Raiding is a staple in most MMO’s and games that don’t have such a focus on raiding often have large PVP battles/arenas that accomplish a similar goal.
I have played many, many hours of Guild Wars 2 WvW and know the strategy and small party raiding skills needed to be successful.
SO, what are the main aspects of raiding that can be taken and applied to real life? If you have not read my previous post on how to live life as if it were a video game then please do check it out first.
1: Designated roles
2: Following a pre organised plan and knowing your enemy
3: Persistence and knowing the sense of achievement
To complete a complicated boss, a varied team must be assembled. The standard Holy Trinity or roles for a raid are the Tank, Healer and Damage Dealer. The tank has developed their character to take a large amount of damage but not necessarily deal a large amount of damage to the boss. The Healer is there to keep the tank and other players alive. The damage dealers are there to actually reduce the hit points of the boss.
Each player knows their roles and a successful raid requires them to stick to their designated task. There is an element of improvisation within each role as different bosses have different skills and so focus will constantly need to be changed.
How does this translate to life? There are many challenges we face in the game of life and often we feel we should be able to overcome them ourselves. Just as if we were to try and complete a raid with our single character, we often fail at the first hurdle. The test of any great player is their ability to work as a team or gather a team around themselves. When you randomly rolled your character for the game of life you gained certain skills that others may not have. When you are working in a team, how will you focus your skills so that, as a team, you can complete the challenge and take down the boss?
Before the raid even starts, the raid leader is likely to have done research on the boss in question and know what skills and attacks it has. The leader will create a battle plan and give out roles to each player. In the game of life it is vital to enter any challenge with a plan. If you are aiming to compete in a sporting event or publish your first book then set out a plan before attempting to scale the raid. If you have a team around you, designate roles and make sure you are using everyone’s natural skills to the maximum. Make sure you are aware of your own skills and use them to the best for the team.
It is rare that a new boss is defeated on the first try. Most serious gamers will know the feeling of defeat after failing to complete a new boss but will also know the sense of determination that “Next time” will be the time it works. This is true in the game of life. There is no point in confronting every challenge expecting to complete it first try. Life is more fun when things don’t come easily. How would you feel if every boss you met just melted in front of your team with no effort on your part? The game would lose meaning and any sense of achievement would be lost.
If you know that you get a sense of achievement out of completing a raid then stop seeing your real world challenges as any different. Gather a team, create a plan, do your research and know your enemy. Enter the raid knowing what your role is and the role of others. For that half marathon, get a running buddy, a trainer, someone who will help you eat right. On the day, bring them all along for motivation. Most importantly, when your diet buddy has his own boss fight or quest to complete, don’t hesitate to help out with your skills and be there on the day of the raid to do your part.
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