We had been deep in the trenches on Gallywix before we finally defeated him, and let me tell you, this boss is no joke. As with most late-tier Mythic fights, we hit that phase of progression where execution hinges on precision, coordination, and everyone knowing exactly what they’re doing. Sounds familiar, right?
What’s been interesting this time around is how much work has gone into our Raid Plan. I’m up to nearly 20 slides now. And yeah, I can already hear some of you groaning. But every revision, every screenshot, every zone marker has a purpose. Or at least I thought it did.
Let me walk you through a key moment that perfectly illustrates something raid leaders (myself included) often get wrong.
The Warlock Gate Wipefest
There’s a point in the Gallywix encounter where we drop a Warlock gate from the back of the room to the center. That’s nothing unusual on the surface, right? This one occurs right before the third coil needs to get neutralized (or using the third bomb).
However, this specific gate serves a layered purpose. It’s timed around canister soaks, or the healer soaks, specifically. The expectation is that the healers will gate into the center to meet up with DPS who are already soaking their assigned canisters, so they can get help fulfilling their mechanic. Sounds simple.
Before this, our healers were stacking with tanks. This change required them to re-learn their movement entirely.
So what happened?
- Some players took the gate too early.
- Others too late.
- A few sidestepped into beams they weren’t supposed to bait.
- The rest just stood around trying to figure out where they were even supposed to go.
For hours.
The Missing Link: The Why
I gave the callouts. I gave the slide. I even drew the lines. What I didn’t do? Explain the why.
Once I actually walked the team through the reasoning behind the gate timing and placement — how it allowed for quicker healing support, why baiting mattered in that moment, and what the positional advantages were — things just clicked. Execution became consistently cleaner. The team died less. We made real progress.
It hit me: as raid leaders, we assume that giving instructions is enough.
But if your team doesn’t understand why they’re doing something, it’s never going to land with the precision it needs. You’ll get compliance, not necessarily the buy-in. And there’s a difference.
Overexplaining vs. Clarity
I hesitated to explain too much because I didn’t want to overload people with information. I thought, “They’re smart. They’ll figure it out.” But I’ve learned the hard way that clarity supercedes brevity when it comes to raid strategy.
Some things are intuitive to me because I’ve spent hours in logs, watching replays, tweaking plans, and seeing it in action in DJs. That’s not true for the average raider. If I don’t walk them through the mental model I’m using, how can I expect them to follow it perfectly?
Ownership Starts at the Top
This ties in perfectly with a concept from Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin. There’s a chapter where the leadership team makes an unpopular call, and the people under them get frustrated — all because no one stops to ask, “Why are we doing it this way?”
If I tolerate confusion or silence, that’s on me. If I don’t create space for questions or curiosity, I’m building a raid culture where people are afraid to raise their hand and say, “I don’t get it.”
And to be clear, there are no bad players, only bad coaches. That includes me. I want to be better.
Next Steps for Us
We’re going to start encouraging more midweek questions in Discord. If someone doesn’t understand something, they should never feel like the only time to ask is in the middle of a pull. That’s already too late. Alas, sometimes it doesn’t always happen though because they don’t know what to ask until they’re actually there.
This happened again yesterday night during our Mug’zee reclear. We had a Holy Paladin in who missed out on progression kill the first time. He did not stack with the group on the second rocket soak and unfortunately he got selected for the third rocket (with the four Gaol set) and it led to him being unsure what to do or where to place it.
Normally, we have five designated players soak the first rocket, then avoid the second rocket. Anyone who gets hit by the rocket receives a debuff so that they won’t be targeted again. By the time the third rocket comes around, the first five players who took the first rocket are now eligible targets for the third one, and it allows us to add consistency to where that third rocket should be positioned, and immunities can be used.
I’m also looking at bringing in a few more CE-level veterans during the offseason — people with leadership chops who can help reinforce strategy across multiple roles and add another layer of mentorship to the team. People who raid week days and are looking for something to do towards the end of the week are also encouraged, so check us out and come apply!
Final Thoughts
Raid leadership isn’t about barking orders. It’s about helping your team buy in, understand the vision, and execute with confidence. Don’t assume they know why you’re doing what you’re doing. Spell it out. Walk it through. And most of all, listen when they tell you they’re confused — even if they don’t say it directly.
Because once they understand the “why,” you’ll be amazed how much faster the “what” falls into place.