25 person max raid size for expansion

[Sword_of_Doom]

How long would it take to mindlessly farm for the items for the neck? How long would it take to raid for something at least as good or better, without going past MC? In any case, the day when I start farming for the Darkmoon neck, is the day that I ask my wife to shoot me.

And yes, many guilds will break up over this when BC comes out. Should be interesting.
-A

I raid 20 hours a week. So far i have been in Naxx 2 months and have received 1 item. So i have put in approximately 160 hours. Naxx bosses drop 1 set piece and i misc. piece. The 4 end wing bosses drop 2 set pieces and 1 misc. piece. We have 7 bosses on farm and get 8 set pieces and 7 misc. pieces a week. Thats 15 pieces divided up among 40+raiders. At best i will get something once per month for about 80 hours of raiding. All the while it probably costs me 60 gold a week in repair costs and another 60 gold in consumables. I easily spend 100 gold a week on raiding and probably more. So for 80 hours of time and 400 gold i get 1 Tier 3 piece a month. Are casuals willing to do solo quests that involve that time, effort, skill and dedication. Raiding is not out of whack to the reward you get for the time effort skill and dedication. I raid because i like the people and i love the challenge of the encounters. I am likely not to get my full Tier 3 set before the expansion. My guess is i will be 4/9.

The big mistake Blizzard has made is there is no other way of advancing your character apart from rep grinds or gear grinds. The gap between casuals and raiders is not merely time, its the willingness to spend the gold and endure endless wipes to get the reward. I have been on countless PuG's that have quit either at Rend or before Drakkisath becuase we wiped. I have seen Baron runs fall apart because of a wipe. Unfortunately MMO's are not entirely devoted to casuals even though WoW is by far and away the most casual MMO in history. Everquest was a hardcore wet dream but a casual nightmare. At least WoW has gameplay elements that all can enjoy.

I don't think it will ever be solved, its impossible. Casuals have the desire to get something that will never involve time and i don't think any MMO maker wants to cater to much to that because that means creating endless content. MMO's are based on timesinks, its the only way for repetitive play. WoW is casual friendly.