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  1. #1

    Original Naxx 4 Horsemen hardest encounter ever?

    Aside from overturned bosses that were all of impossible to kill due to bad design pre-nerf I think that the original iteration of the four horsemen was the hardest most complex fight in the history of World of Warcraft and I don't know if it will ever be beaten in that aspect. The encounter didn't have as many different mechanics compared to some of the modern day bosses whose raid info page is a mile long. But, the encounter had a full 40 man raid group broken up into many little groups that all had to rotate correctly or pretty much be killed instantly.

    In a raid group unless you're in Paragon there's typically at least one tard that the rest of the raid is covering for and that's always made very apparent on boss encounters where the raid has to split up and do multiple things at the same time. This has never nor will it ever again (unless blizzard brings back serious 40 man raiding again) been more apparent than on the original four horsemen.

    There were 4 tanks all tanking separate mobs and they had to rotate based on stacks of the debuff and with taunt being spell hit back then there could be some hairy situations due to taunt resists.

    You had between 10-12 healers who all had different roles some following tanks around but because of the tanks higher health pools the healers had their own separate rotations they had to follow.

    Then you had 24-26 dps split up into different groups. There was no zerg the meteor boss strat back then because the dps just wasn't high enough so you had to rotate out in multiple groups. You had some groups resetting stacks in the safe zone, you had some on Morgraine and then you always had to have some with the tank to soak meteors. You also had to run in and out together because other wise you risked taking a stray meteor to the face and being one shot.

    People also had to deal with invisible void zones which some people did use that as an excuse when they just tarded it up it was a buggy mechanic that really did exist and would one shot a healer if they didn't get out before the damage from it ticked (think of moving on heroic lich king except sometimes defile was invisible and instantly killed you when it ticked it's first damage). Not so much of a mechanic but a common bug that had to be dealt with.

    But, by far the hardest mechanic was getting 40 people to split off and become extremely fragmented and yet still function as a whole and to do their jobs with it being almost impossible for the raid leader to see the entirety of the battle field and keep an eye on everyone even if someone could keep track of that many people moving at different times.

    So, I'd propose that the original version of the four horsemen was the hardest boss encounter of all time and will never be beaten just based solely on the amount of coordination it took to down that boss and the fact that there aren't 40 man raid dungeons anymore.

  2. #2
    Scarab Lord Leih's Avatar
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    In the original four horseman fight most guilds used eight tanks rather than four and the hardest part of the fight was having eight tanks with enough gear to even begin.

    The actual encounter itself was pretty challenging logistically, but in terms of personal mechanics it was no where near the difficulty of the harder modern day fights. You just had so much less to contend with back then in terms of class abilities, cooldowns and rotations (in most cases) than you do now.

  3. #3
    4 horseman wasn't an overly complicated fight, KT was worse from what I have heard.

    The reason 4 horseman was the longest undefeated encounter without so much as a nerf, hotfix, bug fix, alteration, or any tinkering whatsoever before it was defeated (a record it still holds to this day), was due to the need for so many GEARED tanks, a whopping 8 of them!. It took forever to gear up enough tanks to down the encounter.
    My name is Cernunnos, I will love you like no other, I have died a thousand deaths, each time I died I thought of you.

  4. #4
    The hardest part of the encounter was stealing geared Main tanks from other guilds for a total of 8

    The strats for the individual bosses stay for the most part the same from the naxx 25 version. Take Zeliek easy and dont chain, and dont run in and out on korthaz on the meteor CD. The raid just has to sit in the middle after a set amount of stacks and piddle with themselves till the stacks drop.

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by Kae View Post
    In the original four horseman fight most guilds used eight tanks rather than four and the hardest part of the fight was having eight tanks with enough gear to even begin.

    The actual encounter itself was pretty challenging logistically, but in terms of personal mechanics it was no where near the difficulty of the harder modern day fights. You just had so much less to contend with back then in terms of class abilities, cooldowns and rotations (in most cases) than you do now.
    ^^ this. It was one of those fights where when u killed it once, u always one shot it after

  6. #6
    I agree with the hardest real part was finding eight tanks with enough gear. Hell some guilds had issue getting four tanks fully geared much less eight. The fight really wasnt too bad once people got into a rhythm with the swapping from A to B to Safe zone and repeating. The Mecanics other then dealing with the marks were nothing compared to what you might see in todays fights. I would venture to say Zero lights Yogg was harder and Prob Heroic Lich King in terms of the mechanics ( only ones i have experience with.)For example when it was at content on heroic lich king if someone didn't get of the group and dropped the black puddle of death GG wipe. The time to react to said ability from what i recall wasn't much at all.

  7. #7
    The hardest part of the fight was having FORTY people all do their job for like 10 minutes.

    Don't get confused.

  8. #8
    Pit Lord
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    In a way, yes. Namely, in terms of preparation and organization. Getting 40 well-geared people (8 of which are tanks) to do their job properly.

    On a personal skill level however, no.

  9. #9
    The hardest part was getting the 8 tanks required geared...
    Last edited by Gliff; 2013-07-12 at 06:33 PM. Reason: I'm getting old

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by Kae View Post
    In the original four horseman fight most guilds used eight tanks rather than four and the hardest part of the fight was having eight tanks with enough gear to even begin.

    The actual encounter itself was pretty challenging logistically, but in terms of personal mechanics it was no where near the difficulty of the harder modern day fights. You just had so much less to contend with back then in terms of class abilities, cooldowns and rotations (in most cases) than you do now.
    Yea I would say it is not the hardest fight now given fights in Sunwell and HM Ragnaros and HM Lei Shen. Hardest part was getting enough geared tanks.

  11. #11
    The overall hardest encounter ever that wasn't impossible is hard to say, but 4-horsemen is not one of them.

    Yogg'saron 0-lights original, Heroic Ragnaros, Lei Shen..... perhaps one of those.

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by Cattleya View Post
    On a personal skill level however, no.


    If someone in your team didn't pay attention, it definitely mattered.

  13. #13
    Edit: Im retarded
    do what you feel.

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by Spacepunch View Post
    actually it was pretty easy to just have 2 unholy dks and a healer in the back ranged tanking. Definitely not a hard fight imo.
    Kids these days.

  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by fangless View Post
    Kids these days.
    referring to yourself? you attempted to troll me in the 5 sec before i changed my post...good on you.
    do what you feel.

  16. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by fangless View Post
    Kids these days.
    :P some ppl just dont know naxx was a 40 man raid instance back in classic
    the ultimate answer's to all rogue issues :

    -Rogues might still be dealing with the changes to combo points {2014}

  17. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by fangless View Post
    Kids these days.
    Quote Originally Posted by Koji2k11 View Post
    hard troll dk :P some ppl just dont know naxx was a 40 man raid instance back in classic
    daaaamn
    /10char

  18. #18
    Deleted
    I still think Yogg0 was the hardest fight ever. Everyone had to watch their ass (insanity) and there was so much shit going on. Plus the insane dps requirement (lolol locks).

    PS. Inb4 Cthun pre nerf. That doesn't count :P

  19. #19
    Pit Lord
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    Quote Originally Posted by fangless View Post


    If someone in your team didn't pay attention, it definitely mattered.
    There's a difference between something being hard and something requiring your attention. On an individual basis, the horsemen's mechanics were not hard.

  20. #20
    Immortal Tharkkun's Avatar
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    You needed 8 tanks with the 4 piece bonus which gave a bonus to your taunt not being resisted. This was critical because one missed taunt equaled a wipe. It was also a poachfest for tanks.

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