Last Tuesday I took a quick (or not so quick) look at how raid communication works and progresses. Today I want to tackle what might be an even stickier subject – what to do when you have something that needs to be said to/about another member of your raid group.
Note that this is mainly from the perspective of a rank and file raider, since most of the time, that’s what I am! (Ok – so sometimes I attempt to herd the healers too, but I’m pretty new at that, so I’ll stick to LOOKING for advice about that rather than trying to give it!)
The Good:
Joe Q Raider is a member of your raid – everyone knows him, he’s pretty reliable even if he’s not the most talkative of the vent crowd. You notice that Joe Q has done something *really* well tonight. He’s a healer, and the shit hit the fan on that last boss and he solo healed for half the fight. He’s a tank and no matter what you just did back there, those murlocs were on him like he stuffed his pockets with fish treats. He’s DPS and is just rockin’ – and not pulling aggro or standing in the fire.
Someone does something really well – tell them. If it’s a little thing (grats on the new loot!) tell them privately, but when someone does something big and awesome, a little word-fame goes a long way. Just be sure not to give encouragement where it’s not deserved. You don’t need to thank people for showing up prepared for the raid. It will seem insincere.
Anna-example: Last week in Zul’Aman I healed with a CoH priest that I’d never met before, and the run went like butter. Everything was easier, neither of us went OOM, and our healing styles meshed well with little or no hashing out of who was doing what. At the end of the run, I made sure to say something about how I had enjoyed healing with him, and how easy the whole instance had felt.
The Bad:
Joe Q Raider is a member of your raid – but this week he’s not exactly done anything praiseworthy. He’s consistently dying to the whirlwind/volcano/fire/avoidable aoe/pulling aggro. You notice that his gear is socketed all wrong. And he’s running around with a spec that’s less than awesome.
First off – make sure that you know what’s what with Joe Q. If you really aren’t sure how his class works, be *very* careful. Because telling someone that they need to do XYZ and being *wrong* doesn’t reflect particularly well back on you.
Second – if you’re Jane Q Raider, the proper place to discuss a problem with a raid member is in private (see whispers) and not in a public channel. Unless your healer lead has started a discussion of “Problems you saw on that last fight”, don’t trash someone in public.
If you *are* the class/role lead, take it up with the person in private, and if it’s something that can wait until after the raid – let it wait. They can’t regem their gear in the middle of a Tidewalker fight, so save that for a time when both of you are less stressed. The rest of the raid will thank you for not holding them up to deal with something that really is better dealt with in private, when there is not boss-killing to be done.
The only time it’s really appropriate to yell something over vent is if that person is directly affecting the outcome of a boss fight. They’ve missed part of the strategy, and if they keep standing there/not paying attention/whatever, they’re going to cause a wipe.
The Ugly:
A member of your raid just whispered you and trashed you for not having as high of DPS as they do. Someone made a personal comment at you in vent and you’re feeling really offended. There are three things you can do at this point
- Ignore them/it. If it’s something minor, let it go.
- Try to talk to the person. Maybe he/she didn’t know that his comment about assaulting some other raid member’s girlfriend wasn’t going to be well received by the rest of the raid.
- Take it to the leadership – especially if you have an ongoing problem.
I generally take the first approach for a first offense, especially if the person is new to the raid. Sometimes people’s personalities just don’t mesh well with mine – doesn’t make them a bad person (though it might turn them into a Dear So-and-So post on Too Many Annas…)
If it happens again, I take one of the second two options. I’ve found though, that if someone is being a jerk in public, generally the raid leadership knows about it already (if they’re paying attention) and will be taking steps to deal with the problem.
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In short – praise in public, criticize in private, and don’t be afraid to enlist the help of the raid leaders if a conflict gets out of hand. And remember not to hold up the raid with ANY of this unless it’s absolutely necessary. Most of these conversations fall into the “After the raid” category.
