Flexible Raiding and the Casual MMO Player

So many factions, so little time.

As a self proclaimed casual MMO player who blogs, I feel like I need to join the many other bloggers who are writing about the Flexible Raiding that Blizzard has announced.  Personally, I see it as a great opportunity for players like me.

As I mentioned previously, I took about a year off of playing World of Warcraft.  Once I started back in December, I was, of course, way behind the gear curve.  I could try to focus on the Isle of Thunder and Heroics to get the gear to first join in LFR and then to get the gear I needed for raiding, but I'm really not interested in either the Isle of Thunder or Heroics.  I'd rather do what I want to do, in my casual way, and gradually get the gear I need to join people on a more casual basis.  

The problem right now is the only way to do that is to hope members of the guild are interested in running LFR.  As someone who isn't really interested in playing with random people, this isn't very appealing and, I suspect, it isn't very appealing to other members of our guild.

However, once Flexible Raiding starts, players like me and others who like to play World of Warcraft but either don't have the time to keep up with the gear curve or would rather mix in a few months of WoW with months focused on other games (or other activities) have a real option to play with our guild and/or our friends.  As long as the core group is interested in having a Flexible raid, they can raid only with those they want to and not have to leave a core team member out if someone else shows up who they'd like to play with.

I am really hopeful that Flexible Raiding will make playing MMOs a few months out of the year or infrequently a much more enjoyable way to play with your friends.  I'm sure Blizzard is hoping the same thing.