Welcome to Raiding! (The good)
First things first: You want to raid a specific instance badso bad you can
taste dirty mob blood on your tongue. You want to own this instance and have
the privilege of calling it your own? Then make it happen: READ. Learn about
the instance you are entering. Its a damn good show when you come knowing
about the mobs and bosses. WoWWiki is a good place along with others.

First time in this raid instance? Fantastic, hopefully you're going to have
fun. If you're not sure about something, or need something, don't be afraid
to ask. If you're not sure that you're doing the right thing in a particular
situation, ask someone who knows, maybe someone from the same class as you,
such as your class officer. There will be channels going forward for each
class where you can ask questions. There will also be channels for raids
where you can field your questions. If you cannot get answers this way, ask
someone else in the raid that seems to have experience, or ask your party,
in /p. No one is going to laugh at you for not knowing about something. They
were new once too, and probably have some funny stories to share.

Know and understand what your role is in the raid. If you're a DPS warrior
brought in to tank, have your tanking gear (shieldplzkkthxbai) and make
taking hits your priority, not topping the Damage Meters. Tankadin? If
you're in the raid for healing, that's what you're doing. Be there and be
ready with your buffs and healing. By that same token, be prepared to switch
gears, literally and figuratively, if the nature of the fight (or fights)
changes.

Be sure you've had plenty of rest. Lack of sleep causes delirium and
devastating mistakes. Play calm and relaxed. Drink a beer, smoke a joint,
masturbate to midget sex... whatever gets you in a good, level headed mood.
I think the most important thing is just to pay attention and keep your eyes
and ears open. Watch other people of the same class and/or role as you.
Listen to instructions in vent, ESPECIALLY on new boss fights. Ask
questions, but ask first in a tell, then /p, then /ra if you dont have an
answer.


Pre-raid: Because it's a jungle out there. (The bad)

COME PREPARED TO RAID!!! In MC...right before first giant pull is NOT the
time to notice that you only brought 50 arrows...or 10 runecloth
bandages...or 4 candles. Get your Reagents and gear. Ask yourself if you
need extra. Ask yourself if you have what you need to be effective at a
moments notice. Remember, be prepared to switch gears, literally and
figuratively, if the nature of the fight (or fights) changes.

Repair your gear: That goes for ALL of the gear youre bringing. If you are
hurting on cash to repair, let your Class leader or Raid leader know. They
will then be able to make a better decision on how long you should be in
healing gear or tanking gear.

Get yourself on Ventrillo

On vent:
Vent can seem like a party line, with all your guild friends on at once, but
during a raid or an important pull, it's not. It's necessary to know when,
and what to talk about it vent, and at what times. Keep in mind that some of
these are guidelines, and are not always necessarily true. If you're not
sure when it's okay to use vent, these are good guidelines.

In general, always try to be calm on vent, especially during pulls. It's
tough to not let your excitement influence your voice, but you're easier to
understand and people are more receptive to what you say if you're not
yelling.
Nobody likes people yelling, being an asshat, bitching about situations or
pointing fingers. I stress the yelling part: one it is completely uncalled
for, two it is extremely disrespectful, three it drops your image other
people have about you in a very negative manner. Pay attention and play like
you have leveled to 60 and are somewhat familiar with your class.

Not a single soul (save for one designated by the RL, i.e. class leaders)
should be making combat calls/tactical instruction calls during a raid. This
includes but is not limited to:
-who/where to use the druid's combat resurrection (that's a huge one)
-The calling of targets/objectives in boss fight or otherwise (e.g. calling
for the raid to attack the snake boss in ZG after he has changed form)
-The calling of ability/consumable usage (e.g. "yeah, go ahead and drink
your FR pots" or "Paladins, buff group 4" or "Someone drop a repair bot").

During a pull, there should be no talking except for the raid leader,
possibly main tanks, or other people designated a job by the raid leader.
People are trying to focus on the pull. If there is a problem, don't
hesitate to call it out. For instance, if someone is too close to a group,
let them know. Remember that there are people who are watching out for you,
and people who know how to do their job very well, sometimes you just need
to trust in your team, rather than trying to tell your team of every little
thing.

Between pulls can also be important. Your raid leader may still be trying to
organize something. Going to summon, dropping a repair bot, discussing
healing or tanking. You need to pay attention to this, and wait until that
conversation is done, to avoid confusion. It's often better to ask a
question or have a discussion in raid chat, and listen for a response in
Vent, than it is to talk over someone in vent.

There are breaks, easy pulls, and other times where chitter chatter in vent
is perfectly acceptable and welcome, this is what makes us the guilds that
we are. But, you need to be careful that the discussion is not being
disruptive to the progress of the raid.

LEWTS: (The ugly)
This loot section is mostly just strongly suggested etiquette--no one will
tell you how to spend that karma you worked for--but we can still be bitter
and forever be giving you the evil eye if you decide to completely ignore
it.

All three of the guilds in the alliance are pretty lenient when it comes to
loot, and they are so because they expect intelligence and good discernment
from their members. Be conscious of everything in a loot situation. Don't
just roll because you see a purple. A lot of times, even though that item
you have may be blue, you could serve to pass it to the other guy who is
still rocking some greens--sometimes, purple isn't that much of an upgrade,
and someone else could really benefit from it, helping the raid overall.

Be familiar with what loot is available to your class to avoid stupidly
spending your karma. Often, there are better items out there that are better
geared toward your class than the one that is only kinda-sorta good for your
class. You hybrid classes, on the other hand, have it tough--use your best
judgment.

Thottbot (www.thottbot.com) usually has obnoxiously long threads under
specific items about which classes are best suited for said items. Look it
up, read it, consider both sides, and form an educated opinion.

Lastly, winning a set item (or fancy weapon for that matter) and attempting
to win the better set item/weapon in the same raid instance is considered
particularly douche-y. You won your tier 1 pants? Great. Oh, Rag dropped
your tier 2 pants also?! Nice. Pass it to someone else. Don't be a jerkface.

Final Miscellaneous:
ZOMG, HELP! IT'S GOT ME! So you pulled aggro. It happens. Don't panic and
run away from the raid; you'll just end up having to deal with the mob by
yourself. Run to a tank and he/she/it will take it off your ass. If the
group has AoE going, you could bring it that way too, but yeah. TO THE TANK!
I guarantee, it will save your life and a bit of a repair bill more times
than not. At the same time, we go back to the pay attention and keep your
eyes and ears open. There are times where you need to go die on your
ownaway from the raid. Have the presence of mind to know when that is.
CORN STAFF DOWN! Whether raids or in small groups, the group's survivability
is much higher when the healers are alive than when they are not (NORLY). We
all expect the healer to take care of their assigned group. Be nice and
watch their backs. If they pull aggro, suck it up and pull the mob off of
them and take the bad guy to the tank (see above). Do anything to keep the
mob from hitting them: cheap shot, scatter shot, ZOMGCRIT...anything. At the
least, give them a chance to run off so they can recover and heal
undistracted.
If that's on the AH.... I will tear your face off!
If you get a reputation piece from an instance, the general feeling is you
get it made immediately. For Zul'Gurub, AQ20, AQ40 items, you can just turn
in the pieces and if a little low on reputation you can ask the appropriate
person who holds the items if they can help you. (Speak with your
appropriate officers/guild leaders) What you get on a PuG is of your own
concern, but remember, you are part of guild and those pieces that you get
in a PuG may benefit you very little, and benefit someone else very, VERY
much, so I encourage you to send such things to the bank(s).

Note from a raid leaders:
Screw you guys! I'm going home...: AKA It's all about the fun:
Raid leaders and Guild leadership do the things they do for the fun and good
of all. It's easy to forget that they're people sitting at a computer too.
Personalities are hard to tell when you cant look someone in the face. That
person who seems like an ass might actually be the nicest person in the raid
or that good guy who everyone is friends with might actually be a spiteful
jackass when rubbed the wrong way. Take the knocks of the raid as they're
meant, on the whole. Don't take "Why didnt the healers heal?" as "YOU WHY
DIDNT YOU ****ING HEAL HIM YOU SUCK!" because if you personally do something
you'll be told. Come and have fun, enjoy the sights, build up your rep, get
your items. Sure it may not happen first run, or even your second but it
WILL happen. Eventually you'll not be the "noob" and maybe even be someone
looked up to like you once looked up to someone for guidance too.

We are here to assist you in your endeavors. We also are human, and can
make mistakes. But there is a time and place for such discussion, and in
raid is not it. If you have a problem with a raid leader, his/her style,
the way a boss is approached, etc. do the following: If in guild, speak with
your raid leader. If out of guild, speak with an officer so they are aware,
and then have the officer speak with the other guilds raid leader or officer
for discussion. We want to learn too, so your suggestions and criticism are
good!

In conclusion, remember this: You are playing a game to have fun! Bosses
dont always go down on the first shot. Instances sometimes are just
unlucky. Raids, through all the ups and downs, are apart of the game and are
a blast! You get what you put into it.give it your all, and people will
notice.

Want to thank all the officers from the alliance for their input!!

Good Links to Read up on:
http://www.wowwiki.com/Main_Page (Raids info, etc)
http://www.wow-loot.com/ (Know your Loot!)
www.thottbot.com (Miscellaneous: Quests especially)

This entire thing was forwarded to me by that hunter Adorblaris or something.