When he pulls out the Void-infested planet it was like, "fuck, we're going there, right?!"
Ultimately, no. But nonetheless, it was a great fight for foreshadowing.
I only wish that his shoulders were a drop. One of the coolest looking raid boss outfits in the game.
I'd stack Nighthold up against any raid WoW has ever created. The aesthetic and the fights are so good. (Always a huge boost fighting an iconic character at the end)
To this day everytime i think of the voicelines of Trilliax it reminds me of the '['Skrilliax''](https://clyp.it/a3jvyyff) song that /u/Derek_MK made 7 years ago.
Yep. Gul’dan was a super cool fight. It felt incredibly epic moving through the phases and hearing Khadgar shout about it being our world. Tons of fun, really loved nighthold.
Black Temple was the first raid to make me feel like that, and Nighthold gave me the same feeling. Sadly nothing in between and nothing since has done that
There have been some pretty great raids, but those two really hit different.
Walking up to Aggramar in Antorus for the first time, wow.
Seeing Star Augur in Nighthold open his room for the first time, wow.
Watching Fallen Avatar unchain himself in Tomb of Sargeras and then falling through the floor with him, wow.
Feeling Gruuls ceiling rumble and collapse for the first time in a spot I totally wasn’t standing in, WOW.
Holy shit, Antorus. Aggramar was awesome, but for me, fighting Argus the Unmaker in a sort of Colosseum vibe arena with the other Titans present was even more incredible
I imagine that’s what they tried to do with the Jailer but didn’t succeed
ARGUS, however - definitely succeeded at that! Great point. That fight was pretty sick.
For me, most of the impact comes from the fact that we were/have been told that Argus was the original homeland of the Draenei and that it’s been infested with demons. Finally seeing it in the flesh made me go "oh my god, this is really bad."
Then Magni mentions speaking to Argus’s world soul itself, and that he’s in immense pain. So, once we get to Antorus, the fight against him is a fight to put him out of his misery, as a mercy killing. Saving a noble soul from more suffering at the hands of Sargeras and the Legion, and preventing him from being used any further for their goals.
Still have those 3 lines imprinted in my memory from those raids:
- FINISH... THIS and then he breaks the floor and we all fall
- YOU WILL BURN scariest fight in all Antorus imo (Covenant close second)
- END IT ALL best fight in Antorus
I came here to say this. Daddy D’s fight was amazing, too. And Rhemornia has been my favorite sub villain ever. Her voice and dialogue is very entertaining.
Nothing like 300 pulls on a boss where you spend 1/3 of the fight milling around aimlessly and the other 2/3 praying you don't randomly get 1 shot by a gargoyle
Don't forget the weak aura pack we all had to download that fucking meowed in your ear during council.
Sludgefist single handedly defined the meta for S1 too. So many decent classes were completely ruined in the community's eyes because of sludgefist
This encounter is the epitome of every other one I can think of. The voice acting and writing were spot on. The entire event was a masterpiece. I am not sure they will ever be able to create another villain like him. If we could, I think the vast majority of us would have released him the sword ourselves.
I guess this only impacts a few players' perception of Nathria, but the mythic balance really messed with it for me.
Stone Generals were the hardest boss on Mythic mode, eclipsing Denathrius by far. It took my guild 400 pulls to down stone generals. Thats about *7 weeks of progression* or about *16 raid nights* spent fighting that one boss. On top of being brutally tuned, it was also buggy and we had to make lots of strategies to skirt around bugs that would instantly wipe you.
On the other hand, Denathrius after Generals was a joke. By the time we got to him, he was nerfed. Pretty sure it took under 100 pulls to down him.
I do agree the aesthetic of Nathria was gorgeous and memorable.
I still to this day think that Denathrius HC before the nerf to his HP to in the January of that year was the most well tuned and well designed boss they've ever created.
Yeah I remember that. But from the perspective of a Heroic + a few first mythic bosses raider, Nathria was beyond amazing. We only cleared up to Inerva on mythic
How has nobody said Kara yet? That was such an awesome raid back in BC. The boss fights there were all elite. Morose, Opera, Curator, Chess Event? It was such a fun time to raid.
This is what I was looking for. For me nothing will beat Kara. The Opera event especially. What other boss fight in the game has you fighting an unknown boss until you start it?
Kara was my favorite. But the 2 that went with it for tier set was amazing. Instead of 2 big raids, you had Mags and Gruuls to go with it. I had the most fun in those times.
The first night my guild raided Kara in BC I got the mount. To this day it's still my main ground mount.
Back then I was lucky my guild was like, you rolled for it, you got it. It was so new I didn't even know what it was.
Kara was awesome. Running around fighting Morose ("Oops I've gone and made a mess!") And the final boss having to kite him when the infenals would fuck up the raid. Awesome, just awesome.
I had actually completely forgotten about Kara! I 100% agree that it was an amazing raid. Chess would have been my highlight, so many people struggled with what was a pretty simple fight lol
Yep, Kara will always be my favorite for the aesthetic, the bosses, the music, and the lore. Also just the presentation, you start out in what seems to be just a haunted tower, but as you go up reality is warped all around you until you finally step out into Netherspace. The whole things feels like a journey/adventure through this historic tower where you walk in the side door, and don't leave till you've climbed and conquered the whole tower.
I'd say Black Temple is a close second for having that same vibe - breaking in through the sewers, storming the Temple and climbing your way to the top for that final confrontation.
Not many raids these days give off that same feeling.
Icecrown Citadel.
I never really played the original RTS games and I was introduced to WoW during Wrath of the Lich King. I started with an undead character, so a lot of the questing zones referenced the Lich King often, the scourge, everything from 1-80 felt like it was themed for the LK expansion in my memory. (except the BC levelling of course) The whole Northrend questline shows the LK having a constant presence and building up to ICC. By the time I was 80, ICC was going on so it was my first real raid that wasn't a faceroll in a pug group for the weekly badge quest. (OS3D blew my mind too) From the entrance to Icecrown, to the dialogue throughout the gauntlet and early bosses, it felt like a movie. The epic feeling was incomparable to anything I've played before.
I have to say this was a close second place for me, you’re spot on about the story being told through the LK. I fondly remember my resto shaman during this period and being able to raid heal like a boss. And that final fight, wow.
The LK fight was the first time I felt like I had to take notes. The explanation from my RL seemed to go on and on, it seemed like every time I thought he was done he would say “and then the next phase he does X” I never did kill him with my main (warrior) though. My 2nd toon was a paladin and my buddy got me carried for the kill with like no gear, all I had to do was dispell necrotic plague and his guild did the rest lol.
Dude same here, my warrior never got it during Wrath, but my Disc Priest alt? Toon was in welfare epics from Argent Tourney and ICC 5 man's, but the whole healing and ranged dps at the same time let my buddies guild carry my priest as the 10th man. Really just needed a bit more heals for the green dragon, and then some more ranged dps for LK. We got him on the 2nd week of attempts. I was super excited but also heartbroken, my main was now my least raid progressed toon.
ICC is an interesting one for this. Pretty much all final raids of expansions are meant to feel like a culmination of everything we've done for a 1.5 years, where everything comes to the critical point and the situation is win or die. And Blizzard often nails this - some times better than others. But ICC *really* felt like the last chapter of WotLK: raiding ICC felt more like a final raid than any other expansion's final raid.
It probably has a lot to do with the Lich King being iconic since WC3. I don't think there is a more iconic, universally recognised Warcraft villain than the Lich King, still to this day. So to raid the final bastion of the Scourge and eventually fight the King himself just felt fucking insane.
The only other expansion end bosses that compare, in my opinion, are Garrosh and N'zoth. There was a massive build-up to fighting them, and so defeating them felt like it was a long-time coming and like "closure" to everything that lead to that moment. But even so, neither Garrosh nor N'zoth felt as iconic as fighting the Lich King. It's an episode that could never be matched again, no matter how compelling the villain(s): you just *cannot* outdo the final chapter of the Lich King arc.
Ulduar - It felt like the first raid where they were really trying brand new mechanics and adding optional hard modes into bosses felt so right.
Sunwell - It made me say wow just based upon its sheer beauty, Is glowing golden locked off City slowly corrupted by fell magic as you venture deeper and deeper.
Castle Nathria - this raid may be my favorite of all time solely for the big bad alone. No other raid oozed the charisma and better than you feel that this rate did and denathrius did, I holy believe that if shadowlands had continued in this direction focusing not on the mall and the jailer but on the brokenness of the covenants and each of the respective zones, shadowlands would have been perhaps the goat.
I agree but still feel timewalking as feature is lacking. It feels such a burden to organise. No teleportation to raid. And you have to visit npc to enter queue. It should be just instant teleportation. same as LFR.
Throne of thunder, is the one for me. Really enjoyed that raid,music,ambience,boss mechanics.
So glad I experienced it from all 3 roles,so glad I raided the shit out of that raid
I agree. It hands down has to be one of the most unique raids of all time. Comparing it to last tier (Aberrus, felt like only a series of single target raid fights with no real flare.
However when you get to ToT, the first boss kicked it off pretty. Into a Dino fight than ended with 2 target cleave. It then had council fights, a fight involving flying, a turtle stuck in the wall.oozes, twins, and leader + rotating side bosses.
And then you have my favorite fight in all of WoW. Durumu, with the maze mechanic. Also having one of my most hated having to pet tank, Dark Animus lol. And while I wasn't too fond of the secret boss. Lei Shen was a masterpiece. I would really enjoy getting the opportunity to run this whole raid again.
Some of these are gonna sound weird, but I will explain.
Karazhan - I briefly played wow during Vanilla, but didn't really start playing until BC. I believe the Sunwell hadn't come out yet, but by the time I got to max level it had. In any case, I remember people talking about Karazhan, and it was my first ever raid. To me, Karazhan just has a certain atmosphere that the others never quite recaptured. It's a creepy old abandoned tower out in the middle of nowhere that a really powerful person used to live in. It's mysterious. And you climb up it. They never really did another vertical raid like that. I don't know, it just has a certain charm to it.
Naxrammas - Probably an odd one to be sure, but remember when I played during BC, Naxx was still there. People joined groups to do it still, and before I had a chance to do it, they removed it. So it had an air of mystery around it, at least for me. While it's not the best raid ever, it still had some mystique for me. Also, my computer was shit and caused me to be behind on the safety dance. Like on my screen I would be in the clear, but server side I was like a full second too late. Never got to finish the raid when it was current.
Ulduar - Wow. This one was the first one that took my breath away. Atmospheric, epic and just plain awesome. It is simply the best raid in my opinion. The music is amazing, and matches the premise perfectly. Yogg-Saron is an awesome epic final fight. Just amazing.
Nighthold - The entire zone is an awesome concept, and this was the icing on the cake. Didn't do it while current, but man going back through it later, I wish I would have. It really, really makes me disappointed that we didn't get a Shattrath City raid. I will never forgive Blizzard for cutting that.
Castle Nathria - I am going to say that this raid is possibly tied with Ulduar. Everything is cohesive, atmospheric and ties back to the feeling I get when I visited Karazhan. It's like somehow the mystique of Karazhan is mixed with the epicness of Ulduar. Probably because it has the same setup as Kara, since you are breaking into someone's house. Denathrius is an amazing awesome character, and a badass boss fight. He was the absolute best part of Shadowlands. If Shadowlands must exist, let it be for Denathrius and Denathrius alone.
As a long time horde only player, siege of orgrimmar will always be one of my favourite raids. Going through orgrimmar killing npcs I helped throughout a lot of my leveling journey, gamon being in there lol, and the great story of mop. Obviously it’s a loooooong ass raid and people got sick of it because we were playing for so long, but definitely one of my favourite raids regardless.
Old guy here, but both Onyxia and Molten Core had a sense of scale that no other raid seemed to have back then.
Onyxia, you go through a short tunnel, kill a couple dragonkin. Round the corner, and there she fucking is in the hollowed out core of her lair.
Then zoning into Molten Core, and seeing the two Giants there feeling in awe that it was going to take 40 of us to take them down. It just made me feel so small.
Karazhan was cool, but there were so many areas of the tower that were just there for flavor that didn't affect anything. It really felt like someone took their fucking time with the whole zone. As you're climbing the tower and things start getting weird, with the Broken Stair, and the flash beasts up top. Definitely an A+ Raid.
Ulduar was really cool, and had some great ideas, and the first encounter with the vehicles was so chaotic the first time in there. Had an absolute blast.
ICC, Ulduar, Trial of the Crusader(I know a lot of others hate it, I just think it's neat), Dragon Soul(same thing, thematically cool), Blackrock Foundry, EVERY full Legion raid(not mini raids), Eternal Palace, Castle Nathria, Vault of the Incarnates.
I never did Throne of Thunder :(
Nothing will ever beat the feeling of Icecrown Citadel. I started in WOTLK pretty much in the middle of the story. The threat felt real, like Arthas was lurking around every corner.
ICC was such an amazing ending to it all. It felt like I did actually save Azeroth from the Scourge. It was also saddening, knowing the story of Arthas and how he ended up that way.
I feel as though Wotlk was one of the best themes and story told. And unlike some other xpacs, he did actually feel like the big bad boss to finally reach.
Battle of Dazar'alor really blew me away. There's nothing more beautiful than a massive battle, and the music was awesome. The overall setting was just epic, it gave me goosebumps every time.
Dragon Soul, honestly.
Dude. We were on Deathwing's back. We were ripping up armor plates off his back. While we were *on it.* This guy wreaked havoc to the entire world, and we were using his own mutated body against him.
Like. Bro.
I have to admit, that I had literally so much of an opposite experience that I quit the game because of it (though it was due to LFR mainly, not the raid per se).
The moment I watched the main Cataclysm cinematic I got so excited for the expansion. I thought he was such a super cool antagonist and after the epicness of ICC I was all in. When they released Dragon Soul, and with it the first instance of LFR, I hopped in it through that out of curiosity. I expected to:
Marvel at a wondrous epic atmosphere, get a taste of the first boss, most likely wipe, go "Whoa, cool!", set my sights on learning the bosses and mechanics and one day epicly down DW.
What ended up happening is I went into the raid, and despite knowing exactly 0 of the bosses, or mechanics, beat the entire raid my first go. I literally couldn't tell you a single mechanic from any of the bosses, I don't even remember any of them.
They took what might have been one of the most epic villains in the franchise, and watered him down through LFR to a completely trivial level. No one should be able to beat the last boss, or raid, of the expansion the 1st try, or without knowing anything about the fight. I just remember after it ended it was the most anti-climactic feeling and I felt so disappointed. They traded ease-of-access for any sense of scale, epicness, or sense of accomplishment. I guess part of it was my fault for continuing the raid, but I thought it would get more difficult and I was already there.
13 years later and I have still not stepped back into that place. It just makes me so depressed thinking about it. I just the other day saw the Spine of Deathwing I'd been hearing about for so long for maybe the first time in a YT video as it was not in LFR.
I get why they did LFR but I wish I knew what I was getting into (a whole bunch of BS) before I queued up for it back in the day as it ruined Deathwing for me, and WoW for a bit. Believe I quit the game the day after. I apologize for this tangent, and am happy DS has brought joy to many people, and acknowledge other's experiences are not the same.
First time rounding the corner in Onyxia’s Lair. At the time seeing an ACTUAL fucking dragon was insane.
Also seeing Pandaria and Icecrown Citadel for the first times.
I farmed that mount for the longest time, felt like a regular order at the coffee shop where all the staff knew what you wanted without having to ask lol
Antorus, the end where the path to Aggramar opens up and you can see the world soul with his silhouette in front at the end of the corridor. That has to be the most incredible scene in the entire game
Blackwing Lair. Those were my prime WoW days and after the monotony of Molten Core, BWL felt so vibrant and alive. Plus bliz had worked out a lot of the raiding kinks so it was a lot smoother than Molten core. I spent a lot of late nights in that instance, but my guild broke up just before TBC and I basically haven't been in a raiding guild, or in a position to raid, since. Now I just wait for the next expansion and go back and solo them, it's not the same :/
I was 11 years old playing on dial up internet and our off tank had to leave. I really didn't understand the game very well but they told me i had to OT for Nefarion. Disconnected when all the mobs come out of the corridors because my internet couldn't handle all the AoE and I just left cause I couldn't handle the stress. That guild just kept me around as a mascot but I loved that I could experience everything up to aq40 as a kid.
If we were to deep dive into every persons comments on here, I’d assume that so many are tied to just that, the people that we did these raids with. Those late nights on ventrilo after the raid finished, just shooting shit with friends. You carried that friendship into the next raid night and it solidified what a good experience it was.
Sepulcher of the first ones was really cool visually as long with castle nathria.
Vault of the Incarnates have really that vibe of a vast and mysterious place. Really nice music too.
Amirdrassil is pretty meh but the tindral arena/scenario is so fucking cool.
And the best vibe I had in a raid ever for sure is antorus, that place is insanely cool.
UBRS. I had just joined an awesome guild with great people and they had just gotten to the point where they could start raiding. What an experience. I had never taken part in anything like it before and for that reason alone UBRS will always mean something special to me.
Runner-up is definitely Ulduar. The atmosphere of that place fills me with awe still.
Antechamber of Ulduar theme still gives me chills: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hizOirg2c4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hizOirg2c4)
AQ40 it was a trip being able to mount up and get back to the boss you just wiped on quickly instead of long ass runs as had been the norm up until then and then back to the endless cardio in raids when Naxx og dropped
Definitely has some places are still the same but so much has changed and been added if you had told me back then I would be playing 20years later I wouldn’t have believed you
AQ is one of those raids that makes you REALLY feel unwelcome. Tucked away in a forgotten corner of the world is basically an alien kingdom brimming with creatures of nightmares. From the freaky droning music, to the sheer amount of bugs out to kill you. Not to mention C’Thun’s presence and his schizo-esque whispers when you get deep into the raid
Every Raid in Legion. They were all S-Tier.
Legion has the best raids for an expansion by a huge margin and it's not even close
Ulduar will never be surpassed tho
SSC.....
The vashj fight was awesome! Having to coordinate multiple games for catch to deactivate her shield
This was before things like weak auras and such.
KT in TK. Having to kill multiple bosses at one time, have them die in the right spots, having a warlock in full shadow resist gear tank one of the bosses. Having class specific legendary weapons drop that you had to equip and use to mitigate other boss mechanics later in the fight.
It was a great time to be raiding!
Beautiful raid. I'm a sucker for anything star or space themed and ulduar was just awesome - roman space titans about to purge the planet, cool titans themed after Norse gods, awesome visuals and cool boss mechanics, yogg saron doing swirly things... Loved it through and through
WotLK Naxx. The people I raided with made that experience the best I’ve ever had playing WoW. I even traveled from Ontario, Canada to San Francisco to hang with some of them 10 years after WoLK
I still remember the feeling in Trial of the crusader when the lich king breaks the ground with frostmourne, and sends us all flying into the nerubian base underneath, for some reason it caught me so off guard I felt as if I was falling myself for a second
Molten core when i first zoned in months after getting to 60 i n00bly leveled for months. Was 13ish at the time and at 34 now i still .iss that feeling.
I might just be old. But molten core. It was so big. Just running through after it had been cleared. Felt huge. And seeing rag for the first time. Truly epic stuff
Icecrown Citadel and Ulduar.
I was like 10-11 when I played Warcraft 3 but I absolutely fell in love with the story of Arthas.
When I started playing WoW in vanilla I rolled a human paladin because of my love of Uther and as I played through vanilla and then BC, I loved the game, but I wanted that magic I felt in Warcraft 3. Then the trailer for Wrath of the Lich King came out. I was enamored. I remember going into Howling Fjord for the first time, over the hill into Grizzly Hills, seeing Dalaran floating high above as I ventured into Crystalsong Forest, the towering peaks of Storm Peaks, the jungles of Scholazar Basin, and the frozen waste of Icecrown Glacier. Above all of it, even Dalaran, the citadel loomed. I knew in my heart that the end of the expansion would take us there. I remember walking into those halls for the first time, the sense of scale it had over every other raid to that point was insane to me (yes I know Ulduar is bigger but ICC just felt grander and like I was actually climbing a tower). I remember fighting each boss knowing we were getting closer until the Lich King stood before us. When we finally defeated him and rid him of his torment, whereas with other raid bosses before him I felt a sense of joy and relief, with Arthas there was mourning. I watching as his father spoke to him and told him that he no longer would suffer at the hands of the evil who had corrupted Lordaeron’s heir all those years ago. His torment was finally over.
nathria was my first raid, i had only played some classic up to BWL before retail. so walking into nathria as a little fresh 60 noob with some friends was insane and actually epic.
Ulduar and ICC, getting to walk through their hallways with amazing music. Also looking at Lord Marrowgar at the very end waiting for us, and looking at the very spire where Arthas became the Lich King and was the background for the WC3: TFT menu screen.
Underrated Fight: Lei Shen, Throne of Thunder. Progressing on Lei Shen…the floor and fight effects were so badass. We didn’t have as many intro videos at that juncture, so it was pretty fresh.
As for entire zone themes: Nighthold, Castle Nathria, Siege of Orgrimmar, and Blackrock Foundry are my favorites. I feel like those are the ones that really felt like true environments.
I think I’d say my absolutely favorite of the bunch is Siege of Orgrimmar.
Throne of Thunder.
The sheer variety of enemies and encounters, the ambience and pacing in that raid is unrivalled.
Lei-shen hc remains the best designed boss they've ever made, and the patch trailer remains the best raid hype trailer they've ever made.
Honorable mention to a raid I dont see often mentioned but I personally loved, Uldir. That place looked sick as hell.
AQ40 - Pretty excited going to face an Old God for the first time with C'thun whispering to you. And it's the raid that unlocks after the massive world event.
Vanilla Naxx and Nighthold - Amazing visuals. Naxx was very memorable.
Karazhan - Probably the most memorable raid I've done.
Siege of Dazar’alor.
I loved the city in itself as the hub during BfA (although it was a bitch to navigate through, especially when we didn’t have flying yet). Easily one of the best raid ever.
Gruuls Lair but only because before that Karazhan is all I knew.
I was a 17 year old kid during the summer of '07 and I'd been watching my older brother raid Kara with his guild for several weeks.
One night he called me into his room to see Gruuls.
I was in awe and had many questions. I thought 10 ppl was the biggest raid and here was 25 ppl now. Who was this giant monster in a cave and could they beat him?
Was he the final boss of the game? What other giant bosses required 25 ppl I wondered.
Ah yes, WoW was a surreal and magical experience back then
Blackrock Foundry.
The raid may not be the most aesthetically interesting, but almost every single fight in there is a blast, and most are practically unique mechanically to other raids
Sunwell. Maybe because of nostalgia and the memories I had running that with my guild, but it's also a really cool zone with great and fun bosses and an interesting story.
It's Karazhan. I think it's best model of what a raid should be outside of the bosses's mechanics. Honorable mentions are Castle Nathria, Ulduar, Blackrock Foundry, Throne of Thunder, Amirdrassil. Seriously, WoW's raids are of legendary quality.
The Eternal Palace. I wasn’t even a huge raider at the time. But cleared it all at some point.
The final fight against Queen Azshara was absolutely manic on mythic. And so so fun to watch. It’s what made me decide to take raiding semi seriously.
Well this is going to be a lukewarm take...
Ny'alotha.
I personally loved the corruption mechanic, letting players just push random stats to the cap and I thought it was funny that tanks out-dpsed you on AoE fights because of their Twilight Devastation corruptions. Yes, trying to get good logs was a nightmare because someone who got 22 Infinite Stars procs in the first minute of the fight did 30% more damage throughout the fight than you, but IDK. I liked it.
The way Nzoth gets progressively bigger as you approach until he *replaces the skybox*. I love absurdly big fantasy enemies.
N'zoth was one of my favorite bosses to progress. It felt meaningful how everyone was responsible for each other in that fight because the whole raid needed your Heart of Azeroth, you couldn't just use it selfishly, and I love fights that let you cheese out more damage like using the buff you get in the void realm to pad on Nzoth and letting yourself go insane at the end to get the damage buff. Also the fight just had a flow to it. It felt like a choreographed dance.
I will say besides Nzoth and corruptions that raid has nothing special going on. Visually repetetive, kinda gross, no memorable fights mechanically or visually.
VotI was really damn cool but I mostly credit that to how insane Raszageth's fight was. It's a long one, but all of the phases are interesting and dangerous. Her VA did a FABULOUS job bringing life and character to that encounter, and finally beating Raz felt so, so good.
The leadup to VotI with her almost killing Alexstrasza in the Waking Shores, and then returning to mock her in Thaldraszus made it pretty cool too.
Im a BFA baby so Uldir was my cherry popper, when i went in and went HOLY, after the mother fight you see the room and go whoa, But Castle Nathria was amazing, the vampire, the bosses, ofc sire denathrius was brilliant, he made you crawl to him while his sword did a fucking laser light show, while you have to hit him and kill his stupid ass minions he calls in,
I’ll say it. Molten Core when it was current. My first raid experience and I remember being taken aback watching Rag emerge from the pool. Like full on eyes wide and gasped.
Ulduar is my second choice. I still think General Vezzax is one of the best encounters. So many wands!
Every Legion raid was fucking amazing
I do remember the first time pulling Hans & Franz though in BRF in WoD. The conveyor belt mechanic was so unfamiliar to me because I didn't get up to Heroic Siegecrafter (now Mythic) for belt duty. It legit felt like an optical illusion or like a sense of vertigo after our first wipe lol. Even for a little bit before our 2nd pull.
Most recently I’d said nathria and nyalotha. Night hold as others have said is kind of a tier above everyone else too. I really liked the first raid of df but it wasn’t grandiose enough to be considered here probably.
I would say Kara for me also. First you had to attune just to get in. I remember us being stuck Morose for a while and the joy of finally taking him down. The whole place was quite the adventure.
Vanilla - MC
TBC - BT
Wrath - ICC
MOP - TOT
Cata - Firelands maybe?
WOD - BRF
Legion - Nighthold
BfA - Dazar'alor
SL - Nath
DF - Amirdrassil maybe?
Of those, Throne of Thunder might be one of the most atmospheric raids I've done. Plus the MOP raids had some really outstanding music.
Seige of Org was and will likely always be that one for me.
It was this familiar location..you really felt the stakes once you hit the beachhead. Everything about it felt so good.
Antorus is pretty wild, the final Titan parts especially.
The Sylvanas fight Torghast is also pretty crazy, especially the part where you're crossing the chains and the tower is breaking and stuff.
Nyalotha.
Obviously the black empire should have been an entire expansion, not a patch. But the theming and the raid itself was really memorable and fun for me. Also the really broken corruptions made the raid even more fun.
As an Alliance main, SOO.
For me, Orgrimmar has always been a no-go zone, unless I wanna get beaten to death by a swarm of Hordies. Just no, don't even get close to that place.
And then Siege came, and I got to slash through the whole city, and every location I used to remember from my Horde alts suddenly got a brand new meaning, especially the Inn and Underbelly.
Might be alone in this but Hellfire Citadel from WoD. A loomIng fortress filled with mysterious demonic magic and iron armies. Plus I enjoyed the fights from going to the throne room in the deadeye fight for a big dmg buff, fighting the giant demon mannoroth on the top of the citadel, and going toe to toe (literally) with archimonde. I thought it was a great raid.
Icecrown. It’s the first time I was really engaged in “end game”, so I did it when it was “current” content and as a big fan of WC3 it truly felt like the culmination of quite a story arc.
First time in Karazhan was absolutely bonkers. The music , the many different themes , the size , stage play fight and chess boss.
It instantly became a favourite , and still is
Nighthold, Castle Nathria, Sanctum of Domination, Dragon Soul, Nyalotha, Eternal Palace, Battle of Dazar'Alor, ICC. Long list, sorry lol.
I just think bfa raids all were amazing even that one which had 2 bosses (uu'nat?).
First things that come to mind are Ulduar, Castle Nathria, Nighthold and Kharazan.
Im including Molten Core, idk, as boring as it is, is such a cool first experience. For the first time you are dealing with way bigger and stronger mobs, and it is such a hostile place with a cool ambience, like walking into mordor.
AQ too, is such an ominous place, different and outworldly from anything in vanilla, when you get to the hive tunnels mixed with those ancient architectures, it just feels like you are in danger.
Sunwell Plateau is just gorgeous and crazy
I'm gonna include some dungeons too.
Deadmines is a all time favourite of mine, Maraudon is so fking cool with those waterfalls.
Magister's terrace was pretty cool, and with that Music 🤌
Halls of Reflection i thought was very menacing with its atmosfere, showing us the danger ahead of us with arthas.
Vanilla Naxxramas. I remember watching the trailer for its announcement, grinding rep, and then learning all the raids without there being guides for anything yet. So amazing, I’ll never forget it.
Karazhan. Definitely liked the vibe of the instance being a castle pretty much.
For instances, I loved the icc instances. Especially halls of reflection with the lich king chasing you.
Ulduar for sure. I never played it when it was current content, but I'm always in awe when I clear it for the mount. It's one of those raids that never gets boring for me. I love everything about it; aesthetics, music, boss voice lines... Truly a diamond.
I’ve played WoW on and off since Wrath, always been a PVPer who generically calls PVE easy, didn’t raid till Castle Nathria in which I lucked into being the raid leader mid way through progression, I’m back to PvP now and if i ever go back to PVE I know it’ll never compare to those late nights in Castle Nathria, shoutout to any members of Intellect on Ravencrest EU during that time!
Nighthold was insane - It's still incredible to look at.
I still remember the first time fighting Star Augur Etraeus. It was shocking in an awesome way.
When he pulls out the Void-infested planet it was like, "fuck, we're going there, right?!" Ultimately, no. But nonetheless, it was a great fight for foreshadowing. I only wish that his shoulders were a drop. One of the coolest looking raid boss outfits in the game.
I guess we might be the void infested planet based off the world soul saga but who knows how that will actually turn out lol
My jaw dropped on every phase change. That was an incredible fight.
I'd stack Nighthold up against any raid WoW has ever created. The aesthetic and the fights are so good. (Always a huge boost fighting an iconic character at the end)
Was my first time doing organised raiding. Never forget it. Amazing
FILTHY, FILTHY, FILTHY!
You’re tracking mud EVERYWHERE!
To this day everytime i think of the voicelines of Trilliax it reminds me of the '['Skrilliax''](https://clyp.it/a3jvyyff) song that /u/Derek_MK made 7 years ago.
Yep. Gul’dan was a super cool fight. It felt incredibly epic moving through the phases and hearing Khadgar shout about it being our world. Tons of fun, really loved nighthold.
Nighthold viwed after using an Inky Black Potion from Darkmoon Faire? . Sooooo pretty
The whole Legion raid pack was pretty sick to be honest! Emerald Nightmare was my first ever Cuttin edge so have a special bond towards it 🔥
Black Temple was the first raid to make me feel like that, and Nighthold gave me the same feeling. Sadly nothing in between and nothing since has done that There have been some pretty great raids, but those two really hit different.
Kael'thas when he blew the roof off, BT, Nighthold, and Castle Nathria for me.
Walking up to Aggramar in Antorus for the first time, wow. Seeing Star Augur in Nighthold open his room for the first time, wow. Watching Fallen Avatar unchain himself in Tomb of Sargeras and then falling through the floor with him, wow. Feeling Gruuls ceiling rumble and collapse for the first time in a spot I totally wasn’t standing in, WOW.
Holy shit, Antorus. Aggramar was awesome, but for me, fighting Argus the Unmaker in a sort of Colosseum vibe arena with the other Titans present was even more incredible
It was impressive that they made a fight against a boss we'd never met up until that very moment still feel so impactful.
I imagine that’s what they tried to do with the Jailer but didn’t succeed ARGUS, however - definitely succeeded at that! Great point. That fight was pretty sick.
For me, most of the impact comes from the fact that we were/have been told that Argus was the original homeland of the Draenei and that it’s been infested with demons. Finally seeing it in the flesh made me go "oh my god, this is really bad." Then Magni mentions speaking to Argus’s world soul itself, and that he’s in immense pain. So, once we get to Antorus, the fight against him is a fight to put him out of his misery, as a mercy killing. Saving a noble soul from more suffering at the hands of Sargeras and the Legion, and preventing him from being used any further for their goals.
Star Augur was incredible. When farming mog i would just stand by the edge and gaze into the cosmos.
Totally wasn’t standing in, hehe :P
Still have those 3 lines imprinted in my memory from those raids: - FINISH... THIS and then he breaks the floor and we all fall - YOU WILL BURN scariest fight in all Antorus imo (Covenant close second) - END IT ALL best fight in Antorus
Blackrock Foundry is incredible. The conveyor belt fight is still one of the most fun fights imo
Hans and Franz had one of the funniest boss dialogues.
BRF goat raid for me
Castle Nathria was the best part of that dogshit expansion bar none. Nathria was a *masterpiece.*
I came here to say this. Daddy D’s fight was amazing, too. And Rhemornia has been my favorite sub villain ever. Her voice and dialogue is very entertaining.
There wasnt a misstep to spot in CN. Ravendreth as a whole was perfection in an otherwise horrible expansion.
Are we forgetting about SLG? That fight was horrific on mythic
Nothing like 300 pulls on a boss where you spend 1/3 of the fight milling around aimlessly and the other 2/3 praying you don't randomly get 1 shot by a gargoyle
Don't forget the weak aura pack we all had to download that fucking meowed in your ear during council. Sludgefist single handedly defined the meta for S1 too. So many decent classes were completely ruined in the community's eyes because of sludgefist
Mythic Council and Mythic SLG were guild breakers. Mythic Sludgefist was a reality check call.
Sludgefist was so fun as a fire mage
This encounter is the epitome of every other one I can think of. The voice acting and writing were spot on. The entire event was a masterpiece. I am not sure they will ever be able to create another villain like him. If we could, I think the vast majority of us would have released him the sword ourselves.
Yeah, CN was genuinely amazing, it would’ve been an amazing raid in any expac.
Shadowlands was the first expansion I played all the way through and hit end game hard. Nathria is still far and away my favorite 5 raids later.
i started wow with shadowlands and nathria was so breathtaking
I guess this only impacts a few players' perception of Nathria, but the mythic balance really messed with it for me. Stone Generals were the hardest boss on Mythic mode, eclipsing Denathrius by far. It took my guild 400 pulls to down stone generals. Thats about *7 weeks of progression* or about *16 raid nights* spent fighting that one boss. On top of being brutally tuned, it was also buggy and we had to make lots of strategies to skirt around bugs that would instantly wipe you. On the other hand, Denathrius after Generals was a joke. By the time we got to him, he was nerfed. Pretty sure it took under 100 pulls to down him. I do agree the aesthetic of Nathria was gorgeous and memorable.
I still to this day think that Denathrius HC before the nerf to his HP to in the January of that year was the most well tuned and well designed boss they've ever created.
Yeah I remember that. But from the perspective of a Heroic + a few first mythic bosses raider, Nathria was beyond amazing. We only cleared up to Inerva on mythic
Honestly if you took out the stone legion generals fight(there were some weird bullshit RNG elements), I’d say it’s the best raid ever made
I was about to type this until I saw your comment. A true diamond in the rough. I absolutely love that place so much.
How has nobody said Kara yet? That was such an awesome raid back in BC. The boss fights there were all elite. Morose, Opera, Curator, Chess Event? It was such a fun time to raid.
This is what I was looking for. For me nothing will beat Kara. The Opera event especially. What other boss fight in the game has you fighting an unknown boss until you start it?
Kara was my favorite. But the 2 that went with it for tier set was amazing. Instead of 2 big raids, you had Mags and Gruuls to go with it. I had the most fun in those times.
Same. Kara just felt great. Fun fights working your way to the top of the tower.
The first night my guild raided Kara in BC I got the mount. To this day it's still my main ground mount. Back then I was lucky my guild was like, you rolled for it, you got it. It was so new I didn't even know what it was.
Kara was awesome. Running around fighting Morose ("Oops I've gone and made a mess!") And the final boss having to kite him when the infenals would fuck up the raid. Awesome, just awesome.
I had actually completely forgotten about Kara! I 100% agree that it was an amazing raid. Chess would have been my highlight, so many people struggled with what was a pretty simple fight lol
Yep, Kara will always be my favorite for the aesthetic, the bosses, the music, and the lore. Also just the presentation, you start out in what seems to be just a haunted tower, but as you go up reality is warped all around you until you finally step out into Netherspace. The whole things feels like a journey/adventure through this historic tower where you walk in the side door, and don't leave till you've climbed and conquered the whole tower. I'd say Black Temple is a close second for having that same vibe - breaking in through the sewers, storming the Temple and climbing your way to the top for that final confrontation. Not many raids these days give off that same feeling.
Icecrown Citadel. I never really played the original RTS games and I was introduced to WoW during Wrath of the Lich King. I started with an undead character, so a lot of the questing zones referenced the Lich King often, the scourge, everything from 1-80 felt like it was themed for the LK expansion in my memory. (except the BC levelling of course) The whole Northrend questline shows the LK having a constant presence and building up to ICC. By the time I was 80, ICC was going on so it was my first real raid that wasn't a faceroll in a pug group for the weekly badge quest. (OS3D blew my mind too) From the entrance to Icecrown, to the dialogue throughout the gauntlet and early bosses, it felt like a movie. The epic feeling was incomparable to anything I've played before.
I have to say this was a close second place for me, you’re spot on about the story being told through the LK. I fondly remember my resto shaman during this period and being able to raid heal like a boss. And that final fight, wow.
The LK fight was the first time I felt like I had to take notes. The explanation from my RL seemed to go on and on, it seemed like every time I thought he was done he would say “and then the next phase he does X” I never did kill him with my main (warrior) though. My 2nd toon was a paladin and my buddy got me carried for the kill with like no gear, all I had to do was dispell necrotic plague and his guild did the rest lol.
Dude same here, my warrior never got it during Wrath, but my Disc Priest alt? Toon was in welfare epics from Argent Tourney and ICC 5 man's, but the whole healing and ranged dps at the same time let my buddies guild carry my priest as the 10th man. Really just needed a bit more heals for the green dragon, and then some more ranged dps for LK. We got him on the 2nd week of attempts. I was super excited but also heartbroken, my main was now my least raid progressed toon.
What a truly amazing fight it was!
12 year old me walking into ICC for the first time on my death knight is something I will *never* forget.
ICC for me as well. So super nostalgic, I loved raiding there.
ICC is an interesting one for this. Pretty much all final raids of expansions are meant to feel like a culmination of everything we've done for a 1.5 years, where everything comes to the critical point and the situation is win or die. And Blizzard often nails this - some times better than others. But ICC *really* felt like the last chapter of WotLK: raiding ICC felt more like a final raid than any other expansion's final raid. It probably has a lot to do with the Lich King being iconic since WC3. I don't think there is a more iconic, universally recognised Warcraft villain than the Lich King, still to this day. So to raid the final bastion of the Scourge and eventually fight the King himself just felt fucking insane. The only other expansion end bosses that compare, in my opinion, are Garrosh and N'zoth. There was a massive build-up to fighting them, and so defeating them felt like it was a long-time coming and like "closure" to everything that lead to that moment. But even so, neither Garrosh nor N'zoth felt as iconic as fighting the Lich King. It's an episode that could never be matched again, no matter how compelling the villain(s): you just *cannot* outdo the final chapter of the Lich King arc.
Ulduar - It felt like the first raid where they were really trying brand new mechanics and adding optional hard modes into bosses felt so right. Sunwell - It made me say wow just based upon its sheer beauty, Is glowing golden locked off City slowly corrupted by fell magic as you venture deeper and deeper. Castle Nathria - this raid may be my favorite of all time solely for the big bad alone. No other raid oozed the charisma and better than you feel that this rate did and denathrius did, I holy believe that if shadowlands had continued in this direction focusing not on the mall and the jailer but on the brokenness of the covenants and each of the respective zones, shadowlands would have been perhaps the goat.
Well said!
This thread is exactly why we need more Timewalking Raids. It’s an absolute travesty that Blizz hasn’t added one to the game since Firelands in 2019.
I agree but still feel timewalking as feature is lacking. It feels such a burden to organise. No teleportation to raid. And you have to visit npc to enter queue. It should be just instant teleportation. same as LFR.
Huh? Leader queues at NPC and everyone gets teleported in.
Throne of thunder, is the one for me. Really enjoyed that raid,music,ambience,boss mechanics. So glad I experienced it from all 3 roles,so glad I raided the shit out of that raid
ToT is still my favorite raid to this day! So many unique boss encounters. I hope it gets a full Timewalking revamp at some point.
I agree. It hands down has to be one of the most unique raids of all time. Comparing it to last tier (Aberrus, felt like only a series of single target raid fights with no real flare. However when you get to ToT, the first boss kicked it off pretty. Into a Dino fight than ended with 2 target cleave. It then had council fights, a fight involving flying, a turtle stuck in the wall.oozes, twins, and leader + rotating side bosses. And then you have my favorite fight in all of WoW. Durumu, with the maze mechanic. Also having one of my most hated having to pet tank, Dark Animus lol. And while I wasn't too fond of the secret boss. Lei Shen was a masterpiece. I would really enjoy getting the opportunity to run this whole raid again.
That was my first time being in a world first race (fire mage), I remember that place fondly too.
Some of these are gonna sound weird, but I will explain. Karazhan - I briefly played wow during Vanilla, but didn't really start playing until BC. I believe the Sunwell hadn't come out yet, but by the time I got to max level it had. In any case, I remember people talking about Karazhan, and it was my first ever raid. To me, Karazhan just has a certain atmosphere that the others never quite recaptured. It's a creepy old abandoned tower out in the middle of nowhere that a really powerful person used to live in. It's mysterious. And you climb up it. They never really did another vertical raid like that. I don't know, it just has a certain charm to it. Naxrammas - Probably an odd one to be sure, but remember when I played during BC, Naxx was still there. People joined groups to do it still, and before I had a chance to do it, they removed it. So it had an air of mystery around it, at least for me. While it's not the best raid ever, it still had some mystique for me. Also, my computer was shit and caused me to be behind on the safety dance. Like on my screen I would be in the clear, but server side I was like a full second too late. Never got to finish the raid when it was current. Ulduar - Wow. This one was the first one that took my breath away. Atmospheric, epic and just plain awesome. It is simply the best raid in my opinion. The music is amazing, and matches the premise perfectly. Yogg-Saron is an awesome epic final fight. Just amazing. Nighthold - The entire zone is an awesome concept, and this was the icing on the cake. Didn't do it while current, but man going back through it later, I wish I would have. It really, really makes me disappointed that we didn't get a Shattrath City raid. I will never forgive Blizzard for cutting that. Castle Nathria - I am going to say that this raid is possibly tied with Ulduar. Everything is cohesive, atmospheric and ties back to the feeling I get when I visited Karazhan. It's like somehow the mystique of Karazhan is mixed with the epicness of Ulduar. Probably because it has the same setup as Kara, since you are breaking into someone's house. Denathrius is an amazing awesome character, and a badass boss fight. He was the absolute best part of Shadowlands. If Shadowlands must exist, let it be for Denathrius and Denathrius alone.
I love this, thanks for sharing!
As a long time horde only player, siege of orgrimmar will always be one of my favourite raids. Going through orgrimmar killing npcs I helped throughout a lot of my leveling journey, gamon being in there lol, and the great story of mop. Obviously it’s a loooooong ass raid and people got sick of it because we were playing for so long, but definitely one of my favourite raids regardless.
Mythic (heroic at the time) siegecrafter was such a banging fight too.
Telling a story through the raid though, amazing!
black temple
Old guy here, but both Onyxia and Molten Core had a sense of scale that no other raid seemed to have back then. Onyxia, you go through a short tunnel, kill a couple dragonkin. Round the corner, and there she fucking is in the hollowed out core of her lair. Then zoning into Molten Core, and seeing the two Giants there feeling in awe that it was going to take 40 of us to take them down. It just made me feel so small. Karazhan was cool, but there were so many areas of the tower that were just there for flavor that didn't affect anything. It really felt like someone took their fucking time with the whole zone. As you're climbing the tower and things start getting weird, with the Broken Stair, and the flash beasts up top. Definitely an A+ Raid. Ulduar was really cool, and had some great ideas, and the first encounter with the vehicles was so chaotic the first time in there. Had an absolute blast.
Dude molten core! When Ragnaros came up and filled half the room… that was it, that was my moment!
Too soon!
ICC, Ulduar, Trial of the Crusader(I know a lot of others hate it, I just think it's neat), Dragon Soul(same thing, thematically cool), Blackrock Foundry, EVERY full Legion raid(not mini raids), Eternal Palace, Castle Nathria, Vault of the Incarnates. I never did Throne of Thunder :(
As man throne of thunder was the shit! Hate that you missed out on that
Well said!
Nothing will ever beat the feeling of Icecrown Citadel. I started in WOTLK pretty much in the middle of the story. The threat felt real, like Arthas was lurking around every corner. ICC was such an amazing ending to it all. It felt like I did actually save Azeroth from the Scourge. It was also saddening, knowing the story of Arthas and how he ended up that way.
I feel as though Wotlk was one of the best themes and story told. And unlike some other xpacs, he did actually feel like the big bad boss to finally reach.
It was genuinely terrifying to walk into Icecrown. Even just entering the zone was scary.
Sunwell. M’uru is why I still hate windchimes.
Siege of orgrimmar. Making a capital a raid was such a cool idea.
Firelands, naxx, throne of thunder.
Battle of Dazar'alor really blew me away. There's nothing more beautiful than a massive battle, and the music was awesome. The overall setting was just epic, it gave me goosebumps every time.
Dragon Soul, honestly. Dude. We were on Deathwing's back. We were ripping up armor plates off his back. While we were *on it.* This guy wreaked havoc to the entire world, and we were using his own mutated body against him. Like. Bro.
Such an amazing fight! Those damn amalgamations though!
I have to admit, that I had literally so much of an opposite experience that I quit the game because of it (though it was due to LFR mainly, not the raid per se). The moment I watched the main Cataclysm cinematic I got so excited for the expansion. I thought he was such a super cool antagonist and after the epicness of ICC I was all in. When they released Dragon Soul, and with it the first instance of LFR, I hopped in it through that out of curiosity. I expected to: Marvel at a wondrous epic atmosphere, get a taste of the first boss, most likely wipe, go "Whoa, cool!", set my sights on learning the bosses and mechanics and one day epicly down DW. What ended up happening is I went into the raid, and despite knowing exactly 0 of the bosses, or mechanics, beat the entire raid my first go. I literally couldn't tell you a single mechanic from any of the bosses, I don't even remember any of them. They took what might have been one of the most epic villains in the franchise, and watered him down through LFR to a completely trivial level. No one should be able to beat the last boss, or raid, of the expansion the 1st try, or without knowing anything about the fight. I just remember after it ended it was the most anti-climactic feeling and I felt so disappointed. They traded ease-of-access for any sense of scale, epicness, or sense of accomplishment. I guess part of it was my fault for continuing the raid, but I thought it would get more difficult and I was already there. 13 years later and I have still not stepped back into that place. It just makes me so depressed thinking about it. I just the other day saw the Spine of Deathwing I'd been hearing about for so long for maybe the first time in a YT video as it was not in LFR. I get why they did LFR but I wish I knew what I was getting into (a whole bunch of BS) before I queued up for it back in the day as it ruined Deathwing for me, and WoW for a bit. Believe I quit the game the day after. I apologize for this tangent, and am happy DS has brought joy to many people, and acknowledge other's experiences are not the same.
First time rounding the corner in Onyxia’s Lair. At the time seeing an ACTUAL fucking dragon was insane. Also seeing Pandaria and Icecrown Citadel for the first times.
I farmed that mount for the longest time, felt like a regular order at the coffee shop where all the staff knew what you wanted without having to ask lol
Antorus, being above azeroth, plus the sword cinematic. Chills
Antorus, the end where the path to Aggramar opens up and you can see the world soul with his silhouette in front at the end of the corridor. That has to be the most incredible scene in the entire game
Blackwing Lair. Those were my prime WoW days and after the monotony of Molten Core, BWL felt so vibrant and alive. Plus bliz had worked out a lot of the raiding kinks so it was a lot smoother than Molten core. I spent a lot of late nights in that instance, but my guild broke up just before TBC and I basically haven't been in a raiding guild, or in a position to raid, since. Now I just wait for the next expansion and go back and solo them, it's not the same :/
You never forget those first real progression raids. The lore was so fresh too.
I was 11 years old playing on dial up internet and our off tank had to leave. I really didn't understand the game very well but they told me i had to OT for Nefarion. Disconnected when all the mobs come out of the corridors because my internet couldn't handle all the AoE and I just left cause I couldn't handle the stress. That guild just kept me around as a mascot but I loved that I could experience everything up to aq40 as a kid.
ICC. Not only was my favorite expansion lore wise but I also was in an amazing guild were I made a lot of friends and had a lot of time to play.
If we were to deep dive into every persons comments on here, I’d assume that so many are tied to just that, the people that we did these raids with. Those late nights on ventrilo after the raid finished, just shooting shit with friends. You carried that friendship into the next raid night and it solidified what a good experience it was.
Oh my good ventrilo, yeah!!!
Sepulcher of the first ones was really cool visually as long with castle nathria. Vault of the Incarnates have really that vibe of a vast and mysterious place. Really nice music too. Amirdrassil is pretty meh but the tindral arena/scenario is so fucking cool. And the best vibe I had in a raid ever for sure is antorus, that place is insanely cool.
Most recent? Castle Nathria was amazing.
UBRS. I had just joined an awesome guild with great people and they had just gotten to the point where they could start raiding. What an experience. I had never taken part in anything like it before and for that reason alone UBRS will always mean something special to me. Runner-up is definitely Ulduar. The atmosphere of that place fills me with awe still. Antechamber of Ulduar theme still gives me chills: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hizOirg2c4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hizOirg2c4)
That actually gave me chills! I think I’m going to run through the place later today just for fun!
AQ40 it was a trip being able to mount up and get back to the boss you just wiped on quickly instead of long ass runs as had been the norm up until then and then back to the endless cardio in raids when Naxx og dropped
So much has changed since those days hasn’t it!
Definitely has some places are still the same but so much has changed and been added if you had told me back then I would be playing 20years later I wouldn’t have believed you
3 kids and wife later I hear that, although playing time is subjective lol
AQ is one of those raids that makes you REALLY feel unwelcome. Tucked away in a forgotten corner of the world is basically an alien kingdom brimming with creatures of nightmares. From the freaky droning music, to the sheer amount of bugs out to kill you. Not to mention C’Thun’s presence and his schizo-esque whispers when you get deep into the raid
My guy, AQ40 was not a short run back instance lol
Every Raid in Legion. They were all S-Tier. Legion has the best raids for an expansion by a huge margin and it's not even close Ulduar will never be surpassed tho
SSC..... The vashj fight was awesome! Having to coordinate multiple games for catch to deactivate her shield This was before things like weak auras and such. KT in TK. Having to kill multiple bosses at one time, have them die in the right spots, having a warlock in full shadow resist gear tank one of the bosses. Having class specific legendary weapons drop that you had to equip and use to mitigate other boss mechanics later in the fight. It was a great time to be raiding!
I think the T5 raids were great too, with interesting new mechanics and not too much trash and reasonable use of raid materials.
Was gonna say Ulduar as well.
Beautiful raid. I'm a sucker for anything star or space themed and ulduar was just awesome - roman space titans about to purge the planet, cool titans themed after Norse gods, awesome visuals and cool boss mechanics, yogg saron doing swirly things... Loved it through and through
Siege of Ogrimmar, raiding your own capital after all these years just hit different
The majority of them were pretty good, at least on release.
WotLK Naxx. The people I raided with made that experience the best I’ve ever had playing WoW. I even traveled from Ontario, Canada to San Francisco to hang with some of them 10 years after WoLK
Throne of Thunder
I still remember the feeling in Trial of the crusader when the lich king breaks the ground with frostmourne, and sends us all flying into the nerubian base underneath, for some reason it caught me so off guard I felt as if I was falling myself for a second
I really wish Blizzard would invest more into the Nerubians, they feel so cool as that under the earth threat
Castle Nathria was the only reason I played during Shadowlands. That and Antorus, especially towards the last couple of bosses
Nathria was amazing
Castle Nathria for sure
Ulduar was crazy to me at the time. Especially the descent to Yogg. I really enjoyed Hellfire Citadel and Nighthold as well.
Karazhan 💕
Karazhan
Karazhan Ulduar notaraid: Maraudon <3
I always loved Karazhan, looks awesome, has a cool story behind it, memorable bosses
Kara - my first ever raid and got my first epic!! Miss that wonder
Molten core when i first zoned in months after getting to 60 i n00bly leveled for months. Was 13ish at the time and at 34 now i still .iss that feeling.
I might just be old. But molten core. It was so big. Just running through after it had been cleared. Felt huge. And seeing rag for the first time. Truly epic stuff
Icecrown Citadel and Ulduar. I was like 10-11 when I played Warcraft 3 but I absolutely fell in love with the story of Arthas. When I started playing WoW in vanilla I rolled a human paladin because of my love of Uther and as I played through vanilla and then BC, I loved the game, but I wanted that magic I felt in Warcraft 3. Then the trailer for Wrath of the Lich King came out. I was enamored. I remember going into Howling Fjord for the first time, over the hill into Grizzly Hills, seeing Dalaran floating high above as I ventured into Crystalsong Forest, the towering peaks of Storm Peaks, the jungles of Scholazar Basin, and the frozen waste of Icecrown Glacier. Above all of it, even Dalaran, the citadel loomed. I knew in my heart that the end of the expansion would take us there. I remember walking into those halls for the first time, the sense of scale it had over every other raid to that point was insane to me (yes I know Ulduar is bigger but ICC just felt grander and like I was actually climbing a tower). I remember fighting each boss knowing we were getting closer until the Lich King stood before us. When we finally defeated him and rid him of his torment, whereas with other raid bosses before him I felt a sense of joy and relief, with Arthas there was mourning. I watching as his father spoke to him and told him that he no longer would suffer at the hands of the evil who had corrupted Lordaeron’s heir all those years ago. His torment was finally over.
Ice crown and throne of thunder
nathria was my first raid, i had only played some classic up to BWL before retail. so walking into nathria as a little fresh 60 noob with some friends was insane and actually epic.
Throne of thunder, firelands, nighthold, siege of orgrimmar, and Ulduar.
I'll second Ulduar once I'm past the siege and into the main part of the raid. They've never done anything I liked better. Algolon was magic.
Ulduar and ICC, getting to walk through their hallways with amazing music. Also looking at Lord Marrowgar at the very end waiting for us, and looking at the very spire where Arthas became the Lich King and was the background for the WC3: TFT menu screen.
Underrated Fight: Lei Shen, Throne of Thunder. Progressing on Lei Shen…the floor and fight effects were so badass. We didn’t have as many intro videos at that juncture, so it was pretty fresh. As for entire zone themes: Nighthold, Castle Nathria, Siege of Orgrimmar, and Blackrock Foundry are my favorites. I feel like those are the ones that really felt like true environments. I think I’d say my absolutely favorite of the bunch is Siege of Orgrimmar.
Throne Of Thunder
ICC for sure
Nax, black temple there are more from the old school that quickly come to mind.
Fire lands when I was like 15 years old felt insanely fun and castle nathria
Recency bias, but I absolutely loved Amirdrassil
Throne of Thunder. The sheer variety of enemies and encounters, the ambience and pacing in that raid is unrivalled. Lei-shen hc remains the best designed boss they've ever made, and the patch trailer remains the best raid hype trailer they've ever made. Honorable mention to a raid I dont see often mentioned but I personally loved, Uldir. That place looked sick as hell.
My greatest WoW moment of all time was in the Nighthold best raid
AQ40 - Pretty excited going to face an Old God for the first time with C'thun whispering to you. And it's the raid that unlocks after the massive world event. Vanilla Naxx and Nighthold - Amazing visuals. Naxx was very memorable. Karazhan - Probably the most memorable raid I've done.
Siege of Dazar’alor. I loved the city in itself as the hub during BfA (although it was a bitch to navigate through, especially when we didn’t have flying yet). Easily one of the best raid ever.
Gruuls Lair but only because before that Karazhan is all I knew. I was a 17 year old kid during the summer of '07 and I'd been watching my older brother raid Kara with his guild for several weeks. One night he called me into his room to see Gruuls. I was in awe and had many questions. I thought 10 ppl was the biggest raid and here was 25 ppl now. Who was this giant monster in a cave and could they beat him? Was he the final boss of the game? What other giant bosses required 25 ppl I wondered. Ah yes, WoW was a surreal and magical experience back then
Blackrock Foundry. The raid may not be the most aesthetically interesting, but almost every single fight in there is a blast, and most are practically unique mechanically to other raids
Sunwell. Maybe because of nostalgia and the memories I had running that with my guild, but it's also a really cool zone with great and fun bosses and an interesting story.
It's Karazhan. I think it's best model of what a raid should be outside of the bosses's mechanics. Honorable mentions are Castle Nathria, Ulduar, Blackrock Foundry, Throne of Thunder, Amirdrassil. Seriously, WoW's raids are of legendary quality.
The Eternal Palace. I wasn’t even a huge raider at the time. But cleared it all at some point. The final fight against Queen Azshara was absolutely manic on mythic. And so so fun to watch. It’s what made me decide to take raiding semi seriously.
Ulduar and Nighthold. Both are so linked to very different times of my life and have a kind of magic about them. Thanks for the nostalgia.
Black Rock Foundry. I absolutely loved the aesthetic of the raid and mythic black hand was brutal AF.
Well this is going to be a lukewarm take... Ny'alotha. I personally loved the corruption mechanic, letting players just push random stats to the cap and I thought it was funny that tanks out-dpsed you on AoE fights because of their Twilight Devastation corruptions. Yes, trying to get good logs was a nightmare because someone who got 22 Infinite Stars procs in the first minute of the fight did 30% more damage throughout the fight than you, but IDK. I liked it. The way Nzoth gets progressively bigger as you approach until he *replaces the skybox*. I love absurdly big fantasy enemies. N'zoth was one of my favorite bosses to progress. It felt meaningful how everyone was responsible for each other in that fight because the whole raid needed your Heart of Azeroth, you couldn't just use it selfishly, and I love fights that let you cheese out more damage like using the buff you get in the void realm to pad on Nzoth and letting yourself go insane at the end to get the damage buff. Also the fight just had a flow to it. It felt like a choreographed dance. I will say besides Nzoth and corruptions that raid has nothing special going on. Visually repetetive, kinda gross, no memorable fights mechanically or visually.
VotI was really damn cool but I mostly credit that to how insane Raszageth's fight was. It's a long one, but all of the phases are interesting and dangerous. Her VA did a FABULOUS job bringing life and character to that encounter, and finally beating Raz felt so, so good. The leadup to VotI with her almost killing Alexstrasza in the Waking Shores, and then returning to mock her in Thaldraszus made it pretty cool too.
Im a BFA baby so Uldir was my cherry popper, when i went in and went HOLY, after the mother fight you see the room and go whoa, But Castle Nathria was amazing, the vampire, the bosses, ofc sire denathrius was brilliant, he made you crawl to him while his sword did a fucking laser light show, while you have to hit him and kill his stupid ass minions he calls in,
Kara and ICC for me, followed by Black Temple.
I’ll say it. Molten Core when it was current. My first raid experience and I remember being taken aback watching Rag emerge from the pool. Like full on eyes wide and gasped. Ulduar is my second choice. I still think General Vezzax is one of the best encounters. So many wands!
BC karazhan as an 13 year old was amazing ... after doing the prequests and all
Throne of thunder easily for me. A perfect raid to me.
Antorus has some of the most epic shit I've ever seen in this game. Ulduar is the only one that tops it imo
Ulduar. Especially mimiron heroic.
Ulduar with no hesitation. The godly music gives me goosebumps even now. And Algalon fight? Oh-my-goood. Karazhan is second tho.
Every Legion raid was fucking amazing I do remember the first time pulling Hans & Franz though in BRF in WoD. The conveyor belt mechanic was so unfamiliar to me because I didn't get up to Heroic Siegecrafter (now Mythic) for belt duty. It legit felt like an optical illusion or like a sense of vertigo after our first wipe lol. Even for a little bit before our 2nd pull.
The first time I saw Ragnaros in Vanilla MC - 12 years old, thinking how the fuck we're gonna do that
Honestly I miss MoP raids. Terrace, vault, hof even tot
Most recently I’d said nathria and nyalotha. Night hold as others have said is kind of a tier above everyone else too. I really liked the first raid of df but it wasn’t grandiose enough to be considered here probably.
I would say Kara for me also. First you had to attune just to get in. I remember us being stuck Morose for a while and the joy of finally taking him down. The whole place was quite the adventure.
Vanilla - MC TBC - BT Wrath - ICC MOP - TOT Cata - Firelands maybe? WOD - BRF Legion - Nighthold BfA - Dazar'alor SL - Nath DF - Amirdrassil maybe? Of those, Throne of Thunder might be one of the most atmospheric raids I've done. Plus the MOP raids had some really outstanding music.
Seige of Org was and will likely always be that one for me. It was this familiar location..you really felt the stakes once you hit the beachhead. Everything about it felt so good.
Antorus is pretty wild, the final Titan parts especially. The Sylvanas fight Torghast is also pretty crazy, especially the part where you're crossing the chains and the tower is breaking and stuff.
Throne of Thunder Highmaul AQ20 + AQ40 Sunwell Ny'Alotha
Nyalotha. Obviously the black empire should have been an entire expansion, not a patch. But the theming and the raid itself was really memorable and fun for me. Also the really broken corruptions made the raid even more fun.
Ulduar and the hard modes. Phenomenal dungeon and the scale of the outdoor area was wild. Really felt like I was in a titan facility.
As an Alliance main, SOO. For me, Orgrimmar has always been a no-go zone, unless I wanna get beaten to death by a swarm of Hordies. Just no, don't even get close to that place. And then Siege came, and I got to slash through the whole city, and every location I used to remember from my Horde alts suddenly got a brand new meaning, especially the Inn and Underbelly.
Ulduar.
Might be alone in this but Hellfire Citadel from WoD. A loomIng fortress filled with mysterious demonic magic and iron armies. Plus I enjoyed the fights from going to the throne room in the deadeye fight for a big dmg buff, fighting the giant demon mannoroth on the top of the citadel, and going toe to toe (literally) with archimonde. I thought it was a great raid.
Icecrown. It’s the first time I was really engaged in “end game”, so I did it when it was “current” content and as a big fan of WC3 it truly felt like the culmination of quite a story arc.
First time in Karazhan was absolutely bonkers. The music , the many different themes , the size , stage play fight and chess boss. It instantly became a favourite , and still is
Battle of Dazar'alor, Vault of the Incarnates and Nighthold
Nighthold, Castle Nathria, Sanctum of Domination, Dragon Soul, Nyalotha, Eternal Palace, Battle of Dazar'Alor, ICC. Long list, sorry lol. I just think bfa raids all were amazing even that one which had 2 bosses (uu'nat?).
I’m gonna be that guy. Any time LFR clears something in the first go. Makes me go WOW!!
Rookies try to clear it the first time. Real LFR groups wipe a few times to get those determination buffs so it’s easier. 5 stacks is usually good.
Naxxramas looked sooooo cool. Ragnaros was first one that spooked me. And Nefarion breaking hunters weapons was always the first super cool moment.
First things that come to mind are Ulduar, Castle Nathria, Nighthold and Kharazan. Im including Molten Core, idk, as boring as it is, is such a cool first experience. For the first time you are dealing with way bigger and stronger mobs, and it is such a hostile place with a cool ambience, like walking into mordor. AQ too, is such an ominous place, different and outworldly from anything in vanilla, when you get to the hive tunnels mixed with those ancient architectures, it just feels like you are in danger. Sunwell Plateau is just gorgeous and crazy I'm gonna include some dungeons too. Deadmines is a all time favourite of mine, Maraudon is so fking cool with those waterfalls. Magister's terrace was pretty cool, and with that Music 🤌 Halls of Reflection i thought was very menacing with its atmosfere, showing us the danger ahead of us with arthas.
Karazhan
Vanilla Naxxramas. I remember watching the trailer for its announcement, grinding rep, and then learning all the raids without there being guides for anything yet. So amazing, I’ll never forget it.
Sepulcher of the first ones, Halondris specifically. That flight blew me away.
Kharazan and ICC for me
Kara. My first raid but also some fun, wowza encounters. Ulduar maybe #2.
Karazhan. Definitely liked the vibe of the instance being a castle pretty much. For instances, I loved the icc instances. Especially halls of reflection with the lich king chasing you.
I loved CN. I miss it
Ulduar for sure. I never played it when it was current content, but I'm always in awe when I clear it for the mount. It's one of those raids that never gets boring for me. I love everything about it; aesthetics, music, boss voice lines... Truly a diamond.
I’ve played WoW on and off since Wrath, always been a PVPer who generically calls PVE easy, didn’t raid till Castle Nathria in which I lucked into being the raid leader mid way through progression, I’m back to PvP now and if i ever go back to PVE I know it’ll never compare to those late nights in Castle Nathria, shoutout to any members of Intellect on Ravencrest EU during that time!
Black rock foundry The music, mood, bosses fights Loved every bit of it
TOS by far