So, you want to lead a Hamidon raid team?

As some of you know, the blueside Hamidon raid scene has gotten a lot more active lately. While the zone limit of 50 people makes it impossible to fit everybody who wants to participate at the same time, we can train more team leaders to schedule more raids, ensuring that there will be more leaders available to start a second raid when The Hive is full and there are 20 people trying to get in.

So, ULTRA is extending an invitation to everybody who has wanted to take an active role in the Hamidon raids, but never knew who to ask. We're raiding Hamidon almost every day now, and we're always looking for good players to join us.

The "tutoring" will be simple: you'll join the Hamidon raid as usual, and get on the team you want to lead. There will be an experienced leader in it to guide you if you need it, and it might do the whole leading bit for the first attack wave, so you can catch a feel of the binds or path if required. Then, on the second attack wave, you'll take over and do it yourself. The leader will stay on the team in case you need help, but otherwise, it's your show.

If you're interested, reply here or send me a PM in the boards, telling me your global name so I can catch you online. We raid Hamidon between 8PM and 10PM EST, so you'll have to be available one day (be it weekday or weekend) during that time. Don't worry about having no experience whatsoever in leading a raid; you'll earn the experience by doing it.

What follows is a very very very basic idea of what each team should do. If you decide to sign up and give it a try, I'll give you more detailed instructions, including any macros you'll need.

So, if you ever wanted to know more about Hamidon, and to proudly say, "I know how to defeat that son of an amoeba", this is your chance! Just leave a reply, and we'll see you in game.

All teams

* Have a stable internet connection. If you disconnect a lot, you won't be able to lead a team properly. It's highly recommended that you go into the options and enable "Hide Buff Numbers" in 3 places near the bottom, as buff numbers increase the incoming traffic a lot, especially during something like Hamidon where lots of buffs are stacked.

* You need flight. A Raptor Pack from the Shadow Shard works. Make sure you have at least an hour of flight time on it, though 30 minutes will probably be enough.

* At least 11 points of Knockback Protection are recommended. You can get this through acrobatics, or four Knockback Protection IOs. This is a must for the tanks that will be willingly taking aggro.

Yellow Damage Team / Green Team

These are the easiest teams to lead; the "entry point" for leading in a Hamidon raid. Basically, you will target a mito, and everybody will target through you.

If you're leading the Yellow Damage team, you have melee characters following you and attacking yellow mitos with everything you got (as long as it's melee).

If you're leading the Green team, you have characters with holds and attack powers following you. You have to stack enough holds to bring down the mito's shield and destroy it.

When a mito is dead, you target the next one, usually clockwise. Start with the mito closest to the gathering point and work around the core. As a Green leader you will want to rotate your camera vertically to make sure you're targetting the next mito correctly, as sometimes you might skip one that's too high or too low to see.

* You must stay focused in one target. Switching targets will prevent a lot of people from attacking through you, and cause everything to go much slower.

* If you're leading the Yellow team, you'll focus on the greens after the Yellows die, and target through the Green leader; you are no longer targeting. If you are the green leader, you'll focus on the blues after the greens die, and you'll keep targetting; don't let the players scatter on the blues, as that just slows things down.

Hamidon Aggro Team

We're taking tanks for this position, as support doesn't have much to do other than buff the tank. Your team will have you, some empaths (essential) and some kinetics (optional). They have to buff your regen to high heaven to make sure you survive the Hamidon attacks.

Your job is to jump in the mito while properly buffed, and taunt Hamidon from a distance. Try to avoid being hit by the green mitos, and draw the Hamidon blast away from the other teams.

* Keep a close eye in your health. If it drops a bit too much, you may need a little extra support; yell in Request for Empaths to AB you.

* Don't be intimidated by having to take Hamidon's assault; remember that there will be a backup tank ready to give you advice, and step in if you can't take the heat.

* At least 11 points of Knockback Protection is essential here.

Yellow Aggro Team

This job can be done by anyone, but a tank or a powerset with heals would be better suited for it. Your team will consist of six tanks, each of them taking a different mito in the goo, and a couple of support characters. With time and experience, a tank can take more than a mito at a time, but for training, we're having a tank at each mito as backup.

Your job is to assign a mito to each tank, and to target them to see which one they're targetting through assist. Ensure that each tank is targetting the proper mito, and give the sign that you're ready. Then, when the signal is given, all tanks will fly towards and/or around the goo in order to reach their targets, and taunt them from outside the goo at the maximum distance.

As team leader, stress those two points: taunt from maximum distance possible and from outside the goo. Go around the goo to get to your mito, not across it. Draw aggro away from the other teams at all times.

Once the six tanks are on their way, if you're not one of them, you can join the other teams into attacking the mitos, as long as the tanks don't need any help. Keep an eye on the tanks, and if their health goes dangerously low, be ready to buff/heal them, or step in their place, depending if you're a tank or a support AT.

* You must be comfortable using macros or binds for this. I prefer macros. You'll have ten macro buttons: two with introductory instructions, six (one for each mito) in order to tell each tank which mito they have to target, one to confirm each tank's target, and one to signal you're ready. The macros allow for targeting to happen a lot faster than typing a lot; we want to spend no more than two minutes between a bloom and the next attack wave.

Raid Coordinator

Or, as I call it, the bind monkey. You're the most visible name in the raid, mainly because you'll spend most of it shouting broadcast and making sure everybody else is on the ball. Raid coordinators usually lead one of the other teams as well.

* To make sure you have the hang of the whole raid first, we'll want you to lead other teams before you jump into this role. Don't worry; even if you start from the lowest rung, the Yellow Damage/Green team, you should be leading a raid in a week if you have the focus for it.

* You must be extremely comfortable using macros or binds. Extremely We're talking 3 trays full of macro buttons here.

* You need a chronometer in your clock, cellphone, or whatever in order to time the buff waves. We'll be watching, so don't try to eyeball it!

* Your first job will be to get the other three teams in place. Make sure everybody has what they need. Usually, as long as you have the Hamidon tank team and the Yellow Aggro teams ready, you can start killing monsters; the other teams will populate naturally.

* When Hamidon spawns, gather everybody at a designated point, and again check on your teams. Green, Yellow Damage and Hamidon Aggro usually need little preparation; the Yellow Aggro team will need to acquire their targets, and you should wait for them. When the Yellow Aggro team is ready, you'll start the famous countdown.

* After everybody is in the goo fighting for their lives, you'll have to constantly remind people to target through the specific leaders, that holding the greens is more important than damaging them, that Kinetics should be using Fulcrum Shift to buff the teams, and other things. Constant repetition will remind people what needs to be done in the heat of the battle.

* Once all the mitos are down, you'll monitor Hamidon's health and call for people to leave the goo when it reaches one of the bloom thresholds. Once the bloom happens, everybody should port out, and the cycle starts again; gathering, waiting for the teams to be ready, buffing, countdown, attack.

lol you two are a comic lol

I like the initiative Leo. I think it's a great effort at teaching team leaders, although I greatly quibble at the timescale.

Also, having people leading a raid way before they're ready is very likely seconds from disaster because as Philly says, there's a lot more to leading a raid than just hitting macros.

I suppose it's human nature, but everyone wants to run before learning how to walk.

Folks wanting to lead teams/raids should plan to put in the sincere time required to learn the raid, the raid strategies, etc., and have the experience on them to know what to do when the unexpected happens.

If you take shortcuts, you're hurting yourself, but more importantly you're hurting the other 49 people at a raid though.

can i haz leader?