Perhaps the greatest responsibility of a guild or raid leader is to remain, or at least look like they remain, in control. This both ensures that things run smoothly, and reassures your group of players that there is someone capable in charge. But how to gain the confidence and respect of your raiders, and stay in control? Here are 10 golden rules that will help you do so.

1. Be patient.

Patience is perhaps the most important virtue for a raid/guild leader. You must be patient and remain so through the five million wipes, people who misunderstand tactics, people who don’t listen to tactics, people who suddenly have to go after wipes on progression bosses, that guy who just can’t kill his ghosts/dance/not stand in the fire/explode in the right place. No matter what you do, don’t lose your temper – remember, all your raiders are looking up to you and your mood will be contagious.

2. Avoid public displays of emotion, especially negative ones.

This is an extension of being patient. Never be openly mad over voice or raid chat. Aside from not being constructive and affecting morale, the raid will be much better served and will be more fun if you will remain calm. Likewise, if you are annoyed or sad, if things are going badly, it’s best to keep your cool instead of giving your raid the message that things are about to fall apart. Be firm, be assertive, but never angry.

Furthermore, make sure the same rule is enforced among your guild/raid members too. Do not attempt to resolve highly charged issues publicly, take them to whispers or chat channels.

3. Be impartial.

Impartiality matters a lot. Whatever dispute you are presented with to resolve, never take sides, publicly or privately. Taking sides is the easiest way to antagonize people in your guild or raid group.

4. Read the mood of your raiders/guildies.

Being able to read the mood of the people you are in charge of is an important skill. Get a feel for how your raiders are, and try to act accordingly. Is your raid discouraged after countless wipes? Maybe it’s time for a pep talk or maybe you should switch bosses. Is your raid in a great mood and determined to succeed? You could just go try that boss that you couldn’t beat for ages. If everyone is tired, maybe it’s time for a raid break. A raid whose leader is empathetic will have a higher success rate than one whose raid leader is not.

5. Have a clear ruleset and make sure the rules are enforced.

This basic rule is often overlooked. Setting down clearly defined rules is one of the most important responsibilites of any leadership. Make sure the rules, and the penalty for not following them, are put down in writing someplace everyone can see them, for example, your guild forums. Encourage everyone to read them and abide by them. Then make sure the rules are enforced and those that do not follow them are appropriately penalized. Yes, even yourself and your officers. There is only one thing that looks worse than a leader who thinks they are above the rules – and that’s the leader who is unaware of the rules of his own guild.

6. Know your stuff.

It’s easy! Know the rules of your own guild/raid (it’s amazing how many people who call themselves leaders don’t bother!). Know the tactics for every boss. Know the easiest ways to kill trash. Know the abilities of not only your own, but each and every class, and the best way for every class to go about their job. It’s one of the easiest ways to command respect, and it helps your guild to boot!

On the other hand, no one likes an overbearing guildmaster, so try not to cross the line. Giving people kind advice on how they can better their play might be okay, but forcing your playstyle on them isn’t.

7. Don’t hold your praise back.

You are leading people, not machines, to success! Every guild wants to know when they have done a great job. Praise your players often and you will see you end up with a much, much better team.

8. Remember that you are representing your guild.

When you are interacting with people outside of your raid group or guild, always keep in mind that you are the direct representative of a group of players. Anything you do will also reflect on the reputation of people other than you – so remain polite, calm, and kind no matter how much you feel like acting otherwise (yes, we all know those PuGs, but try anyway).

9. Keep your raiders/guildies in the loop.

Whether it’s a merger in the works, changes in raid hours, or a new website, make sure your entire guild gets notified. Having knowledge of what’s coming up is a very easy way to make people feel at home and part of a team.

10. Listen to others.

You might be in charge of the raid or the guild, but it does not mean your opinion is the only right one. Make sure you listen to your raiders. Multiple opinions do make solving a problem easier, and most times when you are stuck, trying something different will be the key to success. Of course, your raiders need to know that there is a time and a place for suggestions, but forbidding people from speaking their mind is not constructive at all.

An anecdote: When my 40-man guild was raiding during classic WoW, we were stuck for weeks on Nefarian. No matter what we did, we could not even get through phase 1, and our guild leader was adamant that his tactic, and only his tactic, was the best one. He would quickly shut up anyone who dared to speak of a different way to do it. When Nefarian was finally downed by us, it only happened because the officers finally convinced the guild leader to do it a different way. Don’t be that guild leader.

What other rules would you add to this list?

Since I last posted, a lot of changes have happened ingame!

First off, Elysiane hit 80, which was about 10 days of effort in total (although it felt like it was much longer).

Second, I and my closest friends in-game, the Love Vendor core, have /gquit. I have to admit this was out of sheer boredom – PvP as a priest right now is about as fun as sticking fork repeatedly in eye. I die in about three seconds with a hybrid Blessed Resilience/spirit spec. Going in with my old PvP gear is no help at all as 12k mana does absolutely not cut it, this time I run out of mana in the first 15 seconds and then die shortly after.

At the moment the best PvP gear can be obtained so easily through PvE that it is painful. Archavon is easy, is also easily PuGgable. In a way that obtaining 2k rating isn’t. Elysiane has already landed the Hateful gloves and I will definitely be going back for more.

However, the fact that top of the line PvP gear is obtainable through PvE does not please me – I thought that was what was Blizzard was trying to move away from, keeping PvP and PvE separate. At the moment it seems like good PvEers will still be dominating this season as they have access to both high quality weapons and high quality gear that normally requires a rating to get.

So as far as PvE goes, I’ve so far done: 10man/25man Sartharion, 10man/25man Archavon, halfway through 10man Naxx, halfway through 25’s Naxx (guild atm is stuck at Patchwerk but they have cleared 10man Naxx), and a variety of heroics.

This has only reinforced my opinion that PvE is easy. If I ever had any doubts about PvE being easy it disappeared when my guild 10manned 25man Heigan, after the 15 idiots died during the first two dance phases. Same Heigan was also 5manned after we lost all our melee because the tank couldn’t dance, and all our retards because they couldn’t dance either.

To be honest, I’m really sure I don’t want to hardcore raid, but it seems to be all there is to do ingame at the moment. We joined this guild specifically because their raid times were suitably late but had a suitably early ending, and because their recruitment forums said they only raided 3 days a week, however, so far it doesn’t seem to be the case. There are raids going every day of the week, most of them being 25man, and 10mans only being set up when there aren’t enough people raiding.

I hope this lack of things to do changes soon and good PvP is underway fast. I’m so used to tanking in PvP that not being survivable provides zero fun, and to be perfectly honest, I like PvP so much more than PvE. Primarily because quality PvP does not require me to be online at a certain time every night, spend three to four hours on progression, blow hundreds of gold on repairs and flasks, yet still remain competitive at what I like to do and is, unlike PvE, dynamic.