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How to Convert From a 40-Player to a 25-Player Raid Roster - The Burning Crusade Anniversary
Posted
2 hr 2 min ago
by
SleshTheRogue
The transition from raiding in Classic WoW to The Burning Crusade is one of the hardest tasks for any Guild Master and/or leadership to take on. After all, you're going from a 40-man roster that's oftentimes stacked with Warriors to an environment where the rosters are more diverse, and there are 10/25-man raids only.
The Burning Crusade Raid Composition Tool
This is one of those points in the game where raid leaders both love and hate it. With fewer raiders, there's less overall management and loot competition, but there are some inevitable decisions that come one way or another. Below, we'll walk you through the various thoughts we've had about this change and transitional period.
Pre-Assign Roles to Players
In a perfect world, it would be easy to pre-slot classes and roles for players, and they all level promptly, no one falls off playing, and you live happily ever after. Unfortunately, for the vast majority of the player base, that doesn't happen. Players fall off all the time, and natural attrition happens.
After all, the majority of the Classic WoW playerbase is older, meaning life events such as a new job, promotion, having a child, or getting married can significantly alter plans. So, if you're in a guild where you know you can comfortably rely on every single person to follow through with their leveling, this can work, but it comes with a lot of risks.
Multiple Raid Teams
Something else to consider is having multiple raid teams, and this can take shape in a few ways:
You have 40 players already, so recruit 10 more
Keep the 40 and allow some to play alts
Keep the 40, understand some may stop playing or fall behind schedule, and have others with alts ready
However, in having two teams, you'll either need to be willing to raid more during the week or bank on one group completing the content on Night 1 and the other on Night 2, assuming your guild raids two nights per week (this is fairly common).
Where this can get dicey is launch weeks, as these raid times tend to take longer to complete content as players are learning the fights. Having multiple teams does come with some potential negatives, though:
Some players commit to alts, but the leveling takes longer, and one of the two groups is left in limbo
There could be a "Team A" and "Team B" mentality
If the group that raids first that week doesn't complete the raid in one night, do they go back on the second night to finish and push the other group back, assuming there are players with characters in both runs?
Balancing both groups so one doesn't feel worse than the other
There are some ways to address that, such as having leadership play characters across both groups to maintain continuity, but again, there could be issues if a group doesn't finish—what to do then? Thankfully, a lot of those "in the weeds" questions will be answered organically, but they're certainly top of mind.
Roster Cuts
Yes, this isn't the NFL or professional sports, and "roster cuts" may sound harsh or even crazy for a video game, but that could very well be the best possible option. If you're only interested in having one team, which is 25 raiders or perhaps 30 with three 10-man raid teams, the math adds up to cutting at least 10 players.
How can that be done? Well, it's going to involve some hard conversations. There are likely players in new roles, especially if they re-rolled Shaman or Paladin, but you can look at their past performances and attendance to see if they fit as long-term, competent players on your team. Again, some of this may sound ridiculous, but it's a very real issue leadership will need to consider. In the end, your roster becomes more manageable, and that player can find a new home where they have a full-time role.
Natural Attrition
This was mentioned earlier, but it's a real strategy: Wait and see. With the first Tier of raid content coming on February 19th, you'll have time to see which players are leveling, which are getting ready, and who's simply ghosting the team.
You may have gone into TBC with two raid teams in mind, but if February 19th rolls around and only 27 players are Level 70, those plans may either need to be held off on for a bit longer or maybe just scrapped altogether. That said, not everyone who says, "Yeah, no problem, I'll be there. I'll go hard and level and be ready," will be. Again, things happen. Heck, if they dungeon grinded to 70, that may be enough alone to burn them out.
When to Make the Decision
With something like this, there's really no hard deadline. This can be malleable. On February 19th, if only 32 players have reached Level 70, the fact of the matter is that 7 players are going to be sitting for 25-man content; there's no way around it.
Players are typically understanding of the early-week roster boss and figure things out. And honestly, if they're not and they leave, well, that makes life as an officer or Guild Master easier from a roster perspective.
So What's the Point of All of This?
If you're a Guild Master or officer, you've likely thought of some or all of these. Every situation is different, of course, but the bottom line is this: Communicate, communicate, communicate.
Whether that's making roster cuts or being transparent with your roster about the first few weeks being organized chaos, what matters most is that you and your leadership group decide a direction. After all, you can only go into battle with the soldiers that you have, and you can only plan so much. Be ready to change things up, but again, most of all, communicate with your team as much as possible to keep them in the loop.
How is your guild handling the transition between 40-player and 25-player raids? Let us know in the comments down below!
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1
Comment by
Foxburn
on 2026-02-15T12:25:29-06:00
Thanks ChatGPT
Comment by
Supercoolguy
on 2026-02-15T12:41:03-06:00
More slop posting !
Comment by
Numakk
on 2026-02-15T12:49:26-06:00
Remove warriors
Comment by
alexolio
on 2026-02-15T14:23:20-06:00
Thanks ChatGPT
How can you be so sure?
1
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