But 10-mans make that much easier to do, of course. So some people are naturally going to be drawn to the ease. And some simply don’t want to raid with 15 more people.

I have raided for the past 3 years. 40mans pre-BC, 25mans in BC. During the 40-man days, strong class leaders really kept the feel of raids small for me — we sat in our own vent channel, had our own assignments, socialized with each other. When 25mans came around and guilds splintered apart, I landed in a guild that eventually did away with class leaders, leaving 25 players to pretty much fend for themselves. So when the 10 man progression chain was announced for WotLK, I stopped raiding 25mans (my guild was 4 bosses in to BT), and joined a friendly little guild with just enough players for 10mans. Yes, I sit around and run Kara on my 4th 70 instead of working on the last push for seeing BC raid content, but I don’t care. I am excited that in a few short weeks I’ll get to put myself on the path back to raiding– but in a much more fun and personal atmosphere.