Blizzard confirms it's working on a 1-5 player 'story difficulty' for its big raids in World of Warcraft: The War Within, and it's honestly about time

World of Warcraft's always had an issue with its storytelling—I mean, it's historically had a lot of issues if you tally them all up—but first and foremost is the problem that, if you want to cap off the expansion story, then you'll need to get your raiding boots on.

That's nothing too unusual for the expansions of WoW's yesteryear, where being invested in the game's story was more of an optional thing for lore enthusiasts. Still important, which was why it was all there, but by no means the central draw. Times, however, and tastes have changed.

To keep up with said times, WoW's really shifting how it handles its storytelling in some big ways. Follower dungeons were a huge step forward, letting players experience Dragonflight's story beats without Killzmornn the Death Knight spamming «gogogo» in party chat. Later, I confirmed with both associate design director Maria Hamilton and Ion Hazzikostas that these dungeons (and delves) would be used as story vehicles for the aspiring solo player in the upcoming expansion, The War Within. 

It looks like raids will also be getting the same treatment. Initially datamined by WoWHead, a new «story» difficulty was found to be added to Nerub'ar Palace, the first major raid of the expansions. This, the data suggested, would allow players to queue up for raids—historically requiring dozens of players—completely on their own, or with up to five party members.

This was then confirmed via a blue post on the WoW forums by developer Limestone, who reveals: «We’ve been working on a new raid experience for The War Within called Story difficulty.

»Throughout World of Warcraft’s history, many of the most epic moments in our stories have been told in dungeons and raids … With Story difficulty in Nerub-ar Palace, our goal is to offer players a way to see the epic conclusion of Azj-Kahet’s story who may not see the end to that story otherwise. This difficulty is intended for a private party of 1-5 players and will allow players to face off