So the thought struck me today that I'm really glad Blizzard added Hard modes and has further done so in both 10 and 25 mans which reflect the same content. In fact, I think this created more of a success than Blizzard anticipated considering the recent issue of instances being unable to launch. I have my ideas on how they're addressing this and why only certain instances experience this problem - what's pertinent is that I suspect instances aren't launched because too many folks are raiding. Regardless, as I've pugged and gkp'd, it seems the only time one can't put together a 25man raid for Naxx, OS, or Ulduar is when everyone is already raiding or locked.

To start, let's first look at the fact that we have almost 4 10m Ulduar raids and almost 3 25m Ulduar raids along with other interleaving raids. A similar occurence happened with ZA because it reset more often than the typical weekly schedule - more opportunities to raid - more raids. It didn't take long for this to get big because one of the greatest aspects is ZA had gear with which equivalent skill could quickly get someone geared up for end game raiding. Not enough pallys or shamans? - Run someone through ZA->ZA->Hyjal->BT + some badges and they're good to go with current progression. Not to mention ZA had some pvp gear in it which often made it easier to get a group. Worked for me. The sucky part was that hard mode ZA required a SOLID and SKILLED group. No crap gear, no DCs, no lag, no noobs - this made hard mode ZAs very UNFUN.

Now with 10/25 mans, some hard mode achievements for both, and a few PVP<PVE gear nerfs, everyone is raiding (whether it's just VoA). PVE folks can get some pimp gear from just 10mans and VoA without having to wait on the formation of a (arguably more difficult) 25 man raid. Not only does this make 10 mans awesome for folks just getting back into the game but it's also great preparation for the same 25 man content. Said raider is ready for the content and only has to learn the added 25man challenges rather than new content (assuming they complete the 10mans). With hard modes, the same concept applies. As a side note, another place where content has improved, *slightly*, is the balancing of class utilities so one class isn't required over another (imo, Shamans are still OP healers - I'd transmute Carno to a Shaman if I could; otherwise, blizz knows where they can stick their tremor totems).

I feel this has considerably improvd the WoW experience. Most players not only have a reason to raid but the entire raid experience is setup as a progression rather than just one start-to-finish 40 man instance. This is good news because, long term, I think it improves the health of a raiding guild.

First, there are more active raids and raiders in Downfall than I can remember, which considering content and lockouts, is probably accurate. Last week I think there were > 60 people each evening which is something I only recall seeing once (at the height of BC progression when everyone was racing through Hyjal/BT but just before Archimonde and BT was breaking people).

At this time it seems that some raids are looking for folks but I almost feel as though this is a cyclical balancing act which, this time, will have a much more aggressive uptake than the usual WoW experience (yes, I'm in left field here). Today, a raider doesn't *have* to raid 3-5 nights a week to see content and get gear whereas preBC and preWoTLK doing so was the only real raiding option; this is bad news for progression raids because every raider doesn't have to be a "progression" raider and good news for the casual raider because he doesn't have to commit to progression. However, with all of the additional opportunities Blizzard has added in - better gear, more achievements, mounts, etc. - we will hopefully see more progression raiders come out of the woods who were deterred by having to raid next to folks who weren't as focused but didn't have a choice.

I'm really glad Blizzard has made WoW so variable and I ponder if it's already given the hardcore folks more opportunities than they had before.