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Best-done raid of WotLK?
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Post by
skribs
As we have hit our (probably, unless there is a surprise) final raid in WotLK, I'm wondering what you guys think is the best-done raid in WotLK. I'm not talking just about the fights in the raid (although that's important too) but the overall feel of the raid. Here's my order:
Ulduar - The hard-modes in Ulduar are gradual and well done from an RP perspective. Your characters are actually doing the encounter different - instead of simply clicking buttons on the UI. The place is rich with lore despite not being a part of the title of the expansion (it fits well with Storm Peaks and Grizzly Hills, especially) and there's an Old God in the end!
Vault of Archavon - Originally I thought this was a fairly dumb instance, as it was one boss that was easily soloable. However, with Emalon came about this raid became much harder to do with a PuG, and showed some nice foresight by the developers (as has continued by adding a new boss each arena season).
Sartharion - Sarth was the only other raid to include a hard mode that is activated via in-game events, rather than UI clicking. Of course, once gear got to a certain point it could be zerged.
Icecrown Citadel - There are truly some amazing fights from what I've seen thus far in ICC. Professor Putricide is my favorite fight in-game by far, and the gunship battle is pretty cool. However, some things don't seem to fit well (e.g. why would we worry about fighting the opposing faction when we're in the middle of ICC) and I don't really like the fact hard modes are simply done by right-clicking your portrait.
Naxxramas - This was a fairly solid instance, but it didn't have anything to really set it apart besides a lot of bosses. There were no hard modes, although the fights themselves were fun and unique. It's biggest flaw was once you get to Sapphiron's Lair there was no way out without hearthing or porting (which you'd get there by clicking the portal after the 4th wing was clear).
Malygos - Maly had some cool aspects to it, but it was very harsh if you didn't bring the right healers. Running with 2 resto shamans and a holy pally was a very good healing team for any other fight, but limitted to 2x riptide and holy shock made air phase very painful.
Trial of the Champion - Yes, it's easy. Yes, there's no trash. But what the heck is going on here? This seems to be a tournament, then you bring in agents of the Lich King, and then you fight Anub'Arak. I'm glad to be able to see Anub'Arak as an actual raid boss, but they should have had AN be a raid instead of a 5-man and had something else for the last boss in ToC. Even then, ToC is the worst in terms of position in the lore - it just pales in comparison to the Titan's creations in VoA, the dragons in OS and Maly, the undead in Naxx and ICC, and the Old God in Ulduar.
Post by
219211
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Post by
Monday
My favorite definitely has to be Naxx. Lots of cool and unique fights, and I love the atmosphere of it.
Post by
339376
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Post by
Ethix
By a long shot, Ulduar is the best. The zone artwork was absolutely stunning, and it has a lot of lore put into it. You can really tell they spent a good amount of time working on it.
The raid zone progressed at normal rate, and there was none of this limited try and waiting around stuff.
The hard modes were beautifully done, specifically Mimiron, Freya, and Algalon.
Naxx 25 was decent, ToC was garbage (though Anub hard mode is a good one), and ICC I'm fairly pleased with.
Post by
Rightousway
Well if ICC goes on the way it currently is, then I will say that's probably the best.
Ulduar is awesome, even though I haven't seen Yogg yet (No one ever wants to run it anymore, not even hardmodes D:) I still consider it my favorite... just something about that place is awesome..
Naxxramas was good, but it gets old pretty fast
Sarth + 3D was fun back in its prime (attempts, but never successes)
EoE is fun because the map is just awesome, and vehicle combat is pretty fun.
ToC is fun also, ToGC25 which i just got to do for my first time last week was great also.
So in short?
Ulduar > ICC > ToC > OS > EoE > Naxx
If ICC keeps up with the good work, then it'll probably be #1.
Post by
MagisterSJHC
You can hardly compare the raids, because Blizzard is devloping the game each time:
* Naxxramas: great raid, but no real hardmodes (only through some achievements), which in the end really shortened the longevity of this raid.
* Sartharion: a well-developed gradual hard-mode, but just one boss
* EoE: a failed attempt at doing vehicle-style raiding. I am not saying it's not good, but a majority of people just don't like it.
* Ulduar: With Naxx already designed mostly (it just had to be tweaked for lvl 80) you can see that the Blizzard designers have put a lot of time and effort into this instance. This is some of their best work. It is also clear that Blizzard was really experimenting with hard-modes here. Ulduar is a big and complex raid. However, considering how many people have not killed or even seen Yogg (let alone Algalon), it may be considered too large and complex for a large part of the more casual players.
* ToC: a short raid (between 2 very large raids), where hard-modes can just be turned on by the raid leader. This raid is so short, that is it much easier to pug; it can easily be done in 1 night even by pugs. Many people have evaluated this raid to be not as good as most other WotLK raids, still, it appears to be one of the most successfull raids considering the number of people doing it. It probably comes close to what Blizzard wants: everybody should be able to play, see and finish the raids at their own level of capability, be it on 10-man normal for pugs or 25-heroic for the hard core guilds.
* ICC: Another large raid (probably in development since before WotLK was released already), with the same hard-mode mechanics as ToC. So far it looks and feels like a great raid again. We will see how it turns out: especially the size of ICC (14 bosses) may be a barrier for many casual players to be able to finish this one again.
I think ICC will be evaluated closely. If it turns out that too many people (casual players) again do not succeed in killing Arthas, then i think Blizzard will go with shorter raids in Cataclysm, raids that can be finished in one nights by pugs, like ToC. Just my opinion though.
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219211
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415932
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361800
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Post by
mojojojo101
I really enjoyed Ulduar and it has been my favorite raiding experience apart from Black Temple (pre 3.0). Ulduar as amazing artwork, imaginitive boss mechanics and in no way feels run of the mill.
However ask me this in a couple of months after ive had a real good go at ICC (exams atm :/ ) on both normal and heroic mode and i dont know what i will say. So far I am absolutley loving ICC, it looks great bosses are interesting if a tiny bit predictable and of course as a healer i really cant wait to do Valithra :P.
Post by
319099
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Post by
Braevia
I wasn't very fond of the vehicle phase in Ulduar. Other than that it was fun. I kind of preferred the structure of Naxx though, where you could take it in bite-sized chunks, and had a choice of which bite you were going to take next...sort of like Megaman, in that you could choose the order that you took the quarters in. Ulduar was a bit more linear.
TOC is good for what it is: a one-night raid/lootfest. It's best to look at it as a training ground for ICC: it gears you up, and the fights, while short, require you to have both gear AND coordination. I have to admit that I've never liked the Faction champs fight, though.
Post by
windstrum
Ulduar for me.
Such a grand "interstellar" theme, the story seemed bigger than WoW itself. Icecrown is definitely epic, but still pales in comparison to Ulduar.
Post by
363562
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Post by
MemMem
Ulduar is @#$%ING AWESOME.
The bosses are great, the whole technology art is great, Brann Bronzebeard is there, and most importantly, the fact that you have to do all the hardmodes to access the coolest boss ever made (Algalon) is such a great idea. It's truely a masterpiece. ICC, so far i've really enjoyed the mechanics of it, but I don't like the art of it as much as Ulduar.
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182091
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371717
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337736
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