The Game Outside the Game

Intro

If anyone thinks that being in game a few nights a week is enough to run a successful raid (in the current format and format for the last decade), you are sorely mistaken.  The amount of time outside of game is a huge time commitment and I feel a necessity to establish a framework and provide the building blocks for a successful guild and raid team.  Let me take some folks down the path I have chosen as a RL and co-GL.  This is what I do and is by no means a template of success, but is the way I do it and I do it....MY WAYYYYYYYY....little Frankie S for the older folks...

Raid Leading Initiation

As promised, I will dedicate an entire blog post to raid leading one day, this isn't it yet, so if you waiting for it, stop reading now and Google Goatsee and wait for that dedicated RL blog entry. (FWIW, I have never watched the Goatsee stuff, I am still too scared)

I have a tough time recalling when I took over as the raid leader for DGF/Broken.  I had always been involved as a heal lead, but not as a raid leader. I'd have to say I became the "voice" sometime in WOTLK so let's use that as a ballpark time frame.  I had no idea what I was doing except that I made sure heals were covered across the raid, knew the general strat (they weren't as easy to come by.  No IV or Youtube or dungeon/raid journal, OMG THE HORROR!), and assign a person to do something special if necessary, like on BQ in ICC, who to bite next, etc.  CDs were not as pivotal as now, maybe possibly they were, but I was not in the know at the time.  Back then tank healing was HUGE.  Most of the damage was tank damage and keeping tanks alive oftentimes meant the difference between a kill and no kill, I will be blogging on the history of healing soon as well, so stay tuned, I know you all cannot wait!  Tank and raid healing assignments were of such importance they were specifically assigned and I even assigned Paladins on who to beacon of light as the heals were 100% transferred (yeah, it was OP, but pallys were number 1 and essential tank healers in WOTLK). Additionally,  we were raiding 25 and 10s.  So, how much time did I dedicate outside of game in WOTLK?  Comparatively nothing as compared to Cata and MoP, but it also showed in progression as we did well and had fun, but not heroic clears and no regulation end boss kills. 

The Change

Broken rebuilt yet again after WOTLK and into Cata.  We opted for a more serious approach to raiding and the introduction of EPGP.  At that point there were 4 of us running the guild.  Blood as GL, me as Assistant GL, Horn, and Wornight as officers.  Titles be gone, we all had a voice and near equal share in all guild decisions.  We would email each other daily.  At least 5 emails sent a person especially after a raid night.  I would always send out an email the morning after a raid and call it 'Last Night Debrief'.  We would discuss issues or success and steps forward for the guild.  We achieved our first ever full clear in T11 with a Nef kill and the time out of game and my experience and time as the raid leader was finally paying some dividends.  I would say I spent about 10 hours a week outside of game in Cata.

MoP

I blogged already about the guild move and my "different" role in a new guild, but the major point is my time went up from 10 hours in Cata to I would venture to say 15-20 outside of game.


SO WHERE DOES ALL THE TIME GO YOU ASK?!?!?

Guild Leadership Communication

Outside of game being in constant communication with your other officers on guild matters is important.  All being on the same page and showing the same face to the guild is important.

Recruiting

The worst part of the game IMO.  Recruiting is a huge time sink and the hardest part and most challenging part in WOW.  I also hate it more than anything else.  I feel dirty and angry when I have to recruit.

Team Communication

I established this in MoP, but I have most of my raiders emails or phone numbers so I can communicate with them.  Forums are becoming sort of old Internet, so using text or emails is becoming my method of choice to get a fast message to the team. No, I do not send them "weiner" pics either.

Raid Team Continuity

Week to week, balancing real life schedules and needing backups is a huge time sink.  This is where having raiders personal info allows me to reach out to them and see if I can fill open raid spots.  Planning out a team's raid schedule a month in advance is not easy and takes time.  I oftentimes print the next month out and start marking it up and preparing a plan and backup raid nights.


Forum Moderating

As a RL or GL you have to read EVERY message on the forum.  Yes, everyone.  This allows a leader to have a pulse of what is going on out there and to put out any fires if necessary.

Guild Documents

Authoring guild documents such as guiding principles or loot policy or whatever it may be.  Yeah, more time, those documents do not write themselves.

Diffusion

Keeping raiders happy and addressing their needs via vent or email and diffusing any ugly situations happens many times offline.

Raid Logs

Analysis of raid logs is a big part of every RL's job

Boss Strats

Normal and Heroic raid strats from more than 1 source

WOW Forums

To find tips and tricks on bosses

In Game

Being on twice a week is not enough.  As a raid and guild leader you need to be on more.  I am on everyday almost, but then again, I have issues.  There is a happy medium here, but I haven't found it yet.

Blogging
;)

You Ready to Guild and Raid Lead Yet?

Can it be a second job? YYEEESS!!  Does it have to be?  Not necessarily, but I have seen a direct correlation of success with time leaders spend in and out of game in relation to a guild's and a raid teams success.  I would like to think that if I did have a second job that actually paid how much more money I would have rather than spend $15 a month to spend 10-20 hours outside of game each week.  The thought keeps me up at night sometimes, but then I realize I love this sh*t.

Conclusion

I am not looking for any poor Mav type crap here, but rather this is a brief glimpse of the time I try and put in.  This is a game, yeah, I get that, but it also feels like so much more to me.   I re-read this blog post and feel like it needs more validation and more words and descriptions and stories, but haven't I already just added MORE time to my outside of game time to write this blog?  The irony is sort of silly.  See you all in game or outside of game, whichever you prefer, I'll be in either place.  ;)