This is exactly what I’m thinking. Blizzard seem to have missed the point that some people actually enjoy playing their game.
Sarcasm aside, they do seem to misunderstand that some players like raiding several nights a week; and doing 10 and 25 man raids.

These people can run 10′s, and continue to upgrade their ‘benched’ main on the side.

Now they can’t.

Whether or not you like the changes, we can all agree that more constraints on when people can raid with their characters isn’t a good thing.

If I have 24 other people who share the same degree of skill and dedication/attendance as myself, I’ll run the 25s for the extra drops – and thus the faster path to being able to down hardmodes.

If I find I have 15-18 people at that level, and I’m dragging some warm bodies with me who either should not be there, or should be there but are noticably producing less than others, I’ll see more kills and get more drops from the 10s.

The ‘enjoyment’ factor will probably dictated by the same model – as it will apply to both gear, kills, seeing content, every reason you’d raid.

So many people have said they feel like they’ve got ’15 great people and 10 warm bodies.’ For these types, they might not do too many 25s anymore. For those that have not had that experience, I would expect them to do the 25s and take the extra loot/rewards.

If you don’t raid for the shiny loots, but to play with people you enjoy playing with. I don’t know how this is going to affect you. They aren’t removing 25s. They will still be there with greater rewards for the effort involved with keeping 25 different people together for the time it takes to clear a tier of content.

If what is of concern is that you have 15 people that you like to raid with and you tolerate 10 others so that you can raid with all of the people that you like, then I can see where the issue may be. In that you may not perceive the reward for dealing with those 10 you currently tolerate to be worth it. In that case, it remains to be seen how it will all play out.

/vanish
Kono gains Vanish
Vanish fails
Vanish fades from Kono
Kono gives Ava the finger

I don’t understand why this would be an issue given the changes. Right now, 10m and 25m are essentially two different instances with very different levels of difficulty and very different levels of reward.

In Cataclysm, whether you take 9 people or 24 people in with you will be largely a matter of preference. Blizzard says 25m will reward more loot per player (which means, by the way, that if 10m continues to drop 2 pieces of loot per boss, 25m bosses are going to have to drop at least 6 per, which is auesome).

So the 25m version will have the same “difficulty” in relation to sheer numbers, but the added difficulty of finding an organizing and training 15 additional competent players. And the reward for the extra organizational difficulty is that, on the whole, everyone will gear up faster.

So why would it be an issue if I gear up in 10m and then get invited to a 25m heroic run one week? It’s essentially the same dungeon. I’m going to be facing the same bosses, w/ the same mechanics and the same difficulty, and because I’m playing with 15 more people, I’ll actually have a higher chance of getting loot for my trouble.

The key is to stop thinking of progression as 10man T11 –> 25man T11.5 –> 10m T12 –> 10m Heroic T12.25 –> 25m T12.5 –> 25m H T12.75… 10m and 25m will be the same tier. So it’ll be Tier 11 –> T11 heroic –> T12 –> T12 Heroic.

The mode (10m or 25m) you choose in a given week will be a function of preference and availibility rather than a function of difficulty or loot quality.

So I don’t see the issue, unless you’re just unwilling to let go of the idea that 25m is “higher in progression” than 10m.