Sorry about the length of my post!

I'm writing this post because a lot of people are upset because Zenimax Online has announced that there will NOT be "Raids" in the Elder Scrolls Online. At first I was dumbfounded at the fact, and confused as to why raiding would not be included in this modern day MMO after reading about ZO's adventures zones it made a little bit more sense.

First off I'd like to discuss why people, in general, (including myself) enjoy raiding and a lot of these ideas tie together in many ways.

• First off is the strategy/cooperation. Raiding is essentially a group of people working together to meet a common goal. This requires the utmost cooperation between group mates and requires people to know what they're doing before they actually do it. Anyone that has raided, even just once, knows that learning the strategy and the fights before you participate in them is a MUST. And I'm sure almost all of us have gotten kicked out of a raid group at some point because we didn't know the fights, or lied and said we did The idea of strategy brings me to my next reason why Raiding is awesome and that is Difficulty.
  
• Difficulty of Raiding. The biggest reason why I personally and a lot of other people enjoy Raiding is because it's actually difficult and challenges the players. No group of people could just waltz right into a Raid and clear it out their first try without any prior knowledge of it's content. Real raiding (in my opinion) requires hours/days, even weeks in some cases, of preparation; whether that be gearing up, reading-up, or watching videos of the Raid, in order for one to successfully complete it. The fact that the strategies and mechanics of raids are so strict is part of what keeps me intrigued and motivates me to keep progressing my character and move forward into the raid. This difficulty also gives players one of the biggest feelings of accomplishment when they've actually completed the raid, which brings me to my next point...
  
• Feeling of Accomplishment. Hands down, one of the BEST possible feelings while playing an MMO, is when its 5 AM in the morning, and after 7 hours of struggling, and two cans of Monster, you've downed the Final Boss and are checking out what loot he dropped for you and your buddies. And then the next time you log in and you got your B.A. looking new weapon that dropped, and your walking around the main city showing it off to people, who really don't give damn, but you don't care you feel freaking awesome. The feeling of accomplishment that you experience after downing the final boss, and completing the raid is MORE than enough of a reason to keep me coming back for more and more.

These here are just a few reasons why I personally think raiding is awesome. That being said there are an extremely large amount of players that cannot stand raiding... but to be completely honest I can't blame them. Despite the many positive aspects of Raiding, it also has a lot of negative ones, which deter people from wanting to raid.

• First off finding a group that can consistently log on at a specific time once a week is about 10x more difficult than the Heroic Raid you're trying to run. Forming a group is one of the most frustrating and time consuming things when it comes to raiding, especially when it's 2 in the morning and you're looking for another play, cause your tank logged off cause he's got to get up for work in 3 hours. Not only do you have to find people that are experienced within the raid, but they also have to be geared enough, and even then they might claim the right to certain drops and etc. Which brings me to my other point.
  
• You must be this tall to ride this ride, and have the achievements, and a really high item level. Many MMO’s, groups require that you have experience with the raid otherwise they won’t invite you. This makes it extremely difficult and frustrating for those players that are interested in raiding but don’t have a guild to do it with because it’s a catch 22 in most cases. I need raid experience in order to get into the group but without getting in to a group I can’t get the experience needed in the first place. This brings me to my next point.
  
• Simply put the Raiding world is a very harsh place. Being kicked out of a group because you made one mistake, or because you aren't good enough, is one of the WORST feelings EVER. hardcoe Raiders and not understanding at all, the second you make a mistake you’re gone and this is somewhat reasonable in that the raid group is on a tight schedule trying to get stuff done and doesn’t want one person holding them back. But at the same time it’s even more frustrating for the player that made the one small mistake and got kicked. Instead of teaching the poor person what he or she did wrong they kick him before he/she has the chance to explain themselves. Now I know that not all raid groups are like this but from my personal experiences this represents a large majority of the raid population, which is understandable like I said.

That all being said, RAIDING IS NOT GOING TO BE INCLUDED in the ESO but Zenimax Online has claimed that there will be what’s called Adventure Zones.

“When I asked Sage about raiding, he said that ESO's adventure zones are designed for larger groups of PvE players. You can actually go into the adventure zones with a small group and accomplish some goals, but there are large areas in these maps dedicated to larger group experiences. There will be some warning when you're about to trigger one of these encounters (and they may even end up instanced), so a small group won't suddenly find itself face to face with a Daedric Prince!” (Link 1)

"So if you're at a very high level but still want to play PvE, you can head to adventure zones and go explore solo or team up with similar players, and we'll probably tie some really big group quests into them." (Link 2)

In my opinion the idea of Adventure Zones (and possibly ZO’s intention of them) is a way to incorporate ALL of the positive aspects of Raiding without all the negative ones. Zenimax Online has confirmed that “Raiding" will not be in the game, HOWEVER… I think they created their own Elder Scrolls, take on “Raids” by creating these adventure zones. By slapping the title of “Raid” on these zones players will have strict expectations on what this content will be like and how it’s done. However, by not defining these zones as “Raids” Zenimax Online doesn’t have to stick to the strict guidelines of what a “raid” is and can then do whatever they want with these areas, for better or worse.

After reading up on Adventure Zones it appears to me as if these areas will open to everyone at level 50 and a player can for a small group, large group, or if he or she wishes head in to these areas by themselves. Upon entering these areas there will be content for all sized groups and players of different skill levels, but this is where I begin to speculate a little bit…

Based on what’s been said in articles, videos, forums, I’ve been put under the impression that you don’t have to create a formal group (invite players to party) in order to be in a “group”. I could walk in to a cave, for example, and see a player getting attacked by the bear that I was told to kill for a quest. I could then assist the other player killing the bear and still get experience and still get credit for killing the bear, needed for my quest. From there this player and I, could then clear out the rest of this cave, and due to individualized loot and experience, wouldn’t have to necessarily have invited one or the other to a formal party (we maybe even receive some bonus awards for working without players). If this is the same case in the Adventure Zones this almost completely gets rid of the you’re not geared/good enough to be in our group problem that many new raiders face. I could enter the zone by myself walk around and find a massive group of people killing things and then join and assist them in their “adventuring” without having to be invited to anything and due to individualized loot won’t be competing with them for drops. You also won’t necessarily need to deal with the time and drama there is with forming a group in the first place because you can walk in to these zones without a group.

With these areas you still get the strategy/ mechanics of the intense boss battles, and (speculating here) the deeper you go into these zones the more difficult/hardcoe the content gets, and you still get that awesome sense of accomplishment you get for downing the big boss at the end of the zone. That’s all without the long time it takes to find a group, w/o having to be grouped up in the first place, without dealing with harsh players, and without people telling you you’re not good enough.

Now because this is a lot of speculation and it’s also in the beta stage a lot may change between now and then. The statements I’ve made are just the impressions I’ve been put under after reading these articles. But like I said before Adventure Zones are not “Raids” in their purest form, but I think that Zenimax Online made their own take on raiding by creating these adventure zones. I’m VERY excited to tryout these areas and hope they release a lot of information on them in the days to come. Raiding is such a significant part of MMORPG’s and I know for a fact Zenimax Online will create content to cater to our hardcoe PVE needs. Thanks for reading my long post lol please feel free to comment and share opinions!

Link 1: http://massively.joystiq.com/2013/03/19/the-elder-scrolls-online-interview-paul-sage/
Link 2: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/gamesblog/2013/jan/28/elder-scrolls-online-interview-matt-firor