13 bosses... but the raid is still a glorified straight line

[Penguintamer]

All we have are the maps... We don't know how they connect, whether there will be certain parts that are wings, we know nothing.

[Golden Yak]

I wouldn't be sorry to see a raid that's got a more elaborate layout like Naxxramas or Blackrock Depths...

As long as there's plenty of properly defined areas - forges, libraries, quarters, throne chamber, etc. That sort of thing. Not just big empty chambers one after the other.

[Buxton McGraff]

That's the reason I loved Ulduar and every BC raid.

[Dravelar]

That's the reason I loved Ulduar and every BC raid.

Sunwell was just a straight line too

[Cernunnos]

Ulduar, like Icecrown and even BT is only linear initially, after that you can choose which bosses you kill in which order.

FL > Ignis or Razorscale in any order (also optional to progress)> Decon > Iron Council (I think these guys were optional) or Kologarn (or algalon) in any order > depending on whether you wanted to wait Auriya> Hodir or Thorim or Mimiron or Freya in any order>General > Yogg

High Lord Najentis> Supremus> at this point you can do either Shade of Akama or Gore fiend or ROS or BloodBoil in any order> Mother Shiraz> Council> illidan

Marrowgar> LDW> Gunship> Saurfang> Plague wing or blood wing or frost wing (once all 3 were unlocked that is)> LK

While they do have an initial linearity, in the middle there is more freedom to pick which bosses you want to do in what ever before moving on to the later stages of the instance.

Ulduar also had bosses who were not required to be killed to progress through the instance to get to the last boss. BT and ICC did require you kill all the bosses to reach the final one.

[kolston]

I couldn't care less about the lay out really, as long as the encounters are engaging and the scenery is unique.

[Kaleredar]

Sunwell was just a straight line too

As was Gruul's Lair, Magtheridon's Lair, and Hyjal... tempest keep was technically not linear, but it was only four damn rooms.

As long as there's plenty of properly defined areas - forges, libraries, quarters, throne chamber, etc. That sort of thing. Not just big empty chambers one after the other.

I agree completely with this sentiment. Other than Karazhan, and maybe Zul'Aman, pretty much every BC raid and Dungeon suffered heavily from this... WotLK actually did really well at making the rooms in most of the dungeons and Ulduar and ICC "important."

I think it's also important that they actually design the room to "speak" to its function, instead of making a template chamber and then filling it with associated props.

[Seramore]

I'm not sure why this matters, because a linear layout would only really work out on the first week of normals and once people have content on farm. During progression in raids with linear layouts, people tend to choose the bosses based off difficulty instead of just randomly picking a boss, especially guilds that aren't top guilds. Doing this makes the linear instance non-linear because you're following a set order instead of choosing what you want to kill.

[Nekosom]

The pieces we've seen don't seem to actually connect (the transition paths don't even slightly fit together), and there are multiple dead-end points. That says to me that it isn't linear at all, and the hub portion(s) are missing. Am I crazy here?

[Dragore]

I guess people will always find something to complain about...

Always and without a doubt...

[Mawnix]

Why do we always judge things before hand...