World of Warcraft introducing a social Raid type, Flexible Raiding

World of Warcraft will be receiving a new type of raid called Flexible Raiding in upcoming content update Patch 5.4 to provide a better experience for social groups and casual WoW gamers, according to an update posted on Battle.net.

The new raid type will cater to smaller guilds who like to take as many members as possible on raids and social groups consisting of friends and family. Currently, World of Warcraft offers three types of raids: Normal, Heroic and Raid Finder. The new Flexible Raid system's difficulty will be between Raid Finder and Normal difficulty and will support groups of 10-25 players.

"During the Wrath of the Lich King expansion, the 10-player Normal difficulty served these groups of players pretty well, but the unification of 10-player and 25-player into a single difficulty effectively eliminated that niche," the post states. "While Raid Finder mode is extremely accessible, it doesn't provide smaller groups with a tight-knit social experience while progressing through the content."

In the new mode, raid difficulty will automatically scale depending on the number of players in a particular group and there will be no Item Level requirements in order to join a raid. Loot dropped during a Flexible Raid will be of an Item Level between Raid Finder and Normal quality and "will use the Raid Finder's ‘per person' loot system, specialization choices, and bonus rolls."

More information on Flexible Raiding is outlined on Battle.Net.