Come prepared. This means multiple things. It is extremely important that you have your potions (healing/mana), flasks (stonesblood, etc), any specific gear requirements (frost resist piece for saph), individual food buffs in case a fish feast is not available, reagents, etc. Do not rely on others to have these for you and do not rely on the raid to get you through without them. Mana potions mean we can get maximum usage out of you during a fight, health potions make the difference between you dying and giving a healer those extra few seconds to hit you with a heal, frost resist means healers are working much less on the entire raid… I can go on and on, but suffice to say, these things are a *requirement*. This also extends to meeting the requirements to make it to a raid. In other words, if to arrive at a raid requires a flying mount, you must have one. The raid will not be summoning you every time we wipe. Finally, this also branches out to knowing the fights. If we are going to be doing content that is new to you, PLEASE spend the fifteen minutes needed BEFORE the raid night to go to a site like bosskillers.com to view the fight strategies and how the fight works. Just this *basic* knowledge will help you when the raid leader explains the fight and will help the raid get going much quicker. Come prepared to each and every raid.
Back when I used to play tennis I would to bring the following to my team matches,
- A jug of water
- A face towel
- Two cans of tennis balls
- Three tennis rackets
- Head tape
- Grip tape
- Bandanas
- A cooler of beer (usually reserved for after the match, but not always).
Before the start of each match there was 10-15 minute warm-up period. Warm-up served to achieve two basic things, first was to loosen up and second was to size-up my opponent. Fifteen minutes may not seem like a long time, but trust me it’s long enough to know whether or not the guy can hit a backhand, overhead, or volley. It’s enough time to formulate a basic strategy to start the match.
When I attend a raid I bring,
- Three stacks of Honey Mint Teat
- Plenty of Ammo (Mammoth Cutters of course)
- A stack of Blackened Dragonfin
- Flasks of Endless Rage
- Mana Injectors
- Healing Injectors
- Speed Potion (thanks to grizzlypete for pointing this one)
- Mammoth Treats
- Salted Venison
My gear is fully repaired, and my addons are installed and ready. If I’m facing a new boss chances are I’ve read one of the guides over at OutDPS or watched a video.
You will be amazed at how much easier a fight is when you can identify things such as flame walls and flash freezes on your own and not have to rely on someone to call it out for you. When the raid leader calls out an event like flash freeze it means the event is in progress. When you learn to identify these events on your own you recognize them the same time the raid leader does. As he’s calling it out your already on the move, and have saved yourself a few seconds. Those few seconds can mean the difference between downing the boss and you dying and causing a chain reaction that leads to a wipe.
Don’t end up lying on the floor with the raid leader yelling at you saying, “You are not prepared!”
I would add that you also bring some Potion of Speed. On most fights I dont need extra mana, the speed potion will be of greater use to the raid.
I actually do carry some with me. I probably don't use it as often as I should. I added it to the list in the post, thanks.