Anyone willing to give me a quick introduction to commanding raids?

[Cuddy.6247]

Hi all, so I've completed the entirety of the Forsaken Thicket raid...and that's about it. However, that makes me almost the most qualified person to command raids in my guild. Speaking of which, if any DINOs see this - hi! I'm watching some videos to get re-acquainted, it's really like riding a bicycle. But I was wondering if anyone could give me some fun tips on commanding. I'm not a terrible communicator, but that's more about being shy - I'm not shy at all, I'm just an idiot.

[Lexi.1398]

Depends on stuff. i'll be assuming you're using voice chat to communicate primarily, in which case i highly recommend using open mic if it's at all possible - seeing a mechanic/know its coming up, pressing the push to talk key, and then saying the words in time for people to respond...is an acquired skill, a skill that takes shy talkers (like me) a long time to acquire xD if you're not used to talking i would reccommend joining a run someone else is leading, and talking to yourself like a lunatic calling out the mechanics (even if there's no voice chat/or you're muted) just to get in the habit of it.

I would always reccomend placing markers (default key alt + 1-8, and 9 clears all markers) for encounters as required, even if your group is relatively experienced (im assuming this is not the case) it helps clear confusion for people, and gives you a symbol to call out if it's required. Marker set ups are differnet per boss, but i would imagine the guides you're using show most of them.

Object markers (default keys are alt + shift + 1-8, and 9 clears all object markers) can also be useful, depending on whos doing what. Some low experience groups like to mark the tank with an object marker, or if the commander is tanking some of them like to mark the next most experienced person with an object to show where everyone should stack. Marking the tank is useful for your healers, and for letting the squad know where they should stack next sometimes, marking the non-tank is useful for showing where people should stack (most of the time people tend to follow the commander tag)- especially if people have to split at any time, like for example marking the kiters on quadim the peerless.

If you yourself are not of much experience i would pass harder roles onto others and just be a dps or dps-boongiver, simply because it can get really overwhelming to try and call mechanics while you're also staring intently just at One Thing and kinda ignoring the other mechanics that aren't relevant to you, once you're experienced with special roles, like tanking and kiting on some encounters, this isn't so difficult to do, but at the start it is intimidating. Don't be me and have your first raid commanded be on a class you're kinda unfamiliar with while also tanking for the first time on one of the more difficult tanking bosses. xD

Stuff not so related to leading, but since you are gonna be the one dragging people into subgroups, it's relevant info:alacricty renegade is 10 man alacrity (doesn't matter which subgroup its in), but it also has 5 man assassin's presence (does matter which subgroup its in) - it wants buddies who are power dps.guardians love each other because some of their retaliation is 5 man, and dragonhunter is only getting critical chance capped if they have full retaliation uptime. put all dragonhunters together.also for guardians: if they're a dragonhunter using perfect inscriptions, they want power dps friends.druid and power soulbeast bring spotter, a 5 man unique buff important for a few classes to crit cap- you ALWAYS PUT BERSERKERS WITH DRUID, power banner berserker rotation does not work without 100% critical chance and it's a bigger dps loss for warrior than anyone else to be lacking spotter (goes especially for improperly geared bannerserkers, who may be using crit food AND require spotter), otherwise alacrity renegade, power weaever + tempest, power chronomancer, and power daredevil + deadeye, all require spotter. if you can't remember feel free to ask if anyone needs spotter, but make sure power warriors always have spotter- most other builds can easily adjust to no spotter.healers go in different subgroups each.all quickness sources are 5 man, so if you're using 2 dedicated quickness supports (2x chrono, 1x chrono 1x firebrand, 2x firebrand) they need to be in differnet subgroups too.some boon stuff can move away from 5/5 subgroups in meta set ups, but i would reccommend sticking to basic set ups with inexperienced groups.

Most of all, be positive and supportive...if your group is wiping a lot they'll appreciate a "we're handling x mechanic much better than we did at the start" or a "great work on y mechanic".