Raid Policy/Rules

You should not expect to get any experience on a raid, nor should you expect to win any rolls for loot. You should expect to get killed. A lot. You should also expect to sit around waiting for groups to be assigned, for buffing and for rezzes.

Listen carefully to your raid leader and you group leader. Stay with the raiding party, do not run ahead, fall behind or wander off.

If you come to the raid with the right attitude, work as a member of a team and have patience to endure rough spots, you will be surprised at what we can accomplish.

Preparation:
Check the calendar and forums daily and be sure to sign up for raids. A few minutes of your time won't kill you! You should know when a raid is planned and where and when to meet.

All raiders should familiarize themselves with the zone to be raided or the mob to be killed. People are expected to have personal knowledge of the route or have maps to and from the raid location, as well as a map of the raid zone. Maps can be obtained from EQ Atlas or EQ Maps. Folks with LoY can download maps here, to use in-game.

Casters who require spell components should come with at least one stack of their required components. Other classes are encouraged to bring peridots in case the clerics run low. Reagent costs will be reimbursed during the raid with cash loot.

Timely Arrival:
A raid channel will be listed on the calendar for each event.

The guild will generally make ports available to raiders 15 minutes before the raid's start time. Go to the nearest Druid or Wizard port spot 15 minutes before the raid, tell the channel and you'll be picked up.

Please show up on time at the designated gathering point. Porters will not leave the raid to pick up latecomers. We will not rearrange assigned groups to accommodate latecomers. Raiders will not be leaving groups to escort latecomers from the raid zone-in to the camp. Expecting raiders to do so is just rude and inconsiderate.

Most raids are expected to last four hours or more. If you want to attend, but foresee being late, we will try to accommodate you if we know in advance. If you must leave early, please mention it before the raid starts.

Raid Conduct:
For the time when we are getting to our camp and setting up:

Keep your ears open and your yaps shut. The only people who should be talking are the raid and group leaders. Listen to everything that is said. If you have questions, ask your group leader to relay them to the raid. If anyone is new to a zone, they should let the group leader know so the zone "rules" can be listed.
Don't be in /TELL with ten different people. Put your social life on hold for a few minutes.
Keep the use of emotes, spam or other distractions to a minimum. Wizards kill your familiars.
No one should be asking what mobs are on track, whether we're killing a particular mob, if they can have a specific loot, etc. This stuff can be chatted about once the raid is underway.
Do what you're told and stay with your group. Don't wander around or go /AFK.
Never train the camp! Make a hotkey that has the following two lines:
Line 1: /loc
Line 2: /g Stopping and dying. I have my loc.

Buffing:
Whether it's when we get to our camp or before heading out, stay close to your group for buffs. You know what buffs are expected of you, so get to casting them. Group leaders should announce when their group is ready for battle (this includes being fully buffed, having hotkeys setup, etc.). All requests for buffs should be sent in /TELL to the appropriate person. /RT targets the person who sent you your last /TELL, which allows for easier buffing. If you send a /TELL and don't get a response, please try again. Remember that there is a lot of battle spam going on and single lines of text can easily be missed.

Fighting:
The puller will announce incoming. The MA or MT (Main Assist or Main Tank) will give the call to attack. Make sure you /ASSIST the MA. Everyone should be on the same mob until it's dead.

Do not spam the channel with what spells you're casting or who you're assisting. We assume you are casting what you're expected to cast and that you're assisting the MA, so there's no need to announce it every time. Mezzes, roots and charms should be called out. Slows, tashes, malos and snares should only be called out if they are resisted and are essential to the fight. I.E. if you're the snarer and snaring is essential to staying alive, you need to say that you can't get the mob snared.

MAs taunt before breaking mez. Sometimes this includes high aggro spells that do no damage. Therefore, even though the MA is casting on a mob, do not jump in until the MA calls for an assist. The MA might have to switch targets during a fight, either on his own or as requested by a Cleric or Enchanter. This is done when a mob can't be mezzed or if one mob is a healer, etc. You must listen. The MA will call out that he is changing targets and you need to /ASSIST again. Hitting the /ASSIST MA hotkey frequently during fights is a very good idea. If you are not MA, watch your aggro. Don't taunt the mob or use a weapon with a high aggro proc.

Groups:
Sometimes we need to make groups in a certain configuration to "break" a zone. When you are already in a raid and are asked to change groups, you must Alt+R and disband from the raid if you're a group leader, to allow the new group to invite you. Otherwise, disband from the group as quickly as possible so the other group can invite you.

Loot:
When an item is linked to the channel, you must let the loot Captain know that you want in on the roll a.s.a.p. Please keep Need Before Greed in mind. If the drop is not an upgrade to your current gear, then you should not ask to get in on the roll, unless no one is interested in the item and it is decided to be rolled upon for alts or cash. An item is only defaulted to someone on a raid if the raid was planned for that specific person to get that specific loot. Epic drops are awarded via our Epic Policy. HoT tears and certain epic pieces are subject to the "last piece rule", meaning that if the drop is the last piece you need to complete the quest, it's yours.

When Good Raids Go Bad:
No one have gate memmed unless told to. Let me explain. I.E. we're in Hate and somehow get mobbed. Hopefully a Rogue stays hidden, a Monk/SK/Necro manages to feign death and/or a Cleric camps out. If you've gated, you're out of the equation. You've just screwed us on the CR. To get back, you require a Wizard and a port stone. Then you have to safely make it back to where the massacre took place. This causes huge delays if you intend to help with the CR. Succor can be an acceptable alternative if discussed with everyone before the fighting starts. No one should camp or succor until it's been called. Someone will be designated to make the call, either the Puller, Cleric, Enchanter or MA. If anyone, other than the one designated, calls for evac or to camp, you should ignore them. (Clerics should have an instinct regarding when to camp out and should ignore everything else and do it.) Be sure to re-join the channel when you come back from camping out.

How to alleviate lag and spam:
For most raids, it's advised you:

Type /showspelleffects off
Type /shownames 1
Type /serverfilter on

In Options (on the toolbar):
     General tab:
               Environmental Sounds - Off
     Display tab:
               Sky - Off
               Far Clip Plane - 5%
          Spell Particles:
               Near Clip: Near
               Density: Off
               On For: My spells
          Environmental Particles:
               Density: Off
     Filters tab:
          Turn off - Socials, My Misses, Others Misses, Others Misses, Others Hits, Attacker Missing Me, Damage Shields, NPC Spells, DoT           Damage, My Pet Hits, My Pet Misses
          PC Spells - Off
          Bard Songs - Off

For Planar Raids, especially Fear and other large raids:
It's advised before you log in to:

Turn off socials
Turn off dynamic lights
Turn off all Lucin models (especially for Fear, the lag there is horrendous, even with the best machines, but be sure to leave your race/gender model on if you use a horse.)

If it makes it easier, create a new window for different chat modes so you can pay attention to the most important windows first. (Right click the label of the Main Chat window, click New Chat Window. Now that you have a new window, right click on the label of the new window, click on Filters, Channel or Hit Modes to tell it what chat you want to go to that window. Then resize it and move it where you want it.)

Make hotkeys. Hotkeys are our friends. At minimum, you should have an /ASSIST MA hotkey. There are some links on our Links Page under "Miscellaneous Links", to show Clerics how to make Healing hotkeys, Shamen how to make Cannibalize hotkeys & Melee how to make Melee hotkeys.