What made Naxxramas epic?

[Deleted]

As other have said, it was bloody exclusive, which always help polish the rose tinted glasses.

The barrier-to-entry required your character to pretty much have slogged it all the way through Scholo/Strat/LBRS/UBRS -> (ZG) -> MC -> (AQ20) -> BWL -> AQ40 and actually having had the luck to get geared from that trek (remember, 40 players in the raid ~20 items per raid - and +Spelldamage / +Healing were exclusive to their particular role). And of course, at least for the first while, stats on gear was atrocious to the point you might as well DE half of it (Plate with strength and spirit? Why, of course!). And during that trek, you had to continually refresh the pool of raiders, as your raiders would inevitably be poached once they got a bit of gear.

You could do PVP, but in order to get the same quality items, you had to put in a brutal number of hours.

Then there was the, for the time, rather harsh levels of coordination required. I may be wrong, but Naxx hit at a time when server instability was still a bit of an issue (See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzsgD6N5Yow for how Ravencrest EU was at the time), so fights like, oh say, Thaddius and 4HM became instant wipes. And speaking of 4HM, that only upped the amount of poaching that raiding guilds were exposed to. Got a 4pc T3 equipped tank? Good luck holding on to him.

And of course, the amount of preparation time for raids. This was the days before fish feasts, cauldrons, etc. and having x number of resistance potions on you was mandatory (Hello Loatheb). Farming stuff took a while, unless you were lucky enough to rule the AH and could buy the mats.

And finally, it was released so late in the cycle, that very few raiding guilds had the time and skill to clear the place before BC hit. Patch 1.11 hit June 20 2006 and 5 months later, we saw Patch 2.0.1 and the raiding scene more or less collapsed. I've heard of realms which didn't see a Server-first Kel'thuzad kill until after Burning Crusade had been released.

[sinofasin]

I actually enjoyed the 80 naxx...prolly because that was my first actual raid( yes i started right before wotlk release), i loved the mechanics but it was tedious to me then...esp military wing...loved it.

[Kanx]

4 Horsemen.

Killing that felt better then killing Kel or Saph.

[MrWolly]

It's Black Metal as hell. Other than that, I'm not sure as I never had the pleasure of doing it in Vanilla.

[Deleted]

I refuse to believe that anybody that mentions the level 80 version (Hurts to even type that) either played in Vanilla, or if they did was never actually capable of raiding at the standard needed at the time to actually enter. (Besides the fact attunements still existed which again, made the game that much better).

[Yunru]

+++++++ -------- goood
+++-+++ ----+--- Bad

This is what made it epic in 40 mans.

[traen]

The fact that you couldn't clear it in one night, and it had so many bosses

I'm sorry, but full clear usually took us exactly 1 hour - depending if we had to replace some players to give them loot they needed. It was really simple instance. Most fights lasted 3-4 minutes. A lot of trash was skippable, and even if not - it was not hard to pull 3-4 packs and aoe them down.

Come on, pugs did full clear in 2-3 hours. What are you talking about?

I have feeling that 25man difficulty was nearly the same as current 25man lfr dragon soul difficulty.

10man difficulty was MUCH easier than lets say one of the new t13 dungeons. You know, you had to do something like 1.5k dps to clear it. Come on, 1.5k dps! I did more on level 70 in kara gear! Usually we cleared it with just 6 people in raid, mostly twinks, with 1 tank and 1-2 healers. And it took us no more than 1 hour again.

In ulduar gear I guess it was possible to clear it with 10ppl for 25man version(like current LFR 25man can be cleared with 10players, because bosses have exactly the same amount HP as 10man heroic bosses) and 4ppl for 10man version. It was one of the first attempts for blizzard to make raiding available to everyone.

[Kiea]

Epic content in wow isnt if a boss got interesting mechanics, its if they were rare, Naxx 40 was a rare thing, not a lot of people got into it (far too few, which is why they added it again) since it was only a very small minority that had seen Naxx 40.

They however did a mistake in Wrath, and made it the only raiding content for 6 months, and if ulduar had been out from the release of wrath, people wouldn't of hated it. A lot of people just hopped on the idea the new Naxxramas was the worst thing ever created, when there is things today such as LFR, which so many people defend.

[Spoonman]

The only reason a raid is epic for me is that it has a lot of bosses, which naxx has. I didnt experience it in vanilla either so I loved it.

[Sicman]

Most people I talked about naxx40 found Four horsemen was like ripping eyes out some were many hit roadblock there

[Sylv_]

The only thing that made WoTLK Naxx was it's predecessor.

The original Naxxramas left such a bloody legacy that it was a smart thing to do on Blizzards behalf but!; They tuned it way too easy.

[Deleted]

We were never able to do more than clear some trash in the 40 man version with 25-30 people because, as always, we had trouble getting enough people together (and arranging 40 mans was a nightmare when at any given time about 15 people would not show or get constantly DC-ed). As such Naxx40 had a sort of legendary status and even just killing trash felt like doing something epic, something that not that many people were doing. I've enjoyed the 80 man version as well because there was a choice of where to go and it was a raid where it could take a long time to clear until you learned all the tips and tricks and were able to boost through in a few hours.

Thats something I generally enjoy more anyway, I preferred things like the longwinded, overly complex level 50-55 BRD because it took you ages to learn everything that instance had to offer, the best routes to take, how all the quests worked and intersected. Today's dungeons and raids are just basically a corridor filled with loot pinatas, some more difficult to smash than others, but I feel as if there's no real sense of wonder anymore - not just because I've played for a long time, but because once you've seen one corridor or 3-winged raid you've seen em all.

[Deleted]

Back in the days when I was new to the game I looked up to the players who had cleared all the hardest encounters. Everytime I saw a hunter with full dragonstalker I just stopped what I was doing and admired him.
In TBC I joined a guild who were recruiting for casual raiding. We soon found out we had alot of potential and soon became to top guild on the server. I became one of the players that others just stopped and admired when I was afk:ing in IF.

Now I don't have this feeling about top players anymore, and I'm sure many others lost it aswell when Blizzard introduced Heroic mode.
The normal modes as so easy that there's nothing to admire about those who complete it, and those who complete the heroic modes aren't "heroes". Instead they became geeks in the eyes of the casual player.

What made Naxxramas epic (60)?
It was actually HARD. It remained mysterious to those who hadn't been there. It was a place for those who actually was good. It gave us casuals a wish to become that good at some point in the future.
Now we have the normal modes, after which some people go "aaaah close enough, heroic is for geeks".

Sure, if blizzard spend thousands of dollars into one raid, they would want many people to go there and experience it. Otherwise they would've spent all that money on just a handfull of players. But something I don't think they've thought of is that people stay in the game if there's something mysterious about it. Something/someplace you some day wanna get, once you've actually earned it. This is something I think they've managed to neglected.

[haroharo]

It was the most gear demanding and most untouched(when it was current) raid ever in WoW's history.

[Karnige]

so unique. big bad wolf, dragon, creepy vibe.

[Deleted]

Thadius!!!
Love that mechanism!!

[Envisionist]

so unique. big bad wolf, dragon, creepy vibe.

Naxxrazhan?

[Deleted]

I started playing in late Vanilla, very late vanilla, about a month or so b4 BC was released. So I missed everything Vanilla had to offer, except for the high prices of mounts and the fact that you got your first mount at 40lvl which was a pain in the back area.

In WOTLK I got in Naxx and became a raid leader in the guild I was in. Naxx felt epic. The environmet, the screams inside the necropolis, the fact that you were inside the Necropolis made it awesome. I can only imagine how more epic it felt back in Vanilla but in WotLK it was pretty cool to be in that raid. Ofcourse the level of easieness was laughable and after the first few wipes even the complete newbs discovered what they need to do. Never the less Naxx was epic even in WOTLK because you were starting to fight the armies of the Scourge, you had already defeated Anub'arakh (lol at that, tho, anub arakk a 5-man boss lol blizz, just lol) and now you were up against Kel'Thuzad! This was more than epic for a person like me, who was a wc3 fan. You were listening to Arthas talk to Kel'Thuzad, you have already seen Arthas. All in all WotLK was epic for its questlines and the RP you have already seen b4 entering the Necropolis.

Again, I am talking about the feeling you get inside Naxxramas and not the boss mechanics, although they were pretty good too, just weren't scaled correctly...


Edit: You can compare that feeling to the ones you had in Karazhan, Tempest Keep and Serpentshrine Cavern. Killing the generals and exploring the tower of the most powerfull magician in all Azeroth. Also the feeling in Mount Hyjal. When you have played so much WC3ROC and you finally get to be a part of one of the biggest battles in the history of WoW, u just feel freakin awesome.

Now I don't really feel like I am fighting Deathwing. More like our RL said "That poor animal. Imagine you are lying in your bathtub and a bunch of cockroaches start bitting your arms and leggs, while you are reaching for the Raid on the counter. How would you feel?" And I started feeling like a cockroach fighting a big bad arm!

[Deleted]

This pretty much.

Of course this video holds little to no meaning to the people who entered during TBC/WOTLK.

Just a little example of how high the gear requirements where. Full Tier 3 comes close to Tier 4, which is 10 levels and an expansion further. Furthermore, naxx 40 had properly itemized gear. Before that pretty much everything had spirit and stamina.

[TJ]

The music, the bosses, the environment, i loved it all. One of my favourite instances.