I'm hijacking the latest installment of my sporadic and oft-ignored (:P) series to stress a particular point I and other Officers feel strongly about...
.
.
.
Why should I use the website to sign up for raids?
Before I argue for that, let's look at the arguments against signing up.
I can't be bothered
This is the worst one out of the way first. I pay around £120 a year (about 140 euros) to maintain this website and everything that goes with it (including my time which is about £20 per hour in my current job). Add on another £50 for the Ventrilo server, and I'm already paying nearly twice what you pay just with your one WoW account. If you can't be bothered to register with the site (a process that takes 60 seconds of your time) then ensure you are logged in (15 seconds per month) and then sign up to a raid (10 seconds each time) then I can't be bothered to pick you.
I can't sign in
Before you sign in, you have to register and then your account has to be activated. Your presence in the guild also has to be checked by the website, and that is a process I perform 2-3 times per week. If you are registered, signed in, and part of an active roster, there is no reason you shouldn't be able to register. If it is an internet / browser (get Firefox!) problem, then contact a Custodian and they can sign you up themselves.
I don't know if I can make it
So, you're ready to raid but aren't sure about when you can get logged in. No worries. The best thing here is to sign up anyway. There's a note you can add to your sign-up that informs us of your problem. You can also cancel your sign-up if you definitely can't make it. All info is useful info, and the raid leader can use that.
-
So, we've covered the main reasons against signing up, here's why you should...
Forward planning
That's it really, but it counts for oh-so-much! I would say that those who have lead multiple raids in this guild can be counted on one hand. Maybe it's Anne Boleyn's hand, but it's one nonetheless. So, that's 5-6 people out of 40+ raiders. Around 10-15%. If you look at multiple as meaning more than 5, then half that figure easily. Raid Leading is the most stressful job in the guild, bar none. Running the Guild Bank? A doddle compared with leading a raid. Kicking an abusive player from the guild? Easy Street. Leading a guild of 250+ characters? A cakewalk.
The Raid leader is responsible for the actions of 10 or 25 people, period. You turn up without consumables? Your fault, but it paints a picture of that raid and that raid leader. Not repaired, and it slows the raid down as you hearth, all the while people are waiting and thinking about the RL. Your actions wipe the raid (and this we accept is a consequence of raiding, so I am not saying that wipes shouldn't happen) and the raid leader is the one who gets the stigma attached to them. That's not to say that you won't be remembered for your actions (certainly, we'll remember the unacceptable ones) but your RL also gathers some of your tar. When Raiders get impatient, this all reflects on the RL. It shouldn't, but that's what we accept when we take on the heft role.
The Raid Leader also makes many sacrifices:
- Time out of game (taken from work, rest or play) to prepare for the raid, learning the boss fights, new encounters, balancing raid compositions and feeding back to the Officers and Guild
- Limiting their own raid potential. During fights, I am constantly checking what other people are doing, who they are targetting, who needs healing, who's moving in the fire or standing with the wrong charges. This all reduces my own effectiveness. Hopefully, it doesn't limit it too much, and in fact if everyone is doing the right thing, the impact is minimal.
- Enjoyment of the raid. I have much more constant fun when simply being a Hunter. Granted, no one gets more enjoyment when a raid drops an important boss than the RL, but the peaks don't always make up for the troughs.
- Health. Why should I go to bed stressed because someone hasn't had fun? Why should I fire off emails and forum posts complaining about what happened? See, this post has turned into 'I' rather than 'we' and that's the effect that needless barriers to success have on RLs.
-
So, where are we? Well, where we have always been. Expecting those who want to raid as part of a successful, intelligent, mature, happy, fun-loving, caring, casual raiding guild to do their bit. None of the Raid Leaders want to make decrees that if we don't get enough sign-up then we're not going. But if we want to continue to explore new territory (both our own 10-man experience and working with Divine Intervention to visit 25-man content) then we need people to sign up.
1 minute of your time per week, versus all the negatives. You know it makes perfect sense.
