Due to the number of interested newbies and veteran raiders, EVOS now holds training at shortly after reset on Saturdays! (American Saturdays. International timezonessss!) Which is this time in your local time zone. We have somewhere between 2-3 raids per Saturday night and we do try to have one beginner-friendly raid and one more advanced raid if the circumstances allow. BEFORE THE RAID, PLEASE: SET YOURSELF UP ON DISCORD! We now use Discord as our chat platform of choice. Our code is in the in-game MOTD, and we ask that you set up push to talk and wear headphones so as to observe good mic etiquette. Speaking is not required during raids, but listening is. ALSO PLEASE NOTE: we want you to do your prep, but we also need you to come with a constructive learning attitude: criticism and correction is part of the process. At the same time, said discussion should be conducted in a friendly and polite manner, because these training raids are a learning experience and people are at many different levels of skill and progression. IF YOU ARE NEW TO RAIDS, DO THE REST OF THIS AS WELL: 1. If you don't have a main character fully kitted out or have several options, decide who you will focus on learning for raids first. If you have a main character, that character may be your best choice so you start with a decent grasp of your class. Some classes are more desired than others, some are more complicated, and some are going to be more expensive to gear. You should be able to gear your characters with karma and dungeon gear for zerk and magis and 40g+ for chronomancers/vipers gear. I would recommend focusing on simple, yet effective classes to start with, which currently includes zerk engi, zerk guard, PS warrior (vipers), thief (zerk or vipers) or condition ranger. You can also gear the ranger into magi druids who are a good pick for healing and buffing. I would also not recommend hybrid roles to start with (ex: condi druid, condi chronomancer): it would be better to learn the basic role first before specializing yourself further. 2. Now that you've picked what to focus on, start gearing a character fully: we ask all gear be exotic in grade, with the right runes, sigils, and trinkets and we suggest you consult a guide so you get the right stuff. If you can get ascended for any of these pieces, especially trinkets and weapons, that's great, and will give you a small boost up over exotics. Gear has a number of sources, and I recommend reading the linked summary below if you need to read up on which is most effective for what you want to gear. If your character needs to go tame relevant pets or have a fully unlocked elite, do that too. Having a full spec is important for getting the best out of your play. 5. Look up a rotation for said character, and practice it a few times, until you understand it (what maximizes your damage, what you should be prioritizing for utilities, etc). If you can, practice it in both the airdome practice room using food and combat buffs so you can compare it correctly to benchmarks and in combat, so that you're familiar with it when you need to use it in a high-pressure situation. 6. Buy class-appropriate food/utilities. Get the good stuff. The cheaper consumes are also good for practicing while being easier on your wallet, but the greater consumable damage/boon/other boost frequently comes in handy when you need the edge up in a fight. 7. Set up your special action key, since many raids use it for special mechanics. Make sure it's in a comfortable location to use. 8. If you have extra time look up some basic guides on Vale Guardian, Escort, Mursaat Overseer, or Cairn the Indomable. Focus on videos that show either your class or a similar one so you can study rotation, skills, roles, etc. LINKS: - Builds http://qtfy.eu/builds/ (recommended) https://metabattle.com/wiki/Raid (please note update date before using, make sure to use recent builds) - Gear/Consumes http://gw2scouts.com/community/threads/need-ascended-hot-stat-trinkets.92/#post-352 (gear aquistion + sources) https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Temple_armor (vendors also have trinkets) https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/5dr23n/budget_chronomancer_for_beginners_40g/ https://metabattle.com/wiki/Guide:Dungeon_Consumables (note that only food/utility works in raids and boosters and consumes do not: also, all raid bosses do not have traits such as ghost, etc so you must use general consumes) - Bosses: http://dulfy.net/category/gw2/raid-guides/ - Compostion: http://metabattle.com/wiki/Guide:Raid_Team_Composition HERE'S HOW RAID TRAINING SETUP WORKS: During raid setup, either Sylent or Dyne or someone else will set up a open squad in the guild hall shortly after the end of Triple Trouble, whenever that happens to be. Participants have at least 15m to join squad, preferably logged onto the character you're planning to raid with. Once raid leaders have called what they're teaching or leading, they will split into subs in that squad, announcing which boss, what level of expertise they expect, and what discord channel they're going to be in. Everyone will move themselves to the right sub and voice chat before groups split off. As with Triple Trouble setup, it is best not to AFK this part so you go to the right group/voice channel. Raid leaders will organize the comp after we have groups, and also explain the fight: please be honest about your general state of preparedness so we can make sure our groups are organized effectively for their content. FOR PROSPECTIVE RAID TEACHERS/OPENERS/ETC: EVOS raid training frequently needs one or two more people to help training and leading so we can help everyone out. We request that you know how to composition (flexibly) for the boss you are planning on leading, how to explain any important roles (such as green circles at VG). Lastly, it helps to have a mic so you can how to explain the whole of the boss fight to your group on TS, and call the bosses. But that's all we ask for! We also appreciate it if folks tell us if they have mid wing bosses cleared up to, as finding people with those open on Saturdays is not a guarantee unless we pay for it. I hope that was a helpful read: if you have any questions, or comments, please feel free to chuck'em in here, in guild chat, or ask me or Sylent one on one.