The perfect group

How would the perfect group be set up?

There are many theories about that and it varies from instance to instance or even from boss to boss. In Karazhan you may have two tanks, two-three healers and some mixed dps, like mixed candy. A paladin on Maiden doesn't hurt and warlock is a great advantage at Illhoof and Netherspite.

You'll hardly make a five man instance without a healer and a tank, unless you purposely want to make things difficult for yourself. (As a matter of fact I've once upon a time run instances with the bizarre setup: three hunters, myself and a healer - out of lack of knowledge. Not that it's something I would recommend...)

But I think there's another dimension in the game which you'll easily miss when you throw yourself into the puzzle of class setup. I'm thinking about the personalities of the players.If there's something I've learned throughout RL it is that differences make you stronger - it helps you achieve better results, while single-minded groups are likely to fail.

A group only consisting of extrovert, pushing steam engines will be quite unbearable to attend, and there's a huge risk they'll pull in different directions or that they'll lose interest once the project is on track. They lack sustainability. A group of thoughtful, smart and analytical minded people will find brilliant solutions, but you risk that time will pass without any action. It will stay on theories and dreams, since no one will take action and make things happen. And if you've got a group of social, kind, caring people, it will probably become so considering that you'll lose speed, no one will push you anywhere, everybody will be pleased just staying where you are, scratching your backs.

The solution of this is called team building, where you aren't afraid of differences in the players, but rather looking for it while setting up a group.

Applied at World of Warcraft, the best raiding group is hardly the one where all 10 - or 25, terrible thought - want to lead and push and have a fix idea about what strategy to use, an idea you advocate at any cost. In the perfect group you have a mixture of personalities.

When you're in trouble you need someone who clearly can point out a direction, make people go silent in TS, make them focus a bit more, shape up. But just as important can the quiet player be, who in a second can make a wonderful analysis about the course of the last wipe, making up new strategies. He may not say much unless you'll ask him, you'll have to drag it out of him, but once you do that you'll see that even a shy person can be golden.

Someone with some social talents is also needed, someone who can give confidence to the nervous newbie, joining for the first time, someone who can help negotiating when the peacocks of the guild are fighting. And of course you need a joker! Someone who with a short comment or an emote can provoke a liberating laughter which can accompany the run after your body after the third wipe.

Is it possible to make this mix in reality? Well I guess it's easier said than done. You have to be grateful if you can get the right classes together, if you want to add the personality dimension into the croup composition it may be too much to handle. Still I think it's worth thinking about now and then, if nothing else when you're recruiting or appointing officers.

If a guild has got stuck in progression it isn't necessary only because of game technical reason, gear and class composition. It could as well be due to the mix of personalities - that the group simply is unbalanced.