EverQuest to have 42 man raids

Woah, this came out of left field.

According to the Dev Blog the newest EverQuest expansion will feature 42 man raids. This will not effect old raids, just the new ones.

Good Idea?
I have to imagine their goal here is to make it easier for mid tier guilds to progress. It’s much easier fielding 42 players than it is 54. I’d have to agree with them that mid tier guilds need some help. It’s becoming quite clear (at least to me) that higher end guilds are pacing along much faster than the mid level ones. For the most part, that’s to be expected, but the gap is continually widening. High end guilds are beating the latest expansions in a few months. Mid tier guilds are still working on content from 3 expansions ago. It’s a bit of a problem, no doubt.

Bad Idea?
With all that said, this gets my vote as a bad idea. The big problem I see is that EverQuest’s classes are extremely diverse. Because of that, they aren’t always balanced perfectly. Some classes (namely casters and hybrids) have accepted that they are fairly mediocre when it comes to raiding. They enjoy a lot of utility and power while grouped, so it’s a trade off. As you lower how many players can come on a raid, guilds will have to get more selective as to who tags along. If you’re having a hard time beating an encounter and you have extra players, who are you going to pick, a ranger or a rogue? A druid or a cleric? Hybrids who are in guilds that already fill the raids are going to be feeling the pinch.