First time Instance/Raid Help

In progress as I find time/procrastinate on homework :P

So you've hit the appropriate level for your first instance, and you're not quite what all these people are talking about/doing. Hopefully this will help fill in the blanks for you. Apologies in advance for problems with grammar, spelling, game mechanics, class skills or talents, and the like. I'll try to make this guide as good as I can, and welcome comments for improvements.

Preparing for the Instance

It is a good habit to get into that you fully prepare before entering the instance. This may include:

- Repairing equipment

- Purchasing reagents for skills (Shamans/Druids especially since they have so many, Priests/Paladins as they get higher)

- Purchase ammunition (Hunters especially, rogues/warriors if they expect to use a ranged weapon frequently, more on that later)

- Purchase or otherwise obtain food and drink if you need it. Food decreases the amount of time a party has to wait to recover and can provide enhancements to your charactor. Drink is important for classes with mana, as it dramatically decreases how long you spend outside of battle.

- Gathering quests - most of the instances have decent writeups in the wiki, which include listings of the quests. Alternately, you can use the resources Thottbot and Allakhazam to find out what quests are available. Some of these quests will be shareable, but many quests for instances require that you complete other quests that lead up to a larger quest inside an instance. It would be inconsiderate for someone to make you wait an hour before starting, try not to do so to others. In other words, get the quests ready ahead of time so you don't make people wait for you. 

- (Optional step) - prepare your snacks and drinks in real life. Many people like to have some food and drink by them as they run an instance, in expectation of a gaming session of multiple hours. Just like preparing your charactor, prepare yourself :P

- Arrive on time - if your group has planned this run in advance, start moving down there early. If necessary, look up a map to discover how to get to the instance or where ever your group is gathering. Again, this is a common courtesy to the other people in your group. 

Quick break to outline some terms that will be used by groups

Aggro - Aggro refers to aggression by the monster towards the party. Every action performed in combat generates aggro and the monster will target the player with the most aggro. Since the person with aggro is getting hit a lot, we try to keep a sturdy class at the top of the aggro list (re: most aggro). This allows healers to concentrate healing on one target (making their jobs easier) and more fragile classes can avoid getting smashed since the sturdy class is getting hit.

(Main) Assist - In an instance group, it is often important for a party to focus fire on a single target to more quickly decrease the enemy forces. However, focusing fire in the middle of chaotic combat is nigh impossible. Thus you have the (Main) Assist. This is the person who chooses what dies and what dies later. This player will choose a target, and through the use of Assist Macros (more on these later), will get the entire party to focus their attacks on that target.

MOB/mob - from the MUDs of yesteryear, meaning essentially Mobile Object. In World of Warcraft. it is the general term for something that a player is expected to kill for any reason what so ever.

Pull/Puller - this refers to someone that brings the mobs back to the group. This is not always necessary, but is generally a good practice to get into since it is always preferable to fight in a battlefield of your own choosing. The puller often uses a ranged attack or ability to draw the enemy's attention, and you will often see warriors or hunter be designated the group's "puller." In some situations, a pull will be made with a mage casting Polymorph (sheep pull), a priest casting Mind Control (MC Pull), or a paladin (face pull :P).

Tank - another term from older games, the tank is the player tasked with taking damage so other players don't have to. The preferred tank is often a warrior, although paladins, shamans, hunters, a hunter's pet and rogues are known to play the tank in certain situations.

"You are the thin, blood-red line between those that can do damage versus that which can do damage to them. You are hitpoints given mobility, a meatshield, a damage sponge, a wall with legs, a speed bump in the Damagemart parking lot." - Doomhaven

Off Tank - this is the person tasked with dealing with something that has escaped the gaze of the Tank. The class will vary on the situation, but the job is the same. If something breaks away from the tank and starts hitting the people in the back, the off tank goes over to smartly rap the mob upside the head to get it off the more fragile player and then keeps it occupied until the assist or tank can come over and deal with it.

Wipe - this refers to an entire party dying. Wipes should be avoided as much as possible, as dying and running back to your body wastes time that could be spent adventuring. Not sure where this bit of slang came from, just know that it means that you'll be starting that fight and possibly more all over again.

Final things to do before entering the instance

Talk to your group.

- Find out who is expected to be the main tank and who is to be the off tank. 
- Find out who will be the main assist. 
- Discuss the rules for loot. 

Yes, this is boring crap and you just want to kill more monsters. Unfortunately, this discussion can be the difference between a solid group making a smooth run through an instance and a lousy group that falls apart the first time that they wipe.

Making an assist macro - in your command line, type "/macro" or access the menu with the escape key and click the button marked "Macros." At that point, you can see a menu with tons of blank spaces. Click one of them and it will bring up a submenu. Choose an icon and write in a name like "Assist." In the bottom box, type in the command "/assist XXXX" where XXXX is the person that has been designated the assist. When this is completed, click the completed button and your new macro is finished. At this point, you can drag this macro button to your toolbar and should use it in place of your default attack when doing instances or raids.