Rank the Dragonflight Dungeons (beyond knee-jerk reactions)

[Felfaadaern Darkterror]

Saw some lamentations in a different forum, waxing rosey over dungeon experiences when they first played WoW and suggesting modern dungeon design just wasn't as good. One comment specifically argued that Dragonflight dungeons sucked in terms of theme and art. I started thinking about individual Dragonflight dungeons one at a time, and decided I could not agree. The art team, as usual, has been on-point (imho). The dungeons all have good stories behind them, for those who pay attention to that stuff. But that's my opinion. I'm interested in hearing yours.

Score 1-10, with 10 being up there with your favorites of all time, and 1 being the worst.

Suggested Criteria (no criteria police, but this gives us some common basis for our ratings):

• Art (visuals, music, voice actors)
• Story (lore, character development)
• Theme (how well do the encounters represent the theme of the place, e.g., time-themed fights in Dawn of the Infinite)
• Gameplay (is it fun to play?)

My personal scores:

1. Algeth'ar Academy: A10 + S10 + T10 + G9 = 39/40 = 9.75
   It's Hogwarts for dragons! What's not to love? The voice-overs (script) and voice acting are wonderful. There are meaningful options with pathing and pulls. The boss fights are both fun and challenging. 1 pt off gameplay because they could allow more options for counter-play on Vexamus, and the last boss could be more than just a victory lap. Overall one of Blizz's best, and an instant classic.
2. The Azure Vault: A10 + S10 + T10 + G8 = 38/40 = 9.5
   The simulacrum of Syndragosa is one of the best new characters they've introduced in DF. When some disaffected drachthyr break in looking for secrets they feel are being kept from them, she guides us in stopping them lest they do more harm than they expect. Her voice-overs add to the ambience. The instance is beautiful and we can imagine it when she and Malygos were alive. We race to get ahead of the drachthyr, but fail to prevent them breaking the seal on Syndragosa's poor diseased son. The one she left in stasis till a cure could be found, but then she and Malygos both died so no one came back for him. Another instant classic, with points off because Blizz removed some of the creative pathing.
3. Dawn of the Infinite: Art 10 + Story 10 + Theme 10 + Gameplay 7 = 37/40 = 9.25
   I really love everything about this place, but it can be frustrating to play at times. The Morchi fight, in particular, has a lot of RNG in where the dragon and traps will spawn.
4. The Nokhud Offensive: A7 + S9 + T10 + G7 = 35/40 = 8.75
   I always give bonus points for experimenting, and this one opened new horizons for future instances. The story of how the Nok'hud had all the clans on the defensive, and how we had to help them each turn their individual battles so we could assail the final boss, the huge elemental (healer test!) causing the zone-wide storm, the legendary ancestors mistaking us for bad guys - some recurring WoW themes, but well excuted, with plenty of options for pathing and pulls. Storm boss can be much harder for some healers than others, which isn't fair to them, and last boss can likewise affect which comp you want to bring (leaving some players feeling left out).
5. Brackenhide Hollow: A7 + S10 + T10 +G5 = 32/40 = 8.0
   Plague green has never been my favorite aesthetic, but if that's the job the artiists were assigned, I suppose they did it well. The story appealed at several levels: the gnolls delving into the magic of decay was something that alarmed even a dragon aspect, but at a more basic level this was about our friends the Tuskar being kidnapped and eaten by gnolls. We go to save our friends. Totem mechanic on last boss can be annoying, and can restrict group comp on higher keys.
6. Uldaman: A7 + S8 + T8 + G9 = 32/40 = 8.0
   As dungeon re-vamps go, I think they did a good job. Uldamann has a long-established place in lore, so it was a logical place to go for clues about Tyr. We fight our way past typical titan constructs to race Infinite Dragonflight to the prize. Lost Dwarves is a fun-silly fight (always crazy, but does anyone actually wipe on this?). Definitely some good challenges as the dungeon progresses. Options for skips. I enjoy this one, even when some of my friends don't.
7. Ruby Life Pools: A7 + S8 + T8 + G6 = 29/40 = 7.25
   The story of an idealistic band of primalists trying to 'save' the whelps from titan corruption, while we try to save them from the primalists... solid story, and the fights match the mood, but (especially before nerfs) the fights are unforgiving and can be difficult to coordinate without comms. One fun aspect of gameplay is opportunities for big pulls (if your group can handle it).
8. Halls of Infusion: A8 + S8 + T7 + G4 = 29/40 = 6.75
   The lead-in is so-so, but if you're paying attention we learn that Tyr really was putting something in the water. Raising the question of ethics regarding the alteration of sentient lifeforms. It's yet another pretty titan facility, no less so because we've come to expect them. The fights make sense for what they are: we walk into a battle between primalists and the facility's guardians, and have to fight our way through both to get to bottom of what's happening. Several of the trash pulls are unforgiving compared to other dungeons, and there's a fair bit of RNG in who gets sent with who in final boss fight (also where people die and whether you can b-rez).
9. Neltharus: A6 + S6 + T7 + G4 = 23/40 = 5.75
   My least-favorite DF dungeon. The fire giants have gotten into the Black Dragon HQ and are looting the place. Wrathion and Sabellion ask us to stop them. It's another fiery underground, well-done as far as that goes. The djaradin all have appropriate fire giant abilities. The chains mechanic is kind of silly, and Chargath bugs out too often in my experience. Also the RNG of where trinkets spawn on last boss can make or break keys.

[Zardas]

Don't really have the time to rank all of them, but I disagree heavily on Azure Vault because it's way too similar to the Nexus. I felt like I was running a dungeon that I already ran dozens of times, and the fact that 40% of the dungeon is the same ring doesn't help.

Overall, I'd say that my favorite overall are Halls of Infusion and Brackenhide Hollow, but I pretty much don't take into account the boss mechanics, nor the difficulty because it only matters for one expansion.

[Relapses]

Tolerable: Algeth'ar, Azure Vaults after its 9,999 nerfs, Neltharus

Fuck, not this shit: DotI, Brackenhide, Uldaman

Dogshit:

Below dogshit: RLP, Halls of Infusion

Tier below dogshit somehow, seriously what the fuck is this dungeon please kill it with fire fuck you Blizzard why did you make this: The Not Good Offensive

[Felfaadaern Darkterror]

Tolerable: Algeth'ar, Azure Vaults after its 9,999 nerfs, Neltharus

Fuck, not this shit: DotI, Brackenhide, Uldaman

Dogshit:

Below dogshit: RLP, Halls of Infusion

Tier below dogshit somehow, seriously what the fuck is this dungeon please kill it with fire fuck you Blizzard why did you make this: The Not Good Offensive

ROFL - not judging, but curious. Can you cite some examples of dungeons you actually liked? Or have you always disliked dungeons in general?

[erifwodahs]

Won't go into depth as OP did, but I pretty much agree with AA and AV being top tier dungeons (9-10 range), but I mainly focus on gameplay. Everything else is just 6-7, again, gameplay perspective mostly.

If I had to knock anything down it would be Halls of Infusion and Uldaman. HoI is annoying af in regards of trash, bosses are ehh and probably the only dungeon where I don't feel the theme at all. Uldaman - I loved OG Uldaman theme, it really felt like cool digsite, but new Uldaman is like looking at the picture of that experience rather than experiencing it again, bosses are cool, but again, it's 5 boss dungeon and it's just gets boring when you go on high tyrannical where each boss is 4minutes

[Biomega]

I don't want to lean out the window too much since I haven't even bought DF, but the dungeons were one big part of why I decided not to get the expansion - none of them seemed interesting or engaging or particularly fun during the beta etc. and watching them as things go on through streams, the MDI, and so on has definitely only reinforced that impression for me.

I'm glad M+ seems to be experiencing a resurgence with participation numbers apparently up (as much as we can tell from our flawed second-hand data, anyway) but nothing in the DF dungeon pool ever interested me or made me want to play it. Maybe I'm just a jaded old cynic now, who knows.

I'm especially not a fan of those gimmick-heavy megadungeons with their various gauntlets and movement puzzles and whatnot. Taz in SL was already borderline, this new one seems even worse. It's not even fun to WATCH.

But again, biased and limited perspective from the outside. I used to be real big on dungeons for the longest time, but they've definitely kind of lost their luster for me lately. I think it's an area where less is more, and they're trying to do too much and be too fancy. I knew it was bad when I caught myself looking back fondly on BFA dungeons.

[kamuimac]

Saw some lamentations in a different forum, waxing rosey over dungeon experiences when they first played WoW and suggesting modern dungeon design just wasn't as good. One comment specifically argued that Dragonflight dungeons sucked in terms of theme and art. I started thinking about individual Dragonflight dungeons one at a time, and decided I could not agree. The art team, as usual, has been on-point (imho). The dungeons all have good stories behind them, for those who pay attention to that stuff. But that's my opinion. I'm interested in hearing yours.

Score 1-10, with 10 being up there with your favorites of all time, and 1 being the worst.

Suggested Criteria (no criteria police, but this gives us some common basis for our ratings):

• Art (visuals, music, voice actors)
• Story (lore, character development)
• Theme (how well do the encounters represent the theme of the place, e.g., time-themed fights in Dawn of the Infinite)
• Gameplay (is it fun to play?)

My personal scores:

1. Algeth'ar Academy: A10 + S10 + T10 + G9 = 39/40 = 9.75
   It's Hogwarts for dragons! What's not to love? The voice-overs (script) and voice acting are wonderful. There are meaningful options with pathing and pulls. The boss fights are both fun and challenging. 1 pt off gameplay because they could allow more options for counter-play on Vexamus, and the last boss could be more than just a victory lap. Overall one of Blizz's best, and an instant classic.
2. The Azure Vault: A10 + S10 + T10 + G8 = 38/40 = 9.5
   The simulacrum of Syndragosa is one of the best new characters they've introduced in DF. When some disaffected drachthyr break in looking for secrets they feel are being kept from them, she guides us in stopping them lest they do more harm than they expect. Her voice-overs add to the ambience. The instance is beautiful and we can imagine it when she and Malygos were alive. We race to get ahead of the drachthyr, but fail to prevent them breaking the seal on Syndragosa's poor diseased son. The one she left in stasis till a cure could be found, but then she and Malygos both died so no one came back for him. Another instant classic, with points off because Blizz removed some of the creative pathing.
3. Dawn of the Infinite: Art 10 + Story 10 + Theme 10 + Gameplay 7 = 37/40 = 9.25
   I really love everything about this place, but it can be frustrating to play at times. The Morchi fight, in particular, has a lot of RNG in where the dragon and traps will spawn.
4. The Nokhud Offensive: A7 + S9 + T10 + G7 = 35/40 = 8.75
   I always give bonus points for experimenting, and this one opened new horizons for future instances. The story of how the Nok'hud had all the clans on the defensive, and how we had to help them each turn their individual battles so we could assail the final boss, the huge elemental (healer test!) causing the zone-wide storm, the legendary ancestors mistaking us for bad guys - some recurring WoW themes, but well excuted, with plenty of options for pathing and pulls. Storm boss can be much harder for some healers than others, which isn't fair to them, and last boss can likewise affect which comp you want to bring (leaving some players feeling left out).
5. Brackenhide Hollow: A7 + S10 + T10 +G5 = 32/40 = 8.0
   Plague green has never been my favorite aesthetic, but if that's the job the artiists were assigned, I suppose they did it well. The story appealed at several levels: the gnolls delving into the magic of decay was something that alarmed even a dragon aspect, but at a more basic level this was about our friends the Tuskar being kidnapped and eaten by gnolls. We go to save our friends. Totem mechanic on last boss can be annoying, and can restrict group comp on higher keys.
6. Uldaman: A7 + S8 + T8 + G9 = 32/40 = 8.0
   As dungeon re-vamps go, I think they did a good job. Uldamann has a long-established place in lore, so it was a logical place to go for clues about Tyr. We fight our way past typical titan constructs to race Infinite Dragonflight to the prize. Lost Dwarves is a fun-silly fight (always crazy, but does anyone actually wipe on this?). Definitely some good challenges as the dungeon progresses. Options for skips. I enjoy this one, even when some of my friends don't.
7. Ruby Life Pools: A7 + S8 + T8 + G6 = 29/40 = 7.25
   The story of an idealistic band of primalists trying to 'save' the whelps from titan corruption, while we try to save them from the primalists... solid story, and the fights match the mood, but (especially before nerfs) the fights are unforgiving and can be difficult to coordinate without comms. One fun aspect of gameplay is opportunities for big pulls (if your group can handle it).
8. Halls of Infusion: A8 + S8 + T7 + G4 = 29/40 = 6.75
   The lead-in is so-so, but if you're paying attention we learn that Tyr really was putting something in the water. Raising the question of ethics regarding the alteration of sentient lifeforms. It's yet another pretty titan facility, no less so because we've come to expect them. The fights make sense for what they are: we walk into a battle between primalists and the facility's guardians, and have to fight our way through both to get to bottom of what's happening. Several of the trash pulls are unforgiving compared to other dungeons, and there's a fair bit of RNG in who gets sent with who in final boss fight (also where people die and whether you can b-rez).
9. Neltharus: A6 + S6 + T7 + G4 = 23/40 = 5.75
   My least-favorite DF dungeon. The fire giants have gotten into the Black Dragon HQ and are looting the place. Wrathion and Sabellion ask us to stop them. It's another fiery underground, well-done as far as that goes. The djaradin all have appropriate fire giant abilities. The chains mechanic is kind of silly, and Chargath bugs out too often in my experience. Also the RNG of where trinkets spawn on last boss can make or break keys.

they are all equaly trash . its easily the worst m+ dungeon pool since its implementation ebcause they were 100 % done with solely MDI in mind.

[Nephod]

I disagree with OP on almost everything.

Good
Uldaman (8.5)
Halls of Infusion (8.5)
Brackenhide (8)
Neltharus (7.5)

Tolerable
Dawn of the Infinite (6)
Nokhud Offensive (5.5)

Terrible
Azure Vaults (4)
Ruby Life Pools (4)
Algerthar Academy (4)

[Ange]

they are all equaly trash . its easily the worst m+ dungeon pool since its implementation ebcause they were 100 % done with solely MDI in mind.

RLP and AV did need a lot of changes to make them at least tolerable for M+. Dead keys for the majority of the expansion with the unforgiving timers and respawn locations coupled with hard trash packs.

What I dont get with this topic is how can the gameplay just be 1/4 part of the metric, its what makes or breakes the dungeon experience and with M+ beeing how most people experience the dungeons during the content, (unforgiving) M+ timers and annoyances with respawn locations do impact a lot how a normal player does experience them.

Crazy to place game sound, art and the theme of a dungeon - that might be interesting for the very first time on par with how you experience the dungeon the other 99,9% of the times.

Its like rating raid tiers by a single LFR experience.

[klaps_05]

Good: AA, Brackenhide.
Shit: the rest.

[Okacz]

Amazing, would dungeon again: Algeth'ar Academy (aesthetics and pace), Uldaman (fun and simple encounters, good pacing, very good as a small revamp)
Terrible: Brackenhide (corridors of trash that spams poison bullshit)

The rest is aight.

[Relapses]

ROFL - not judging, but curious. Can you cite some examples of dungeons you actually liked? Or have you always disliked dungeons in general?

I'm editorializing a bit for comedic effect. Think of tolerable as the A tier and dogshit as the C tier. And then put The Not Good Offensive in a tier so far down the alphabet that we start using Greek characters to describe how bad it is.

I digress. My main engagement with these dungeons has been M+ and some of these DF-exclusive dungeons are just... oppressively bad. The only bright spot has been the returning non-DF dungeons which are often far less mechanics-intensive (even including the reworks). They've rebalanced many of these dungeons for S4 so I may revise my opinion after having engaged with it for a month or two. Time will tell.

[Felfaadaern Darkterror]

I'm editorializing a bit for comedic effect. Think of tolerable as the A tier and dogshit as the C tier. And then put The Not Good Offensive in a tier so far down the alphabet that we start using Greek characters to describe how bad it is.

I digress. My main engagement with these dungeons has been M+ and some of these DF-exclusive dungeons are just... oppressively bad. The only bright spot has been the returning non-DF dungeons which are often far less mechanics-intensive (even including the reworks). They've rebalanced many of these dungeons for S4 so I may revise my opinion after having engaged with it for a month or two. Time will tell.

lol ~ Got you. My own sense of humor often goes over everyone's heads, and I was missing yours.

[Jastall]

Gotta be honest, the Dragonflight crop of dungeons really wasn't the best. Ever since M+ began I can't remember a more mid selection all around. Legion was great, and IMO so was Shadowlands, and BfA had high highs and low lows. DF is like all OK at most except for Academy and Neltharus for me, and Neltharus needed that balance pass baaad. Albeit I'm probably in the Hot Takes section as I also kinda like Nokhud, at least ever since they made the bosses a bit less bullshit. At least the concept is nice.

Azure Vaults and Halls of Infusion are probably the only ones I actually dislike, at least. None of them I hate as much as BfA's Motherlode and Tol Dagor. But none of them I love as much as Waycrest Manor or Atal'Dazar.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Brackenhide Hollow had a cool new enemy faction, the Rothide Gnolls. They were pretty unique and became the main villains of two Warcraft Conquest RP campaigns on the Moon Guard server. The boss fights were okay, I particularly liked the first one where you as the tank have to bodyblock a charge, and the third one where ylu bait the hyenas into the traps. Unfortunately, the trash placement made the dungeon unenjoyable to run in mythic+. Every single run, somebody pulls more adds and then we wipe.

Neltharus was meh for me. It is yet another black fortress/lava cavern and you fight ogres, in a game that is heavily oversaturated with that environment. Ragefire Chasm, Blackrock Depths, Blackrock Spire, Blackwing Lair, Grim Batol, Bastion of Twilight, Siege of Orgrimmar, Bloodmaul Slag Mines, Blackrock Foundry, Neltharion's Lair, etc. Neltharus blends together with all of that in my mind and is indistinct. Also doesn't help that it is about fighting forgetable fire Vrykul. The Djaradin are simply meh. Gameplay wise, I thought players being able to pick up and drag chains through mob packs to kill them was cool. I liked how the first and third boss fights have you dodging incoming lava waves (wish you could leap over them like in the MDI trailer!) or leaps. The third boss' area was nervewracking. Too often someone accidentally pulls a pack and wipes the group, and it takes so long to kill the packs one at a time.

Uldaman I didn't like. Visually, it is a dirt/sandstone/beige underground cavern, and greek Titanic architecture. I don't like either of those. Gameplay wise, I liked dodging the fire in the first boss but it was a little annoying how often people kept standing in and dying in the fire. Baiting the second boss into the orbs was fun. Also, again too often other people pulled more packs and we die.

Halls of Infusion: I liked this one. I usually don't like WoW's typical cave environments, or greek architecutre, but here the rooms were spacious and well lit and there was color in the architecture, and soothing water. I don't like the first boss, but enjoyed dodging the frog boss' leaps, really enjoyed scrambling to find a pillar of ice to hide behind on the third boss, and the intermission phase on the fourth boss where you have to run down the path and dodge incoming water orbs was neat. Visually pleasant dungeon and nothing frustrating.

Dawn of the Infinite (full): I tried this at launch and it was simply too hard. Flipped through three different groups just to kill the first boss. I kept dying to Chronoshear even though I was popping my defensives and had two good active damage mitigation trinkets. Gave up on the sscond boss.

Dawn of the Infinite Galakrond's Fall: I liked the general aesthetic of the dungeon, of the floating platforms in a sky with ribbons of sand magic in the background, contrasted by a visit to an icy glacier. Sadly the humongous dead dragon is not well presented and can only be seen from a certain angle. The dungeon would have besn more memorable if Galakrond was more visible. The first boss was fun with you placing the AoEs at the edge and having to squeeze in between puddles and dash to soak leaps. The dual wyvern bosses was neat. I quite liked the Iridikron fight, as rather than lowering his HP to 0% over the course of a couple minutes, instead he has 25 man raid boss HP and you can only get him down to 90% before he leaves. The fight effectively conveyed him as being powerful and you do not have enough men to kill him there. Bodyblocking his shots towards Chromie was fun.

Dawn of the Infinite Murozond's Rise: my issue is that this is the same environments as the first part, so it looks repetitive. The trash leading up to Morchie and Grom are tedious to fight against and wiped many groups. Not fun. Morchie was a fun fight, with you having to squeeze through AoE puddles and bait your clone into the traps, and trying to pick out Morchie out of the clones. Grim I found to be quite frustrating, as people kept baiting his conal AoEs into the soldiers, killing them and giving Grom a massive damage boost that would kill me, and ofcourse I get blamed for failing to tank unsurvivable damage that was the result of DPS failing their mechanic. Admitedly this also Blizzard's fault as this is unituitive and was never tutorialized properly. The last fight against Chrono-Lord Deios is intense with the constant voicelines going off and the track Chronology playing, and adds spawning and lots of AoEs going off. Pretty fun though I remember that healers seemed to get distracted during the portal phase and I am struggling to stay alive, popping the last of my defensives waiting for the healer to heal me, and at least one or two people always die in a puddle on the last phase.

I am a little disappointed that you never get to fight alongside Nozdormu. You get to fight with Alexstraza, Ysera, Kalecgos, and Wrathion several times througout WoW, but never Nozdormu outside him being a background NPC doing nothing while you do the actual fighting in Dragon Soul or Amirdrassil.

I haven't done the other Dragonflight dungeons on mythic difficulty. Only queued for them once when I got to that point in the levelling storyline. Ruby Life Pools, the academy, and the Azure Archives look nice. Cannot recall anything about the fights. The Nokhud Offensive lets you fly which is a neat gimmick, but it was about fighting DF centaurs who I find to be very unlikeable, as in I do not enjoy their presence in this game. They have ugly faces, I didn't like the characters, their culture/aesthetic was very bland, etc. This dungeon juat didn't excite me.

- - - Updated - - -

I'm thinking (for the ones I have played while they were current):

Halls of Infusion (+ environment, + not frustrating) = Galakrond's Fall (+ environment, + some cool fights) > Murozond's Rise (+/- depetitive environments, - frustration, + cool final battle) > Brackenhide Hollow (+ imaginative enemy faction, - frustration) > Neltharus (- bland environment, - bland enemy faction) > Uldaman (-bland environment, -bland enemies)

- - - Updated - - -

One thing I will note is that I cannot recall any music from Draginflight dungeons except for Chronology in Dawn. This expansion's set of dungeons was abysmal musically.

[Nymrohd]

I am a little disappointed that you never get to fight alongside Nozdormu. You get to fight with Alexstraza, Ysera, Kalecgos, and Wrathion several times througout WoW, but never Nozdormu outside him being a background NPC doing nothing while you do the actual fighting in Dragon Soul or Amirdrassil.

You do fight Murozond alongside Nozdormu in End Times.

[Puri]

ROFL - not judging, but curious. Can you cite some examples of dungeons you actually liked? Or have you always disliked dungeons in general?

Obviously I cannot speak for him, but when you don't judge the aesthetics of a dungeon but just how well it fared in m+:
pretty much all current dungeons with their overflow of mechanics for bosses and even trash, where you cannot even stand still for 2s trying to get a cast out are at best tolerable.
While at the same time you have "remastered" old dungeons in the pool that feel so much simpler und thus so much enjoyable. Personally I'd prefer doing Shadowmoon, Blackrook Hold or Waycrest a thousand time over virtually any current dungeon.

[Felfaadaern Darkterror]

Obviously I cannot speak for him, but when you don't judge the aesthetics of a dungeon but just how well it fared in m+:
pretty much all current dungeons with their overflow of mechanics for bosses and even trash, where you cannot even stand still for 2s trying to get a cast out are at best tolerable.
While at the same time you have "remastered" old dungeons in the pool that feel so much simpler und thus so much enjoyable. Personally I'd prefer doing Shadowmoon, Blackrook Hold or Waycrest a thousand time over virtually any current dungeon.

Fair, and I do understand we don't all care about the same things. I put a lot of emphasis on art and theme because the commenter in official wow forum had specifically cited those as criteria where she felt DF came up lacking. One of the great things about WoW is the many different ways we can all enjoy the same game.

[Doffen]

The worst set of dungeons ever really.

Acadamy is fine, DotI grew on me, but mostly because it has great music


Those two 7/10


Rest 4 or less. Its a reason why I wont do m+ in this season. And I absolutely love doing m+. Shame they took the two part DotI off the list too.

[Nzx]

RLP: 8, bosses hard, last boss too hard for pres evoker in no-comms pugs
BH: 9, good pull sizes and pacing, interesting bosses (except for Gutshot)
AV: 8, great dungeon, hate the books and random buffs, gets pretty intense on healers 3rd/4th bosses and the cleave on 2nd could be more telegraphed
HOI: 7, too long, checkpoint came too late and after the 4th boss got worse with the forced gauntlet phase, 3rd boss challenging on healers
NO: 8, good variety, good bosses, too much traveling, last boss phase a bit rough for no comms groups
ULD: 6, don't like caves, don't like looooong linear dungeons, don't like stun boss, last boss rough on undergeared groups
AA: 10, has pretty much everything people enjoy in M+ with the giant AoE pulls, relatively little traveling without mob pulls, and choose-your-own-buff is fun too
Nelth: 8, bit more of an actual dungeon now that chains are nerfed but the chain boss is a bit buggy still and I don't like how frantic it is for no-comms groups

Based off my experience to 2k so far this season, rather than S1/S2.