Which Raid mechanics do you like?

[Taalyn]

Naxxramas/Obsidian Sanctum/Malygos

- 1 level of tier gear. Obtained via class tokens.
- No heroic mode

Ulduar

- 1 level of tier gear. Obtained via class tokens.
- Heroic mode activated on a per boss basis that requires doing something special during the fight. No special lockout. Awards one piece of loot only available via heroic mode. One heroic mode only boss.

Trial of the Crusader

- 3 levels of tier gear. 1 obtained via emblems, 1 obtained via emblems and a trophy, 1 obtained via heroic mode from the last boss only
- Heroic mode activated for the entire instance on a separate lockout from normal. No special loot.

Icecrown Citadel

- 3 levels of tier gear. 1 obtained via emblems, 1 obtained via token from all end wing bosses plus the previous level of tier gear, 1 obtained via token on heroic from all end wing bosses plus the previous level of tier gear.
- Heroic mode activated on a per boss basis but requires no special play during the encounter. No special lockout. No special loot.


I am curious what setup people prefer with tier gear and heroic modes.

Personally I like a mixture of them. I enjoy the 3 level tier gear from Icecrown Citadel. I like upgrading my existing piece of tier via a token and that the tokens drop from the same bosses on both heroic mode and normal mode, although I would prefer only 2 levels of tier gear because of the loot mechanic I like. I like the heroic mode activation in Ulduar. I like that it does not have a separate lockout from normal mode and that (for the most part) you have to do something special during the fight to activate the heroic mode. An example is XT-002 Deconstructor where you must "kill" the heart to activate heroic mode. Another is Thorim where you must complete the gauntlet in a given amount of time. I also like that the heroic mode awards a special piece of loot. I do not enjoy doing heroic modes in Icecrown Citadel to get the same piece of gear I got on normal but slightly upgraded. This is why I would prefer only 2 levels of tier gear. 1 via emblems and 1 via token plus the previous level of tier gear. I like that the tokens only come from end wing bosses. I liked gear that only came from defeating XT-002 after you destroyed his heart. I also enjoyed Algalon in Ulduar, the heroic mode only boss. I didn't necessarily enjoy the process of unlocking him but I liked the idea of him.

[Rystastic]

Naxx and Ulduar had 2 levels of tier gear, technically.

In terms of pure mechanics, Ulduar was the most fun for me personally.

[feigning]

I didn't much like the Ulduar way of activating hard modes, though I admit it was the best of the three. I like ToC's version of tier the best: easy to obtain, with good enough stats to allow an alt to raid quickly. The second level of the ToC tier was slightly more difficult to get, but obtainable with relative ease, and then the third level was only for the best players.

[Lore Lord]

I thought Ulduar definitely was the most fun in terms of what the hard modes actually consisted of. They were activated through interesting mechanics and more often than not added some unique fight mechanics instead of just making the original boss hit harder with more health and maybe add one new move like the ToC and ICC versions. Another nice thing with Ulduar is the bosses with different levels of hard mode like Freya, Flame Leviathon, and of course Yoggy so you could pick how much more difficult the fight gets. It was great for people who were too good for normal modes but not good enough for the most hardcore version. So yeah, Uld had the best incarnation of hard modes imo.

[Badpaladin]

You will find most ppl who post on this topic like the Ulduar mechanics best and ToC least. Blizzard kinda merged them for ICC as a compromise.

Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, I'm going to disagree here. ICC mechanics were far more similar to ToC than Ulduar.

[rzy]

Naxx and uld > TOC and ICC tokens + Seperate hardmodes isntead of LOLOL HC MODE is so much better imo.

[Assassin1344]

I prefer the ICC way but the Ulduar way is close behind. The problem I had with the Ulduar way was that occasionally someone would either put it on hardmode on accident or someone would mess up and hardmode would not be activated. Then you wiped. Not a huge deal but it is still a few minus points.

[Bigdunka]

In regards to srictly gear, I think that in terms of 'progression', ICC got it right, forcing you to go from the lowest tier to get each piece going up to the higher tier.

However, in triggering hard modes, Ulduar was so much more fun, but I actually prefer having the entire instance set on hard mode in terms of a challenge like in ToC. It always seemed cheap when you see some pugs hit hard mode Gunship for that heroic loot, which there are a couple of amazing 277 pieces from there, and yet then wipe to Festergut. It just doesn't seem right.

[Smoopie]

I liked the 4 lock outs..could gear super fast if you played a lot :P

[Badpaladin]

Hm..how so? You switch to a mode inside the Instance in Ulduar and ICC. You can do one boss on hard, the next on easy etc. You have one 25 man lockout and one 10 man lockout

TotC actually had 4 different versions. 10 man, 10 man HM, 25 man, 25 man HC. So I stand to my statement. Got any examples for yours?

No, you don't switch to a mode in Ulduar like you do in ICC...

All hard modes are activated by some unique part of the actual boss encounter or its surroundings(I guess you can exclude Hodir since it's just KILL HIM FASTHURR). The hard modes, especially the keepers, were FAR more challenging at their gear level than ICC hard modes pre-buff, and had a much more diverse array of things to watch out for. Save Hodir, ALL Uludar hard modes were a completely different fight than their "normal mode" counterparts with respect to new abilities, new things to watch for, etc. ICC hard modes were practically carbon copies of their normal modes, save Lich King and maayyyybbbee LDW.

[Entalpia]

I think that Ulduar was the best option where however you wanted you could switch the heroics, that was a lot better option than 'Congratz you did it once... now do it again harder' It's like playing a single player game for 30 pounds that was for max 8 hours and only way to extend its length was to play it again but on new unlocked difficulty.

[Aerikaya]

As for tier gear, I liked the ICC model-get the basic low level version then keep upgrading it.

For Hardmodes, Ulduar was king, having to do something unique for each boss. Clicking heroic is so boring.

[fizikz]

i like the token concept, but i hate that it groups certain classes together, where if you have none of them or 8 of them you're screwed.....know what i mean?

[Deleted]

Loved every moment of ulduar

[Everx]

Ulduar, the mechanics were quite unique and new besides the basic 'hey watch out for that fire!'. Running in a special gauntlet and having your group split up in Thorim and Yogg-saron was my favorite end game boss so far.