So, by now we've all seen the new blue tweets about upcoming "controversial changes" :
Anyone can see that it's becoming more and more challenging to fairly balance and tune the mechanics of ever-evolving raids to be equally fair to both 10 and 25 man raiders. Now, of course as WOW players, it is not difficult to find something to complain about, but the back and forth arguments and pissing contests of 10 vs 25 are coming to a head. Blizz has tried to intervene, and apparently has some plans in place, but reading all of the suggestions on these forums and other areas made me wonder if we are not headed for one master raid size?Any news on 25men raiding and incentives for them? Numbers of guilds still dwindling, you mentioned a developer blog
We have an idea, but it's a bit controversial so we're not ready to spring it on you yet. (Source)
Could you give me a reason as to why 25man raids don't just straight up drop items that already are already 2/2 upgraded?
Because that would cause progression-oriented 10 player raids to feel like they had to switch to 25s to benefit from the ilevel. (Source)
Now, a change as drastic as this would only be applicable in a new expansion, so it's VERY implausable we'd see it within the next 12-18 months, however it is certainly not without precedent. BC saw the reduction of raid size by nearly 50%, from 40man to 25man. There was uproar at first, but the playerbase adapted and accepted (minus Kara, which was wildly popular due to its level of difficulty, early availability and 10man format). Fast-forward to WotLK and we see 10man implemented in a more meaningful way, albeit at a notable power decrease. 2 years later and 10man is on par with (or debatably ahead of) 25man content.
So, since Blizz has stated that they want EVERYONE to be able to experience ALL of their content that they work on, do you think we are on the verge on another paradigm shift in raiding? A move to one, single raid size? If so, what should that size be? If not, why keep the 2 options we have now? I've added a poll with the most commonly held ideals, but I'm interested to see what everyone thinks about the future of raiding. I've kept the assumption that groups will remain 5man size for this purpose.