Different raid setup requirements

[Clifford]

Quick background: I co-lead a casual raiding guild and am largely responsible for raiding. We have recently killed Gruul and I am going to move the guild to Magtheridon and Void Reaver before going into SSC.

It is frustrating to switch players for different raids, especially when I don't have a lot of people to choose from, nor can I accurately predict how many tries any encounter will require.

For example: To kill Gruul I had to stop using four tanks (used four on Maulgar with first kills) and switched to a warrior tank (me), druid tank, and a dps warrior (to help on Maulgar). Naturally this means that some tanks were disappointed not to go but at least we beat him. Now I would like to try Void Reaver after the next Gruul kill but this means that I have to bring another two tanks into the raid and move some dps out. Magtheridon has the same requirement.

I am looking for some advice on how others handle this situation.
- Do you force people to be on standby and make the switch?
- Do you use more druids and dps warriors to switch between tanking and dps?
- Do you organise your boss kills so that this is never an issue (tackle bosses that require two tanks on one night and four on another)?
- Is your dps so high that you can afford to bring extra tanks?

Thanks in advance.

[Anaea]

We have the same philosophy about not "stacking" raids. Our answer was hybrids. In Kara we've been actively ensuring that people get gear for their hybrid roles (healing gear for our boomkin, tanking gear for DPS warriors, etc.) after all the mains have had a chance to pick it up.

We're doing Kara and Gruul's Lair right now, and our feral druids know they're being tasked with tank/dps roles depending on the particular fight. Our DPS warriors are building, or have built, tanking sets for Magtheridon. Even our MT (prot pally) has a solid healing set for fights like Aran.

Finding a few people who are comfortable making those role changes and who are committed to gearing up for both might set a good example for others. :)

[Clifford]

Hybrids provide a smart solution (if I can convince them to spec that way), however I have no idea whether they will be in a position to manage in instances that requires 3-4 solid tanks.

I guess there is only one way to find out :)

[Fitzlestick]

I hate switching players after each boss. And I rarely do. At the start of an evening I try to set up the raid so I can do any boss I plan to with that set up. It is rare (but it happends) that I switch people around.

Your standard tank team for a 25-man contains 5 players that can tank. Prot warrior, DPS warrior, feral druid and prot paladin. Out of those 5 you want a maximum of 2 that can not do DPS (prot warrior and prot paladin).

The best way to handle it, is to have the other 3 spots filled by feral druids and dps warriors. They do have the hard task to have both good dps and tank gear.

With a team of 5 like that, you can basically do any boss in SSC and TK and of course Gruul and Magtheridon.

[Clifford]

Good advice - although I guess it can slow down your progress when progressing. I plan to run Gruul, Void Reaver and Magtheridon on one evening to gear the guild but each of these fights require a slightly different combination of tanks, healers and dps.