The only reason Ulduar is the most popular raid ever is...

[Craaazyyy]

it was 4 months

Tomb for example lasted for like a month longer

[Wvvtayy]

Wasn't ToV about that long in Legion?

ToV wasn't it's own tier.

[Nefarious Tea]

Green, void purple and frozen blue, the three colours Blizzard enjoy the most.

Don't forget red. *cough every 40-man raid except Naxx and AQ40, BWD, FL, DS, BRF, EN*

[Teri]

Ulduar was the peak of Wotlk.

Yes we finished the Lich King, and the story and dungeons were cool too, but after the Argent Tournament, 1 year of ICC was pretty lame.

[irdsyd]

I was in a guild from the beginning of Vanilla until we finished Ulduar. A large proportion of the guild left after Ulduar - it was their highlight and for many it felt like we were done after >4years playing. I think that makes it my favorite because it was the last raid with the people I enjoyed playing the game with most - and it was the raid we did best on in terms of rankings etc.

[Arkura]

What I liked best about ulduar was the difference in scenery, one wing was full of life, plants everywhere and the other hall was frozen and cold. The fights felt very different also. I think the instance as a whole was very well put together with interesting end game boss wich we will most likely see more of in the future

[Nnyco]

It also had a diverse environment that mostly lacked doom and gloom.

ye nothin says lack of doom and gloom like a god of death

[BananaHandsB]

I wouldn't say it revolutionized raiding with hard modes because Ulduar style hard modes were never used again, save for that one boss in ToES

Hard modes evolved into what is now called "mythic". They opened the gate for raids with different levels of difficulty.

Ulduar was a fantastic, beautiful raid filled with a diverse range of bosses and soaked deep in azeroth's lore. Trying to distill its awesomeness to one single point about it's duration is clearly an attempt to push the content kiddy agenda. Step back and take a look outside your little pigeonhole view of the world (of warcraft), and you'll see there is much more to ulduar than what supports your very simplistic world(of warcraft)view.

[cparle87]

It also had a diverse environment that mostly lacked doom and gloom.

Ulduar was plenty creepy. Didn't you watch the trailer? "He won't stop talking about this presence he felt. Permeating the great halls. Stirring in their minds. Chilling their blood."

[bmjclark]

I found ICC to be a fucking bore to get through even when it was relatively new. I hated pretty much every wing of the place and 1+ minute of rp before u could fight saurfang or the lich king every single time didn't make matters better.

[Velerios]

Ulduar was the best xpack. Why:

Simply because it was the best.

1.) Hard Modes
This was the first introduction, and it was maybe the best one. Instead of making hard-modes a toggle, you needed to unlock it through the fight: XT-002: instead of a toggle: activate hardmode, you needed to destroy the core of him. Only if you made this DPS-Check, then the mode could be unlocked. The enemy healed to full and now you needed to deal with him.

Other bosses had this too, some could be activated before the fight but not everyone. And exactly this is what made it so good. Then blizzard became lazy and gave us the toggle with the most boring raid ever.

TRAIN: We had a working train there. Sadly this never replaced the deeprun tram in Ironforge.

Visuals: We had there unlockable teleporter, SIEGE WEAPONS (yes, the first boss was quite refreshing and simply something different; and by far not as bad as the one against malygos), destroyable objects and so on.

Bosses: they were all somehow different. Compared to the failure tournament it was phantastic.

[Rotted]

You think its a fact! Breakthrough!

Now that you explained it, I hate Ulduar.

Really though, ICC was the same as the rest of the expansion - Blue, Undead, Ice, LK. Ulduar was unique at the time.

No shit, a whole expansion based on the undead in a frozen wasteland was predominately undead and iced themed?

I don't know what people expect when we're given specific theme.

[Kieldon]

No shit, a whole expansion based on the undead in a frozen wasteland was predominately undead and iced themed?

I don't know what people expect when we're given specific theme.

I'm not saying it's bad. Never said that. I just pointed out why Ulduar stood out and was a success - titan architecture, a mysterious old god and many quests from Howling Fjord to Storm Peaks that built an epic side story to otherwise badass expansion.

[Sanguinerd]

Oh my god! someone decided my opinion for me.

How did I ever live before this.

[Wvvtayy]

Oh my god! someone decided my opinion for me.

How did I ever live before this.

It wouldn't be MMOC without someone being offended by a difference of opinion

[OreoLover]

It had an old god, quirky bosses, Titan-theme and Lore, various settings, siege vehicle warfare, a cool rare mount, cool achievement mounts, snazzy gear...

Achievement for Item Level progression...

I don't even know it's the "most popular," if all were accounted for. Even if it were, those reasons above would be higher in the list (they're way higher for me).

For me, thematically ICC was a bore by comparison. Undead, undead, undead.

[Sanguinerd]

It wouldn't be MMOC without someone being offended by a difference of opinion

You don't really seem to know what offended means.. Odd considering your sig.



Anyway, ICC was not a better raid. Fact.

[YouWillAllAnswerToSithis]

This player will say that this raid is the best. The individual behind them will say this raid was the best. It goes on and on. However, the raid was done right. Everything from the music to the atmosphere and colors. The encounters to hard modes and the theme overall is amazing.

[Donald Hellscream]

ToT
Ulduar
Blackrock Foundry

Those three are my personal favourite raids, although in fairness there has hardly ever been a raid I absolutely hated.

[Florena]

More varied environments. Nothing in ICC really interested me visually the way the train/mimiron's area did. The feeling of actually sieging an enemy stronghold instead of feeling like we're waltzing in the front door. When it comes to atmosphere I just liked Ulduar much more. Different environments for the different watchers helped keep things varied. Certainly more so than ICC's three branched wings.

Dynamic difficulty for the hard mode fights. Sure a few fights lacked a hard mode, but while I understand while Blizzard switched to difficulty toggles I do miss the varied ways of engaging the hard mode in Ulduar.

More interesting story IMO than ICC, especially when algalon is factored in. Honestly once i started delving into WOTLK lore I ended up being more invested in the Ulduar/Yogg plot than the Lich King plot.

Maybe you're right that some people wouldn't like it as much if it was current content longer. Being sandwitched between Naxx 2.0 and TOC I'm sure didn't hurt anything either. But it's not like the raid doesn't have a lot to love to earn that spot in many peoples hearts.