Instance and Grouping Basics (WoW)  

This guide covers some basic information on grouping. Mostly it deals with instances though many of the points listed here can translate into just general quest groups as well. The audience for this isn't raiders, or even new raiders, but people who haven't grouped much or are looking for a little information on grouping. These can be level 13 players heading into Ragefire Chasm or level 70's who sprinted to the level cap and are now looking to run some instances or anyone in between.

That's not to say that some of this doesn't apply in raids, it's just to say that if you're reading this and thinking "That's stupid, in my raid it's X" then you probably don't need to read this guide. Hopefully someone who's made it fairly far in raiding will write a grouping for raids guide soon.

Note these also apply to at or near level groups. If you're having a level 70 run you through things then many of these won't apply.

General Tips

Forming/Joining a Group

The success of a group doesn't begin when you get to the instance, it begins when you initially form or join a group. Generally speaking, for a successful group you need a tank, a healer and DPS. For Low to Mid level runs, even off-specced classes can perform these roles. Whether they want to or not is a different story.

• Establish loot rules early. Some parties agree to pass on all BoP loot and roll separately for it. Some just go with the initial rolls. Some enchanters think they can need on everything for D/E mats, you want to find out if that's OK with the group before you get into a conflict scenario.
• It may also be useful in places with rare herbs or mining nodes to determine how you want to handle that. Some ways are simply alternating nodes (no matter what it is, if you got a Fel Iron node the last time and the next node is Adamantite it goes to the other guy. It alternates). Some choose to /roll on each node. Some just figure it will slow the group down so everyone passes and doesn't harvest anything. You want to figure this out up front.
• Don't, at any point in the party, haul out the tired "It's my $15 a month I'll play how I want". That's sort of true, very true when playing solo. But keep in mind, in a group, it's the rest of the group's $60 a month and if you don't want to play as a group (which is what that comment implies) then you shouldn't be part of it anyway. It's fairly likely you'll get kicked (kicked out of the group) if you trot that bad boy out.
• Be clear about what the objectives are. Never assume the group has the same ones you do. It is NOT OK to drop group after a specific boss because he did or didn't drop your stuff and that's all you were after unless the group knows this and is prepared. It is NOT OK to drop group after you get the Karazhan key fragment out of Arcatraz because that's all you were there for unless the group knows. It's also not OK for the group to quit on you when the above occurs. You need to determine what everyone is after and agree to it.

Inviting

• Do's
• When inviting strangers, always Whisper them first to ask them if they want to join your group. Be specific about what instance you're running and don't assume what their role is. Some priests are specced Shadow and don't want to heal, others may be willing to heal if not specced for it. So ask for what you need, like: "Sorry to bother you, are you specced for healing or would you be interested in healing an SM Cath run?". Not only is this polite, but a lot of players have add-ons that auto-block blind invites. That person may want to go with you but if you just invite without a whisper you're going to get declined.
• If someone says "No Thanks", thank them for their time and look for someone else.
• If you're finding people in the Looking for Group (LFG) tool be sure to check their notes. Many off-specs or hybrids will put in there what they're specced for or willing to do. It's annoying to have put that information in there and have people completely ignore it.
• For higher level instances, feel free to check someone's armory to see if they're geared well enough or how you would expect. Just know that some people have "Walking around town" or soloing sets of gear that they may have been wearing the last time they logged off and these aren't necessarily indicative of their actual gear. It can help, but you could also lose out on a really great tank that had low armor and avoidance because they had their DPS set on.

• Don'ts
• Don't wait until the group is formed to figure out who the tank and healer are (or figure out if you even have one).
• Don't berate people for not playing or speccing the way you want them to. If you needed a different role that they're not willing to fill you should have found that out beforehand (se Do's)
• Don't pester people to go with you. If they say no, they really don't want to go.

Being Invited

• Do's
• Ask what role they expect you to play before accepting the invitation. If it's not something you're willing to do, tell them.
• If you're not overly familiar or comfortable with the instance or with grouping in general, say so. Sure, some groups will drop you for your inexperience but that's probably a good thing as the run won't be fun for anyone. The groups that keep you are likely to help you out a great deal, raising both your experience level and your comfort level. It's just polite to let people know what to expect from you.
• Don'ts
• Don't accept an invitation if you can't give your full time and attention to the group. Sure, things come up occasionally, but if you know you're parents are going to call you for dinner in 30 minutes or you're babysitting a rambunctious terrier that is constantly getting into things you don't have the time or attention for an instance run. Keep in mind that every time you say "brb" and are gone for 20 minutes you're wasting 4 other people's time and too many of those can turn a 90 minute run into a 4 hour one.
• Say hi when you join the group!

Prepping For and Getting To the Instance

• Do's
• Make sure that you have all of the reagents, ammunition, shards, food, water, etc. you will need for the run. This includes appropriate food for your pet if you're a hunter.
• Make sure that your armor is repaired.
• Participate in party chat if people are trying to work out roles or blessings or whatever. It's very disconcerting to ask a party member a question and have them never reply (to reply in party chat, type /p and your reply) and lately, personally, I'll kick people who don't answer. If you're going to be AFK while you're on a bird or something, just say that.

• Don'ts
• Don't expect people to provide you with consumables or anything else you need.
• Don't expect (or worse, demand) to be summoned to the instance when everyone else is making their own way. It's one thing to say "Hey I need to get some reagents, I'll be there as quick as I can", it's another thing to say "Summon me when you get there".
• Don't berate people for their spec choices. If you have a Shadow Priest doing DPS and a Druid healing and you think you prefer priests healing don't yell at the SPriest for "Not doing his job"

In the Instance

• Do's
• Pay attention to what the people that have more experience with the instance are telling you. If they tell you to watch out for something, do so. There are pat paths and other things to watch out for that may not be obvious to you your first or second time through a run.
• Follow the kill order. If using raid markings the watch that. Don't just pick a random target and nuke it.
• Run back after a wipe. Don't just sit there expecting the priest to run back and then res you while you chat with them in party about how long the run back to the instance is. You may not like the healing you receive afterwards or the healer may just opt not to res you (in the case of a druid healer who has a long cooldown on their res, ressing you would be a huge waste of that cooldown and they likely won't do it.)
• Ask for information, especially before boss fights. I'd much rather someone say in party (or whisper me) "OK, I've not done this guy before, what should I be prepared for and is there anything special you want me to do?" then to keep quiet and screw it up.
• Do take care of yourself after battles. Eat, drink, etc. Sure the healer may be able to heal you afterwards but that just means that the group is going to have to wait longer before the next pull. For instance: If you're low on health and the healer is low on mana, if they heal you they're going to have to drink for longer. If you and the healer both eat and drink, respectively then you're both ready to go at the same time.
• Do let the group know if you're taking aggro (but don't be a jerk about it). Sometimes it's hard to see. However, "Heal me" macros are annoying and insulting to the healer. Try to avoid those. A simple "aggro" in party chat is enough. That both lets the tank know you need something yanked off you and lets the healer know they need to pay attention to you.

• Don'ts
• Do not wander around. Especially if you're unfamiliar with the instance. In many instances it's possible to pull aggro from unlikely places (like above you, which is generally bad because they'll bring everyone else with them on the way down)
• Never click on a cog wheel item in an instance unless you know what it's going to do. If you've not been in the instance before, just never do it. There are many of these that can trigger mob spawns or events (Daedmines is one, Blackfathom Deeps has a couple of nasty ones) and if the group isn't ready then at best someone will die, at worst the whole group will die.
• Don't pull groups while the healer or, to a lesser degree the DPS, is low on Mana. I know as a healer I've been known to continue to drink while staying out of combat and just ressed the rest of the group afterwards.
• Also, don't pull if you're not the puller. Period.
• Don't give class advice to someone in party chat. If you really think someone can benefit from your knowledge in whispers, but never do it in party. But you'd better be sure you know what you're talking about, I know I love it when my level 70 paladin gets class advice from the (usually crappy) warlock with a level 23 paladin. And related to that, you'd also better not be sucking up the joint as your current class.
• Don't try to lay blame. Blaming someone may be perfectly valid, but experience has shown me that people intent on laying blame and calling people out in party chat are almost always at least equally if not more at fault for the problems.
• Don't have stupid quest, color, or other macros or add ons installed. They're annoying and during a batt;e they can clog up the chat screen so the tank can't see if someone's said they have aggro or other information. They're cute the first couple of times, maybe. But thoughout a 2 hour instance they can wear pretty thin.

Loot

• Don't loot in combat. Ever. If the fight is going on and you're looting, you're not helping the rest of the group. Also, it's extremely difficult for tanks and healers, especially, to evaluate if they want or need a drop while they're still trying to hold boss aggro or keep everyone alive respectively. The loot will still be there are the end of the battle, just wait.
• Don't release your spirit right away unless the group has agreed to do a Graveyard Res. Releasing makes it harder for the healer to res you and may cause you to miss out on a boss loot roll.
• Follow the established loot rules set out at the beginning of the party. If it was agreed that everyone passes on Bind on Pick-up (BoP) items then pass on the BoP drops and roll afterwards.
• If you need on a Bind on Equip (BoE) item, be prepared for the group to wonder why you haven't equipped it if you haven't. What that says to them is you needed on something you fully intend to sell. Which is lame. Need is to improve your character's play. Everyone needs money, but if that's your purpose, it's still greed. In fact, because of this, many groups will say to need on BoE items to prevent ninja looting like this.
• Don't be a loot whore. Just because you can equip it doesn't mean you should need on it. If you're a caster and gear drops that is imbalanced to healers (You'll see this more in Outland and it will look like: Gives +200 to healing and +50 to spell damage", that's healer gear guys. It just is.) pass on it or greed it and tell the healer to need if they need. As a corollary, don't get mad if other people also need on items you did when they can work equally well for either class/spec/role.

Tips by Role

Group Leader

• If you're using raid markings, you don't need to mark every single kill. If you find yourself saying (when there is no CC), "OK Skull first, X second, Triangle 3rd, Square 4th, Circle 5th..." you've probably marked WAY too many or you're proposing a bad pull.

Tank

Healer

Crowd Control

DPS

Notes on Off-Roles

Tips by Class

Druid

Hunter

Mage

Paladin

Priest

Rogue

Shaman

Warrior

Warlock

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