So far we've talked about how to use your gear and your spell rotation to maximize your performance. The last piece of the puzzle is determining how well you play with others. That is, who complements you in a group and who do you complement?
Group makeup isn't the easiest thing if you're trying to maximize everyone's potential. It's easy to say "in the tank's group there should be a paladin for Devo Aura and a warlock for Blood Pact." Now, it often makes sense to have 2 warriors, one for Battle Shout and the other for Commanding. Especially if there are two tanks, this makes sense.
There are far more things to take into consideration. For example, all caster love the moonkin. But who loves the moonkin the most? Fire mages? Warlocks? Elemental Shamans? The real answer is....arcane/frost mages. They have an insane crit bonus. If a normal spell hits for 100, their crits hit for 250. They are the best to be in this group, followed by arcane fire mages, then followed by a lot of casters like elemental shamans, destruction warlocks, frost mages, fire mages, etc. Now during heavy healing fights, it makes sense to place holy paladins in a moonkin's group for their longevity.
Knowing the talent trees and the abilities of every class is essential when you're trying to determine group makeup.
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It's worth pointing out two additional factors to group composition that I've observed in the last year and a half of leading raids:
One, some people work better with other people in their group. Regardless of spec, regardless of buffs - some people are much happier and perform better if they are grouped with their spouse, partner, friend, cousin, guildmate, whatever. That's not to say they will play badly in other groups, but their morale is lower as they are bummed not to be with person X and they -do not- play as well as they normally would.
Second, sometimes you will have more of a group that benefits from a buff than can be slotted in the group. It's very important as the raid leader to determine who is most effective as the odd one out. Some people handle it just fine - sometimes even striving to outperform those with the buff - while others will shut down and function extremely poorly.
I try to keep both of these factors in mind when I'm making group selections and they're an important element in why folks are where they are.
One factor that doesn't really matter now in the way it used to with 40 man raids is group number. There was a psychological effect for a lot of folks being in groups 7 and 8 made it best to rotate people around a bit and change whether the tail was a melee group or a range group or a heal group, etc. I typically do keep the tanking group as #1 just for consistency because it makes it easier for the healers in other groups to find them quickly and without much effort in case the primary healers are dead or need assistance.
S
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