Who are Flex raids for?

Flexible Raiding is for people that want to get together with friends and family without leaving people out (up to 25 max of course). These are people that just want to put together a Raid that's their own, on their terms. There's no specific amount of healers or tanks you have to bring (though the Raid leader will want to plan). There's no item level to get in. That's up to you. If someone is under-performing, if you're friends, they're more likely to be given some wiggle room to learn and grow as a Raider. It's "flexible" like that. You can bring in some additional people you find in General chat if you want. You can bring in Real ID friends or Battle.net friends if you want, but ultimately, it's your choice.

It also leaves room for regularly Raiding groups who have one of those "off" nights and are missing their usual group. They can still jump in the Raid and get something done versus having to "scrap" the night.

Like the blog says, the difficulty is between Raid Finder and Normal so that someone who normally would have been doing Raid Finder, but wasn't quite up to Normal, could get together with their friends and put together their own Raid group based on their own compositional desires and give it a shot.

Raid Finder is still there for people who don't have a normal group of people that they can do Raids with or for those that just don't want to sit around and put together a Raid group.

Keep in mind a "few" things here:

• This is a preview of a new feature. As such, things are subject to change based on the results of the Public Test Realm (PTR).
• Many of your opinions may (emphasis on may) change based on any experience you have on the PTR or even in live.
• The developers are very committed to keeping an eye on all constructive feedback in regard to things like how the looting system works out, how the difficulty is working out, etc.
• Constructive feedback (as always) is wanted/desired/encouraged/appreciated as long as it is constructive.

This is just one of the things the development team is currently working on for the next major content patch (and beyond.) This is not THE one feature. This is one of the features that we believe could really help groups who are looking for a more social experience perhaps a bit more on their own terms.

We're also (on the Community Team end) watching for any additional questions that we may need to take to the development teams or answer for you. Again, this is a work in progress, so we may not have every answer right away, but we'll do our best to be as forthcoming about things as we can.

As always, I'd like to encourage everyone to keep discussions civil. Please give others room to have their opinions and please refrain from personal attacks or character assassinations. Thanks!

This is not THE one feature.

Interesting. It does fit all the leaked info (bigger impact than LFR, something you have been talking about doing, etc.).

How big is THE feature goning to impact the game?

/boggle

I simply meant that there is no "one" feature for the next major content patch. There are many features that many people will hopefully find interesting and intriguing.

Also of note, I've expanded the thread cap limit on this post so that hopefully we can consolidate the discussions of Flexible Raiding a bit more in this thread.

Same content, 4 times, 4 times the value of development time. It's not for "us" it's to save money on development time. Just be honest once.

I'll hit this one head on. The answer is both "yes" and "no". There is more at work than simply flipping a switch to make this possible. There are technological developments as a part of it. There is also ancillary development that can occur because of it or around it as well. So, saving development time in one area, opens up opportunity for development time in another area. The above comment (which we see often) is very short sighted. If we had to recreate content each time we wanted to add something new, we would add very little that was ever new. There is a bigger picture and more machinery at work in the background than you may realize. These are not easy tasks. These are ideas that percolate, come up to the surface, are discussed, analyzed, shaped, tested, and revealed as they are made real. There's nothing "simple" or easy about it. Resources aren't infinite (including time). But, we are moving forward steadily. We're not afraid of trying new things even if, to you, they don't seem so new. We can be as honest as possible with you though, and in the end, you're going to believe what you like, but that's not going to change the truth of our honesty.

Neth, any word on if we might be able to do Flexible raids with friends from other servers through RiD for the most current tier? Or will we only get to do past tiers and have to wait till the end of MoP to get CRZ Siege?

We're currently looking at having this available for the next Raid that we release (Siege of Orgrimmar). You will be able to invite Real ID friends and Battle.net friends though to join you.

At the same time, there seems very little invested in anything other than raiding. No new 5 mans for the rest of MoP. Further class homogenization and less meaningful talent choices. I mean, don't get me wrong, this is the best expansion since BC, but at the same time, there was something to be said for completely different instances designed around different raid sizes without "modes."

We hear you and we really love 5-player dungeons. We focused more on raid development for Mists of Pandaria because we think there's a great opportunity for improvement, and we're still not serving the needs of all of the players who might be interested in raiding. We haven't abandoned dungeons and hope to get to a point where we can deliver epic raids AND dungeons.

I don't want go off the topic of this thread, and can't address too much on the class end, but we are still continuing to look at class design and improvements for classes. I'd just prefer those conversations take place in a separate thread so we don't muddle the discussion more than we need too. ;)

LOL. Why do I get the impression there was a memo about downplaying THE feature? It is ok though, the best way to build hype is to downplay the hype.

Because saying there's just one new feature would be downplaying the work going into the next major content patch and beyond. :) It's a "But wait! There's more!" moment.

Simply put: they need to tone down the number of difficulties and make the content more meaningful.

Please elaborate. Saying "make the content more meaningful" is sort of an open statement. What would make it "more meaningful". For some, it just means being able to see it with their friends and family versus strangers. (/flex) For others, it means ramping up difficulty and shinier gear. But, what does it mean to you?

Hey Neth, I tweeted at GC a while a ago about this but it's twitter so... Not expecting a response from there. Which is understandable.

But about Flexi Raids
My friends and I would get a lot out of Flexi raids, we're all ex-raiders who can't raid due to irl constraints (uni, work) so being able to run with just us on a casual basis would be great. LFR did fill that niche a bit but its always a bit infuriating running with people you don't know and don't have confidence in.
The issue is there's only about 8 of us, not enough for the minimum of 10 people for Flexi raids. Is it possible to lower the minimum to 8 players (4 dps, 2 tanks, 2 healers - one tank healer and one raid healer).
My question is, if the minimum number of players is 10, why shouldn't those 10 people just form a 10 man guild. Because from what I can gather the issue isn't so much difficulty (although yes it sometimes can be) but simply pure numbers.

The second question is, if Flexi raids are implemented, would LFR be removed?
Sometimes people just can't meet up, even with Flexi raids. Say if I personally just wanted to raid with randoms, having lfr still be an option would be great.

Edit: ugh typing on an ipad is hard

We're not planning to lower it below 10, but the Flexible Mode should make it easier for you to make some new friends and invite them along. Then, if the other people you know are able to come, you can just add them into the mix without having to "cut" people.

Raid Finder is not being removed. It will still be there for those that still want to use it or don't have the option of a pre-made group. We still like the option it provides for those players.

We're not planning to lower it below 10, but the Flexible Mode should make it easier for you to make some new friends and invite them along. Then, if the other people you know are able to come, you can just add them into the mix without having to "cut" people.

Raid Finder is not being removed. It will still be there for those that still want to use it or don't have the option of a pre-made group. We still like the option it provides for those players.

Thanks for responding. :)

But that means I have to *gasp* socialise with strange and new people.
New people are scary. ):

They're only scary until they become friends. :)