Raid Preparation - Why It's Important And What You Need To Know

Have you ever been in a group project at school where you were paired up with other team members who didn’t pull their weight? Were you the one who carried everyone else to ensure you got a good grade? Being part of a raid group is no different, except that there are more people working together for a common purpose. As players continue evolving in World of Warcraft, content becomes even more challenging thus making preparation and collaboration of raid members non-negotiable. This article will explain what you can do to make sure you show up to raids with your A-Game; ready to give your all for the success and progression of your guild/group.

click to enlarge

One critical piece to staying alive during a raid is armor. Greens definitely have no place in an upper level raid dungeon and as a responsible team member, you should do everything in your power to upgrade these items. This can be done by running heroic dungeons and getting loot that drops from those bosses. Use Emblems of Heroism to purchase new gear from the vendors in Dalaran. You can also fight the two bosses in Wintergrasp, Archavon and Emalon. My Resto Shaman got her T7 pants during her first 10-man Archavon fight. When you do this fight as a 25-man, T7.5 drops. Other upgrades can be found by building reputation with the various factions. In short, consistent completion of heroic dungeons and dailies can help you replace green gear quickly.

click to enlarge

Enchanting your gear is another essential step for becoming raid-ready. Many people undervalue the impact this can have on the effectiveness of their abilities. To obtain materials for these enchants, ask someone of this profession to disenchant any invaluable bind on equip items in your possession. You can also recruit an enchanter in trade chat to do this if you don’t have a friend or guild member with this ability. Don’t forget to tip or barter with your own services! Once you begin raiding, it is a good idea to have enchanting materials on-hand in case you are the lucky winner of a loot upgrade after a boss kill. If there is an enchanter in your group then you’ll be able to immediately equip your new item after it has been enchanted. My boyfriend always carries extra enchanting materials with him on raids so that he can lend them to other team members for this purpose. You should also make sure to fill up all your major and minor glyph slots. Individual upgrades help everyone on the team!

Buying the RIGHT gems for your armor also increases the efficacy of your abilities. It is important to research the various gems available to you before going to the auction house. This will help you select the one that is best for your talent spec. Stay away from the low grade gems! Buy the good kind. Again, the goal is to be sure your character has the maximum amount of upgraded stats available. I’ve often heard others grumble about the cost involved with purchasing the quality gems. It’s true that this can get expensive, but raiding is not cheap. In order to see and experience more end-game content, you’ll have to spend some gold. No gold? Do some dailies or use your professions to make money. Personally, I am only interested in raiding with other people who make the same effort that I do. Guilds that are forced to carry several of their members who refuse to do the work don’t progress as quickly. I was in a guild like this before the release of Wrath of the Lich King and there are several bosses and raid dungeons from Burning Crusade that I never had a chance to see.