17 September Q&A: raid sizes and difficulty
Wowhead’s liveblog reports a 10-player and a 20-player raid each tier, one difficulty and no flex at launch. Forty-player raids start with Onyxia, but are not planned every tier. Cross-faction play is unsupported.
Plan a separate attendance check for each raid size. Two ten-player groups do not automatically share an evening or provide the roles needed for one larger team. Before recruiting, ask which sessions members actually want to attend.
16 September: raid attunement and encounter plans
But Why Tho’s developer interview reports no attunement requirement for the initial new raids, while leaving later raids open. It also reiterates fixed encounters and no plans for flex raiding. Treat this as current interview guidance, not a rule for all future content.
For roster planning, avoid assigning an unannounced attunement checklist. Concentrate on confirmed availability and revisit entry requirements when the relevant content is available.
What guild leaders should know
Blizzard's current plans list Barrow Deeps as a maximum-level 10-player raid and Hyjal Summit as a 20-player raid. Those are the sizes announced for these two raids; they are not a complete rule for every Forever raid. Source: Blizzard's panel recap.
For guild organisers, the immediate question is how many people can reliably play together on the same evening. A list of interested players is a useful beginning, but it is not yet an attendance plan.
Choose the evening before filling the team
Ask members for a start time, finish time and time zone, together with the nights they can usually attend. Keep definite availability separate from “sometimes”.
Consider a fictional group with 24 interested players. If only 17 can make Tuesday, the guild has a Tuesday recruitment gap even though its membership list looks large enough. Recruiting more people without specifying the evening may leave exactly the same problem.
Publish the proposed schedule and ask members to confirm it. Include a clear finish time so players can judge whether it fits their lives.
Count people and character options separately
One member offering a healer and a damage character gives you flexibility, but still supplies one person that evening. Count that player once in your attendance total, then record the roles they are willing to cover.
Distinguish a preferred role from an agreed backup. Ask before treating someone as a permanent substitute for whichever role is missing. It is easier to recruit honestly when you know which changes members actually want to make.
Explain what happens when more people sign up than can attend
Discuss rotation, absence reporting and replacement invitations before anyone feels singled out. Say who makes the final selection and when members will hear from them.
Avoid a universal “perfect bench size”. The useful amount of cover depends on your group's attendance and willingness to rotate. Review real absences over several sessions before expanding recruitment on assumptions alone.
Keep composition decisions provisional
An announced player limit does not tell you the ideal number of each class or role for every encounter. Avoid presenting familiar Classic compositions as confirmed Forever requirements.
For now, collect role preferences and unanswered questions. When suitable encounter evidence becomes available, explain what changed and why before asking members to adjust their plans.
Start with the free guild roster template. Record player handles, role intentions, availability and confirmation dates, then download a copy for your officers. The template saves on the current device; it does not automatically import into a shared workspace.