On Raid Design Part 5 – Ulduar
In the fith part of my raid-ranking-series (up to Ulduar) I’m going to give my wisdom-ish judgements for the newest reviewed raid, Ulduar, and have to set out right ahead: The gaps between the places are getting closer.
Disclaimer: We’ve cleared 7 bosses in Ulduar so far, so I haven’t seen it all. My opinion therefore is based on about half the raid, yet I’m pretty confident that not “everything is gonna change” in the remaining areas.
Setting
Ulduar, the impressive titan city on the very edge of the world, has been a big part of Wrath of the Lich King’s storyline. While it’s not really related to the Lich King himself it still is a big thing, and we all know we farmed Hodir’s sons rep by being very, very nice to him for a long time. But now things are different. Yogg-Saron is going all titan-controlly and we have no choice but head into that mechanic-heavy complex to go kill stuff.
I have to say that, personally, I’m not all too much into titans. It seems like a pretty weak excuse to make something dangerous by just making it bigger than anything else, and I always thought of titans as quite clumsy big dwarves. I just don’t like them. Yet, Ulduar is a cool place, and after running Halls of Stone with good ol’ fellow Brann Bronzebeard and beating up Loken in the Halls of Lightning over and over again for his axe it’s nice to once again have a raid that’s not only “there”, but in a setting of other dungeons. That stuff just makes it more important and interesting, offers more lore and makes for logical progression.
Flair
Huge. Unsurprisingly, yet still very very impressive. We all knew it would be big in there. But the impression on the first step into the entrance hall was nothing short of astounding. Not only is everything big, Blizzard actually made an ingenious move: They did no ceiling. First of all I don’t miss the ceiling. Secondly, it makes everything seem so much bigger. Heads up for no ceilings!
You’re welcome by a bunch of NPCs, which is something I enjoy. It adds to the place’s personality if there are others hanging out. It’s more than “a dungeon with baddies”, it’s a place where important things are going on. Important enough to have designated guards that help approaching adventurers. And then there’s … machines. Vehicles to ride. Cool stuff.
Other than that I’m not sold on Ulduar. There are changes, but it’s a little “sticked together”, especially with the teleport from the Siege to the Antechamber. Sure, teleporters are great. But no “normal way” from one area to the other? How did our gigantic friends get there? And why are the areas so totally different? It’s kind of cool, but kind of disturbing, too.
Trash
This is Ulduar’s sad part. First off, there’s almost no trash whatsoever. It’s 2-3 pulls between bosses, some more later on, but definitely less than Naxxramas, which had very little in the first place. And that trash is as poorly designed as every WotLK trash: Small adds to bomb, or huge guys to focus. No CC, no really fancy abilities. Not a single interesting trash pull as far as I’m concerned.
Encounters
While trash is Ulduar’s total downside, the encounters make up for that big time. Variety is awesome, the bosses are interesting and the difficulty is okay. We haven’t yet faced a real roadblock and going +2 bosses on every attempt, so it could be harder. On the other hand it is challenging. We downed Hodir on the first night of attempts, on the 5th try, after about an hour, but it required a lot of learning and there was some clearly visible progress from try to try.
Also I am really excited about hard modes. Achievements aren’t something I’m crazy about, and we got a few of them in Ulduar by accident. But hard modes are a great thing. They offer a challenge for when we start to feel an encounter becomes a pushover, and there’s some pretty hot extra loot available. I think we’ll start hard modes after our first clear, however we might try Flame Leviathan sooner, for I think it’s totally managable.
I like the encounters and am looking forward to what’s still ahead, definitely a thumbs up on this part.
Summary
As of now, Ulduar seems to continue the path recent raids (Naxxramas aside) started: Less trash, more bosses, more accessibility. Fast progression, great encounters, hard-modes are gonna add challenge with appropriate rewards later on. Still, in a couple of weeks Ulduar will basically be farm-land, and the hard modes are only gonna be really hard as long as people need to gear up. Safe for Algalon, which I think is a great feature: Some content only being accessible to the most dedicated is motivating for all others.
“Trash: No CC, no really fancy abilities. Not a single interesting trash pull as far as I’m concerned.”
Really? Auriaya’s trash’s Seperation Anxiety is quite a cunning gimmick, and I can’t see Freya or Mimiron’s trash going well without CC. I’ll admit that these two are maybe the exception, though.
Reply
I think trash depends strongly on 10/25. Our normal group is just a bunch of guys having fun – even Auriaya’s trash is pulled together and killed by AE. Mimiron’s trash goes very well without CC if you know the kill order.
It’s different in heroic mode, but still easy if you know trash pulls like in Zul Gurub or Sunwell.
For me, the amount of trash in Ulduar is just right, 2-3 pulls before the next boss is good. But they could be at least a little bit challenging.
Reply
I feel the trash is actually a lot more difficult than Naxx. Auriya trash is nice, Freya’s actually ahd us using sheep and banish for the first time in a pull in ages.
Reply