I love flex because it lets me meet new people and organize large raids and generally just have a good time.
My requirement for flex isn't some magic number, its "if we have fewer than 25, and you want in, come on in!"
If you want to get really technical about it, watch how much the health of the boss increases when you invite someone, then see if they individually contribute greater than that amount. I'd say odds are good that unless you invited someone who was severely undergeared or completely inexperienced, they did. There is no magic number.
When I've formed Flex groups it really boils down to two things:
1) Do I have enough healers to compensate for the amount of mob/boss damage.
2) Do I have enough DPS to compensate for the increase in mob/boss health.
You will always have two tanks, so that isn't an issue.
I try to keep the DPS at a 3/4 split for melee and ranged respectively.
I do try to keep the size of the raid around 12-15 people. Mainly because it's easier to manage that many people (who in my case are usually 80-90% people I don't know), while keeping in mind the above two criteria.
I've tried a few Flex runs where I've had 20-25 people, and it's a little too stressful to manage as the raid leader for so many people I don't know and probably have never grouped with before.
I usually run with 10-14 people. Why? Cause I make the group and that's the number I want to have in my raid.
There are usually 5-7 peoople from my guild in the raid. And I want to have 50% of the raidmember to be raiders I know. There are so many lfr- and timelessheros out there....with ilvl 545 or something like that. They got lucky and got carried through a flex before and tada there you have your ilvl 545 rouge with clear-xp pulling 70k dps on malkorok. No thanks!
Of course it's kinda ridiculous to read in the trade-chat: lfm SoO flex, part 2. only with ilvl 545+ and kill-xp
But the thing is, you have to expect that these guys are pulling dps or hps like a ilvl 500 equipped char played by a good player. Of course flex-raid can easily be cleared by a ilvl 520 raid or something...but that's just theory.
I want our flex-raids to be fun, chatty, successful and to have a possibility to equip our alts and not to satisfy PuG's who only cry and want to be baby-sitted.
Everyone who complains about raidleaders setting the size of their raids should make their own raid. In this raid they can invite 24 more people and have fun with them in flex. We'll see if they complain again after this experience....
It may sound harsh. But flex means flex and so 14m raid can mean full!
Most of the raids I bother to open and inspect on Openraid are capping the group at 15 people. Personally I think it's silly, but there is this pervasive belief out there that the fights become astronomically harder with more people.
They don't.
The bosses have more health to account for more players in the raid. A few of the bosses (sha with prisons, Norushen with orbs, etc.) scale those mechanics based on the number of people. But overall the fights themselves are no harder.
Source: I regularly clear Flex with a group that runs 22-25 depending on who is logged in.
So, it's wrong to tell someone you're not recruiting more than 10-14 players. But it's perfectly fine to invite anyone and their mother, and then kick them halfway through and call them bad?
I'd rather someone call me a dick because I didn't invite them in the first place, than actually BE a dick by getting them through a boss or two and then kicking them.
I'd get called a dick either way, but at least by not inviting them I can save them the hassle.
Last edited by Louis CK; 2013-11-07 at 02:34 PM.
We raid flex at 10, 11, 12 or 14 players.
We're mostly a group of friends that raid together since a long time, and we're more comfortable in a smaller setting.
I won't stop at 10 flat if there's a viable candidate that propose to join, but I won't go higher than 14 to avoid the headache of too many people.
Also we never raid at 13 because it's easier to take another healer at this point than put more preassure on the three current healers.
Truth is, if you don't like how a flex raid is being run, start your own. Raid leaders don't have a special client or anything, and its totally free of charge!