I believe I read somewhere that a blue poster (Ghost crawler?) mentioned that 1600 DPS was the designed amount of DPS for 10 man raids. To me that makes sense since I think with all dps averaging that you'd just get Patchwerk down on the enrage timer, but it would be real tight.

As for hitting the big numbers I read here, somehow I doubt it. While you may have been hitting 2.5k+ in the Sunwell you have to remember you had

A) A well balanced group, not 6 deathknights 3 druids and a warrior so you maxed out there on buffs.

B) Sunwell gear is really really good, check out shadow priest.com, a lot of it is still in the top 10 you can gear with (not including Uldar), so you'll do more then someone in blues.

C) If you were in Sunwell then you probably play your class very well, once upon a time you didn't, so even if you are a good player that is motivated and tries to improve it makes sense to make the first raid not expect you to be mr fantastic straight away.

Based on that I'm not seeing Uldar at 4k needed, seriously, what do you need to pull on hard mode? Based on what I've seen so far its looking like 2k bare minimum (10 man here) probably actually 2.5k really needed to cover deaths and other inefficiencies.

Saying that I've seen a fury warrior wearing early purples with the odd blue pulling 3k dps pre titan grip nerf in our casual guild 10 man, but his main is in a top end guild.

I personally hope it is a 'Ring of Blood' style instance where the 5 man group has to take on bosses (no trash) in the finished stadium. I really hope they take that approach because that would be very fun(for me at least) .

Start dungeons etc when you have brain and a rotation.

Dats it yo.

1600 dps would be pathetic for a 10-man. I logged onto my friend's level 77 feral druid te other day to see what I could eke out in feral (my main is a raiding balance druid). With his combination of quest greens and level 70 epics (pvp and badge-purchased), I had no problem pulling 1900+. This is at level 77, so in the next 3 levels he will get upgraded spells and at level 78 he can start enjoying the crafted rares. If we're only expecting 1600 dps in 10-mans, we are setting the bar way way too low.

Also, I'm not sure what the guy above who replied was talking about when he said he saw a rare/epic warrior push 3000 dps. Have you ever grouped with a DK? My DK was breaking 2500 dps the day he dinged with a combination of quest green/blues and wintergrasp epics. Once you have a handful of ilvl 200 (or higher) epics, 3k can be considered the difference between knowing your class and having wasted your time for 80 levels without learning a thing.