Practice your Elevator Raid Pitch

One of the worst things that can happen to a raid that has a lot of momentum is a long explanation of the next fight. People who already know the fight lose concentration. People who don’t know the fight get overwhelmed. Either way, it makes it very hard for each member to keep their steam from the last boss. This can be an issue with low end guilds on progression content, where it’s very possible to clear several bosses for the first time in one night. Because of that fact, the RL needs to be prepared to give the explanation of the new boss. This is where the elevator pitch comes in.

In business, the Elevator Pitch is a 30-60 second synopsis that covers the major issues of your product/idea so that you could deliver it to a super important person in an elevator, as that’s probably the most time you’ll be captive with a bigwig at any given point in your life. However, it’s a tool that people use to give a quick idea to consumers as well. It’s streamlined presentation makes it much easier for the audience to follow than rambling on about this or that or repeating yourself. Use this tool to explain new boss fights, and practice it! I know it sounds extreme (I am not going to practice a speech, it’s a game), but if you’re reading this blog, you either have the spare time to practice your speech or you care enough to put a little extra effort into your game.

Here’s my Elevator pitch for the Twins fight in ToC.
There are two portals, light and dark. Each portal gives you an aura that absorbs it’s own color and takes damage from the opposite color. DPS the twin opposite the color you’re using. Throughout the fight, orbs will appear and orbs of your color give you a buff and orbs of the opposite color hurt – pick these up for a nice damage boost. The twins have two abilities – vortex and twins pact. If a twin starts casting a vortex, everyone in the raid must change to that twin’s color – if light casts it, everyone get light. If dark casts it, everyone get dark. The other ability is twins pact. When this is cast, everyone needs to focus fire on the twin with the shield until the shield drops, then pop interrupts. Raid damage is constant, so healers on the ball. The twins share health, so it doesn’t matter which you attack, as long as it’s either opposite color or casting twins pact.

Sure, it doesn’t explain every nuiance of the fight and some of the concepts are not covered fully. But the general idea is still there – DPS opposite twin, focus on twins pact, heal the raid, change to the vortex color. Give it a shot and if you fail, no biggie, you can give a more detailed explanation while people buff up and such. But this gives you a chance to keep your momentum. A quick wipe is actually faster than a 5 minute explanation.

And who knows, maybe you’ll actually become better at public speaking by practicing an elevator pitch. Without it, a long explanation might end with someone in the whelp cave.