a-readin'
• pay attention!!!!! lots of times when people screw up it's because they aren't paying attention--do not multitask!
• tell people when you're going afk, and tell them when you're back
• ready check before every boss, also usefull before trash pulls if half the group is spacing out
• don't spam the raid chat, it pisses people off just as much as if you were spamming the trade chat or any other chat, it makes the raid leader miss whispers and other people miss instructions, it's bad
  

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Bad things to watch out for:

• people walking in front of the tank a lot, not a big deal if they know what's going on, but that's how a lot of bad pulls happen
• warlocks with their voidwalkers out, it's absolutely useless in raids (unless the raid lead specifically told them to--ei if they're tanking in the back at the four horsemen,etc...)
• a warrior or paladin tanking without a shield, sounds retarded because it is
• tanks MUST be deffense capped, if you are the raid leader, know what it is for the different kinds of tanks or have it on a sticky note and ask, if they aren't deffense capped they can be hit by bosses for crits, which in most cases is very bad
• holy priests should be raid healing, discipline priests should be tank healing, paladin healers should be tank healing, druid trees should be raid healing--if any of these are mixed up, that's bad, the heals aren't the best they can be
• hunters should be using ranged attacks, that's what they're made for, if you see a hunter hitting things with their weapon, that's bad
• a shadow priest not in shadow form, I've never seen that happen, but that would be bad
• a death knight tank that doesn't have at least five talent points in each tree, each tree has a five point talent that is crucial to tanking
• anyone with 71 points in a single talent tree (aka someone who said "hey, this looks like a good spec, I'll put all my talents in here"), unless it's a druid that's speced that way so they can be both bear tank and kitty dps without going dual spec (or saves their dual spec for moonkin or tree)
• if a dps is pulling off the boss, figure out if it's the dps or the tank, whichever it is needs to go, lots of dps like to make raids difficult by pulling aggro off the tank on purpose so they can say "woah, sorry, I'm just doing too much dps /sigh", pulling off the tank isn't hard, they aren't l33t, they're just cockfaces, kick them if it happens more than once
• a good rule of thumb to follow is--if it seems stupid, chances are it probably is

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Loot:

• the raid leader gets to pick the loot rules, do what they tell you as always, UNLESS: people are allowed to switch what set they're rolling for, you pick in the beginning and stick to it
• the loot master will probably say something like "roll for [This is an Item, Hello] ms" or "roll for [Balls, another Item] os" MS means main spec, this is the spec you pickd to roll on at the beginning of the raid NOT the spec you usually play as, OS means off spec, this is the spec you are not playing as in the raid, if no one wants it for main spec you will be allowed to roll on it for off spec
• to roll on an item type /roll and enter, the dice that you're use to in pre-raiding instances will not be used because assholes can click need and say "oh nooo, I meant to press pass, oh well, guess I'll have to sell this", it gives the person in charge more controll over loot ninjas, good news for everyone except ninjas

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Ediquette and Making the Raid Enjoyable:

• no one likes an asshole
• if you don't know a fight, ask someone to explain it if they haven't already, if they have and you don't understand, ask them to clarify, everyone would rather spend extra time explaining than extra time and money on repairs wiping
• don't call people noobs or anything like that, it's not constructive, if you do it all you're doing is hurting someone's feelings and being useless other wise in that regard, it doesn't make you cool--it makes you an ass
  
• you don't have to like everyone, but you do have to be polite to them, if someone's being a dick, tell the raid leader to kick them if it's bothering you a lot, it all comes down to whether you're having fun or not, it is a game afterall
• don't show off by pulling off the tank or posting (or asking other people to post) the dps meters every trash pull, it just makes you look like a dick and it annoys the hell out of everyone, the only time you should post a any meter is if the raid leader asks you to
• discipline priests show up low on the healing meters because most of their heals are based on shields, at a certain point you can tell if it's painfully low, but other wise shut your mouth, asshole healers who make fun of disc priests are worse than asshole dps who post dps meters every second
• generally, it's not a good idea to swear as much as I am in this guide (or in my whole blog actually >.< ), WoW is a somewhat simple game that attracts simple minds including kids, usually you don't want to say anything you wouldn't say in a 5th grade classroom, I only swear and do filthy emotes when I'm in a group that I know everyone's mature enough to handle it

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guides for specific raids

Naxxramas

[more soon]