Being a good raid leader is one of the most challenging things that you can do in online gaming. It's kind of like managing a day care and coaching a football team at the same time. For whatever reason, people who play World of Warcraft are prone to all sorts of embarrassingly juvenile emotional issues. It's very hard to find players of a certain maturity level. Even people who are otherwise accomplished professionals transform into whiny, spoiled children when an argument over loot erupts.

The most important thing to get a handle on is recruiting. Recruiting skilled, mature players can shave off hours a week from a raid leader's time that would otherwise be spent quelling the drama long enough to complete a raid instance. Bar that, a raid leader needs to be both sensitive to the feelings and desires of various crucial members of the raid without forgetting that you have an obligation to be fair to the other attendants of the raid. Maintaining momentum and recovering from mistakes is also very important.

One crucial mistake that many experienced raid leaders make is to continue pushing at content that members are continually failing at. If you see the same mistakes being made and it's starting to get late at night, call the raid off. Continuing a cycle of failure just trains raiders to fail more, and it contributes to the strain that ultimately leads to the burnout of some of your most important raiders. Knowing when to call it off and when to keep pushing on hard content is something that separates the merely competent raid leaders from the very best.