Poll: Should 40-mans make a come back?

by Amanda Dean Dec 23rd 2008 at 8:30AM

Peeking around the official forums, I saw a few threads dedicated to the reincarnation of 40-man raids. Do you remember the old, pre-BC epic AQ-40/MC/Naxx days? I can honestly say I really do not. I was a freshly minted 60 when BC came out. I got my feet wet in ZG and AQ-20, but that's it. Perhaps I'm missing out on something important. It's entirely possible that others feel the same way.

Since Blizzard has tuned Wrath raids to both 10 and 25 person versions, what's stopping them from rounding it out to a full 40. Perhaps they could even go for more. Many are already complaining that Naxx is too easy. They're looking for a real challenge. I don't know if Blizzard is open to the possibility of tuning up the dungeons, but we've seen evidence that the developers do listen to player feedback.
Would you want to go toe-to-toe with Arthus along side 39 of your best friends? Tell us what you think:

Tags: 40-man, 40-man-raiding, challenge, feedback, old-days, raids

Filed under: Polls, Fan stuff, Blizzard, Instances, Raiding, Forums

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 8)

Amaxe Dec 23rd 2008 8:33AM

Meh, 40 man raids are a pain to organize. Hard enough to get 25 people together. I'd hate to see Wrath content specifically aimed at 40 people

Ekimus Dec 23rd 2008 8:34AM

I'd rather see them re-tune the old 40s for 10 and 25 mans.

Clbull Dec 23rd 2008 9:08AM

Then again, 40 mans did feel more epic than 25 mans.

I think maybe as a new dungeon difficulty, but then again the gear gap between 10 and 40 man raids would be reasonably large.

Have one difficulty setting for 10 mans, one for 25 mans and one for 40 mans, so that people can choose to do it in a small group, in a larger group or like it was before the Burning Crusade.

rosencratz Dec 23rd 2008 10:10AM

I think the idealistic concept of a 40 man raid is far better than the practicality.

VSUReaper Dec 23rd 2008 11:38AM

40 mans:
epic, yes
Challenging, yes
a supreme pain in the ass, you better believe it

I never knew what it was like back in the day, but from what I hear, most of the dungeons didnt need 40 people, only 30 as ~10 of them were more or less AFK.
And has anyone tried to coordinate a city raid lately? Its nearly impossible to get them all going in the same direction.
Finally there is the point of what would happen to raiding if only the large guilds could raid on small servers? Many guilds would fall apart, and you would end up having 3-4 super guilds, at least on my server.

Nic Lake Dec 23rd 2008 8:34AM

I'd love to see a return of 40-mans. It gives people something else to shoot for... even though it might be a pain in the a$$ to get a group for.

Make achievements for it, and people will show up.

Fenrix Dec 23rd 2008 8:45AM

...once

Steve Dec 23rd 2008 9:09AM

Isn't that essentially what the "For The Alliance" achievement is? A 40 man raid on Orgrimmar, Thunder Bluff...

That's how I got it, at least.

Daniel Dec 23rd 2008 12:27PM

40 man are better ._.

the only problem bout it was... the gearing of people, how to fix it?

make encounters harder, make them drop more badges so you can get badge loot

nuff said.

OogaBooga Dec 23rd 2008 8:35AM

They got rid of 40 man raids to begin with because they sucked. Please do not bring them back. It is very difficult to herd 40 cats to accomplish anything. 90% of the player base had no access to this type of content. It was a bad idea then, and it's a bad idea now.

Smurk Dec 23rd 2008 8:52AM

I'm guessing that "90% of the player base had no access" is the motivation behind these forum posts. People who are cranky about the ease of the current raids want something more exclusive and recall how few guilds ran 40-mans.

Why not just accept that there is nothing in the game (right now) to satisfy hardcore raiders? Other games still have 40-mans, right? Blizzard isn't going to go back to that format.

Manetherin Dec 23rd 2008 8:36AM

Seriously they're not contemplating this after their first failure.

Tarean Dec 23rd 2008 8:37AM

I played mainly when vanilla WoW was out and AQ40 was only run by the top raiding guilds. It took time and effort to coordinate the raid together and get through MC or BWL but it was what brought the players together and made WoW what it was. I'm not sure if they should bring back 40-man raids entirely but imagine if The Lich King was beatable by a 10/25-man PUG. I'd vote for at least The Lich King being 40-man.

Clint Dec 23rd 2008 9:38AM

That's an interesting idea.

Everything up to the final boss of WotLK being 10/25 and then the Lich King himself being 40 man only.

I dinged 60 the day TBC came out so I never got to experience any old-world raids, but I would love to see what 40 man raids are like. I think making the final boss the only boss that required 40 people would create a bit more of an aura around him and keep him only beaten by a select few *without hindering the majority of the population seeing *most of the content.

Jack Spicer Dec 23rd 2008 11:32AM

10/25 man raid leading up to a 40 man encounter? You're joking right? Have we already forgotten the headache that was 10 man Kara leading to 25 man Serpentshrine/The Eye?

Tarean Dec 23rd 2008 11:37AM

Maybe for you and your guild perhaps, but I'd like to see one of the most important/well-known characters in the Warcraft universe take some effort to beat.

B Dec 23rd 2008 8:38AM

Bigger =/= better

SnippyMcPhail Dec 23rd 2008 8:53AM

I totally agree!! (for wow that is... not "other" things)

Grant Dec 23rd 2008 8:39AM

As someone who used to run those 40-man raids on occasion, allow me to say "Good riddance!" The logistics of runs like that were nightmarish, and with the increased homogenization of the classes, you don't need to have 40 people to fit in the occasional odd class spec.

Please - no more 40-mans!