What was your favorite raid and why?

[Zlebar]

My favorite raid was Ulduar, I was finally coming into my own as a raider. I had never really played TBC and had certainly never raided until a couple months after Naxx(WOTLK) came out. After thoroughly reviewing all of the raids that I took seriously(Firelands,ICC,1st Tier MoP,Dragon Soul and Ulduar), I came to the conclusion that having integrated hardmodes that you activated through doing certain things in the game, was probably one of my favorite mechanics of all time. The first time we got firefighter in 25m was quite the day for me. Plus, the raid had a hidden boss(we all new about him but it was still cool to think about) and it had optional bosses.

After taking some time away from the game and coming back only recently, I really truly enjoyed Ulduar seeing it as it was my first progression raid ever where I was hitting it the day it opened with all BiS gear. The variety of game mechanics that Blizzard showcased in the instance was beyond me. So many new things; shattering constructs in the water(I played a boomkin so I got that duty), a boss who shot laser eye beams on the ground, over 9000 Cats that 1 shot tanks on most of our first couple of pulls, the heart of a machine that no matter how hard we DPS'ed it was never going to die in the first month and a half the instance was open, and so many more little things that made the fights so enjoyable.

After going back and playing some of the old instances, I think I probably missed out big time on Karahzan and Sunwell. Alas, I was fresh to the game at that point and didn't know what the words "end game content" meant.

Now a couple of weeks after the new raid has opened and I am severely undergeared after missing a couple of the middle tiers, I am at least thankful that I have the option of LFR to supplement my gear. It has been a couple rough LFR runs, but overall I hope that I can get back into the raiding scene so that I can enjoy another gift that blizzard has given us(or that we paid for).


So what is your favorite raid?

[miffy23]

Naxx40 - revolutionary raid for it's time. Nearly all bosses were brand-spanking new, some legitimately puzzled raid groups for a long time. The atmosphere was amazing and is still my favourite to this day, the soundtrack and the ambience always make me nostalgic when i listen to them today. Plus it was the last 40 man raid, and I loved 40 man to pieces. Set the bar for raids to come, sadly it came out way too late in Classic.

[Haywire5714]

Started playing at the very end of Tbc.
My favorite would have to be Throne of Thunder, a lot of those bosses are really fun to heal. Lei Shen, Dark Animus heroic and Durumu are amazing bosses.

Runner up would have to be Firelands, Ragnaros is my favorite boss in the game.
I only did Ulduar casually so I never made it passed the first 4 bosses.

[Zlebar]

Yeah the first 4 bosses in Ulduar were fun... but the last 5 bosses are what defined it.

[Deleted]

1.Karazhan.

First raid I ever did...it simply had the best overall feeling to it. Bosses were fun, not perse really hard but fun.

fav Boss: Shade of Aran...hint for reason: I will not move when...

2. Black Temple

For the same reason as Karazhan. I feel like they put more time in making you feel the athmosphere and theme of the raid insted of just creating a random raid with overcomplicated bossfights.

Fav Boss: Supremus...it felt really overwhelming have to run away from such a big fucker.

3. Not really the raid, but Mimiron Hardmode aka Firefighter Achievement truely is the best boss I've ever done.

[Ailylia]

ICC... it just felt... epic.

[Deleted]

It used to be Karazhan, but that was until they made Ulduar. I loved the way hardmodes worked in that raid, I really wish they would go back to it. XT's hardmode activation was great, it was either something you had to watch out for or something you had to all go for.
Also the mimiron hard mode fight is probably one of the best fights in a long time.

[Deleted]

Loved Ony, ZG, Molten Core, Kara, SSC, Mount Hyjal, Black temple, Ulduar, Firelands (Firecat staff FTW)

If i had to pick one i'd go with SSC purely because it was wth a fun guild

[Deleted]

Ulduar, because it was just great. I loved that raid. Then the people I was playing with at the time aswell were totally great.

[Deleted]

Ulduar, it was the first raid instance i really raided with the current group im in.
on top of that it was a pretty sweet raid all in itself also.

[zjadow]

Hmm, it's really hard to pick, since my experiences were heavily influenced by the people i've been playing with at the time.
1. Ulduar - chasing the hardmodes in 10 man was the most fun i had during wotlk.
2. Molten Core - Just the experience of setting my first steps in a raid setting hours after i had dinged 60... it was overwhelming and left an impression.
3. Karazhan - only reason why it's #3 and not #1 is that my mostly 10 man guild during BC spend way to much time raiding it during BC, but a brilliant raid that was.

[Chonar]

Obviously.


But yeah. Ulduar was great because I love Titan-related lore.
Special shout-out for Throne of Four Winds though, purely for the music within.

[Deleted]

1. Ulduar: Easily the best raid Blizzard has ever developed. From the atmosphere, to the wide variety of boss encounters (not to mention the sheer number), to the way hard modes mostly worked based on how you approached the fight's mechanics, to the real feeling that you were progressing deeper and deeper into something vast, unexplored and dangerous. The four Keepers and Yogg are the bosses that I remember especially fondly.

2. Karazhan: For pretty much all the same reasons as Ulduar, but on a smaller scale. The Opera Event is probably my favourite encounter in this raid, and possibly my favourite encounter overall. There's been some other encounters that could change from week to week like this one (such as the Stone Guard in MSV), but nothing on this scale.

Aside from those two, there's several that are vying for third place for me, and I cannot quite pick a single one. Icecrown Citadel, Throne of Thunder and Siege of Orgrimmar are probably the top contenders. I really have a thing for raids where you're just progressing deeper and deeper into a hostile environment, without getting the feel that you're mostly just beating down bosses till you get to the big guy, with no real... feel of it being a real enemy stronghold.

[Zantera]

My top3 would probably be:

1. Karazhan - Incredibly well-crafted and great atmosphere. Kept you coming back through the whole expansion.
2. Black Temple - Really epic and delivered the ultimate 25-man raid.
3. Ulduar - Being the bright light in an otherwise fairly mediocre expansion-pack.

[Deleted]

Definitely Karazhan.

[hrugner]

Ulduar and Kharazan: While normally I'll be contrary just to see where the conversation goes and to get a glimpse of the logical underpinnings on which those around me stretch their concepts of perfection I can see no point in pulling at this one. Those two really are the best.

The use of scale was amazing in Ulduar both in the environments and with the bosses. The encounters were also very cool and the hardmode activation was interesting. Khara felt like playing in a story book, the only thing that would have made it better is if it was narrated the whole time by Stephen Fry.

[Sul]

I didn't start raiding till ToC so I never got to experience the older raids when they were current . Ulduar is just epic and I really would of loved to do it when it was current but the one I really love is ICC , felt like you earned every boss kill and atmosphere was great

[Cybran]

Ulduar is the best raid and the one that I have done the most, but my favorites will always be Karazhan and Black Temple.

[miffy23]

I'm curious, it would be really interesting to have people add when they started playing. It makes a big difference whether you played a raid on live or you just ran through it sometime later for xmog.

I started in Classic and played through all expacs - favourite raid to this day is Naxx40, followed byy...probably Throne of Thunder, then Ulduar.

[Dundebuns]

Ulduar, due to the amount of effort that went into it. hard modes that were not just number increases, for example. Second would be joint Black Temple and Karazhan, because they are so atmospheric.