How does a noob start raiding

[Mav360 1]

Title says all. How does someone with zero raiding experience (apart from LFR, if that matters) can be introduced to raiding? I see all raiding guids saying they are looking for great players who excel at their class and role, but how can an amateur player hope to join them? Who will take the time and tolerance to teach them the ropes and let them gain experience?

[Stoove 347]

I sympathise with your question. Remember that all current raiders were noobs once upon a time! What it really takes to become a "proper" raider is some time and the commitment to practice and improve. Here are the real key things that I think are important to do before joining the raiding community;

• Have a boss addon like Deadly Boss Mods or Bigwigs
• Consider modding your UI to show you the information that your class requires more prominently
• Practice playing dungeons and LFR with some gear unequipped - challenge yourself to perform "reasonably well" and to survive every encounter. This is really excellent practice for raiding progression.
• Learn your spec back-to-front. Get acquainted with stat priorities and why they arise, and any other relevant theorycraft for your spec. If you post on your relevant class section on this forum then we should be able to help you out in more detail there.
• Practice your rotation. Going into Normal mode progress, you should be able to do it automatically and focus instead on the other things in the fight - movement, etc.
• Watch boss videos to see how Normal fights differ from LFR - sometimes they differ strikingly (Durumu, I'm looking at you!)

While you CAN get into raids before doing these things, if you prepare well and explain that you've been preparing hard, a good guild will recognise that as a great thing.

Finally, when you get into raiding remember that it is difficult. I remember my first raid; despite all my preparation I made all the basic schoolboy errors and felt miserable afterwards, but a good raid leader knows to expect that from a new player and will adjust accordingly. The more you keep working on your play, the more you think about what you could do better, the better you will become.

Best of luck!

Addendum: It also helps to join a guild a little way down from the progression leaders on your realm. The progression leaders will typically have less sympathy for new players, whereas if you can find a nice social guild who're good at raiding you can work your way up later if you so wish.

[Dia 7]

I suggest you first learn raid taktics and mechanics.

Get used to maintain your rotation.

Try Brawlers Guild!!! It will help you get good DPS, needed to advance to higher levels of the guild and will teach you not to stand in void zones, get away from cone attacks, while doing your dps rotation.

Then try yourself in some pug raids with random members. When you'll have some expirience, you can try and ask some RL to join his team.

[Stoove 347]

Another suggestion: get the addon known as "GTFO" - it plays a sound when you're standing in something dangerous. Extremely helpful!

[Krazyito 521]

For me, it was an in-depth analysis of how to play my class. I looked up everything I could about resto druid, and i made so many changes trying to decide how to best optimize him back during T12, on top of watching videos for at least normal modes and getting an idea of what to do.

I think showing people (especially a well progressed guild that have a high standard) that you know the in's and out's of your class and what to do is the best thing you can do to get into a serious group.

Another thing is just to try to pug. Find a random group, be it for current tier, or old tier (MSV/HOF/ToES are all cross realmable) and just practice your rotation in a raid setting to at least get some practice, though I do stick to an in-depth knowledge of your class/spec when trying to get into a very serious group

[Oltier 471]

Additionally to all above comments.

Read our "Additional read. How to master your [class]" sections of guides. ;)

[Dantron 2]

I just began raiding as a healer, I have some experience as dps but healing is new, so some things I think help a noob raider are:

Be clear with the guild/raidleader. Tell them you are new, open to criticism and are willing to use your own time to learn. Don't expect them to tell you everything, you should know the basics of fights and mechanics. ask for advice, say "I'm new at this any tips, please tell me if you see me do something wrong".

One thing I have discovered from sports and such is that most people would rather play with the person working hard and willing to improve than the ass that is good but wont listen.

And as someone else pointed out, don't join a top progression guild.

[Dia 7]

And one of the main things to note. You must want to learn how to raid.If you do, you will learn fast enough. But if you like dont have much time, want to get everything at once and so on, then do not even try. Raiding needs practice to get good at and also some time and patience.

[Halapax 0]

From recruiting stand point, i will assume that you have 0 raiding exp in any expansion, if you had current heroic or normal exp in previous tiers its a plus just FYI. As a reference i am talking about recruiting for groups with progression or full clear on normal, recruiting for heroics is different and i have less exp with that because the only time we were looking for a new player i received several whispers from adequate candidates (similar exp and ilvl) within a minute of posting in trade chat.

First i look at reforging to see whether it seems correct, and things like legendary quest line. For example 500 stat gems in sha touched weapons, if you do not have that i will take a look at when character earned lvl 90 and see if it was possible to earn it. It is VERY unpleasant to invite person who doesn't have a a sha touched gem, especially since older raids have been nerfed and lfr is very accessible.

Next i look at lfr history, assuming you have low ilvl, i will check how often you done lfr's since earning 90.

Yes i do consider everyone even with no experience, however you will have to show that you are active and knowledgegable in your class.

Also, you MUST do 5.0-5.1 raids, i had a healer whispering me with ilvl ~490 and trying to convince me that he doesn't need anything anymore from MSV, Hof or Terrace, it is simply untrue since heroic MSV is approximately on the same difficulty as regular ToT and it grants ilvl above 500 (Even regular Terrace and Hof gear was higher than his ilvl).

Finally, do testing on your own. I usually test my dps on target dummies in 30m-50m damage intervals and do it several times. i used over 10k between ilvl's 505-520 on reforging just to see what spec and gear combination was the best for me, which also helps you to polish off smaller things and get used to cooldowns. Surprisingly during my test i found out that honor pvp trinket (3k proc of stat/spell power, not on use trinket) is nearly as good as DMF relic 2/2 for my class, because it has lower internal cooldown.

So in sum, check reforging of hardcore heroic players of your choice and compare it to yours, be proactive with lfr's until you have full bis items in every slot, and do previous tier raids. lastly, don't go for guilds pushing heroics because it is very seldom that high lvl gilds are willing to teach newer players, start with guilds that are still progressing or have full clear. I started raiding in MoP and i became much better since i was during progression through MSV so its simply a matter of experience and practice.

On side note if you want to get better, find point of view videos of heroic raiders and try to predict what skills they will use, so stop video before pull and think about what u do, than compare with what that person did...And yes do take a look at guides here because they are very useful for low to mid skill players, once you will play class long enough you will be able to understand small niches that you prefer for your own style of playing.

Edited July 8, 2013 by Sanguisvult

[kitsu 55]

most servers will have guilds that do alt runs on off days. if you find people who are more focused on getting consistent attendance and having fun you can at least get experience wiping on bosses, and at best get someone who will work with you to help you progress towards your potential. if you can go on runs where you dont need upgrades, thats even better. i run current content every week and only need somthing from one or two bosses on two toons, and if i have free time i either carry dps for an alt run through msv or jump on my favorite alt to practice its rotation.

it is also important to be on standbye for the entire raid time of the group you'd like to get into. a lot of fresh raider-wannabe's ask if they ahve a spot and log off the second i say no. 20 minutes later someone needs to go and someone else's girlfriend/alt gets carried instead. true, that only happens like once a month and the rest of the time youd just be sitting there doing bgs or farming, but if you put in the time week after week people should notice.

and of course, be gemmed & enchanted and have your own flasks & pots and know how to use them. if you dont have a raid spot you should have enough free time to work up the money for basic essentials.

[Stoove 347]

I think that opinions on what gear/gear level are required by people's guilds are useful but not definitive. For e.g. I don't have the time to run Heroic T14 and nobody in my guild would be expected to - we only raid twice a week and that's a stretch for me.

However, showing your keenness to get into it is essential. I completely agree that spending time waiting to see if spots will free up is a great way of doing this.

[Drenno 0]

Hey! All of us were a noobies some time ago. For me the most important thing in raids is not to say "i have bad gear, so i have worse dps,hps etc.

Im very unlucky person and when all of my raidmates have like 520ilvl i have only 500-505 but still (im healer since WOTLK so i think its a long time) i can overheal them and the others. Be happy in lfr even when you`re 6th or 7th dps and try to improve it, just dont let you think that you`re worse than anyone else cause i think the key to win in game such as WoW is to fight with your thoughts and your brain. NEVER think that you cant do more! and sometimes analyse your own world of logs too ;p

[Shine 144]

Hey! All of us were a noobies some time ago. For me the most important thing in raids is not to say "i have bad gear, so i have worse dps,hps etc.

Im very unlucky person and when all of my raidmates have like 520ilvl i have only 500-505 but still (im healer since WOTLK so i think its a long time) i can overheal them and the others. Be happy in lfr even when you`re 6th or 7th dps and try to improve it, just dont let you think that you`re worse than anyone else cause i think the key to win in game such as WoW is to fight with your thoughts and your brain. NEVER think that you cant do more! and sometimes analyse your own world of logs too ;p

I have to agree.

I have been a tank since TBC (I'm not even questioning the fact that this is a long time) and always keep in mind that nobody's perfect.

I've known DPSers that were below me (being a tank) on the recount meters. yet withing a week or so they always improve.

You don't have to be first in the list, just enjoy it, keep grinding gear and optimize it. dont forget to reforge/enchant/gem and when your DPS is still low on this point. try working on your rotation. Our good friends from Icy-Veins have excellent guides for all classes/specs and even if you feel this is not enough, you can always post about it on the forums here. Just go to the forum named with your class, and make a post. Link to armory and describe your rotation. People are always willing to help.

If you truly thing you're underperforming, try to check out your cooldown usage and keep in mind that during a boss, a 2mins or 3mins cooldown can be used multiple times, and should be used multiple times. This will likely improve alot.

[angos 0]

As a Raid lead, the things that I initially value most in a potential recruit are the "little" things, I expect that a potential candidate knows enough about their class to have reforged and gemmed properly for the current theorycrafting guidelines, has raiding appropriate professions and has applied their profession bonuses appropriately. These are important before I even really consider recruitment, as one of the first things I will do is pull you on the armory if I know the class, maybe a site like wow-heroes which will tell me some basic theorycrafting info if I do not know as much. The next thing I will expect are you to have mumble/vent/etc installed, you have a mic and have it all configured and that you know how to use it. Figure out how to log an encounter, and get a log uploaded to world of logs, most progression minded people want to see what you can do, and logs don't lie... you can not say I do "80kish" the log will tell us exactly what damage you do, what poop you stand in and if you totally fail on some mechanic. Pick a good encounter for you that also has some mechanics to deal with, and do the mechanics right, even if it's LFR. Not all leads will ask to see a log, but if you have one ready to go will be impressive. If all of these things are ready to go before you even approach me I am far more likely to take the time to look at you because it shows that you really do want to raid. if you are as professional and ready as possible it provides a really good first impression. Most Raid leads don't worry too much about gear, your item level needs to be reasonable, but gear is easy to fix, what we ARE looking for is a player who fits in with our raid, is not a jerk or otherwise incompatible, can make raid times the VAST majority of the time and pushes the limit of what they can do with DPS/healing/tanking while being prepared and properly handling mechanics. If you are at 490 ilvl and simulationcraft thinks you can do 110k dps and you are pushing 85-90% of that max while staying out of poop, I do not care that you are low ilvl and "only" doing 95k, you are exactly the person I am looking for.

[Annoroth 5]

Make sure your gear is fully (and properly) gemmed and enchanted, and contains proper reforges. It will definitely be expensive, but first impressions matter, and you want to be seen as someone who is on top of their character, not someone who is sloppy.

[Jenaye 9]

If you are lucky, you can find a few people on your server that play the same spec as you that are well geared. If they're not douchebags, see if they wouldn't mind giving you some pointers. Ask questions. All the research in the world won't always make some of the easier tings to learn obvious.

That being said, pug, pug, pug. Get your name out there. If people understand that you're new to raiding and looking to improve, and always see you out, trying to improve, they'll be more willing to take a chance on you. Kinda what happened to me. I was recruited to wow by a friend because I had endgame experience in a different game altogether, and figured if I was willing to plug away at a single boss for hours on end (fuck you FFXI, btw), I could spend a few hours blasting through bosses on WoW.

don't be dicouraged by being turned down. Use it as motivation to see what you may be struggling with, and work on it until you get better. Good luck to you!

[Stoove 347]

Oh! One other good thing that you can do to look good is learn how to use MrRobot properly. If you can go through simulating your character to making your own stat weights to gemming & reforging optimally, you'll be ahead of a lot of players already raiding.