Let’s start at the very beginning, raiding is broken into 4 levels of difficulty:
Looking for Raid (LFR): I don’t consider this raiding for the purpose of this guide, my goal is to help you progress to the point you don’t have a reason to queue for LFR.
Normal: The goal and focus of this guide, it is fairly forgiving but is the real raid experience, groups must be formed by a raid leader you can find Pickup Groups via the in-game Group Finder Tool, or better yet on your Guild Calander.
Heroic: A step up from Normal, the mobs hit harder and there are more mechanics to deal with, and in general requires a higher level of coordination and accountability with each player.
Mythic: This is the ultimate of the end-game raid content in World of Warcraft, this is where the world first races take place, raids are fixed for 20 players and the lockouts work differently.
I won’t go much into Mythic into this guide, mostly because it works totally differently then Normal or Heroic and no one who needs this guide should find themselves in a Mythic Raid.
Streets Ahead 