This signature from the official Blizzard forums sums it up nicely:

Your $14.99 says you can play however you want.
But the rest of the raid’s $359.76 says to know your role

When you play WoW alone, solo, as if it were a single player game, I am all for doing whatever you wish. But when it comes time to raid, Courtesy is King. 24 other people are all depending on you to do what you must to see that this is a successful raid. Some laugh at the use of the word responsibility, but that is what raiding is, even for the casual crowd.

1. Be on time. If the raid starts at 8, be online at 7:30 and double checking your gear for the evening.

2. Double check your gear. We all do things other than raid. But be sure you are raid ready at pull time. This means PVP gear stowed, no fishing poles, no tournament lances.

3. Check your spec. Are you PVP specced? If you are one of several classes (like Warlocks) there are only so many of a certain spec that are useful in a raid, have you checked with the others to see what specs they are? Unless your raid leader has made it clear it is okay, be sure to not double up. Also be prepped to be either of your specs for the raid. Dual Specs make you valuable to a raid group.

4. Reagents, shards, food. The shame rank is especially useful here. If a Warlock shows up to a raid without soul shards… SHAME. It is simply inexcusable to show up to a raid without a vital part of your class’ equipment. The tank doesn’t show up without his weapon, you don’t show up without yours. Reagents are needed and yeah, the cost sucks, but hey, that utility you prove with that reagent is part of why you get the invite. Everyone in the raid has some form of cost. As for food, bring stat food, regular food, or feasts, I don’t care, but do not rely on Mage food. The one time you really need it, is the one time a Mage won’t be on the raid.

5. Repair. Nobody likes the guy who has to leave the raid 15 minutes in to go repair. Do it before, when you check your reagents. Repairs bots are awesome for this.

6. Mods. Make sure all your mods are working and up to date. Some casual guilds don’t require mods, but Deadly Boss Mod and Omen are so helpful and wonderful you should use them if possible.

7. Boss Strategies. Have you been to this instance before? Have you done the role you are about to do for this instance? Be sure to brush up.

8. Know YOUR ROLE. Dual specs allow raid leaders to pick and choose people, not only based on their ability to do their main role, but also their ability to do their secondary role. If you are a Holy/Shadow priest, know both roles and play the one the Raid Leader asks you to. Sure DPS is easier and more fun, but without heals, the raid doesn’t make and nobody gets purples.

9. Learn to Role with it. Yes I did mean Role. This is best explained with a story.
Awesome guild goes into Naxx 25 for the first time. Gets to the first boss. Starts fighting. Right before the first insect swarm the warrior tank goes down. DK#1 flips on frost presence, taunts, and takes off running along the wall. Cheer! The raid is saved. Gets to other side, Off tank does his job with the add and here we go again.
Suddenly DK#1, hero of the hour, goes down. DK#2 flips to frost presence, taunts, and then takes off around the circle. (We have the boss at half health.) Someone laughs and says, hey, third and fourth DK, be ready. Not too long and the second DK goes down, and sure enough DK#3 took the raid leader seriously and immediately shifted to his new role, frost, taunt and run. In the real world this is called adaptive survival. You saw a need and shifted to fill it.
Back to the story. DK#4 gets his chance to be a hero, and the boss is getting pretty low. Suddenly the off tank dies and there is an add slaughtering the raid. The two warlocks, as a team, start scorching bursting the add to get aggro and kiting him around the room into the frost mage’s aoes, effectively locking them down.
Then DK#4 goes down, with the boss at 2%. Bad-ass mr. pvp rogue steps in, pops evasion and tanks the boss just long enough for the mages and warlocks to burn him down. By this point all the ret pallys and elemental shamans are healing. Anu goes down with 8 of 25 raid members standing. Now any hard core raiding group would hate to be a part of this story. But for us, it is the thing of Legends and we talk about it all the time. If a raid leader shouts out in the middle of a raid to switch to x. Know your class well enough to switch.

10. Have fun. If you aren’t having fun, find a way to have fun. Raids, especially progression raids can get wipe-y and tense. A good raid leader should call the raid before shouting starts, but tempers can flare easily. Remember this is still a game, and your guildies are your friends.

Communication is everything. Communication in online games is vital to the success of a guild. Despite hating to have a ton of grammer nazi rules I find that setting boundaries for communication prevents problems later.

Prime Rule: Don’t Be a Douche.

1. The assumption is made that you are a mature adult. If you aren’t, then it is assumed that you either act like one or the mature adult in your life has your profanity filter turned on. The occasional curse here or there (or in the event of a <10% health wipe a great deal of it) is to be expected. However if someone asks you to stop, you stop (see Prime Rule). There is also a fine line between what you might think is okay and what someone else thinks is okay. Some people don’t mind the B word. For me, it is the big red might as well be a summoning spell button. Err on the side of caution

2. Do not under any circumstances make it personal in guild chat. Ideas, suggestions, theories, all perfectly legit to argue with and say they are stupid. People, not. We are here to have fun, not be verbal punching bags for others. There is some measure of, oh we were just playing, but it if happens too often from one person, get rid of them. If I see it in my guild, you’re gone. There are better ways to deal with something you see as a problem than to attack a person. Don’t talk bad about other guild members.

3. If it is something that would be said in the Barrens or a bad trade channel day, don’t say it in Guild. No Chuck, No Murlocs.

4. 1 4m 2 l33t 4 u. Anyone who still talks like this is a douche. See Prime Rule. In fact for that matter, I won’t correct your bad spelling, the you’re/your their/there/they’re thing if you promise to use full words (2, u, etc).

5. Long winded rants about guild policy. There is a time and a place. That time is whenever, the place is the guild forums, behind the password protected part. Guild chat is not the place.

6. Arguments about loot. This should be handled in whispers. Specifically whispers to the Master Looter. Don’t whisper the person who got the item. Don’t whisper the GM. Whisper the master Looter and discuss with them first. If they agree, they will take it up with the person. If they don’t, well that’s for the Loot Etiquette part, but lets just say, look to Prime Rule.

7. We don’t want to hear about your sexual exploits.

8. No SPOILERS! We all love movies, tv shows, books. If it ain’t on DVD, keep it on the dl. Use a good 6 month rule of thumb or if it is on DVD. Then it is fair game.

9. Begging and Selling. Ask for help once. If you get it, awesome. If you don’t, drop it. Have something to sell? Good for you. If you are offering a discount for guildies, you can pimp it in g chat up to a max of 4 times an hour. If it is the same price as the AH, shut it.

10. Bragging about breaking the law, talking about suicide, hurting people. If you don’t want the cops to know, don’t talk about it in guild. If you threaten suicide, I will take it seriously and I will notify a GM, who has your info and WILL call the cops. If you are having a rough time and need an ear to lean on, that’s fine, but don’t do it in g chat, that’s what whispers are for.

Final Rule: There is an ignore feature for reason. I have been in several guilds where I have had people on ignore. I have also had those people on mute. I made sure my raid leader knew in the event that person might be a source of info the RL would know to repeat it. In the rare occurrence the person on ignore is the raid leader, make sure an officer or your class leader knows. Once I had the lovely joy of explaining to the only other officer in the raid why he had to do the loot distribution and make sure to repeat everything because I had the RL on ignore and he was originally the master looter.

A newb is someone who is new. A Noob is someone who does stupid stuff as if the were a newb, but really they should know better.

Every so often a guild gets a noob. You have to do something about these people fast or they will infect your good players and suddenly you will be living in Noobville and all of your raids will be Wipefests.

1. Identify the correct noob. This can be a bit complex in a 25 man raid. You might have to talk to your class leaders, or dig through Recount/WWStats to find them. Noobs are tricky, and no one likes being called a noob, esp when they aren’t.

2. Compare noobishness across events. Is this person having an off night? Is this person *always* doing something stupid? Are they a problem in Heroics too? Or did they just decide to try raiding and drinking? This ties into #1, but when dealing with a Noob, it is always good to be sure.

Noob identified, now what?

3. Ask noob to chat with you in officer’s vent or other private vent channel. Talk with them. Now this is a bit tricky. You have to be polite and root around for *why* they are being such a noob. Do you like playing your class? Are you having fun playing WoW still? Are you watching tv/playing Bejeweled at the same time as raiding? Frame it in concern. We noticed you seemed to be struggling, how can we help?

4. Gear Noobs. These people just don’t get their gear. They also don’t get why they need this gem over that one or that enchant over this other one. Best way to fix this, ask if they need help funding the enchant or gems. Offer to do the group dailies with them. Have the class leader do some research and post a best in slot list or a best non-raid list.

5. Spec Noobs. Simple – send them to Elitist Jerks for the cookie cutter spec. Talent Chic does a great job of helping them if they have a specific desired talent. (Note: Some people just want to play one way. This is okay. If you have an open slot and they are there, let them play their weird spec. But it is *always* good to have a progression rule. Ie – in progression raids you have to be spec approved by your class officer, or you get bumped if there is someone who is spec approved and you aren’t even if you have better gear.) All of this also applies to Glyphs.

6. Don’t Stand in the Fire Dude. Everyone has one. This is the guy who can’t dance, gets hit by every flame wave, and moves on flame wreath. The best way to fix this noob in general is to have the raid leader have an announce program. This program should announce to the entire raid or even the entire guild that they screwed up. It also helps to have a shame rank. This is the rank you give someone when they do something seriously stupid. Pull a side in KT? Shame. Pull a boss while the healer is oom? Shame. Drop a Grobbulus bomb in the middle of a raid? Shame. Pretty much anything that wipes a raid can be worthy of a shame rank.

There are some specific ways to combat DSitFDs on certain boos fights. Best example: Heigan’s Safety Dance. It can be tricky. So have someone drop flares in the center of each zone. then tell people to run to flares and stop until the next section pops and start running again. If they are well placed, you’ll have a Safety Dance achievement in no time.

7. You’re a great guy… but. Sometimes you just have to go out on a limb and hope the dude understands. Undying and Immortal are exceptionally hard achievements, and if you want to get them, everyone in the raid has to be on their A game. Explaining to a player that their noobish ways, while fine for farming, will not be tolerated in a progression or achievement run is hard. But if you are honest, specific, and offer a chance of redemption, it can go a long way to preventing a frustrating shouting match.

All of these are excellent ways to help deal with noobs. Just giving them the cold shoulder will cause problems, or letting them be the punch line will lead to trouble. Above all try to be remember, this person is a part of your guild and could be a great member. Identify the true problem and get with the fixing.

Not to be confused with noobs. That’s part 2. This is with new people to your guild.

All guilds have some form of attrition. Real life, other games, other guilds all steal away your members and cut your numbers. If you have a good guild with good people, this isn’t a huge concern. You will get new recruits just from people being attracted to the awesomeness. Or the fact you raid in a time slot that is good for them, they like someone else in your guild, they heard you took down Yogg, or they had a good experience with one of your guys who said, oh you should check us out if your guild is the sux. This influx is the result of people just looking for a home, for whatever reason, and it is where a large number of your newbies will come from.

Now here is the really IMPORTANT part. Ready?
These newbs are the foundation of your guild in 3 months or less.

Remember that all guilds have attrition. This is approx. 25% every 3 months with a guild of 60 or so active unique members. Which means every 3 months you lose a 4th of your guild. You have to replace these losses somehow and that is with these newbs. Each new recruit has the hidden potential to bring other recruits, be the main tank, heals, dps chart topper, pvp arena master, raid leader and officer. This newb is going to be important in the future of your guild.

So how do you keep your newb and turn them into a core member of your guild?

1. Do not greet them with foul mouthed jokes and jibes. Your newb may love joking around and goofing off. They may cuss like a sailor. But they might not. You don’t know them yet and they don’t know you. You have to get to know them.

2. Do not treat them like a second class citizen. Everyone understands that you aren’t going to get bank access the first day, but make all the “limitations” clear. No bank access, no g or power leveling from members, no begging are all good limits to have. What isn’t good is no vent access, no standard forum access, no calendar viewing, no ability to have input on discussions. I am not saying you should listen to every word your newb says and give it the same weight as your raiders, but if newb makes a good point, or wants to be a part of a discussion, you need to welcome them, after all one hopes they will be a raider soon enough.

3. Do not boot them from their first raid. If someone joins a guild to raid and then gets bumped from the first raid, no matter your reasoning, you have just told them they are not going to be raiding with you. Think of it more like Fight Club. If this is your first night, you have to raid. Also this is a great point to induct them into what is expected of a raider. Vent, Mods, Flasks, Food, Glyphs, Enchants, Gems, Strats, if your newb gets even some of them right, and rolls with what they miss, you might have a solid raider on your hands. In fact I once found a guild that made it policy that if you wanted to join as a raider, you were required to be present for the first raid lockout and if you missed even one night, they booted you from the guild. It was your way of showing your dedication to their guild, be there or be gone.

4. Make sure they get *something* on their first raid. It is counter intuitive, I know, but hear me out. It falls in with #3. If someone comes to a raid and walks away with nothing, how long are they going to put up with that before finding somewhere new? I am not saying let them grab every purple, or even that they shouldn’t pay their dues, I am saying that people like Epics. If they get Epics, they will be back. They will jump through your hoops. They will get enchants, gems, food, etc, for Epics. They will bust their butt for you and the guild if it means Epics. My second raiding guild had a great DKP system that meant usually if more that a few items for a class dropped in a raid, the newb would get one of them. If the newb got it, they were stoked, and also pretty much guaranteed not to get anything else unless all the core raiders passed on it until they had been raiding for a month or so. (Note: This rule can have some shift if say for example nothing but bad gear for their class drops for the whole raid. I have been in Uld twice where nothing good for caster dps dropped.)

5. If you have *That Guy* in your guild, keep him away from the newbs. Every guild has one. For the most part they can be useful for identifying problems. These are the guys that wear the title of Elitist Jerk proudly. They know everything about most classes and they want to tell you what you are doing wrong. Have an officer or a GM pull this guy aside or in whispers and make sure he understands you value his services but if he doesn’t keep his mouth shut around the newb for at least a month, you will find another EJ who can do his job. The best example for this was in the guild that had a newb rank: Foundling. A foundling was someone who was new, might be raiding, and was working through their newbness. Our EJ was not allowed to even speak to the Foundlings until they became full fledged members, unless they spoke to him first or asked for advice.

6. Try to include the newb. Explain guild in-jokes. Explain relationships. Explain the goober that keeps dying in every fight. The more you make them feel included the more they feel like home. If the newb understands who Rapido is, they will understand why it is your “Fail” rank. If your newb knows that Bubbles is a 40 yr old Marine and is married to Ieatbabies, they know *not* to hit on the chick with the hot voice on vent.

7. Not every newb works. This is vital for any guild. Newbs are important, but are also potential poison vials. Be ready to have to baby sit them for a few days and maybe even have some talks. At the end of their newb period it can even be good to let them go. You might need people, but they need you more than you need them. If they don’t play well with others, politely show them the door.

Good luck, and happy hunting.