Raid Leading 101 for starting Raid Leaders (RF too)
Successful raid makeup formula (works for up to T3.5, and all RF raids):
Need 2x groups of tanks (Conq + Dt + Guard, since each has additional buff) each tank group must have 2 healers, other groups usually just need 1 healer. Always put a mage with the tank group for the mage damage absorbing shield (demo with cacodemon also gives some extra minor heals and HP buff). Tanks have best heals this way. Rogues with Flanking give extra hp and dps to soldiers (demo 2 buffs imho better). With dps groups, put preferably ToS/Hox for the damage buff. Tanks benefit more from PoM & BS buffs and bubbles (DTs do get extra mana from ToS class). Gear and experience determines should you put them in main tank group(s) or dps group(s) for the tanks and healers.
Example Raid makeup:
Group1 - Guard + Dt + Pom + BS + Demo + Ranger
Group2 - Guard + Conq + Pom + BS + Demo + Sin
Group3 - Conq + Necro + Tos + Barb + Hox + Sin
Group4 - DT + Necro + Tos + Ranger + Barb + Hox
Raid makeup suggested by Feadara:
Group1 Tankgroup: 1 Guard 1 DT 1 POM 1 BS 1 HOX 1 Ranger
Group2 Tankgroup: 1 Guard 1 DT 1 POM 1 TOS 1 HOX 1 Ranger
Group3 Melee-dps-group: 1 BS 1 Demo 1 Conq 1 Barb 1 Barb 1 Sin
Group4 Caster-dps-group: 1 Necro 1 Necro 1 Demo 1 Tos 1 Conq 1 Sin (-hate)
Having 2x of each game class in raid is a very good general rule (for buffs, loot rot prevention and roles in fights). Stacking buffs for groups means try to spread around all the classes and do not have 2x ToS in same group, for example (their buffs do not stack and only 1 buff will be left useable).
Raid commanding:
Starting Raid - Start with a group, Right-click on top leftmost round icon and select 'Create raid' - turns your group into a raid.
Inviting - Right-Clicking names in chat/guild list and selecting 'Invite to Raid' adds pepole to raid, or also posssible to use: '/invitetoraid Name' commmand.
Kicking from raid - right-click raid member and select 'Kick from raid' or 'Remove from group' - last one only works if that raid member is in your group.
Raid leader change - if you need to transfer raid leadership - it can only be to a member of group 1, right-click his name and click 'Make Teamleader'.
You can adjust groups by holding Alt, Left-clicking and dragging raid members over empty spots or other member names (if you try to drop them on your name - game will warn you that you'll loose raid leadership).
Note that Group Leaders (marked by star) can invite or kick people from their group in raid - so have trusted people in group leads by adjusting the group makeup.
You can also make someone 'Master Looter' (after transferring Raid Leadership, you will usually remain 'Master Looter', until raid leader changes that).
Loot Options - Right before killing the Boss or before pulling the Boss, right-click any member of raid (but not yourself) and select 'Loot Options', make sure to set 'Loot Options' to 'Master looter', to avoid someone ninja-looting the box contents, or rolling all the contents automatically to everyone without going over loot rules.
After the fight - click the box to see contents. It's possible to Alt-LeftClick and drag items from the loot box onto raid member's names, which will pop a prompt for that player if he/she would like to 'Accept or Decline' the item (you too will have the same prompt - it needs to be Accepted from both sides to work).
To Roll Out Items, change the 'Loot Options' again from 'Master Looter' to 'Leader Only' and click the box. Items will pop-up for the whole raid with timeout timer.
If needed - you can click 'Close' on the loot box and change loot options to 'Master Looter' quickly, to stop an mis-roll by a wrong class, etc. If error happens and someone wins roll on something they cannot use, but another player of the class can use and wants (usually look for 2-nd highest roll on that item), advice them to '/petition' it, and to do it ASAP.
In case Raid Leader's character dies while fighting, and no resurrection is available, it's still possible to command the raid, but requires to type '/afk' in chat, press Enter and then click button Cancel on the prompt that pops-up.
Raid Leader should be watching the status of the groups and if a healer dies or group looses too many members (if no in-combat rezes are available), Raid Leader should always try to fix the situation by moving the group members to compensate for that.
Final advice: When leading a raid - nothing is set in stone. Remember, sometimes you need to adapt the strat to the raid, but other times you need to adapt the raid (makeup) to the strat... Choose wisely!
