Why the MT often makes the best Raid Leader
Posted 09-22-2008 at 11:51 AM by veneretio
I've ran with Raid Leaders of a variety of different flavours. It's most common to see the Main Tank as the Raid Leader b/c it's the natural progression from marking targets in 5 mans. It's also very common b/c a tank is forced to understand trash pulls a lot better than basically any other class or at the very least is forced to understand them in a way that affects the whole group whereas other classes that's not necessarily the case. More to the point, a tank can gain an innate gut instinct for how much damage they can take and what "feels" like too much damage and as a result, can determine what needs to be manipulated in terms of healing assignments, group composition, etc as a result.
All this rambling aside though, I think the reason you often to see MTs as the best Raid Leaders is b/c of death or lack there of and because of lack of information.
Whenever I've observed a Raid Leader die... they often need a battle rez to get back into the flow of the fight or they just can't focus on the fight to the same degree without being alive. Now this isn't to say that people that play Main Tanks don't suffer from these same short comings... they do, but the situation just doesn't happen as much.
When random healer/dpser dies... there's still a lot of learning to be done.
When the Main Tank does... the fight is over.
So as long as the fight is still going you still have a very focused leader albeit it overwhelmed with poor vision of the fight, but a very focused leader nonetheless. One that's not going to worry so much about micromanaging the team and won't be getting frustrated by how a particular raid member died b/c the tank can't see that. The tank can see mana bars, who's alive and knows the fluctuation of his own HP in relation to the cooldowns he has remaining though.
When it all comes down to it, Tanks can't micromanage as leaders. We just don't see enough of the fight to do that, but the funny thing is historically the best leaders don't micromanage. In the end, MTs might often make the best Raid Leaders not because we're all good at it, but because the nature of the information we're given doesn't allow us to be bad at it.
Monday Food for Thought
All this rambling aside though, I think the reason you often to see MTs as the best Raid Leaders is b/c of death or lack there of and because of lack of information.
Whenever I've observed a Raid Leader die... they often need a battle rez to get back into the flow of the fight or they just can't focus on the fight to the same degree without being alive. Now this isn't to say that people that play Main Tanks don't suffer from these same short comings... they do, but the situation just doesn't happen as much.
When random healer/dpser dies... there's still a lot of learning to be done.
When the Main Tank does... the fight is over.
So as long as the fight is still going you still have a very focused leader albeit it overwhelmed with poor vision of the fight, but a very focused leader nonetheless. One that's not going to worry so much about micromanaging the team and won't be getting frustrated by how a particular raid member died b/c the tank can't see that. The tank can see mana bars, who's alive and knows the fluctuation of his own HP in relation to the cooldowns he has remaining though.
When it all comes down to it, Tanks can't micromanage as leaders. We just don't see enough of the fight to do that, but the funny thing is historically the best leaders don't micromanage. In the end, MTs might often make the best Raid Leaders not because we're all good at it, but because the nature of the information we're given doesn't allow us to be bad at it.
Monday Food for Thought
Total Comments 5
Comments
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Posted 09-22-2008 at 09:36 PM by Arideni  |
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/boggle | |
| Posted 09-23-2008 at 02:13 AM by Joanadark |
| |  I've thought this same thing before, as well, especially the vision thing. How many bosses do we tank, standing with our backs to a wall so we don't get flung 50ft away, and hence, aren't able to see anything except a screen full of undulating pixels (the boss), and, if we're lucky, our own character. For certain fights (Prince and Nightbane immediately come to mind), I rely heavily on my group to tell me if I'm in a good position, in relation to them, if only because I can't freaking see myself. And not micromanaging groups forces them to get better of their own accord...it focuses them to think for themselves, and as a result, the group as a whole improves. Increased responsibility shows people's true colors: either they rise to the challenge, or they fold and show the group what noobs they really are. And, when it comes down to it, that, imo, is what being a raid leader is all about: not necessarily leading people, as in holding their hand and showing them the way, but indirectly teaching them to lead themselves. |
| Posted 09-23-2008 at 06:49 AM by salihe |
| | As the MT, I like to be the raid leader for trash. It allows me to control the pulls and more importanly, lets me set the pace at which we move through the instance. I know what my group can handle and when they are ready for the next pull, even if they still fuss about being only at 70% mana. On complicated boss fights, however, I would generally prefer someone else call that out, even though it is usually me calling it. The reasons are several: - It's almost impossible for me to see group positioning. I'm generally staring at boss kneecaps and can't see most of the raid members - Crushing blows! If I'm late on a shield block *splat* I can easily take more damage than the healers can catch up on. I'll be happy to see this go away in the expansion. - I've simply got too much to watch on a fight of any difficulty. I'm watching my health bar to know when I need to burn a cooldown and help my healers. I'm watching mob cast bars. I'm watching my rage. I'm watching the bosses health. I'm watching the cooldown on my abilities. I'm watching positioning of the boss mob. etc, etc. If there is a competent ranged raid member that can assist with calling out instructions on a progression type boss fight it allows me to do my job better and greatly increase the odds of success. I suppose this may be a result of running in a VERY casual raid guild. We tend to see a lot of folks change out from raid to raid and the focus on the last 10 people to fill a raid is a LONG way off from the first 15 people. Our raids tend to require a bit more management than the typical raid guild. |
| Posted 09-23-2008 at 07:13 AM by McBash |
| |  ^ This. I can micro manage and control an entire raid on trash. I know when the healers need 10 extra seconds for mana. I figure out fast what trash does what, what I need to tank, what doesn't need to be tanked, where I need to tank it, etc etc. But boss fights? I'm hopeless. I'm way too focused on my job to call out shots properly unfortunately. A weakness? Perhaps. However...
Illidan P4 for example. I just stand there, in the back of the room, watching the Demons spawn. I call out the quick kill targets, call out the timers on flame burst, call out people standing too close. C'Thun is also up there in experiences like this. | |
Posted 09-30-2008 at 11:42 AM by Caulle  |
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