Blizzard announces Flexible raids.

     So, Wow Insider just ran and article where Blizzard announces flexible raids.  While it is too soon to know exactly what this will do to the game, one can guess.

     First of all my warrior Trisham from Aerie Peak says hi, why? Because she can.

     Now, on the face of things, Flexible raids seems like a good idea.  The difficulty is supposed to be in between LFR and 10 man normal.  Awesome features include the fact the raids can accommodate 10-15 people and will adjust the difficulty level appropriately.  This means, if you have two extra raiders one night, no problem, they don't have to sit out.  Having trouble getting through 10 man normal? Do flex-raid and get some gear.  If you don't want to have to roll against that other clothie on your raid team, no problem, the Flexible raid system uses the LFR loot system.  Are you afraid of getting locked out of a raid for the week, No problem, just life LFR, Flexible raid system has it's own cool down.

       See, on the surface I think it's a great idea, it's a way to work through fights as a guild, on an easier setting so you can see whats going on with the different fight.  It is another way to get geared up and ready to rock in the 10 man normal.  It may also be a chance to hop in with friends from another guild and have a night here and there where you play with friends you don't normally raid with, without loosing you save and chance to work with your guild on current content.

       There are a couple things that worry me about this though, 

       First of all, ilevel.  This is supposed to have a gear ilevel in between LFR and normal.  This means we may have a bigger spread in ilevels between raiding tiers.  That also means our ability to advance to the next raid tier will need bigger numbers.  Not only does this mean faster gear inflation, it means it will be harder to gear those alts up after they hit max level once you get to the second and third raid tiers of an expansion.  Blizzard has talked about a gear/numbers squish before, and heaven knows we are ever getting to the point where we will need one, and this may bring the need quicker.

       This may also feed player burn out.  There are those of you, who feel you need to do every daily, and every raid you can weekly to get geared and maximize your character.  That is all fine and good, but right now, if you do all the LFR's on a dps character you are looking at about 2 hours per LFR X 8 possible LFRs. (You can skip lower ones though, unless you like them for valor)  plus your normal raid times, which for the sake of argument we can say is 6 hours a week.  That means you may already be doing 22 hours a week give or take between queue times and getting through the stuff your doing now.  Adding another 4-6 hours of raiding on that is just going to push raider burn out into a higher degree.

      Alright, that is my take on it for now, let us see what happens when it's implemented.  Hopefully my fears are unfounded, and this adds more appeal to the game for everyone.

Lag.