alright GODs... here's the thing, okay, you beat King's Fall once twice, 10 times... but you still might not be a Sherpa... it takes more than just being in a team that beat Oryx to be a Sherpa... I'm gonna let you in on how and what i think when i teach a raid... first off, my goal is to never carry someone i'm teaching... i try as much as possible to instruct you to become a functional player in the raid, not just a dog that sits there and gets petted by the other players that have no respect for you as a gamer... that's also why i have long winded intros where i just talk talk talk. it's to fully inform you how and why the GODs do the strategies they do... next two points: 1) no matter how much media, info, help, cheat sheets there are out there in the interwebs... 9 times out of 10, the people who want to be taught the raid, will not make the effort to read, watch, or search for any of that... like it's a job or something... ::sigh:: going to the raid fresh without doing any homework before it and expecting to pass is not idealistic... you have to know what you are dealing with... the raid is 10% knowing what and when to do things, and 90% surviving while doing it... you have to have awesome battle mob fight mechanics as well as understand what your enemies are doing 2) i only take one fresh learner and one beginner at a time because literally i am playing the raid as 2 or 3 people instead of focusing on myself at the raid... it's exhausting to call out what each player is supposed to do and when to do it when i can't even see what you (the beginner) is seeing, much less doing... i might be barking commands at you, but it's commands to participate and be a valid player, not just dead weight that the team gets to blame when a wipe happens i don't know what experiences you've had with other raid groups, but i hear awful things about other groups... my patience wears thin at times but Destiny on a daily basis can do that to you... however GODs, I need to recharge my mental batteries too... so some weeks i do like to take a break from teaching... but i promise you GODs, that as long as you want me to, i'll still keep teaching it, and the new ones to come last thought, i'm gonna break it down to show you what i think of the classifications when it comes to Beginners through Sherpa... FRESH BEGINNER: brand spanking new to the raid and has not done any activity in the raid... someone who did parts but not the whole thing... someone who has never beaten oryx Beginner: someone who has beaten oryx 1-3 times but still doesn't know all the duties of each event (ie: red aura during warpreist, gaze runner during golgoroth, relic runner oryx) ... someone who still needs reminders or verbal commands to function in the raid (supervision)... someone who still needs to be told how to maximize their DPS when fighting bosses Intermediate: someone who has good battle mechanics and seldom dies in the raid... someone who at least understands all the side duties in the raid and can attempt/perform them with little to no supervision... when this person is in a raid team, beating the raid fresh from start to oryx will take 3 hours or less.. someone who has the right gear for all situations in the raid Advanced: a team player who can accurately judge the level of performance of the other teammates without prejudice... someone who can change and form fit a role to help balance the team when other teammates are lacking... understands why a Sherpa will ask people to switch places or change the order of what the team does... pretty much never dies... will pick up the verbal commands are Sherpa literally can't see to issue the command... with this teammate, the raid will take 2 hours or less SHERPA: this player is Jesus Christ... lol... no, but they are Mother Theresa, patient AF........ someone who can fully inform the team of strategy and can pitch in and do Challenge modes with any strategy... someone who doesn't need any instructions at all and can make up for lacking players because they can see the faults ahead of time... despite having crappy gear, can still rock the runway and mob kill and heavy DPS like a boss... WILL NEVER BLAME A TEAM MEMBER FOR A FAILURE AND WILL ADMIT THEIR OWN FAILURES AND WILL ADJUST INSTEAD OF MAKING OTHER TEAMMATES ADJUST... can function as any role in the raid... and most importantly, pass the raid in 2 hours or less... yep, that's my expectations... some of you may not agree, but this is what i think of when i classify a gamer going into the raid... thanks for the read... see you in King's Fall GODs... Palkuka