What Raid Size is Right For You?

Whether you choose a guild that runs 25s or a smaller one that focuses only on 10s (or, hey, if you decide even smaller and go with 5-mans!) depends a lot on personal preference, available playtime, and what size of a raiding community you wish to be a part of. I was considering these things on the heels of reading through Charles' insightful posts over at Planet of the Hats, and when thinking of Keeva and her guild's transition back to 25s from the 10s they ran this past patch.

Insomnia grabbed a hold of me this weekend and I started putting together a list of the pros and cons of each of the two raid sizes. There is no right or wrong choice, just what set would fit your tastes better... after all, the raid size does NOT dictate how skilled your raid may be when it tackles the content.

25s:

Pros:

• Access to highest iLevel gear (makes other content, including 10s, easier)
• Access to legendaries
• Larger guild makes more people available for activities outside of scheduled raids
• Permitted to run all available content (no strict rankings)
  
• Each death in the raid hurts less than in a 10 (1/25 vs 1/10)
• Considered the "standard:" most strats, rankings, and guides are written for 25s
• Feel like part of something "big"

Cons:

• More competition among raiders for loot
• More likely to have cliques or factions within the guild with opposing goals (drama)
• Individuals are less able to contribute in vent (strats, etc) due to number of voices
• "A face in the crowd" feeling
• Raiders and Leadership are more separated, generally, by size of group
• Harder to watch everyone else's performance and make sure they're gearing/speccing appropriately
• Are often expected to run 10s simultaneously for quicker gearing/some itemization, thus often require more overall time commitment each week
• Guild Leadership has a far tougher job due to the logistics, size, and drama
• Much more likely to produce player burnout
  

10s:

Pros:

• Smaller raid size = fewer "cats" to herd
• Closer camaraderie among players, including leadership and raiders
  
• Less competition for gear drops (loot greed can thus be tabooed)
  
• More quickly gear up offspec sets
• Each individual can more easily speak up and give input on strats
• Fewer spell effects/actions going on, so better option for those who otherwise crash in 25s
• More easily watch fellow raiders' performance and give advice/assistance
• Limited content access allows for a less demanding weekly raiding schedule (personally, Vortex raids 12 hours/week) - time for alts or outside activities
  

Cons:

• Each raider death is felt more intensely due to raid size proportions - each death in a ten is 2.5 deaths in a 25
• Limited gear access: lower iLevel, no legendaries,
  
• Limited itemization options: best trinkets (usually) come from 25s, and certain slot upgrades do not drop except in 25s
• Small community can make using puggers on off-night activities a necessity
  
• Can less support slackers/leeches if attempting for actual "hardcore" progression
  
• Smaller pool of potential recruits who are interested in pure 10s
  
• Have to defend against a prevailing attitude from 25-raiders that 10's are "casual" or "bad and couldn't get into a 25 man guild" (not all think that way, but many ignorant do)
• Less known on the server in spite of any accomplishments
• Can run out of raid-content to do on their main character during the week, unless pugging 25s is permitted

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So, patch 3.3 is being released today. If the servers are stable enough to let me on tonight, I will be duplicating the Running Commentary I did for the 3.2 ToC release and posting up comments and screenshots here on Dreambound this evening! I'm looking forward to it, going in with the expectation of lag and broken things... helps keep me in a positive attitude in regards to raiding on the night of a patch release :)

I've been reading up on strats between StratFu and Wowhead, prepping for ICC. I'm most looking forward to Sindragosa from a lore perspective, though she won't be released for a couple weeks yet.