WoW Forever: 10- and 20-player raids promised for every tier

Lead Classic designer Tim Jones says Blizzard wants every raid tier in WoW Forever to include at least a raid built for 10 players and a raid built for 20. A tier here means a set of raids that opens at the same time. "The raid sizes are also a promise," Jones said in a video interview published on 21 September. He called the 40-player raid the game starts with an exception, and explained that the team wants small and large guilds alike to always have new content that a group of their size can complete.

Blizzard's developers had said this before. In an interview published on 14 September, lead encounter designer Mike Nuthals confirmed that every tier would have at least a 10-player and a 20-player raid, sometimes alongside a raid for 40. In the same interview, Jones said that a group of 10 with no interest in 20-player raids is fine as it is, and that there will always be a 10-player raid for such groups. In Blizzard's live Q&A on 17 September, the developers again said that raids for 40 will be the exception, like Onyxia, and that most raids will be aimed at 10 or 20 players.

Blizzard's own roadmap, published with its BlizzCon summary on 12 September, fits this plan so far. WoW Forever launches at 23:00 UK time on 4 November 2026, which is midnight on 5 November in Central Europe, and the first raids unlock on 9 December: Barrow Deeps for 10 players, Hyjal Summit for 20 and Onyxia's Lair for 40. For spring 2027 the roadmap lists 2 new raids, a 10-player raid and a 20-player raid. For summer 2027 it lists a revamped iconic raid and another new raid, without saying how many players they will need. Blizzard notes on the roadmap that content and timing are subject to change.

The promise does not include flexible group sizes. Nuthals said raids that adjust to the number of players are ruled out, and in the 17 September Q&A the developers said every dungeon and raid will have a single difficulty. Some players on Blizzard's forums are unhappy about this. One writes that many guilds have something like 14 people who want to raid, and would rather not fill 6 places with strangers or leave 4 people out. Another, who says they have raided only in groups of 10 since 2008, asks why a 10-player guild should have to give up half of the endgame content. Others reply that a small group can team up with other groups of 10.