11.13.08 It's Official WorldofWarcraft.com

[Nagashi]

Yes that's 2 months from now! So are we going to be taking a hiatus from raiding as we level up then try and hit the 80 lvl raid content. Also are we still going to do our Sunday Kara runs to help others level and gear up, I think for a little bit it we could still get some xp from it. Is FA going to focus on 25 person content or are we going to get cliqueish like with ZA/Kara and focus on 10 man content probably both eh?

[Inori]

Nagashi wrote Is FA going to focus on 25 person content or are we going to get cliqueish like with ZA/Kara and focus on 10 man content probably both eh?

Not having done my homework, is there 25 man content for levels 71-79, or does everything start at 80?  Do the 25 and 10 man versions of an instance share the same timer or can you get locked to them separately? Assuming that the 25 man version of an instance adds more gameplay elements (rather than just being tuned harder), I'd like to run the 25 man version for the challenge.  I do think that we'll end up doing 10 mans initially just because only a handful of people will reach level 80 early.  Once we reach critical mass to try the 25 man version, we'd probably do that until we hit a wall.  When raid attendance starts going down and raids get cancelled, we'd probably regress back to doing 10 mans (after the 25 man is called off for the night) until Blizzard nerfs the wall, then resume doing 25 mans. The hypothetical question to ask would be, "If there was a 10 man version of Archimonde, Gorefiend, Bloodboil, Vashj, and Kael'Thas, would we run the 25 man or 10 man version now?".  Would the gear or experience obtained from the 10 man versions of such fights eventually enable the 25 man version to be resumed?  Granted that the 25 man version is supposed to be more challenging and have better gear, I wonder if Blizzard will put other incentives in place to run 25 mans (e.g., expanded lore in the 25 man version). -HP

[Akumabarai]

Inori wroteNot having done my homework, is there 25 man content for levels 71-79, or does everything start at 80?

Nope, all 5 mans till 80. Although the minimum level for some 10 mans is 75-78, just like how you can get into Gruuls at 65. Numbers probably aren't final yet.

Inori wrote Do the 25 and 10 man versions of an instance share the same timer or can you get locked to them separately?

Different timers for both 10 and 25mans. So you can run both once a reset.

Inori wrote Would the gear or experience obtained from the 10 man versions of such fights eventually enable the 25 man version to be resumed?

I think they have built it so you can get all the way to the end game just in 10 man instances, *or* just in 25 man instances. Gear from 10 man instances is supposedly a half a tier less than the 25man instances. Given that you need to be about one tier level below what a boss drops to kill it, yes the 10man version should help. IE: 25man drops tier8 loot, you have tier 7.5 loot from 10mans. Or obviously if you are in higher content in the 10 man version, you could out-gear the 25man instances except the end one.
So given all that, yes I'd expect FA to be doing pretty much exactly what we are doing right now. Having multiple teams of 10mans run at their own times, and progressing at their own pace, along with some dedicated 25man time to take on the bigger instances.

[Inori]

Akumabarai wrote So given all that, yes I'd expect FA to be doing pretty much exactly what we are doing right now. Having multiple teams of 10mans run at their own times, and progressing at their own pace, along with some dedicated 25man time to take on the bigger instances.

Good news on the separate 10/25 timers; no compromises necessary.  WotLK Collector's Edition has been preordered, but I elected for slow-mo shipping; don't think I can take vacation from work to power through to 80, so I'll just take my sweet time like with BC. -HP