Russell Cox

I was looking forward to at least trying it out, but not now. With the lack of anything really innovative and new (everything gathering profession wise is just a hot'n'cold game to waste time, shit's still based on the moon phases, same races but in HD with new names), I wasn't expecting much. However, now that it's been confirmed they're going to be implementing a fatigue system to slow people down while leveling, I'll never try the game as long as it's implemented. Essentially, you'll get 8 combat hours of full experience then 7 hours with diminishing returns to 0 experience per class per week. So, basically, they're punishing someone for playing a class they like. Sorry, but any game where they'd rather punish the 'hardcore' players instead of just giving the ones with limited playtime a slight boost for leveling when they can play I want no part of.

After reading the pages afterwards, why are you even bothering to argue with the imbeciles? They've yet to state why they truly think the games are terrible beyond moronic generalizations. You may as well go yell at a fucking wall and scream "YOU ARE NOT WHITE, YOU'RE MADE OF MARSHMALLOW!" for the same damn effect. All I've heard is the same stupid diatribe from morons from the "haters" camp that gets repeated in almost every fucking thread that deals with FFXI, WoW, both, or just MMOs in general. It's always something incredibly trite as "popular != good", "WoW sucks", "FFXI sucks", "people in charge of XXX game don't know hot to make a video game", "I had to kill 50 billion boars", "nothing but fetch quests", or something along the lines of "I'm a cheap motherfucker" in regards to the pricing scale. They pick a stance, or two, and do nothing but harp about that/those stances over and over with different wording and no real argument. You can go on and on about what you liked and didn't like about either MMO, but ultimately you'll just give the idiots more ammunition with which to be stupid. Just ignore them and move on.

God I love that game. Too bad my PSP is dead. Spoilers blah blah blah I didn't think much of the game when I read about it, since it was "just Zack's story". We picked it up nonetheless and it sat off to the side until I finally sat down and decided to give it a whirl. Sadly, I can honestly say that I find it the best storyline SE has written (even if it's just an offshoot of another) since FFIX, and definitely since the fail that was FFXIII. The whole game's a rollercoaster emotionally, because you KNOW how it's going to end. It's like a train wreck in that you know what's going to happen but can't stop yourself from looking in some morbid sense of curiosity. The game has so many emotional scenes that it's hard to go through them all, but two REALLY big one stick out. The less obvious one is where Zack has to kill Angeal and the scenes thereafter that show him processing his grief. THIS is what storytelling is about and whoever wrote this scene should have been in charge of the entire FFXIII script. It's an almost perfect depiction of denial, anger, and sorrow as he processes Angeal's death and finally breaking down in the church with Aeris comforting him; it's probably the first SE video game where the guy crying sounds fucking real and not phoney. The other is the final battle with Zack against the Shinra army. You know he's going to die, he's forgetting everything and everyone as the wheel fucks up and the memories fly by and Price of Freedom plays. His fall and final talk with Cloud, ending with him dying and asking innocently "....do you think I managed to become a hero?" was just incredible. If Square-Enix were able to make every game as enjoyable to play and experience as this one, then perhaps XI-III wouldn't have been so terrible for me.

...or someone with good keyboard skills that could make in incredible sounding mix. I have the music I wish to use and merely need someone to record it as I don't have time for that (or the hardware/software anymore really). Fire off a PM if you're interested and want more information. ~Russell Cox (PS. How the frig do I change this username. I have no clue how the hell it got to this name.)

That's exactly what I'm looking for. If you two are interested, let me know via PM or an email.

Live is preferred for obvious reasons, but I'm reasonably open if someone can make a sampled recording that lives, and not just plays.

Is there anyone that is a fairly decent piano player that also has some form or method of recording themselves? If so, I'm interested. Email me or send a PM for more information for a collaboration remix. Thanks in advance : )

Arcane is a raiding spec, so stick with either first or frost per flavor. And come on, we all know pulling aggro is in. All the cool kids do it!

Wow... First all, no it isn't me. I just turned 26 yesterday, and I'm fairly confident I was alive for my non-celebration. Second of all, this is incredibly freaky. I moved to Indiana in September to get away from the shithole that is Tennessee. As far as "nothing wrong with me" ... well... a lot of people would say being gay is wrong but fuck 'em. No, wait, I won't because they're straight. EDIT: How the hell do I change my name. How the *fuck* did it become Strijder Vechter?

I'd say about the only thing worse than that is a Paladin in T5 and Merciless Gladiator shit -- they look like a peanut butter & jelly sammich.

Again, incorrect. Learn2copypaste and fucking read. http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=19712082&sid=1 Like I said, Azgalor was on the first batch. But, I guess you weren't smart enough to notice I said it was during the week, and not Tuesday like your illiterate friend. First of all, not every god damn notice is on those boards. Stormscale(US) just had their 1.5 day maintainence this past Tuesday but it's not mentioned anywhere. I guess by your fucked up logic it DID NOT HAPPEN BECAUSE NO BLUE POST ON WOW FORUMS ROFLAMSKSDSD!!1!111oine!!!1 And, when they DO post on the Realm Status forum it's after or during the fact -- notice how the stupid ass post you listed is written DURING the damn maintainence? Funny how you managed to ignore that. Second of all, if you or he had fucking read the L O G I N S C R E E N you would have known it was listed days before it happened. You know, the bigass block of text to the left of where you put in user name and password? Yeah, that's where your advisory was, and it came over the weekend. You're going to use WoW forum posts from dumbasses that STILL ask why the game was taken down "for no reason" every Tuesday, why healing is 'obviously' catered to women, and people that lists fucking reasons why Blizzard should ROLL BACK their characters because the dumb shits attacked a Dragonkin during the Stormwind Onyxia event, leveled, and fucked up their twinked level 29 character? Yeah, real intelligent decision there Bucko! Lastly, it was posted, in BOLD FUCKING FONT, on the G E N E R A L forums, stickied at the top JUST like it was for Stormscale's maintainence this past week. If dumbasses like he can't read and look around themsleves, I don't feel any pity. Jesus Christ, how god damn stupid can you be? You're trying too hard.

I see it as a toy more than a real bonus. The Priest talents are really lackluster. Hell, aside from Paladin, Shaman, and Warlock they all seem lackluster to me.

It's been posted on the loading screen IN THE GAME for the past four days. Learn to pay attention. Yea, except "in reality" he posted that WEEKS ago whent he FIRST batch of servers went down for extended maintence. Blizzard posted the first advisory at around 9PM the DAY BEFORE, so if you didn't log on that night, you didn't know your server was gonna be down for 36 hours AND your friends list was gonna be gone until you tried to log back in after normal maintence would USUALLY be over. So before you go correcting someone, you might wanna check the dates on the posts. Or otherwise "Learn to pay attention." Again, incorrect. The first batch of servers involved Azgalor where my Paladin resides, and it was there a few days beforehand because I remember having to remind Joe the day before to not get any plans on playing his Paladin for the next two days. Nice try, learn2readloadingscreen.

Any raid that gets Rogues just to "fill in slots" isn't too smart. From MC to about I'd say Princess Huhuran in Ahn'Qiraj Mages, Hunters, Rogues, Fury Warriors are about equal in DPS; after that Hunters fall off because of shitty itemization, Mages came in next, and then Rogues and FWs tied due to really incredible items. Nowadays Rogues/Mages/Warriors are all pretty much tied depending on the actual fight right now, since the Mage review. Yeah, Fury Warriors will go past them but they have to watch aggro; a Rogue can push to about 60% of the boss's health, Vanish, and then go harder than the Fury Warrior can and come out on top if he's smart. As far as further raid utility? I have no idea; we don't have any Rogues in the guild that have alpha keys so I can't comment. I'm actually hoping that what they plan on giving Hunters will go to Rogues, since it'll make more sense as they're frontline fighters. They were shitty in MC because of high armor, but now they're one of the tops if the player behind the Rogue is competent. I can so though, to whoever asked about Shamans and DWing and how it plays out. First week, our Shaman specced enhancement and while he doesn't have kickass gear his is pretty solid. He put Rockbiter on his weapons; highest rank gave him 1200 AP per weapon. At 62, he tore up a level 68 elite in 12 seconds. So... yeah. They've been toned down a bit since then (i.e. 'enchants' on weapons are regulated, haven't paid much attention), but Shamans will DEFINITELY be DPS classes with backup healing in raids now. Anyone sticking purely to healing won't be playing to their full potential, whereas now it's folly to do anything BUT heal. Like I said above, the current endgame armor for Hunters will be automatically adjusted when you install the expansion (or maybe even beforehand for patch 1.13, I dunno). Depending on what your rings, neck, cape, etc. are, your RAP will drop probably 200-250 at most, but you'll gain a good 6-7% crit. XXXXXX went from 28.40 crit on live to 43.86 crit on alpha witout a Mongoose or Grace of Air, so it'll go up a lot. They're moving people away from the "slower = better" mentality (which isn't wholly accurate), and slowly gravitating to faster weapons. Funny you should mention melee Hunters. STR = 2 MAP for us now. Battle Shout affects RAP now, Orc's Blood Fury affects RAP/+damage and healing as well (scaling with level). Scorpid Sting was removed, and then replaced. It is now one rank that reduces the target's chance to hit with melee and ranged attacks by 5% for 20 seconds. A new aspect is in the works that gives us a % of our INT converted to mana per 5, which is pretty godly for PvE shit. Expect Hunter to shift to a more caster oriented DPS class (shots, etc.) instead of the purely physical one we are now. Oh yeah, Arcane Shot > Aimed Shot atm. Not sure if it's intended, but it's getting flat damage + 100% spell damage + 25% of your RAP score. Aimed and Arcane now have separate cooldowns.

It's been posted on the loading screen IN THE GAME for the past four days. Learn to pay attention. Not in alpha atm, but I can post some changes for you to keep you interested. Retail servers = 1 AGI: 2 RAP Alpha = 1 AGI: 1 RAP RAP is getting sliced in half for AGI whores, while the AGI:Crit ratio is being lowered to that of a Rogue's. Giantstalker, Dragonstalker, Cryptstalker, and Striker sets are re-itemized to reflect the changes to our RAP adjustment (i.e. AGI sliced, raw Attack Power added in to compensate). Aimed Shot is being discussed of moving to Survival Tree, and the cooldown has been extended. It's 3 seconds cast, 6 seconds + RAW speed for cooldown (i.e. AshofSmite is 3.4, so Aimed cooldown is 9.4 now). All previous epic RAWs have their damage variance boosted by a good 10 DPS, some slightly more. Eye of Nerub will not be reitemized, and thus is a piece of shit when looking ahead -- current "ultimate" weapon is the Claymore of Unholy Might due to changes. Pets will be adjusted and have their stats boosted to make them more desirable in groups, as well as having new types of pets that can be trained and new abilities that can be taught. Discussion is about whether they're going to allow a base % of the Hunter's stats to be added to the pet in addition to the buffs. New types of shots will be added, and from the sounds of things they're moving away from a physical DPS class to more caster oriented. Hunters will also gain incredible raid utility beyond DPS; FFXI veterans think of Thieves and their main draw to a group, what a Hunter does now better than anyone, and figure it out. Talents are still unknown, and will likely remain so until the last push before closed beta. (On a curious note, a friend of mine has an Owl trained from Shadowmoon Valley. It's an elite and is bugged while trained so that it retains ALL of its stats. So, she's leveling up with a pet that has 18K health, 12K armor, and a floating raw DPS of 450). Hunter's Mark has a new animation. Looks pretty badass. ~~~ Some notes of interest. Debuff and buff limit is being raised to 40 slots. All HoTs will be able to be used on a single target. I.e. 3 priests = 3 Renews, 4 Druids = 4 Regrowths and 4 Rejuvs. STA's item budget is being cut in half (i.e. more Stamina on items), so level 60 players of all sorts can expect their health to double by level 70 if they keep with gear progression. The Alliance side is collecting all Greens "..... of Stamina" and boosting a Warlock to see just how high it can go. Last I heard, at level 64 he had almost 12K health with Fortitude and Blood Pact. In case you're wondering why, this was introduced to keep PvP from being about one-shotting people (aka AP + Trinket + Pyro, Warriors with Might of Menethil, etc.) and not resorting to lowering everyone's damage across the board. Yes, there are new PvP rewards whiney bitches. Warriors/Paladins/Hunters drool: Gladiator's Greatsword Binds when picked up Two-Hand -- Sword 348 - 523 Damage -- Speed 3.80 (114.6 damage per second) +32 Strength +48 Stamina Requires Level 70 Equip: Improves your critical strike rating by 32. Equip: Improves your resilience rating by 33. No, nothing is a typo from above. +1% chance to crit/hit/etc. no longer exist as such. Instead, there will be ratings which basically are the same thing, but Blizzard can put in partial numbers instead of being hardlocked into full percents. (i.e. 14 critical rating = 1% crit at level 60; unknown how much is needed for the same at level 70). ALL items will have a retroactive change to reflect this. This prevents blue items from being superior to all others (i.e. Blackhand's Breadth), since the ratings will be static, but the amount you need for a full crit (like AGI) rises with level. Resilience = defense, but without the benefits of block/dodge/parry. Basically helps reduce your chances of being critted.

I may not play anymore, but simple logic can be used to see why that makes no sense. The best greens available at level 60 don't beat epics and blues that are lower than that, in the 50s, thus there's no reason to expect level 70 greens would be tier 2 epics. http://thottbot.com/?i=7166 Concidered level 40. Meaning equivalent to a 50 green. http://thottbot.com/?i=4009 They seem pretty equivalent. Just. Wow. I didn't realize people were so stupid. First of all, if you're going to compare, actually know WHAT you're going to compare. None of thise "Well, it's 35 but it's SUPPOSED to be 40 so I'll make that my argument!" dumbass shit. You're trying to compare an epic, BIND ON EQUIP, WORLD DROP, level 35 staff to a QUESTED level 50 staff. Secondly, you're comparing items that are from two completely different sides of the spectrum. One is INT/SPR/+Damage, which is for builds that focus on grouping for maximum efficieny out of spells or PvP-One-Shot type gimmicks; the other is STA/INT and is used primarily in builds that AoE grind a lot or simply prefer the ability to outlast the opposition. One is rare as shit, and on some servers you see maybe once a month. The other every Joe-Blow can get easily with minimal effort. One stat != same value in terms of point allocation, and much less how one person weighs each stat in gear choices. http://www.thottbot.com/?i=3228 is a staff that still outperforms your green quested item, depending on which non-moronic person you speak to. Any healer worth his weight in salt understands the value of even minute amounts of spirit, and would rather see something with more balance like the IR over that green POS. Please, come up with another Mr. Japanese Name. I haven't had this many laughs in quite a while.

Hmm on that note... I wonder what's gonna happen to BRS/Strat/DM/etc. I guess they will probably only get done by lvl 58-62 or so people as they level. Hmm, well. Quel'Serrar is supposedly, according to what I've heard from most Warriors that complete the sword, not complete. Glaive of the Defender is what's reported to be the 'next step' of the QS, since blue posters said that there will be quests that further upgrade it: Glaive of the Defender Binds when picked up Unique Main Hand Sword 138 - 210 Damage Speed 2.30 (75.7 damage per second) 80 Armor +12 Strength +12 Agility +18 Stamina +8 Frost Resistance +8 Shadow Resistance Durability 145 / 145 Classes: Warrior Requires Level 60 Equip: Increased Defense +11. Chance on hit: Reduces the damage taken from melee attacks, ranged attacks and spells by 75% for 10 sec. The Shendralar are supposedly the 'faction' that handles the true forging of the sword. Much like Revantusk Village, I wouldn't be surprise if there's a few more quest lines that lead through Dire Maul (and possible Dire Maul Ruins, if datamines are to be believed) in the future. Whether it's true or not, dunno. It would certainly go back to the form of tanking where the proc from your weapon helps you (aka Quel'Serrar), instead of debuff the mob and generating a massive amount of threat (Thunderfury). So for someone who hasn't played since June, and with all the changes that are supposed to happen(I don't know them all), will it be worth coming back to? Hmm, that's hard to say, and depends on your class. Aside from class racials we know that have been confirmed by blue posters, and a few tidbits about changes in the game (debuff limit being raised, less members required to raid period post-expansion, etc.), there hasn't really been a LOT said about the individual classes and their 41 point talents. However, you can take this as you will since apparently I'm "a liar" and don't know what I'm talking about. I do have two friends that both work in the Q&A department of Blizzard (one's worked there over 3 years, one's barely beyond 6 months) and they've dropped a few hints as to the potential 41 point talents that a few developers and Kaplan's been leaning towards. Remember, I said these were potential, not decided on; Paladins and Shamans weren't going to be cross faction a year ago and then they got tired of having to write two separate encounters for Horde and Alliance after Ahn'Qiraji and did their best to write 'static' fights in Naxxramas where they wouldn't run into problems of "totem aggro fucking up boss~Twin Emperors" or "chaining from totems~original C'Thun" or "forgetting Alliance doesn't have two ways to get nature auras, like Horde". For Warriors, the only one I know is in the Arms tree, and it's a weapon specialization talent. Since meh, but what it does is allow whatever you've dropped points into in the various "Polearm/Mace/Sword/Axe" specialization would be applicable to *every* weapon you carry and not just one of that particular proficiency. Warlocks, Affliction carries a Shadow Bolt volley -- it's around 850ish mana, cast time is 3 seconds, hits up to 5 targets in a cone effect in I think a 30 yard range (is affected by Destructive Reach), , 30 second cooldown, and I think Chris said it's around 75-80% of the current highest level shadowbolt you can do damagewise. Mana cost is supposed to be around the cost of Blizzard, and supposedly it's around 2K mana cost at the highest rank @ 70. He didn't have anything to say about Demonology tree, but that Destruction's 41 point talent is supposed to be "some form of corpse explosion." Great, as if you assholes weren't already enough of a fucking pain in PvP. The only other class he mentioned at the time was Priest, and that was their Holy and Shadow trees. Holy tree is supposed to get a "Holy form" (how original) that increases the amount of healing done by holy spells by 25% and reduce their mana cost by 10%, but any offensive spells can not be cast at all. Shadow tree is supposed to get something I think he called "Darkness Absorbtion" that works sort of like the new talent in the Arcane tree in the mage class (10% chance to reset spells, spells resisted fully restore X percent of total mana) but that all *physical* damage taken has a 30% chance to restore mana equal to 50% of the damage you took. *shrugg* Like I said, I don't know how concrete this shit is or whatnot, but he hasn't lied to us yet.

Pathetic. The servers are split into different timezones for a reason. If you're on a server that is on Pacific time, but you are in Central, there is no one to blame for yourself. Stop trying to make excuses as to why people "can't" raid. They either want to, or they don't. It isn't a matter of "Oh I can't..." You're doing nothing but pulling extremes out of your ass to support a weak argument. The fact that you're trying to compare tier 1-3 to Scarlet Monastery gear is hilarious. Seriously, either learn how gear is made and points are allocated, or sit down and shut up. It's not that difficult of a concept to understand. Unless you're an idiot. The last few sentences you posted made no sense, and I see to try to save face you completely ignored the issue of Thunderfury vs. Quel'Serrar/Widow's Blade, etc. I have played this game since closed beta; don't even try to insinuate that I have no idea what the game was like before retail. I was one of the main Hunters that PUSHED to get rid of the fucking focus system for our class; mana system isn't perfect for us but it's a lot better. "Oh, and just because you talk to people doesn't mean that you don't scrifice something else for WoW's raiding. Think of everything you turned down for going on a raid." *yawn* Seriously, try harder. It's called "time alone" for 2 hours. The nights we want to fuck, or go to a movie, or watch TV... guess what. WE DO. I'm sorry if your mind is so feeble you can not comprehend the issue of "time management" and how yes, even with a full and active lifestyle, I can still raid.

Incorrect, thanks for playing. Try to be more consistent in your pathetic ramblings. First of all, if they can't fit a 40 man raid into their schedule now, they're not going to be able to fit a 10 man, 20 man, or 25 man raid in the future. Both require time and commitment and require damn near the same amount of "selection" as each other. Just because one takes more people doesn't mean it's inherently "harder" or "longer". Second of all, you're under the delusion that only no-life's raid at all. News flash; raid instances are't like normal instances. Not every guild does 8 hour grinds a day on the instances. JUICE does 3 hour raid blocks (don't even try to say that's a lot of time; you spent more on a console RPG in one sitting than that) 3 times a week on Naxxramas, and the other nights are the rest of the instances broken down into 2 night sections; Blackwing Lair takes us around 3 and a half hours, Ahn'Qiraji around 6, MC around 2. Thirdly, you're ALSO under the delusion that BWL/AQ/MC/Naxx gear is suddenly useless as soon as you hit 61. Either you're a pure idiot (which is highly possible), or you don't realize how stats are distributed in epic gear versus blue gear you'll get at level 70. There are also items from MC that STILL have yet to be outmatched by even new gear -- Thunderfury is STILL the best tanking weapon hands down, Hand of Ragnaros is STILL the hardest hitting 2H weapon in the game (proc included, Might of Menethil from Kel'Thuzad NOT included since he has not died yet), Ragnaros's neck piece is STILL the highest damage neckpiece for mages/warlocks, Quick Strike Ring is STILL the best pure DPS ring for Warriors and feral Druids, the best alternating Rogue DPS gloves are STILL in MC (Depending on fight), and the main weapon of Hunters and Priests STILL resides in MC, as well as others. Yeah, I'm sure NO ONE will be running Molten Core come post-expansion "How much a life I don't have?" Interesting, I'll be sure to ask my niece and nephew, and boyfriend how much I don't have next time we sit down to eat : ) Your attempts at insults are yawn inspiring; try better next time. My cat can insult me better with her farts. Funny though, you say I have no life, yet I'm not the one hiding under a Japanese name, as though I were a common anime/gamer basement dweller.

I can't find the thread you're talking about (probably got buried by the 2500 or so "ZOMG 25 MAN IS TEH SUX" and "YAYZ 25 MAN FTW!!!11one" threads). Does this 'spybot' person have a website? Also, 40 debuffs should be fun. It'd be cool to go on a 40 druid raid (that is if there is even a realm with 40 druids on it, seems we're kinda rare) and do nothing but oomfire spam just to see 40 moonfire debuffs on the target. It was found on the wowguru site (where he always posts) and someone linked it to the RnD boards. Here's what a friend posted when he was reading it: Some information coming from Gencon/Spybot about the Burning Crusade. Not all is new. New profession level cap is 375 and called Master Alchemy specialties called Potion and Elixir Alchemy Tailoring specialties called Shadoweave, Divine and Arcane Tailoring In the expansion they will be many more useful high level recipes. Along the lines of sageblade or robe of the archmage and better. Each race/class combination will receive one new racial spell, much like Priests already do. The example they give is Blood Elf Paladins getting a spell called Blood Debt which amplifies the power of your next judgement at the cost of health. All racial spells will be released when public beta starts. They're aiming for Q4 2006 release. Public beta will begin not too long after 1.12 goes live. Patch 1.13 will be primarily a bug fix patch, but will introduce the Dark Portal opening world event. They learned from their mistakes from the pvp system in the original game. They will completely revamp the honor system and make it complement PvE, rather than be dependent on it. They have ideas to make PvP more skill based than time based. 1.12 is just a temporary fix. Cross realm battlegrounds makes it possible for them to make many new battlegrounds without thinning the pvp population. Gladiator Arenas will be introduced in the expansion. Some will be deathmatches (which is something players requested but weren't appropriate for a battleground), some will be survival against increasingly powerful monsters. World pvp objectives will probably not give physical rewards. It's just something for fun that players requested. Think SS Tarren mill battles. Guild rating and ladder will be introduced as part of honor system changes They will focus on smaller group content, but that doesn't mean theyre forgetting about raiders. An example is there are 4 full raid dungeons not including onyxia in game currently. They will have at least as many in the expansion. They really liked stuff like DM tribute and 45 minute baron. As a result all new BC dungeons will have difficulty levels.

Incorrect, thanks for playing. Suz, it's information posted by Spybot. There's a thread in the RnD forums. If you don't know who Spybot is, think of him as inside information for the past two years. All 'leaked' patch notes and game changes he's posted has been true. Grats Warlocks. DOT PRIEST MORE DOT! MORE REND! "I will say this, for expansion the debuff limit is being increased from 16 to 40, combined with the focus on smaller raid dungeons, Warlock players will have more freedom and opportunity to use their debuffing abilities with less limitation. Beyond this, all classes will have new spells, talents and abilities that they will bring to the table by the time level 70 is achieved. " http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.aspx?fn=wow-general&t=9468079&s=blizzard&tmp=1#blizzard

Because Blackwing Lair, Ahn'Qiraji, and Naxxramas were all built with the input from 40 people. Molten Core I could *somewhat* see going to 25 man; it isn't hard so much as a an introduction into bigger raiding. Perhaps Majordomo/Sulfuron would give guilds a slight problem if the new cap was 25. But for the others, they're built with the DPS, healing, and support stance from 40 individual people. If you scale those instances and increase to difficulty to cater to level 70 players and THEN drop the size of the allowable raid to 25 you've made them impossible. You also have to take into consideration newer guilds coming into these instances with 25 'undergeared' people that are trying to go through the normal progression. Vael with blues? It's a DPS burn and one person's guarranteed to die every 15 seconds, 2 people every 45 seconds. 5 people die every minute, Essence of the Red debuff only lasts 3 minutes, and you've just scaled the instance to level 70 and only allow 25 people -- people barely get past 1% with 10 people alive in a 40 man raid, so I seriously doubt seeing 10 people trying to kill him from a good 14% after the three minutes are up (when mana/rage/energy ISN'T unlimited). Broodlord? Maybe for well geared 25 people that can burn him before the forced aggro cap turns the encounter upside down, but for newer people with it scaled it's a nightmare; 25 undergeared people at level 60 NOW wouldn't be able to pull it off, much less at level 70 when it's rescaled. Plus, there's also fights that you're forgetting are enrage-timer based (Princess Huhuran, Twin Emperors, Patchwerk, Grand Widow Faerlina, Loatheb, etc.) that are attuned to 40 people, and others that require 40 people just because of the amount of DPS/crowd control/man power going on (Fankriss, C'Thun, Ouro, Noth the Plaguebringer, Gothik the Harvester, Thaddius, etc.). I seriously, *seriously* doubt they will go back and reinstitute said caps. Jeff Kaplan's already said, at least on release, that the older instances will not move up in level/difficulty otherwise there would be no point in new content for progression. Instead, I could see them allowing 40 man, but guilds forming up with 30-40 members and taking dedicated 25 members through level 60 content at level 70. It would still provide them a challenge due to the lessened numbers, get them used to working with 25 caps, and get people geared up faster so as to not be so far behind on the newer content.

Not only that, but for raiding guilds this is actually a blessing as well. A lot of times it feels like JUICE is mostly 20-25 people carrying 10-15 through raids, and this will keep us from having to need to invite others just because "manpower needed from 40" on the post MC raid instances. Plus, smaller shit like ZG and AQ20, and even 5-10 man zones are a lot more fun to me. There's not as much 'wait' or requirements needed since it's more skill based rather than setup with numbers that small.

Stormscale > Russell Cox > Viertel (60 Druid) > Horde > JUICE Stormscale > Russell Cox > Russellius (60 Hunter) > Horde > JUICE Stormscale > Russell Cox > Achtel (60 Mage) > Horde > JUICE

I was always a fan of [Common] LUV M E RU FF