I sat on the bench a couple of nights this week, missing out on our second Vezax kill. I missed the first one too because I was out of rotation that day. But you know what? I’m not vexed about it. Because I know I’ll be in there eventually. And I trust that my raid leaders try to pull together the best team for each raid night, including rotating in folks who are less frequent raiders.
And lest you think I am full of hot air, check out this snapshot from my PUG checkers page, which shows the truth in all its glory:
It is important to note that none of my numbers match up. Why? Because I’ve subbed in and stepped out as necessary for the overall progress of the raid and its members. So when I hear folks cry about being sat for a raid here and there, I really can’t help the involuntary /eyeroll.
Sitting People Out — Including Your Best Players– Is Good for Your Raid
A strong raid team has to include backups for every role. Otherwise your MT or primary healer or hot stuff dps go on vacation and there’s no raid that week. Which is not what you want to see happen.
In my guild, we are building a strong core team that is capable of progression while building up our less experienced raiders so we will eventually be able to field our own 25-man raid in-guild rather than in partnership with another guild. And although honestly there have been some folks who whine every time they don’t get to come on a night they’d like to raid, for the most part it has been working out pretty well, because of a few fine points:
- Raiders state their availability in advance in a public forum with a specific closing time
- The raid leader then posts a roster for the raiding nights, also in advance
- Progression nights are not signed up for; they are ad hoc and invites are at the raid leader’s discretion
- The raid leader has explicitly
- If you are raid-ready and sign up and do not make it into a week’s raids, you have immunity from being sat out again the following week
These factors are why this has worked for us overall; the lack of this sort of clear communication is why I have seen it fail in other guilds.
So next time you are sat for a farm night, while some of your less experienced guildies are swapped in — take that time to go do some dailies, or play an alt or otherwise stop and smell the Dalaran roses. Raiding is not all about you or me — it’s about the team. And without all of us being strong, and gaining experience, none of us will be successful.
We rotate, too – it gives us a lot more flexibility for when people have real life come up. We have 35 people on the main raid roster. The way we do it, anyone with more than one of their class signs up in advance to let the raid leaders know what their availability. (eg we have three trees and usually only take two, I don’t raid on Wednesdays.) Then the week’s schedule is posted on Sunday in each class forum. We use raidninja.com for sign ups, and forum posts for last minute changes in availability. It works really well for us.
It’s a lot nicer to be in a raid team that thinks about these things. My most recent Alliance guild had a static 10 group which was great and all… until the nights when any one raider had a reason to not be there that week then we were on hiatus or it took us an hour to fill their spot. It showed a real lack of forethought.