Blackrock Depths is the perfect dungeon

[Aildrik]

Agree with the OP. BRD (and Blackrock Spire), to me, represent some of the best dungeon design in WoW. I liked that they felt alive, that they were more open and gave players many options as far as how to navigate them, which bosses to kill, etc. BRD especially just had such an epic feel to it.

The dungeons, starting with TBC, turned into hallway cattle chutes. That said, I can understand why newer players would be frustrated by the design of BRD especially if their first experience was the shorter dungeon design that we had in later expansions.

[Golden Yak]

Like the mountainous areas of Redridge Mountains during Classic, except an entire zone with all the new tech?

Yeah...that'd be sick.

Dunno 'bout that, never did vanilla Alliance stuff.

I wonder if you could have some kind of... I don't know, big scenario. One that could potentially take hours. With different 'stopping points' that individual people can pop in and out of, like 'save points'. You can start a group and go to a certain point, then stop for a while, find another group and start off again from that point. Have the scenario reset daily.

Like the entire scenario is one zone, and each of the 'daily tasks' there are events that you play through.

I don't know, more and more it just starts sounding like a zone like Tanaan or Timeless Isle. But those regions are so open and non-linear, they don't really have the same narrative feel or sense of progression that a dungeon does.

[TheLittleBeast]

Dunno 'bout that, never did vanilla Alliance stuff.

I wonder if you could have some kind of... I don't know, big scenario. One that could potentially take hours. With different 'stopping points' that individual people can pop in and out of, like 'save points'. You can start a group and go to a certain point, then stop for a while, find another group and start off again from that point. Have the scenario reset daily.

Like the entire scenario is one zone, and each of the 'daily tasks' there are events that you play through.

I don't know, more and more it just starts sounding like a zone like Tanaan or Timeless Isle. But those regions are so open and non-linear, they don't really have the same narrative feel or sense of progression that a dungeon does.

Meh, this seems like a half step; a ghetto "Dynamic Event" if you will.

[Kokolums]

LBRS / UBRS was my favorite. BRD was massive but the bosses really lacked mechanics. BRS bosses had more interesting mechanics.

[TheLittleBeast]

LBRS / UBRS was my favorite. BRD was massive but the bosses really lacked mechanics. BRS bosses had more interesting mechanics.

Not sure if I'd agree BRS bosses had more interesting mechanics, but the bosses in BRD were indeed lacking mechanically.

[Pull My Finger]

BRD sucked. Ugly, boring, too long.

It has everything that a dungeon shouldn't have. Don't make a big ass gigantic dungeon based on one single terribly bland color scheme and 3 different wall textures. And even if you do - don't make it "brown and grey dungeon walls"! The only way how you could do this even worse is to do "dark cave" instead of "brown and grey dungeon walls".

The other big thing is: if you're really making a dungeon THAT big, because for some reason, you think that might be a good idea ... don't stretch it with boring bullshit. Which BRD is filled to the brim with.

[mysticx]

The great thing about BRD is that there's so much to do there, but on the other hand, the bad thing is that there's so much to do there...

Vault run, Emperor, Jailbreak, Attunement to the core, bar run for Thorium brotherhood rep/recipes, several out-of-the-way bosses... I haven't been in a single group that fully agreed on what to do and what to skip, BrD is a great place to explore, but dungeon runs aren't about exploring anymore, and i'm not entirely sure whether or not that's a bad thing TBH...

A big city to explore and do cool stuff in seems more feasible as a solo-adventure nowadays, where everybody can decide what they want to do on their own, just slapping 5 people together in a place the size and scope of BrD with a "Figure out what you want to do in there, have fun!"-vibe just isn't going to work, never did (Even in Vanilla), and probably never will...

[TheLittleBeast]

BRD sucked. Ugly, boring, too long.

It has everything that a dungeon shouldn't have. Don't make a big ass gigantic dungeon based on one single terribly bland color scheme and 3 different wall textures. And even if you do - don't make it "brown and grey dungeon walls"! The only way how you could do this even worse is to do "dark cave" instead of "brown and grey dungeon walls".

The other big thing is: if you're really making a dungeon THAT big, because for some reason, you think that might be a good idea ... don't stretch it with boring bullshit. Which BRD is filled to the brim with.

I disagree, I thoroughly enjoyed BRD; both thematically and practically. One of the few dungeons that felt immersive.

[Dangg]

Nah it's the worst dungeon, because a full clear can take like 10 hours and bosses are designed for a 52-60 level range.
And plz don't forget to bring a mage for the aoe packs at the end thx

[Reyzzz]

It was, by far, the worst dungeon in vanilla.

[Notshauna]

It's really interesting and cool, but not a good dungeon. Instead it should of been something entirely different like an instanced adventuring zone, but it fails to provide a good experience for running dungeons, much like most older dungeons. These sprawling multi-hour zones simply fail as dungeons, as they are not something that should be completed in a single sitting.

[TheLittleBeast]

It's really interesting and cool, but not a good dungeon. Instead it should of been something entirely different like an instanced adventuring zone, but it fails to provide a good experience for running dungeons, much like most older dungeons. These sprawling multi-hour zones simply fail as dungeons, as they are not something that should be completed in a single sitting.

If you haven't ran it before, then yeah perhaps you won't complete it in one go. But who's to say dungeons shouldn't take and hour or so to complete? People spend much more time on a single boss in a raid encounter. Why not an hour or two clearing an entire dungeon.

[Deleted]

I have very fond memories of BRD, getting lost in there for 6+ hours and realizing we were too low level for some parts of the dungeon then trying to navigate back to areas we could clear. The whole thing felt like a giant adventure puzzle. When a dungeon is bigger than your capital city it really feels pretty epic. imo anyway.

I dislike how they've split the dungeon now so you're teleported to where you need to be, kill the boss marked on the map then teleport out again.

[Notshauna]

If you haven't ran it before, then yeah perhaps you won't complete it in one go. But who's to say dungeons shouldn't take and hour or so to complete? People spend much more time on a single boss in a rain encounter. Why not an hour or two clearing an entire dungeon.

I've done BRD probably hundreds of times, the way you optimize it is by ignoring most of it. It's probably a 3-4 hour instance if you're full clearing. Seriously you look at the older dungeons and you realize that pre-cata the way you cleared them was by ignoring more than half of it.

[Arrashi]

It was really cool, but back in its days it was far too long. You can clear whole raid faster nowadays than you would clear BRD.

I still prefer TBC approach to dungeons most.

[TheLittleBeast]

I've done BRD probably hundreds of times, the way you optimize it is by ignoring most of it. It's probably a 3-4 hour instance if you're full clearing. Seriously you look at the older dungeons and you realize that pre-cata the way you cleared them was by ignoring more than half of it.

With the introduction of heirloom items, those instances could be cleared much much faster; especially if ran it at level 60 like a lot of people did back in Vanilla.

[Cernunnos]

The only thing BRD needs is a mid section LFD version for the ring of law/west garrison/manufactoryand the grim guzzler. In between the detention run (level 49) and the upper city run (level 53)

Level 49, when you first get BRD in the dungeon finder it is the detention block, which is to kill the Interrogator, which is basically zone in, turn right, kill boss, get satchel and leave.

At level 53, you now get upper city runs, upper city runs start passed the grim guzzler, and you proceed down the stairs to kill ambassador flamelash, the tomb of the seven, the lyceum, and the Emperor's throne room, get your satchel and leave.

So in order to actually be eligible for the quests for upper city, you have to either convince an upper city group to do the first half the instance, or convince a detention block group to stay together after getting their satchel and do nigh on half the instance so when you are put into an upper city run later you can do the quests.


Yes I think it's pretty crap that the back half the instance (east garrison/domicile, Hall of crafting, Dark Iron Highway, unless the tank actually wants to do Baelgar) gets left out because it's not part of the main quest line, nor in anyway required for either satchel boss, but I can deal with that.

[Deleted]

Yes, it is my favorite dungeon from back then (vanilla). It kind of feels more like an 'adventure' when there are different routes you can take and optional objectives/bosses to complete/kill (if there are worthy rewards). I also think the 'build up' to the final fight (Thaurissan) is well done and he is a worthy last boss. There are a lot of fights that aren't common in other instances of that time (ring of law (random bosses), the room with the fast respawning dwarves and torches, 7 dwarves that activate one after another) and are fun.

[Gaidax]

Out of these 22 bosses, 18 were pretty much elites with large hp pool and like 1 ability or were just summoning casual adds. Waw so impressive.

BRD is a terrible experience besides the first or second time, the whole novelty wears off quick and what remains is a long ass boring crawl with mind-numbing bosses that do nothing and simply get zerged down. It's the ultimate "are we there yet?" experience.

[Hawthorne Wipes]

They wouldn't fit with the current LFD model, BUT, it doesn't mean those dungeons cannot come back.
Remember Jintha'alor in the Hinterlands?
It was like an open 5-man, with a lot of quests, bosses, elite trash, events, etc..
Nowadays, along with old BRD, that would seem like a 5-man raid.
Blizzard could make a couple of this 5-man raids (instanced), unaccessible with the LFD tool, so you have to make your own group and go to the entrance (like Mythic Duns).
The difficulty could be in pair with a raid in terms of mechanics and requirements (CCs, strategy..), but with 5-man, and the rewards being so close to the current raids that they'd feel worthy (maybe a 0.5 tier, and a mount drop from the final boss).
A quest chain along this 5-man raid that could explain the lore attached to it would be awesome too.