One of the best — or worst things depending on your view — to happen to raiding in a long time was the inclusion of smaller group sized content. I talked a little bit about this over on BDTU with my pieces on the Evolution of WoW part 1 and part 2.

The trend started with the addition of Zul’Gurub, a troll instance of now infamous reputation, when it broke from the 40-man raid standard and offered 20-man content. It hailed back to the days of Blackrock Spire being a multiple group raid, and people loved it.

Karazhan further stoked the fires of the smaller group raid desire, and did so while offering epic and story filled content. Players loved it so much that the forums were filled countless replies asking for more smaller group . With Wrath came the revelation that all raid content would be be available in 25-man flavor as set forth by Burning Crusade, but also in new raid 10-man flavor (all of the raid, less than half the calories). Different levels of gear purchasable by badges came out (as well as loot tables that varied between 10 and 25 man), and both 10 and 25 man raids dropped the same badges. The trick, and the problem, was that people felt compelled to run both 10 and 25 man versions to maximize badges. Some people felt that you absolutely had to run both to “beat the game”.

This is also a result of how loot was distributed. Badges gave you the entry level gear for the items at the end of this expansion cycle. Badges gave you the “entry level” piece for the tier set, this was considered the 10 man version of the tier. Tokens in 25 man raids would drop that allowed you to upgrade the 10 man piece to the next level up. Heroic 25 man dropped yet another token that allowed you to upgrade it to it’s maximum potential. You can see how it would be assumed the more badges you had the better gear you had and the quicker you could climb the gear ladder right?

Well, the devs didn’t like that, nor did less hardcore players (or those of us who don’t have the time to devote to constantly running raids all week long) and a new system was proposed for Cataclysm. The system says that the same content will be provided for 10 and 25 man versions, and the reward levels will be the same. That is to say that the Ilvl of gear will be on par between versions, and they will share the same loot tables. The major difference will be that 25 man will have more damage and more health to worry about in boss fights and such, and you will get MORE loot drops than the 10 man content does. Also, a raid regardless of being 10 or 25 man, all share the same raid ID and lockout. Do a 25 man version and kill a boss? Cool. Split into two 10 mans of the same thing and that boss is still dead for both groups. You can’t up-convert from 10 to 25, but you can down-size if attendance becomes an issue or some such.

So this brings up an interesting question for a lot of guilds and raid groups right now. Is it worth it to run 25 man content if the rewards for 10 are the same? Is the extra loot enough of a benefit to keep you raiding in 25 man content or do you give up and just say screw it? I know a lot of guilds are going through this debate right now. I know some of them personally. This happened in a smaller capacity when Wrath was announced to have 10 man content. Some guilds decided the smaller size was for them and paired down into tight-knit, more tactical 10 man groups. So now that the gear is equal level between 10 and 25, aside from quantity, I know many guilds that have weighed the pros and cons of both formats and decided to go for the smaller size.

My guild Unpossible recently had this discussion. We pulled all of the officers into a private vent chat and hashed it out. it was about even split on the case of 10 vs 25, and there were a lot of good points made. After a good half hour discussion, we decided that we would stay a 25 man raiding guild. Our structure was already in place and had been since the release of Burning Crusade, and it has been stable and working since. We have a dedicated group of raiders who love the group we are in and the dynamic we have going. We also decided that we just felt more comfortable in the 25 man environment.

For me personally, I voted in favor of keeping the 25 man raid group. I love the logistical challenge of tracking so many players — and yes I know it’s not the 40 man content or raids from vanilla but I served my time in those — and the dynamic we have set up between all the various parts of the raiding group works well together, and I’d hate to break that up. I also didn’t like the idea of balancing multiple 10 man groups. Something I’ve seen over the last few years, people have an easier time being benched for a raid than they do taking part in a raid that is behind another group. I didn’t want to breed an environment of Group A vs Group B and cause any unnecessary drama.

So with Cataclysm on the horizon, has your guild discussed this at all? Has your raid group decided whether it will raid 10 man or 25 man content? Were you already raiding as a 10 or 25 man group? What do you think the benefits of both are? What about the drawbacks? I’d love to hear your opinions on this and see how the community as a whole has decided.

Will your guild raid 10 man or 25 man content in Cataclysm?

10 Man / 10 Man Hard Mode (68%, 346 Votes)
25 Man / 25 Man Hard Mode (20%, 103 Votes)
Banana (12%, 61 Votes)

Total Voters: 498

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Until next time, happy healing!

The place: Utgarde Keep. The time: I don’t know, there are no windows in the beginning. The people: Me, the Resto Shaman. A Mage, a Death Knight, a Ret Paladin, and a Prot Warrior. Five players with an intertwined fate. The goal: Frost Emblems. The affliction: a tank’s self-appointed sense of entitlement. Follow me now as I walk you through not one, not two, but three tanks that made this potentially 15-minute run a one-hour nightmare.

Chapter One – Prot Warrior

Everyone steps into the entrance. Utgarde Keep. Relatively easy, right? Of course. This is a cake-walk, even for a newly-minted 80. Speaking of which, the Mage was brand new. Supposedly, he also has a fully-geared main, which I could tell by the way he was talking. We start to buff.

I obviously put up Earth Shield on the Prot Warrior, and set up my totems for a mostly-melee group with a DK. I always try to be more conscious of totem selection with regard to group composition. The Mage throws up Arcane Brilliance, and the Paladin starts putting Blessing of Kings on everyone. The 10-minute version, not Greater Blessing of Kings. Cue the temper tantrum from the Warrior:

Warrior: “What the fuck, dude? Give me 30min Kings”

Paladin: “Sorry, I’m out of reagents. When the 10min falls off, I’ll rebuff.”

Warrior: “No, I’m not pulling until you give me 30min Kings.”

Mage: “It’s no big deal, he’ll just rebuff.”

Warrior: “STFU noob, GIVE ME 30 NAO, OR YOU CAN WAIT FOR ANUTHR 30 MINUTES 4 A NEW TANK.”

Me: “Hey hey, let’s all get along. We’ll be done with this whole instance in 10 minutes. No need to get uppity there, Mr. Tank.”

{Warrior pulls the first 4 groups, then teleports out of the dungeon. Paladin throws up Righteous Fury, I spam Healing Wave, and we survive.}

To the Warrior: Congratulations! Your two-year-old temper tantrum just earned you a 15-minute Deserter Buff. In the upcoming patch, it’ll cost you 30-minutes. Beggers can’t be choosers. We would all rather wait in the queue than put up with immaturity.

Chapter Two – Feral Druid

The four of us sit around and chat for a while, waiting for a new tank. All four of us are actively engaged in conversation about alts, specs, our raiding experience. All-in-all, a very nice group of people. A Feral Druid joins the group and zones in. We all send our greetings. No words, he/she just starts pulling. It’s fine. I can keep up.

We get to the room with all the drakes. The Druid proceeds to pull every mob in the whole room. Now, my Resto Shaman is pretty decently geared. I’ve two-healed 10man Marrowgar before. A chain-pulling Druid is the least of my worries. However, these mobs do a knockback, which puts a dent in everyone’s DPS when there’s multiple of them. Melee are constantly running back in to get one hit on a mob before they’re knocked back by another. My two cents about this:

No need to pull each and every mob if we’re all here for Frosties.
The constant combined knockbacks add more time than just pulling them in packs of 2s.

Also, in the Druid’s mastubatory aggro bath, everyone’s getting flame-breath’d. I’m confident in my skills as a healer, so everyone lived, but is that chest-thumping display of “tanking” really necessary? Are we all supposed to fawn over his/her amazing “skills”? (Don’t you all like my “quotes”?)

My issue comes with fighting the first boss, Prince Keleseth. During the Love is in the Air event, Prince Keleseth drops the Bouquet of Red Roses, necessary for the Meta Achievement, Fool for Love. The roses drop, and the Druid clicks Need, promptly followed by this jewel of a phrase:

“If you guys want me to keep tanking, you’ll pass on the roses.”

Now, I’m not sure if the Mage didn’t see that or decided to click Need anyways, but the Mage won and got his achievement. Not two seconds later, the Druid drops the group without saying a word.

To the Druid: Dude, there are plenty of other places to get the roses. This was the second day of the event. Plenty of time left. You don’t get any bonuses for speed (insert: “That’s what she said”).

Chapter Three – Prot Paladin

Well, we wait for another unimportant length of time, laughing about how ridiculous people are being today. Our new tank is a Prot Paladin, and zones in to join us. We let him know right off the bat that the first boss is down, and our first two tanks had attitude problems. He/She asks what happened. We give the whole truth, and the Prot Pally laughs. Pulls incoming.

Things go swimmingly. No aggro issues, and very considerate. Only thing I notice is that as a Resto Shaman, I have more health than this Prot Paladin (~23k Health). No big deal. Everyone started somewhere, right?

We get to the final boss, and the fight goes along really well. Let me just say that one point, way before the final boss, the Mage says, “I really hope Annhylde’s Ring drops.” Sure enough, the ring drops. We all congratulate the mage, seeing as he’s the only spell-caster there that could use the ring. The DK, the Ret Pally, and I all pass. The Mage clicks Need, and we wait. The Prot Pally has yet to (we hope) pass on the loot.

Nope. After about 15 seconds of silence, the Prot Pally clicks Need and wins the ring. In my experience, it’s usually polite to ask permission to roll on something that’s not your main spec. I’m sure that if the Prot Pally had mentioned something about wanting the ring for a Holy spec (I don’t know if that ring would be good or not), we would’ve had little issue. When the Mage confronted the Paladin, this was the reply:

“u shud be lucky i tankd 4 u at all”

And promptly left the group.

To the Paladin: If I would’ve known you were a d-bag, then ‘u shud be lucky i heald u at all.’ A simple, “Hey, can I roll Need for my off-spec?” or “Hey, Holy is actually my main spec, so if it’s alright, I’d like to click Need.” would’ve saved you some trouble, and saved me the trouble of writing your chapter.

Epilogue

I know that as a healer, it’s relatively easy for me to get groups, but that doesn’t give me the right to go flaunt my “huevos” as God’s gift to LFG. It could very well be that I just got a really bad sample of the community within one Heroic Dungeon, but it got me thinking. Do we, as healers, feel a sense of entitlement with regard to our role in a dungeon? Do we feel more entitled to certain benefits because we are one of two roles in short supply? How about this:

If there’s no tank, the healer dies.
If there’s no healer, the tank dies.
If there’s no DPS, the mob never dies.

Granted, that’s very generally speaking, but everyone in that group deserves every chance at what drops. No need for anyone to feel “holier than thou.”

Email: Elder.Thespius@gmail.com | Twitter: @Thespius