Product Idea
Go Raiding is an in-progress full-stack platform for World of Warcraft players who want a better way to organize, browse, join, and manage raids outside the game. The project is inspired by OpenRaid and focuses on raid requirements, player reputation, character information, and approval-based raid participation.
Goals
- Problem: World of Warcraft players need a convenient way to organize raids outside the game while still being able to understand who is joining. In-game tools do not give raid organizers enough context about players, and older community tools like OpenRaid are no longer available. Raid leaders need clearer information about item level, role fit, raid history, and player reputation before approving participants.
- Solution: Go Raiding gives players a dedicated place to create, browse, join, and manage raids with stronger player context. Raid leaders can set minimum item level requirements, review applicants, approve or reject join requests, and see player ratings. Players can connect their Blizzard account, import character information, apply for raids that match their characters, and build reputation through reviews and raid history.
UX Planning
The UX planning started with research into how OpenRaid worked, how World of Warcraft raiding is organized, and what information raid leaders need before accepting players. I also interviewed an experienced World of Warcraft player to understand missing features, common frustrations, and useful improvements. The planning focused on mobile-first raid discovery, fast raid previews, approval-based joining, character-aware requirements, and reducing unnecessary navigation through bottom sheets and inline confirmations.
Current Development Process
- Built most of the core UI components.
- Built a reusable bottom sheet component for modal-like mobile interactions.
- Set up infinite query logic for paginated list loading.
- Built the pre-auth landing page.
- Paused active development while finishing course projects and the portfolio.
- Next step is finishing reusable UI components, then building login, sign-up, and core raid browsing flows.
My Role
- Created the product idea, feature direction, and full project scope
- Led the mobile-first UX planning and product design for the full app experience
- Researched OpenRaid, World of Warcraft raid organization, and player needs
- Interviewed an experienced World of Warcraft player to define core use cases, pain points, and missing features
- Designed user flows for authentication, Blizzard account connection, character management, raid browsing, raid creation, raid applications, approvals, reviews, and user profiles
- Planned the full-stack architecture for users, raids, characters, raid applications, reviews, ratings, and Blizzard account integration
- Built the main frontend application structure with reusable UI components, layout patterns, modals, and bottom sheets
- Implemented mobile-first raid browsing, raid details, creation, management, and user profile interfaces
- Developed backend API functionality for raid organization, user data, character data, applications, reviews, and profile-related features
- Integrated frontend data flows with the backend using Axios and TanStack Query
- Implemented gated raid joining logic based on role availability, character requirements, item level, and raid status
- Planned and integrated Blizzard OAuth and character import functionality
- Coordinated project direction with two collaborators while owning the main product concept, UX direction, and core development work
Key Features
- Raid creation and management
- Approval-based raid joining
- Minimum item level requirements
- Player reviews and ratings
- Raid history
- Character previews for applicants
- Raid browsing filters
- Dashboard previews for created and joined raids
- Blizzard account connection and character import
Tech Stack
- Next.js
- React
- TypeScript
- Node.js
- Express.js
- MongoDB
- TanStack Query
- Axios
Next Steps
- Finish reusable UI components used across raid cards, profiles, forms, and bottom sheets.
- Build login and sign-up UI with basic authentication logic.
- Implement raid browsing and raid card components.
- Build raid creation and raid management flows.
- Create backend models and API routes for users, raids, characters, applications, and reviews.
- Add Blizzard OAuth and character import later in the development process.
- Connect item level and character requirements to raid application logic.