Raidleader chores - Setting out a raiding roster

The number of people wanting to raid at the beginning of an expansion is always massive.  I knew this and expected this, but so many people seem worried about it.  I also made it a point of telling all new players that there are not raid spots at present in the main raid so that it will ease the anxieties of those who are confirmed raiders afraid of losing their spots.

At present, I have:

Tanks: Aimei, Exray

Healers: Navimie, Morzierz, Ravzz, Koda, Amayeti, Baconhoney (Swag), Biship

DPS: Sevrus, Luxygaga, Lushen, Nathamanz, Jazzbangers, Azadelta, Crooked, Kahrax, Haevela, Alca, Una, Duck, Brahski, Dragonray, Ultrapwn, Eq, Souglyy, Vexil, Kelthal

Sars is overseas at the moment but he should have a confirmed raid spot as he had been raiding in Siege of Orgrimmar.  We have too many healers at the moment as well. There will definitely be one rotating out from the raid every raid, and for the first week I'll make it druids.  The next week I will make it the priests and paladin.

There are a WHOLE HEAP of people who would like to raid but at this point in time are subs for main raid.

Disco, Raverager, James, Moopie, Kyjenn, Hwired, Roshii, ChosenX, Urami, Siness, Nokturn, Frostietute, Arelion

Bladewind/Yuda has come back to game and he's really busy these days but I think he might be able to make a once a week raid on Sunday.  That gives me another option for a healer.

As you can see, that's a lot of people.  And those are the ones I KNOW about.  That's a long line of people waiting to take turns...

At this stage, I've got a more casual once a week raid happening on Sunday.  With Kyjenn, Hwired, Roshii and Moopie assigned to that group, I know it can get off the ground.  Will probably offer that to some of the others who are in the sub group at the moment - except the problem is people seem to have this misconception that it's some kind of lesser raid.  I suppose if you look at time it is, but it will be running with some of our most skilled players (and two officers and two former officers confirmed in it) that I think it will be a really fun raid anyway, especially in the traditional Frostwolves raiding style.  I will probably go and heal there and force Bish or Morz as the other officers to help as well, which means a full officer group and some decently geared alts to go as well if need be.  I am looking forward to seeing how that will work on Sunday.

There are enough to run two teams, as many people mentioned to me.  But I am against two teams running at the same time for a number of reasons:

• There will the temptation to stack a team with "good players".  That leaves one lot of people disgruntled or feeling like they're substandard.  Making two teams like that also encourages those people to think they are better than others, and the temptation to break away and form their own guild is a possibility.  The last time we tried two teams in Firelands and Dragon Soul, some players wanted to play with others and when they were separated they were unhappy, or when some players were constantly put with the not so good tanks, it sucked all the fun out of the game for them and they quit playing.  Also, if you have some missing from both teams, how do you decide which team will get to raid if you move players to form one new team?
• I want everyone to learn to play with everyone else, not with just their select group of friends. This is a guild, and raiding is a team thing, where you have to learn to play with everyone. Learning tolerance, adapting to others and new people is part of growing and evolving.  We don't live in a bubble, unless of course you are a Sea pony or a Fishy.
• "But you want to run two teams now!" I hear you say.  The Sunday raid team is different because it's made up of people who don't have the time to be able to raid 3 nights a week, so it's really for those people who still want to raid with good players but only have the time to play once a week.  Perfect for Kyjenn and Roshii and for anyone else who has a busy week where they're on late shifts and still would like to raid.

But look at the amount of melee DPS we have.  THERE IS SO MUCH!  No wonder I do so many heroics with 4 melee players because that's all there seem to be out there!

And then there is the question of Mythic.  How do I get this group down to 20? People have this expectation that we will get to Mythic quickly because we were doing Mythic in SoO.  I assure you, that is highly unlikely and if people are aiming for that as a goal, then they will be sorely disappointed. By the time we get to Mythic there will be some people who are sick of raiding already and numbers will go down by themselves, or more will become casual as we push for better attendance for the main raid. Christmas and New year will knock out a large chunk of raiders as people want to spend time with their families.  Then the school season will start and the players attending university may have to cut their play times with late classes.  By then we will be 4 months into the expansion and those players who played too hard in the early part of the WoD will be feeling the fatigue that comes after playing the same game for 4 months and will naturally peter out.  I would like to get to Mythic but we have never been that kind of guild before, so why would we start doing that now?  I may start having to sit down and plan a sitting out roster for Mythic, but I will do that the closer we get to that time.

There are players within the guild who feel like it is within their grasp to be doing high end Mythic raiding.  I will have to reiterate that is NOT what we are aiming for here. We want to do good progression with good players, not flog ourselves and push hard that people get burned or stressed out.  I want viable, sustainable raiding and not make raiding a chore or feel like a fulltime job and yet I want to keep the relaxed yet serious feel to it.  Geez that sounds like a hard ask. Maybe too much to ask.

Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither was a great raid team.  I'll see how we go tonight.