Top 5 Five mans..

[Nightfall]

1. Magister's Terrace - great design, chaotic but fun council boss, awesome Kael's speech, great looking loot, a mount, an awesome pet and a BE sphere. I've been there dozens of times, but still enjoy it.
2. Blackrock Depths - the most epic dungeon ever! We got lost countless times before I memorized all the layout, but this dungeon with a good group was truly an adventure.
3. The Stonecore - I liked the whole Deepholm design, being in a giant cave with all its shattered crystals. Millhouse is fun, love his Impending Doom spell. Huge trash before the last boss was also fun, even if it killed us. =)
4. The Halls of Lightning - can't explain why, but I always liked this dungeon. Must be the design.
5. Icecrown Citadel dungeons - all 3 of them were fun, diverse and immersive. Halls of Reflection might've been too hard though.

As for Pandaria, sadly, I don't like any of its dungeons. Some of them I find really annoying (like Stormstout Brewery) and overall they are rather meh. The best would be the updated Scarlet Monastery/Halls.

[Deleted]

in no specific order:
- Dragon Soul dungeons (thanks for reminding me, Sameen)
- Auchindoun
- Throne of the Tides
- Halls of Lightning
- Caverns of Time

[Deleted]

1. Vanilla Stratholme
2. Scholomance (Both Vanilla & revamp)
3. Blackrock Depths
4. Zul' Gurub
5. UBRS & LBRS

Honorable mention: Old Sunken Temple, Utgarde Pinnacle and Maraudon

Almost forgot the Dragon Soul dungeons, all 3 of them

[Deleted]

Blackrock Spire
Shattered Halls - I really like the style of this, proper feels like you're busting into a heavily guarded fort. Not just having a fun day out at the stormstout brewery...... ( I use fun loosely).
ICC dungeons
Original Deadmines will always be close to my heart! Wiping endlessly on it back when nobody knew how to tank/heal or dps.
Original Scarlet Monastery.

[tejpis]

1. BRD
2. Classic Scholomance
3. Halls of Reflection
4. Shadow Labyrinth
5. Shadowfang Keep

MoP dungeons are wholly unmemorable. So are these with LFD I suppose...

[breadisfunny]

1. blackrock depths before it was seperated.
2. magister's terrace.
3. maraudon
4. nexus.
5. grim batol.
6.runner up:stratholme.

[Deleted]

Blackrock Depths
Halls of Lightning
Shadowfang Keep

Pretty much the same. I have cleared BRD "properly" (vanilla version with a group of friends on proper level alts) just once, but it was great fun. I too liked the Titans storyline, and I have memories from SFK related to my first character's (that's still my main) Paladin class weapon, Verigan's Fist.

TBC I don't really miss much, although when compared to Cata and MoP it starts to feel almost epic - yet nowehere near the overall feeling and lore of Wrath. Only thing I miss a bit were the attunements; they gave a sense of achievement when you finally got proven worthy of entering the raid. Most of the dungeons themselves though... argh.

My top 5 definitely includes the original Stratholme. Like BRD, it was long and complex, but with a good group extremely fun. And the whole place was oh-so-packed up with lore related to Warcraft III, Arthas, the Scourge, Death Knights... Not to mention several special quests that took you there - Paladin class mount, Tirion Fordring's questline to redeem his son, blacksmith special plans...

...and for the same reasons as above I liked the original Scholomance. Death Knight Darkreaver, anyone? Helping a warlock friend get the class mount also took me to Dire Maul, which was also full of lore. Too bad I didn't get to run that more often while being the proper level, thanks to most people skipping that (and Scholo and Strat...) because of Outland dungeons being so near level-wise.

Currently the lvl 90 Scarlet Monastery revamps and Scholomance are the only heroics that don't make me sigh "oh crap, not this s*it again..." Shows how much the retarded pandas, mogu or the mantid inspire the mind...

[Deleted]

5. ZG (cata)
4. Halls of Reflection[hc]
3. Classic Scholomance
2. Shattered Halls[hc]
1. Upper Blackrock Spire

I love UBRS, especially when it was still raidable.

[ramborg]

1. Black rock depths
2. DireMaul
3. Shattered Halls
4. Magister's terrace
5. Gundrak



I personally feel in TBC MGT shaped tanks and it showed what cc could do , after TBC its mostly Aoe tanking and facerolling wish Blizz brings HC's like MGT which was hard for tanks who where tanking BT , SWP etc. Still remember the countless wipes on Princess Delrisa for the tanking trinket .

[Tekkommo]

The 5 mans have really gone down hill since vanilla times, with much less effort put in them, they also just feel like a small tunnel these days where you are easily guided to the end.

That being said, imagine a new dungeon brought out like BRD and doing it in LFG, it would be a nightmare! The vanilla dungeons were put together with the idea that the 5 people would actually work with each other.

5. BRD
4. LBRS
3. Strat (the entrance through the side gate)
2. UBRS
1. Dire Maul North Tribute run

[Pua]

I wonder if people would choose the same classic and TBC dungeons if they had used LFD to access them.

Food for thought :P

Most assuredly not; as you can see, many comments are a based around the long, winding and challenging dungeons that you needed sheer strength of will to get through. With LFD, that's been confirmed as a no-go these days.

For me, my top five would include Magister's Terrace, the original Scholomance, Razorfen Downs, Utgarde Pinnacle and (perhaps amusingly) Hellfire Ramparts. It's hard to nail why, but I find other choices I've seen just as difficult to fathom.

You like what you like, I guess.

[Keoren]

they also just feel like a small tunnel these days where you are easily guided to the end.

While I understand the reasoning behind this, I often feel the same. Many raids also suffer from the same issue. It makes the areas more atmospheric when they're not completely linear. It makes them feel like real places with a purpose that could actually exist within the game world.

[Deleted]

Shadow Labyrinth
Zul'Farrak
Sunken Temple
Magister's Terrace
Scarlet Monastery (Lib and Cath)

No particular order and the original versions for those that have been revamped.

[Deleted]

1) Forge of Souls, Pit of Saron, Halls of Reflection (Wrath)
2) Scarlet Monastery (Vanilla, I also enjoy MoP edition just as much)
3) Blackrock Depths (Not UBRS LBRS h8 that place) - Classic
4) Utgarde Keep (It's just a shame the terrible XP it gives..) - Wrath
5) Can't decide Between Deadmines or Ends Time... or Well of Eternity - really liked all 3. Probably Well of Eternity for it's diversity, invisibility, big boss, dragons, Azshara and the kick ass lore for the instance. (Cata)


Edit: Just noticed no TBC Instances... If I had to chose one it'd be Magister's Terrace. (Vanilla player here btw since 2005, not an avid fan of BC I must admit, much preferred Wrath)

[Keny]

I must agree. BRD back in the day was insanely fun, dangerous, and just plain awe-inspiring.

Getting a group of friends together and exploring every hallway, room, and corridor. Took hours and hours. Mobs, hard bosses, loot, and treasure around every turn. Getting lost but having fun regardless. The place was expansive, dark, mysterious... and was the embodiment of the "dungeon crawl" from the pen and paper RPGs.

Too bad now "dungeons" are just boring, linear hallways with the gogogo attitude.

BRD and BRS were truly dungeons in the fantasy sense of the word. Wish we could see more of these types of experiences in the future although I don't think we'll ever see their return in modern day 'world of queuecraft'.

Boldly said, could not have said It better.

1.The Shattered Halls
2.Stratholme
3.UBRS/LBRS
4.Lost City of the Tolvir
5.ALL OF THE TBC HEROICS IN THEIR FULL MIGHT AND GLORY, may they R.I.P

[Durandro]

Too many to mention, honestly. There are a tonne of really good 5 mans, and only a handful that I actively dislike. So I'll do just a few from each expansion.

Classic:
Stratholme - Most of the bosses weren't challenging at all, but a select few were at least interesting. Long instance, if you include both halves (originally it was only one instance, as most of us know), loads of potentially dangerous trash, and a chance not only to kill loads of Scarlet Crusaders and Scourge, but to uncover a Dreadlord. Also the look of the place is still pretty awesome.
Blackrock Depths - Massive dungeon, awesome look, huge amount of loot, multiple 'tiers' even within the same dungeon. Only downside is its still easy to get lost there due to the weird layout, even after doing that place hundreds of times.
Scarlet Monestary - Including them all together. Great looking place, relatively challenging, decent loot, plenty to kill without it being grinding. Always a relief to get to this point while leveling a character.

Burning Crusade:
Shadow Labrynth - Pure nostalgia, as I know I dreaded this place at the time. I learned how to tank here. Enough said, honestly.
Magister's Terrace - Hard. Very hard. And then you tried heroic. You didn't finish heroic. Not until you'd cleared a fair amount of raid content, at least.
The Mechanar - Pure nostalgia again, I hated this place. The moment my Suneater dropped was the last time I ever ran that damn dungeon. But looking back, it was a tough cookie for a normal party to crack and had some interesting boss mechanics.

Wrath of the Lich King:
Trial of the Champion - Call me crazy, but it was a nice 5 man. Quick, relatively tough boss fights with a bare minimum of 'trash' at the start. And the loot was fantastic for catching up to get ready for raiding. The Black Knight was a pure idiot check, one so many people failed on. The Champions were varied and interesting, a proper small scale council fight with random opponants. And then two more random Argent opponants with interesting mechanics. Overall, good.
Pit of Saron - Epic feel, progressively more difficult bosses, just about the right amount of trash, and an idiot check gauntlet. Only downside is when you got a tank who would abandon group after picking up his Quel'dalar quest items... Oh, and people who failed to avoid that trash on the ramp and caused a wipe.
Halls of Lightning - Nostalgia, but an amusing fact in that Loken was briefly the most deadly mob in WoW due to his huge kill count.

Cataclysm:
Grim Batol - Quite possibly the hardest of the Cata 5 mans (and in my opinion harder then some BC heroics). Even with a good bombing run the trash was punishing and often needed to be CC'ed. Each boss was potentially a group breaker which required a lot of personal awareness. Final boss was a skill check that would easily cause a wipe if one person was slacking on slowing/killing the adds. And the place looks fantastic too, like a dark version of Ironforge.
Shadowfang Keep - Call me a heathen, but I prefer the revamped version. Every boss is interesting - Baron Ashbury being a really brutal introduction to the instance (especially pre-nerf when no-one had gear).
Throne of the Tides - based on looks alone. Most of the boss fights were boring or annoying, and the trash was frustrating if you didn't have good CC. But goodness me its a pretty dungeon.

Mists of Pandaria -
Mogu'shan Palace - Great looking, decent bosses, reasonable amount of trash. Not much else to say.
Scholomance - The revamp is great. Much needed as well since the old Scholomance was a mess that pugs feared to tread and would often abandon midway through. All good boss fights, keeps the great vibe of the dungeon, removes the annoying aspects.

And yes, I only gave MoP two spots due to not having much to choose from.

[Vaelorian]

1. Black Rock Depths
Long long loooooong. I loved it to death. First I hated it, but since I was practically the only one in the guild I was in at the time to help out with Jailbreak, I'd grown fond of the place. So much to do quest/lorewise.

2. Shattered Halls
Especially pre-nerf this was THE instance I felt I actually had a challenge. Everything was hard here. I basically only dared to go here with close friends or with the guild.

3. Utgarde Pinnacle
Fun and quick instance.

4. Upper Black Rock Spire
Long instance and at the time, very difficult (pre-nerf).

5. Maraudon
While it was a pain to get to as an alliance player, I loved getting lost in this place. I was a grand experience with guildies. It was very annoying with a PUG (not always ofcourse). Sadly didn't grind this one as much as other Vanilla instances. But it was one of the best.

[Aliessil]

Not sure I could pick a top 5. My favourites were probably (in no particular order):

Blackrock Depths (vanilla) - an epic experience, and getting through the Lyceum was great fun!
Stratholme (vanilla) - Loved both wings, but especially the undead side.
Sunken Temple (vanilla) - enjoyed it while levelling up, still enjoyed soloing it at 60 as a druid.
Shattered Halls (TBC)
Sethekk Halls (TBC) - Surprised no-one's mentioned this before, always loved the place. I also ran it a ton, trying to get that mount!
Magister's Terrace (TBC)
Halls of Reflection (LK)
Zul'Gurub (Cata) - This is probably one of my favourite 5mans ever.


Honourable mentions would also go to:
Zul'Farrak (vanilla) - everyone loved the pyramid fight, specially in Vanilla!
Hellfire Ramparts (TBC)
Gundrak (LK)
End Time (Cata)
Shado-Pan Monastery (MoP) - can be really painful in LFG, but great with a good group!

[Jawless Jones]

1. Hall of Reflection, amazing atmosphere, amazing wep models in both modes, i loved tanking it in general

2. Forge of Souls, best dungeon music in-game imo, Bronjahm

3. Vanilla Scarlet Monastery all wings, pretty good amount of bosses with nice trash, good dungeon quests (sword of omen lasted me about 14 lvls back in the day), nice mail set i am was sad to see that it no longer drops

4. Magister's Terrace, good bosses, mount/pet/cosmetic item, vial of the sunwell was pretty ballin'

5. ToC, not a crapload of trash, pretty innovative boss fights for a 5-man, great wep models

[khalltusk]

5 - Magisters Terrace because you know Tempest keep was merely a setback
4 - Ajol Nerub, purely because the looks were freaking awesome (the raid was never made but the area around it would have linked to SO MUCH stuff)
3 - Gate of the setting sun, another one with awesome looks and some fun boss fights to boot
2 - Halls of lightning main reason was all the planet stuff and ofc fighting loki at the end (for those of us who did the quest line it was cool) then finding out yogg saron is his master.
1 - BRD, mainly because I for some reason STILL enjoy it. I remember making my key to gain access to the other sections. I remember farming FR gear and forging the sulfuron hammer and other items there too.