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This page will describe 'all' there is to know about raiding - (internal discussion thread)[1]

Raid ID's

http://www.wowwiki.com/Raid_timer

Important notes:

Be careful not to get saved with the wrong ID, it will prevent you running the same raid instance with GT11 until the reset
Ownership of raid ID's is a difficult subject:
- GT11 will only run raids on their own ID
- GT11 raid ID's may not be used to run a PUG without explicit authorisation by the raid organiser
Once you're saved to an instance and you take someone else there, they'll get saved the second they enter. This gives them the possibility to create their own raid on our ID

More information on Raid IDs & Resets: Raid IDs & Resets

Preparation

Before going to an instance, make sure you're prepared:

Repaired to 100%
Consumables ready for a whole night
Read up on tactics if required/available

Consumables

You can use a certain (limited) amount of consumables during raiding:

1 food buff
1 flask or a guardian plus battle elixir
1 potion per combat (although if you drink one potion just before entering combat it's sometimes possible to use 2, if the fight lasts long enough and if the potions are useful when used twice; e.g. haste pots, stoneshield)
scrolls (some of which don't stack with casted buffs)

On raids where there's going to be a lot of wiping, it's often advisable to use flasks instead of elixirs, because the flasks persist through death.

Addons

tbd

Buffing

Be aware of what buffs you provide and what people need. With hybrids be mindful of the task they perform (tank, physical dps, spell dps or healing). Rebuff as soon as someone has been ressed. Avoid the situation where the raidleader constantly has to call out for rebuffs.

An easy addon to monitor buffs and help them apply is Rabuffs [[2]]

Killing

Before a boss fight, face away from the boss, don't have a mob targetted

Reasoning: Oi my cat jumped on my [forward key|sheep key|arcane shot key|other ability which will anger the boss-key] and now we're in combat and probably wiping.

For raidleaders who want to countdown without an addon, don't forget to go into 'chat-edit' mode (hit enter) before typing a number

Marking

More than two years ago, Blizzard introduced the so-called "raid icons", which have a terrible name as they can be used in 5-man groups as well. They're also known as "lucky charms". They're distinctive icons with clear colors:

From left to right, top to bottom: star, circle (or nipple), diamond, triangle, moon (or crescent), square, cross, skull. (source of picture: http://www.wowwiki.com/Raid_target_icons) Their main use is to designate targets while playing in groups. Previously, the main way to do this was the Hunter's Mark and Mage's Detect Magic.

The icon, when applied, hovers above the beastie and is easily visible. Most unit frame addons will show them.

You can also "talk icons" by writing its name in your chat with curly brackets around them, like {skull}.

How to apply them

This is a breeze. Target the beastie and right-click on the beastie's portrait. You'll find a "raid icon" entry in the context menu. Hover over it and another menu expands. Click the icon you want and voila! You can also click "none" which removes an icon from that beastie if it had any. You can speed this process up significantly as you can map any key to the application of a specific icon. Go to the key-binding menu and scroll down to [todo, have to check name]. Personally, I've mapped the numeric keys on my numeric keyboard so they're easily remembered. You can also use addons for this like FuBar - LuckyCharms[3].

Who can apply them

"But wait," I hear you cry, "I can't see the menu!" Well, only the group's leader can apply them. If you're in a raid, the raid leader can apply them, as can his assistants, if any.

Their meaning

Well, you can designate pretty much everything as a target (including your team members!) and pretty much everything as the preferred action. However, most of our groupings try to use certain icons for certain actions. I'll list them here. Note that these are not obligatory, but it will speed things up if everybody uses the same ones for the same actions.

White Skull: first target. This is the mob that has to go down first.
Red Cross: second target. When the first target is down, focus on this one.
Gold Star: this is the Humanoid that is Polymorphed ("sheeped") by the Mage. Don't hit it until all other mobs are down, the Mage will re-Sheep it if needed.
Silver Moon: this is the Undead that will be Shackled by the Priest. Again, don't hit it until all the other mobs are down, the Priest will re-Shackle it if needed.
Orange Circle: the Humanoid target for a Sap by a Rogue. Don't hit it. However, Sap can't be reapplied, so when the Sap breaks the mob will join the fight.
Blue Square: this mob will be pulled by the Hunter into a Freezing Trap, making an icecube. Don't hit the icecube or it will shatter.
Purple Diamond: Used for Warlocks: Seduce, Voidwalker's offtank, Banish, etc.
Green Triangle: Hunter's Scare Beast, Druid's Hibernation, etc.

As you can see, there are many more possible tasks than covered by just 8 icons. Therefore, the above are just guidelines and you may have to adapt them. For example, if you have two mages but no Undead targets, use the moon icon to designate the second mage's sheep. Only Skull & Cross are pretty much set in stone.

Aggro

http://www.wowwiki.com/Aggro Something the tank must have and DPS must avoid usually.

You get aggro by generating more threat than current aggro holder.

On most fights the following rule applies:

Melee DPS must exceed 110% threat before they aggro
Ranged DPS must exceed 130% threat before they aggro

Sometimes however, being over 100% will seriously break your kill attempt on a boss. A good example is the prince fight in Karazhan. Everyone but the person with the highest threat (not aggro) could get the enfeeble debuff. When a DPS would out-threat the tank, e.g. be at 102% threat, it was possible that the tank would get the debuff and thus get one-shot.

Preventing aggro

Be sure to let the tank have good aggro on the mob(s) before nuking. Watch the mob's healthbar, 100% most often means the tank hasn't hit the mob yet. Often, overzealous damage dealing maniacs (always competing in topping the damage meter) just start bombarding at the get go - scoring one-two consecutive crits and be hacked to pieces by an angry berk.

Use your aggro reducing abilities before you aggro the boss. Windshock, Feint, Cower, Feign Death, Invisibility, Soulshatter, Vanish, etc...

Avoiding aggro will make encounters so much easier when compared to having to lose aggro once you got it as DPS.

Omen [[4]] can help monitor your threat levels when compared to the tank

Dropping aggro

In case you did get aggro, make sure you know how to deal with it.

Most importantly, bring the mob back to the tank
Reduce the amount of incoming damage you get, equip a shield, switch stances, aspect of the monkey, evasion, kite, cc, etc...

Never just drop aggro by e.g. vanishing or feigning death. In case you've been hit a couple of times, chances are, a healer has been really busy healing you. When all of a sudden you drop your aggro, the mob will likely head over to that healer and spank him hard, causing a dead healer next the tank dies, and then we got a nice wipe going.

Positioning

There's a few guidelines when looking at positioning, these cover the basics, sometimes tactics call for different positioning:

The tank should always try to turn the boss away from the raid. Lot's of bosses have frontal cone AOE like breath weapons or cleaves
Healers and ranged DPS group up on the side of the boss at maximum range. Stay together to benefit from group/raidbuffs
Melee DPS should be at the back of the boss, or in case of a dragon at a hind leg on the side where also the ranged camp can be found. This way you avoid parry's by the boss which reduces your DPS and increases the boss' DPS (parry haste)

Crowd Control

Next a big list of crowd control options, some of them already mentioned in the marking topic.

Class	Skill	Target	(Re)Applying	Duration	Kill order	Raid mark	Remarks
Rogue	Sap	Humanoids, Beasts, Demons and Dragonkin	Out of combat	1 min	1st	Orange circle	-
Rogue	Blind	Anything not immune to CC	Every 20 sec	10 sec	2nd	-	Often used as emergency CC
Hunter	Freezing Trap	Anything not immune to CC	Every 30 sec	20 sec	last - 3	Blue square	-
Druid	Hibernate	Beasts and Dragonkin	Any time	40 sec	last - 2	Green triangle	-
Paladin	Repentance	Demons, Dragonkin, Giants, Humanoids and Undead	Any time?	1 min	last?	-	Needs more info
Shaman	Hex	Humanoids and Beasts	Any time?	30 sec	last?	-	Needs more info
Warlock	Banish	Demons and Elementals	Any time when the target is not banished	30 sec	last - 1	Purple diamond	-
Warlock	Enslave Demon	Demons	Any time	5 min	last	-	Becomes the warlocks pet for the duration of the spell
Priest	Shackle	Undead	Any time	50 sec	last	Silver moon	-
Priest	Mind Control	Humanoid	Any time	1 min	last	-	Big aggro on the priest, who is effectively not available to do anything but mind control. Can provide nice buffs to party members via the controlled creature
Mage	Polymorph	Beasts, Humanoids and Critters	Any time	50 sec	last	Star	Glyph of Polymorph removes all DOT's on the target

And for all DPS out there breaking CC: You spank it... you tank it!

Loot

If there's going to be rolled for items, determine at the start of a run if there's an enchanter present. If there is, it's a common method to roll Need/Pass on BOP's. The enchanter rolls Need/Greed, shards everything which noone needs and the shards/dust is divided at the end of the run. When rolling for BOE's always roll Need/Greed.

Dying / Wipes

Corpserunning - only after the raidleader says you should release, start corpserunning. Else there might be a slim chance you won't get credit for a bosskill, nor get loot or questdrops. It also makes it harder for the healers to res you (if it's not a wipe)

Resurection order

Always rez other rezzers first, then buffers, this will speed up raid recovery:

priests, paladins, druids - rez and buff
shamans - rez
mages - buff
warlocks, hunters - rez pets
rogues, deathknights, warriors

Raid end

The raid leader decides when the raid ends based on what has been posted on the DKP site as the raid end time. As a raid leader try to avoid going overtime too long. Try not to engage in a 20 minute trashclear to a 5 minute boss when there's still only 10 minutes of raid time left.

Raiding 101