Matticus

Matticus is the founder of World of Matticus, a World of Warcraft blog.

3 Points of Effective Raid Communication

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This is a guest post by Blacksen of Blacksen’s End. Rumor has it this raid leader likes to play funky motivational music before every raid. Don’t forget to check out his blog!

Communication in raids has always been important. For most guilds, this means using some form of voice communication. Several fights require that all raiders are able to hear their raid leader and then make a tactical response. You need to hear about tank swaps on Festergut, Putricide, and Sindragosa. You need to hear requests for tanking cooldowns. You need to hear sudden tactic changes as the fight is moving. You need to hear your other healers when they’re debuffed on Sindragosa. The list goes on and on… Regardless of the fight, really, communication is a key element to successful end-game raiding.

I’ve struggled with communication at several points throughout my raiding career. A lot of guilds pitch that they "want someone who will talk on vent," but the reality is that communication can be intimidating for members, especially if they’re new. For raid leaders, it is essential to communicate effectively with your raid. I’ve found that effective communication made the difference between a wipe and a kill on several occasions.

What to Communicate

What to communicate can be a challenge for a lot of guilds. Whenever anyone says something on vent, be it the raid leader or some key members, the main goal is to have it invoke a significant and positive response. Simply put, you want things said during a boss encounter to evoke a response. Conversely, things that aren’t going to evoke much of a response shouldn’t be said on vent.

Bad example: Don’t call out inhales on Festergut. Very few people will respond (at most, 1-2).
Good example: Calling out tank changes on Festergut. Not only do your tank healers respond, but your hunters and rogues will also switch their misdirect targets.

Bad example: Don’t call out “run-out” after the pull-in on Sindragosa. By the time you say that and it’s both heard and processed by your raiders, the damage will have already been done – your raiders are either already running or already dead.
Good example: Calling out "pull-in soon, get ready to run out" on Sindragosa. Players who would have been tunnel-visioning are made more aware that they’re about to need to turn their camera and run.

Plan it out

Plan out what you’re going to communicate before the fight. One of my most common mistakes as a raid leader is not planning out communication before the pull. In the past, I’ve had an expectation that everyone will know what to communicate, and that’s all we need. With every new fight, however, I find something that’s not really obvious but probably should be communicated. Tell people before the pull exactly when they should talk on vent.

One thing that a lot of people can struggle with is balancing specific calls with general calls. Whenever you’re making a raid call, you need to know when to specify something and when to speak generally.

Bad example: Tanks asking "can I get a cooldown?" The term "cooldown" is too broad. Does intervene count as a cooldown? Raid-Wall? Guardian Spirit? Pain Suppression? Which cooldown do you actually want? The raid needs to specifically know. Asking for just a “cooldown” could result in getting multiple cooldowns wasted by stacking on top of each other.
Good example: Tank asking “can I get Guardian Spirit?” Now we know which cooldown you specifically want.

Bad example: On the Lich King’s Valk’yrs, it would be bad to say "I need a backup stun.” This risks random stuns getting thrown out on all the Valk’yrs by random people. We need to know which Valk’yr needs the stun, and who you want to execute it.
Good example: Saying “Thine, backup on Square.” Thine, a specific raid member, now knows that he needs to execute a backup stun on square.

Specific raid calls are another area in which raid leaders risk becoming unclear. In some cases, it’s better to speak generally rather being specific.

Bad example: Saying “Blistering Cold soon” on Sindragosa. This tells us nothing about the response or how most raiders conceptualize the pull-in.
Good example: Saying “Get ready to run out” on Sindragosa. This tells us what’s about to happen and the needed response.

Bad example: When an aura mastery is needed, it’s pretty cluttering to say “Warel, use aura mastery shadow.” Most of the time, it’s obvious which aura mastery is needed.
Good example: On phase 3 of Professor Putricide, all I need to say is “Warel, go” and he takes care of the rest.

Consistency

Be consistent with raid calls. While a lot of my friends have joked about how I sounded like a broken record player, the fact is that consistent calls lead to a consistent response.

Bad example: On Heroic Lich King, saying "Shadow Trap Ranged" followed by "Trap on healers plus ranged." Each call requires processing – your raiders can’t build an association between the phrase and the response.
Good example: On the Lich King, saying “Necrotic Plague in 3” every single time necrotic plague is about to be cast. This instantly prompts your members to be aware and ready for the impending debuff.

Lastly, let’s talk about how raiders should communicate. Getting raiders to communicate the way you want can be very difficult, but once they get into the loop of things, most of them will execute everything great. The most important concept of raider communication is telling us what needs to happen, not what already happened.

Bad example: On the Lich King, a disc priest calling out “I’m picked up” generally doesn’t mean anything. It requires your raiders to connect “disc priest is picked up” to “oh, this infest is going to be bad.”
Good example: Saying “Watch Infest.” Now all of your raiders immediately know the consequences of you being in a Valk’yr.

Bad example: On Sindragosa, having a healer say "I’m Unchained" means nothing. This requires all other healers to know everyone else’s healer assignment.
Good example: Saying "Watch Group 4" gives us information. Now all healers know the consequence of you being unchained: group 4 needs more healing.

Bad example: Saying “Oh S***” on any fight. Random expletives don’t give us any information and just put people on edge. We need real responses with real information.

Note: Matt is extremely guilty of this. Don’t do it.

Your raiders will also thank you if you tell them exactly what you want said. Tell them the exact phrasing you want. This will lead to a more consistent environment and thus more consistent responses. It takes the burden off of individual raiders for coming up with what you want said, and will likely make them very happy.

Nearly every hardmode raiding guild has a vent atmosphere during fights. If you find yourself wiping due to seemingly random things, see if communication has an answer. Communication is generally an easy problem to address as it has very little to do with tactics or individual skill, but more preparation and consistency. You can sometimes beat the more challenging elements of a fight just by clearer and regular communication

Shadowmourne: What do you do with Vanity?

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shadowmourne

We completed out first Shadowmourne tonight. Fifty (the guy who we gave it to) literally leapt out of his chair and did a lap around his front lawn screaming. Everyone gathered up in front of Darion and watched the 30 seconds or so of RP. Then we took the first step of starting work on the second Shadowmourne with another shard.

And I fear the most difficult decision will come soon when we take down Arthas this week.

Reins of the Crimson Deathcharger
Muradin’s Favor
Jaina’s Locket
Tabard of the Lightbringer
Sylvanas’ Music Box

Several of these items will come from the Unsealed Chest when it is looted. There are two ways we can approach this:

Reward it

Randomly distribute them to our veteran players as a reward and as thanks for getting the group this far. These guys (and girls) have earned it. Everyone that’s contributed to our progression past or present helped make it possible.

Sell it

There is another option. It would be to sell some of these items and place the funds into the bank. On Ner’Zhul, it is not uncommon for the mount to go in excess of 100k. The trinkets will probably fetch 40k-50k gold if not higher. A couple hundred thousand here, a couple hundred thousand there, and pretty soon we’re talking real money.

What would the money be used for?

It would essentially bootstrap this guild into Cataclysm.

1: Professions leveling – Dedicated augments or crafters can utilize some of the gold to power their professions to maximum level so we can gain access to the gear and the enchants or gems quicker. Every item we craft means 1 less item we have to depend on RNG for when we begin raiding operations.

2: Consumables – We wouldn’t have to worry about flasks or consumables for a long time. We can simply purchase the necessary herbs and pump out our own without having to rely on donations of time or money as much.

3: Repairs – On progression nights, we can toggle this on to help cushion the blow of repairs. I’ve seen what a single night of repairs will cost the guild and I had to shut it off because we couldn’t sustain those kinds of costs.

Our current reserves are fair. We have a little over 70k gold from donations and selling of BoEs and other items in the books. No matter what happens, I anticipate there will be some disgruntling. Not everyone’s going to be happy and I’m going to have to prepare for the worse case scenario no matter what decision I make.

I may offer it to guildies first and give them a first crack at purchasing before opening it to the general public.

I had to field several concerns expressed by players on how this gold could help our guild in the present? I told them straight up that it wouldn’t be used immediately. It would be placed in our vaults until the expansion arrives. I’ve stated my commitment for Cataclysm. This guild, this blog and myself aren’t going anywhere.

Of course, things might change. I might meet some incredibly hot young woman at school or something.

But let’s get real.

Assuming you were in my position, what would you do?

The Beta Experience So Far

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*Some light Cataclysm spoilers are in the post*

I’ve been spending a lot of time in the beta recently in between raids. A lot of peole ask me “Why? Don’t want you want to enjoy the experience when its all polished and stuff?” Yes and no. I plan to rocket my Priest to 85. That’s a directive I’ve issued to the guild. We’ll begin raiding operations the moment we have the man power to do so. For the most part, everyone’s bought into that idea. I’m taking the time right now in the beta to explore the world and try out different quests and really take in the sights. For me, the game has always started at the end. The levels in between were just a means to it. But with so many changes I noticed when flying around, I’m going to have to level at least 1 alt to see what’s been happening to the world.

Andorhal a three way between Scourge, Undead, and Alliance forces? Hogger in Stockades? Alliance offensive in Southern Barrens? What’s going on here!?

I want to talk about beta testing for a moment.

I think there are different categories of beta testers. Some like to sit in a city, and cast spells over and over to make sure it functionally works.  Others prefer to fly around all over the landscape and note any rocks that don’t seem to fit or waterfalls that disappear into open air. Players like me prefer to actually do stuff in a practical environment where all these skills can be applied. And others like to wipe repeatedly to test out new boss mechanics. Each person has their own specialty and preference. So if you have access to beta, don’t waste it please. There are a large number of people I know that want to get in and want to help prepare the game for launch. Play the game and send in some feedback. It kills me when I find out about people with beta access who only log in once or twice, complain about its incompleteness, then never go back in again.

If anyone has a spare key, I know a certain Priest from wow.com who would love to test numbers while standing in a capital city.

Chakra

I had a few people inquire as to my thoughts regarding on Chakra.

In a word, I like it.

I hope this iteration of it makes it through until release. If you’re not quite sure about it yet, I encourage you to check out Derevka’s post and his video:

Conceptually I understand it. For me right now, the difficulty lies in executing. I’ve been working on getting into 5 mans and attempting to try different specs and cast sequences. More thought on Cataclysm healing will come later though. I’m going to record a few videos myself healing in the beta and provide commentary while doing so.

It’s a definite unique addition to our class and I hope to master it and share the details with you (to at least help ease the transition process).

If you’re curious about the new Holy Word: Chastise and how it interacts with Chakra, I shot a brief video of my own here:

State of healing

Heal, the spell, needs to work. I feel like I’m doing this handicapped.

Still not sold on the whole DPS and heal mechanic. I have enough mental bandwidth to do one or the other really well, but not both. The game needs to slow down a lot before that can happen. This is coming from a guy who’s played his share of RTS’s and FPS’s and has been able to “read” the play and make the appropriate responses to the situations at hand.

The typical situation I’m encountering in a 5 man goes something like this:

Group has taken half damage.
Tank is continually taking damage.
Matt’s mana is less than 30% and will be empty within the next 20 or so seconds at the rate of consumption.
Do I DPS and utilize those mana returning talents? Or do I drop the quick or group wide heals to bring everyone else back to full and sink my mana even further?

For me, the latter will always take priority. I am watching mana a lot closer than usual. I can’t help but think that if Heal were to hit for the appropriate amount, I’d have a different read. I’m still falling back to Flash Heal or Greater Heal as my answers to the time vs efficiency deal.

I can’t say I’ve ever chosen to use my DPS options. Ever. My job in the game right now is to heal. Its what I chose. I like having the option to chip in on DPS once in a while if I can afford to, but I should not have to rely on DPSing in order to carry out my role as a healer.

Current Legendaries Don’t Count?

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I’m wearing a sad face.

The guild rewards you guys are seeing in game are not hooked up yet. Guild rewards have 3 requirements that must be be met before you can use them. First and foremost, they must be unlocked via a guild achievement. Let’s just say, that for example, you need to complete the new guild achievement "We are Legendary" in order to unlock the Dark Phoenix. That achievement requires the guild to gain access to all 6 legendary weapons currently available in the game. (note that all guild achievements start on Cataclysm launch, so anything you have now will not matter, it must be done with your guild after launch)

Source

It appears my Val’anyr will not count towards that guild achievement. I wonder if it’s because of a technical implementation or what? I understand that players come and go. I’m aware that guilds will rise and fall. Is that alone a valid reason to punish the guilds who are still around who have legitimately worked hard on current content (when its relevant) to earn those weapons?

The Wrath weapons had quests related to it. It would seem easy to simply do a check to see if that player had the quest complete. Otherwise, an inventory check might be needed for older weapons like War Glaives or Thoridal.

Getting Val’anyr took us about 6 months from start to finish. We’re very close to finishing our first Shadowmourne (7 shards away). Knowing that we have to go back and redo or reclear most of the older instances for it even though we already have some of them just so that it counts seems odd to me.

Or maybe there will be 6 new legendary weapons added in Cataclysm.

Or perhaps We Are Legendary won’t end up being an actual guild achievement, but more of a Feat of Strength.

Your thoughts?

Midnight Monday Musings: the Summer Edition

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Clock just turned 12 AM out here in the west coast. Finished a roller coaster of an ICC 25 run. We were short 1 DPS tonight and opted to nail ToGC. We were subsequently rewarded with a Solace and a Death’s Verdict. The two back to back Vortexes on the 4th and 5th special abilities really did a number on 4 of the 5 groups in the raid. But we managed to squeak through in the end.

The blog

First, I want to say thank you.

Thank you for continuing to come and read what’s on the blog after three years.

Yeah, it’s been that long. Many of the people I knew as bloggers have moved on from the game or from blogging entirely. There is a high turnover when it comes to WoW bloggers unfortunately. I wish I had the energy and the time to actively go out to the newer ones and say hi, and welcome.

You can bet I’ll continue to blog from here onward. I may be slow at updating at the moment, but someone has to help contribute to the all the Cataclysm stuff in the future. I’m also working on a bunch of behind the scenes stuff. You’ll see it when its all ready.

The raid

Tonight’s raid felt like a slight setback for me. We were putting in a lot of hours into Sindragosa hard mode on 25. Most of the time on Thursday was spent getting an understanding of the different phases and making minor adjustments to positions. It appeared that we would have been able to continually get her into phase 3. It just seemed like we had a regression night. Ice Blocks were broken too early. Inability to hide behind tombs and getting destroyed by bombs. Players weren’t properly getting rid of Unchained Magic before getting pulled in. Ran phase 3 tombs to the wrong side or not fast enough. It seemed a little more chaotic and uncontrolled. I had to do everything in my power to try to keep the team settled and calm. I don’t get mad at the players, but I do get frustrated at the situations.

The senior staff have been utilizing spreadsheets to keep a careful eye on cause of wipes. An encounter like this greatly magnifies what players can do and what players can’t do. We note what happened, which players involved, and how many times. It’s our hope we can notice and trends or patterns and take necessary steps to address it, even if it means replacing players.

To be fair, we’ve only invested 4 hours so far. We’ll see how it goes. Telling players to take a seat never comes easy for me and I suspect it never will.

The wipes were offset by one of the most hilarious moments in the guild though. On Lich King, we’re on the final phase and we’re going back and forth from one side of the platform to the other. All of a sudden I hear a frantic call on vent:

“Taunt! TAUNT! I FELL OFF THE LEDGE!”

Yeah.

Our tank who was on Lich King backed right up over the ledge and fell off. Luckily our off tank was quick on the ball and grabbed him before he could cause any other damage. He died moments later.

But once we hit that 10%, everyone started laughing and choking. The good thing is that I’ll probably never get made fun of for fat fingering Mana Burn on Instructor Razuvious instead of Mind Control (and yeah, I cost us that Immortal run :\).

The guild and me

I’ve re-learned an incredibly valuable lesson over the past few months. Not everyone is going to fit into every guild. I did a particular strong job of making our loot system known to potential players and turning people away who didn’t quite fit what I was looking for. But it wasn’t until the departure of two players did I begin to question myself and my abilities. I spent a good week having a heart to heart talk with as many raiders and players in the guild as possible. My questions all involved:

  • Why are you here?
  • Are you happy here?
  • Do you have any issues with the way me or my officers are running things?
  • What do you plan to do in Cataclysm? Explore free agency or stay? Everyone’s contract ends when the expansion is out and is up for renewal.

The answers were resoundingly positive.

When I realized that the 25+ group of raiders had no issues, were committed, and were happy being here, I ultimately concluded that there wasn’t a major problem at all. In fact, it was simply a culture clash and a significant difference of opinion. After that, the choice was made to let them go. I figured they wouldn’t be happy here and that’s the last thing I want.

Since then, I’ve started undergoing chemistry checks with new players who get into the guild. Week 1 is to see how they mesh with everyone in the guild. The trial period isn’t just for us to see if we like them, but it’s also there to see if they like us. I’ve been a bit a bit more aggressive when it comes to cuts after week 1. If I get numerous complaints from other raiders, I’ll generally cut them. It’s not a good idea to have a person in the guild where no one gets along with them.

That’s just a complete personality clash and it would lead to problems later on down the road. I’ve had to deal with this multiple times, and those players ended up leaving on their own anyway. It isn’t just chemistry that we look at, but skill checks are also conducted to see what their up times and DPS output is like on a regular basis in a raid environment. If they have difficulty with Defile or Frost Bombs or any of that fun stuff, they generally don’t make it past week 2.

And then there’s the “difficult” player.

They’re the ones who just can’t seem to let things go or continue to make life difficult. They question your loot policies and offer strong suggestions even after agreeing to them in the first place. Or perhaps they offer the raid leader and half the raid personal tips on increasing DPS and better performance the first time they’ve ever been to an encounter. Normally, I welcome advice and feedback like the next guy. But I make it known that it should be done on our forums, not during the raid when we’re 3 seconds away from a pull.

It’s always been my personal belief that a new player should never offer unsolicited advice in the first few weeks of their time in the guild. Only until after they get accustomed to their surroundings should they start volunteering any knowledge. At least, not unless its a really good idea that would virtually guarantee a kill on a boss.

Nevertheless, I’m still on the lookout for more players for the present and for the future. It’s going to be challenging to find someone that fits the mold of what I’m looking for, but I know they exist. I have them in the guild already. Heh, it’s funny looking back at all these predictions of having a fail guild that wouldn’t really get far or that would implode. I suppose that will happen after a heroic Lich King kill or Halion or something.

I’m working on a post at the moment revolving around men and raiding. There’s been lots of posts recently about the whole feminism thing and while I respect and understand it, I wanted to write about male raiders and how motivated, angry men can go out and kill bosses. It’ll be an interesting case study, I’m sure.