Which Expansion had the best 'End Game' experience? (beyond raids & leveling alts)

[dixincide]

Hey everyone, I was recently reading a few posts about people's disappointment with WoD when I came across one comment that mentioned how most people complain but no one makes suggestions as to what they'd like to see. Which got me thinking.

Which expansion had the best "End Game" experience for you? What made it the best for you?

This question doesn't really pertain to raids alone (although by all means include them in your response) but focuses more on content beyond raiding and PvP, Things that you could do when you weren't getting ready for a raid or looking for more in your RBG.

______________________________________My answer_______________________________________________________________


In my experience, Wrath of the LichKing was my favourite in terms of end game content.
-I liked the dungeons and the fact that they were always relevant, farming JP for catch up tier gear or heirlooms (newly introduced at the point) for gearing alts.
-Dalaran to this day remains one of my favourite cities in the game, it was the perfect size, had a great location relative to the world, and was very pretty
-I liked the daily hubs giving me more to do, I'm not ashamed to admit, I enjoyed the Argent Tournament.
-I liked the random Daily dungeon and raid that awarded Justice Points and Gold, And I enjoyed some of the rep grinds being not entirely necessary but also not entirely useless. You weren't significantly behind for not getting Frost Giant rep to full but if you did you could get a worthwhile trinket or something that you might not be having luck getting via raid.
-Also I enjoyed the way Hard modes worked in Ulduar before they made it it's own difficulty. My guild's not top of the pack but we aren't at the bottom either, we could handle some bosses Hard modes but didn't want to reset the entire instance just for that one boss. So it was nice to be able to well in Mimeron's case simply push a button and be able to give it a shot.

[Lodreh]

I agree with the OP but would like to add the fact that flying was not only relevant to get to Ulduar but a reward for just leveling through the content.

[Deventh]

WOTLK hands down. I am usually a casual player playing just for fun and questing, but WOTLK made me so excited and made so many friends while exploring raiding and doing a lot of pvp. It was very fun times. But after WOTLK it somehow didn't feel the same. The whole game didn't.

[sykoex]

I think the only answer here is WoD. Adding something as huge as the Garrison to the game for max level is something they've never done before. Pretty much all the things they've added before have just been little minigames like the farm or random daily quests here and there. But the Garrison is basically an entirely knew way to play the game.

[Adoxe]

I think the only answer here is WoD. Adding something as huge as the Garrison to the game for max level is something they've never done before. Pretty much all the things they've added before have just been little minigames like the farm or random daily quests here and there. But the Garrison is basically an entirely knew way to play the game.

If by playing the game you mean sitting afk in your own base 24/7 and only going out to raid for a few hours, then yes.


OT: Agreed with WOTLK.

[Deleted]

______________________________________My answer_______________________________________________________________


In my experience, Wrath of the LichKing was my favourite in terms of end game content.
-I liked the dungeons and the fact that they were always relevant, farming JP for catch up tier gear or heirlooms (newly introduced at the point) for gearing alts.
-Dalaran to this day remains one of my favourite cities in the game, it was the perfect size, had a great location relative to the world, and was very pretty
-I liked the daily hubs giving me more to do, I'm not ashamed to admit, I enjoyed the Argent Tournament.
-I liked the random Daily dungeon and raid that awarded Justice Points and Gold, And I enjoyed some of the rep grinds being not entirely necessary but also not entirely useless. You weren't significantly behind for not getting Frost Giant rep to full but if you did you could get a worthwhile trinket or something that you might not be having luck getting via raid.
-Also I enjoyed the way Hard modes worked in Ulduar before they made it it's own difficulty. My guild's not top of the pack but we aren't at the bottom either, we could handle some bosses Hard modes but didn't want to reset the entire instance just for that one boss. So it was nice to be able to well in Mimeron's case simply push a button and be able to give it a shot.

The problem with this, at least in relation to the first daily for valor points, was just how easy they were to steamroll after the first tier of gear. Running with AoE all the way through a dungeon, only stopping for a few secs at each boss, and then continue running and AoE'ing again, got extremely boring very quick.

The better option would have been to scale the dungeons with player gear, though that is the somewhat lazy option. The not so lazy option, if we are to use dungeons as a "catch-up" mechanic, would be to release new higher ilvl dungeons, with higher ilvl gear drops, each time they release a new tier, and then limit valor points to the newest dungeons.

[dixincide]

They sort of did this with Wrath too though, When ToC hit they had the new dungeon with Champion Seals that were used for higher level catch up gear. And then again when ICC hit they had 3 new dungeons that would drop higher level catch up gear still. The first batch of dungeons were pretty face roll towards the end of things, I feel if they were a little more challenging earlier on then the dungeon experience for Wrath would have been perfect

[Deleted]

I hate to take WotLK for it also had a giant content drought, but it was the best end-game experience. It added this big quest hub that was expanded every patch and while Trial of the Crusader raid was kind of a bad raid, the rest of the raids were awesome. Also, even during the content drought, we still got the minor Ruby Sanctum raid, which wasn't really an amazing raid, it had 1 boss and 3 mini-bosses, yet it was content and it was fun. There were also new dungeons at higher level and the mechanic of being only 1 tier behind with raid tokens was a good idea, didn't make people be on the same level with others but they didn't lag behind too much.

[-Superman-]

Although I am a TBC kid, Wrath was my favorite end game. ICC was the last content I raided when it was "current". When I came back to the game in mid Cata, I launched a new account and moved to an RP realm. Now, end game for me is fishing, archaeology, pet battles, hunting rares, treasure hunting, and leveling alts for their garrisons.

[Sindile]

As a casual player, Wrath for sure. Dungeons were quick and fun, I could get into raid easily, and they had plenty of outdoor content to do. Plus best lore to date.

[Varjo410]

Of course people say Wrath in every thread that's about best something expansion.
Yet I remember the forums being flooded with hate about Naxx, ToC, Ruby Sanc, the super easy heroics, the Storm Peaks dailies, the Argent Tournament dailies, Tier for justice points, easy Epics from ICC dungeons and probably other stuff I'm forgetting.

[TheMediator]

BC. Great five-mans, Netherwing, Elemental Plateau, Arenas, Isle of Quel'danas. So good. Skyguard was kind of meh, Ogril'a was okay, but otherwise pretty sweet stuff.

The nice thing with a lot of the dailies was you did not need to do them, the exception being the daily heroic, which was okay until the last patch since heroics were challenging until the last patches badge gear made them a giant joke.

[Blufossa]

Of course people say Wrath in every thread that's about best something expansion.
Yet I remember the forums being flooded with hate about Naxx, ToC, Ruby Sanc, the super easy heroics, the Storm Peaks dailies, the Argent Tournament dailies, Tier for justice points, easy Epics from ICC dungeons and probably other stuff I'm forgetting.

This. It's the expansion people got pissed because "they're handing out epics like food stamps/welfare!" Ugh.

For me, I thoroughly enjoyed MoP. I liked all prior expansions, but MoP made me very amused (still does).

Currently disappointed in WoD. Got my fingers crossed that they do something amazing before they drive their veterans away for good.

[dixincide]

I can finally say this with just cause! (About people on the forums complaining about anything, all the time, forever.)
Haters, gonna hate

I do remember that aswell, although it's hard to see how something fairs when its current then after. I never complained about Wrath but I was playing a Prot Warrior (back when Damage shield was a thing) so i was on top of the world. I do remember PvP being centered around DKs/Druids/Paladins though being my only complaint.

Its rare I ever take forum posts to heart because of how toxic people can be but it seems like more people are on the same page with the current state of WoD which is why I created this thread.

[Masser]

Isle of Quel'Danas. Hands down Burning Crusade had the best end game.

[Feali]

But after WOTLK it somehow didn't feel the same. The whole game didn't.

You wanna know why? Because Cataclysm changed the whole world. It doesn't matter if you don't go there anymore but it just doesn't look and feel like World of Warcraft since then.

[Wilian]

TBC by far, it had most end game content on all levels, not just raiding and it was all relevant for a very long while because it was part of proper progression curve and didn't treat people as brainless monkeys.

[Murlocbait]

TBC! For anyone who enjoyed 5man content, it was the high watermark. If you didn't raid, completing Heroic MGT or Shadow Labyrinth actually felt like an achievement in non-raid gear. Plus you could work a month or two and farm mats to make yourself a crafted epic weapon that was just as good as anything from Kara. The game felt open, not funneled into raiding... miss that now.

[McNeil]

WotLK for pretty much the same reasons as OP. ICC was a great raid, easy to pug on your own realm and heroics were just challenging enough with the Lich King being the most difficult boss ever. And the 3 new dungeons were really good.

[Deleted]

TBC by far.

Progression was natural, without being shoved into latest tier. Different raid instances for progression and casual raiding instead of multiple modes. Heroics were hard. Even in open world mobs were not pushovers.