Keeping an existing person is much easier than recruiting a new player.

In business they say it costs 3x the money a customer initially puts into to the company to get a new customer and only .25% to maintain one. Think about all the variables that need to line up for this person to fit as a long-term member of your team. Attitude, Schedule, Experience, Skill, Goals – and to a much lesser extent these days: Class and/or Spec.

As we talk about in other sections (Assembling the Team) as long as the player can make the raids and has a great attitude then you can work on everything else. It behooves your team to turn great people into good players more so than finding great players and trying to modify them into great people. The latter is more like beating your head against the wall.

If you fill your team with people that want to constantly improve, this step is easy. Here’s a checklist to go through which works for Healers/Tanks/DPS

1. Spec

Check agreed upon best spec over at elitistjerks.com -- Check this against the player spec. What is different? Why? Is the spec situational? Most specs have a “play around” points, how are they using theirs?

2. Reforging

What is their top stat? Are they reforging into that? Are they at the cap or gate for that stat?

3. Gems

Are they matching gems for color bonuses that aren't worth it?

Are they gemming for their top stat?

4. Rotations

People always say they’re doing the proper rotation. Sometimes they don’t understand that keeping a dot up is more important than X swing. Take a look at WorldofLogs and see what their dot uptime is, how often they’re keeping their cooldowns on CD, etc. Each time we try to help someone out it almost always comes down to fine tuning their rotation.

5. UI

Are they using the mods that help situational awareness? DPS maxing? etc
Are they maxing out their camera to improve environment navigation?
Do they have most items/spells/etc key bound?

It’s much easier to keep someone you enjoy gaming with than finding someone new to test out. If this person isn't willing to learn or improve then you may have to move on. As long as they are willing to improve stick with them and you'll see the payoff in both the short and long term. It's much harder to teach someone social skills than it is WoW skills. Remember that before removing that really cool guy/girl from the raid for a more talented player.