So you want to start raiding or perhaps you are a raider that simply wants to get better. This guide will list all the items you will need to bring to raid successfully. Regardless of whether you play World of Warcraft, RIFT, Everquest or SWTOR, these ideas should apply to you. When you think of raiding, you think of people having a “second job” but it really doesn’t have to be that way at all. The issue, time and time again is that individuals don’t take it seriously and don’t bring everything they need to raid. Hence, their output suffers and so does the raid.
Do you want to be one of those? Didn’t think so. Thus, we have prepared a list of all items you need to raid successfully in most/all MMOs.
A good spec that can put out damage.
It’s simple. If you don’t put out damage / can’t heal well enough / can’t mitigate damage or hold agro and there’s a spec that would likely make it better, you have to use it. Be advised, this writer has always been a proponent of playing the spec you enjoy and are good at. A cookie cutter spec is not mandated. To be frank, most good guild leaders will not care how you do your damage. They just care that you do it.
Knowledge of your class.
This goes hand in hand with the above. Know your class. Know what it can do. Know how to play it. There’s absolutely nothing wrong in checking forums for tips, rotations, etc. There’s also nothing wrong in asking the class leader or just any good player who plays your class for advice.
Repaired/Healed
This changes depending on the game, but we’re talking about durability. Most MMOs give you maybe 10 deaths or so until you need to repair or heal yourself. Be sure to be at 100%. Not being repaired simply means you came unprepared.
Long Durations Pots/Elixirs
Most games have some kind of Elixir or application to the weapon that lasts for an hour or more. These usually increase damage, heals, etc. Bring them. Most don’t even disappear with a death. So, if you raid for 3 hours and they last 1 hour each, do the math. Bring three.
Mana/Health Potions
These are crucial and, you better be stacked of these. This writer recalls as a healer in World of Warcraft Vanilla, having to take a mana potion when I reached 80% mana, about 1 minute into the fight. If we wiped 20 times after that first minute, I had already gone through a mana potion. So what? No excuse for not having enough mana potions or health potions. Regardless of your class, bring these and in abundance. If needed, distribute to those that fail at bringing theirs and ensure they bring them next time.
Knowledge of the Boss fights to come
It takes maybe a few minutes at most to read what each boss does, and watch a video on YouTube and it can mark the difference between a prepared raider and an unprepared one.
Patience
You will wipe. And then you will wipe. Sometimes one person will wipe the entire raid. An interrupter will miss an interrupt and sometimes the tank will be two shotted. Things will happen that are out of your control. Think of raiding as a team game. Your teammates will screw up sometimes. But the goal is to together defeat the enemy and that can only be accomplished by working together. An excellent tank can’t help the DPS, well… DPS. A great healer, can help the tank block. And an amazing DPS machine is not healing the tank. Everyone must work together and if someone screws up, let him/her know they did. Explain why and move on. No finger pointing.
These are some of the most important items to bring to a raid. And not just progression nights, but every single raid, even if the place is on farm status. Show newcomers how your guild functions and what you expect of them. It’s important to show by example that even a farm night is taken seriously.
Do this and you’ll be downing bosses and showcasing your epics in no time, while having the time of your life doing it.
Do you have any items you would like to add? Let us know in the comments below.
