Who liked Ulduar Hardmodes?

[Onisuofdreams]

While I loved the Ulduar hardmodes themselves, I find myself agreeing with Lightfist about the activation. Maybe they could do something where there's just a different route you take in the dungeon that triggers it, or a mob that you kill that was actually weakening the boss, something like that. The "big button" thing does make us look a bit immature now that I think about it. XD

I assume you've done a lot of the quests throughout the world? Do you have any idea how batshit insane our characters are? We surf on harpoons and purposefully crap out berries for other people to eat. In Borean Tundra, you skip to the front of the line and the NPCs comment on how rude you are, but you don't care because you are a hero and you are more important.

We trust goblin and gnomish technology as it blasts us through the air in a zone comprised completely of giant thorns. We have killed Old Gods. The Lich King calls you the greatest champions in the world.

You think your character isn't a little arrogant/insane?

[BoomChickn]

I assume you've done a lot of the quests throughout the world? Do you have any idea how batshit insane our characters are? We surf on harpoons and purposefully crap out berries for other people to eat. In Borean Tundra, you skip to the front of the line and the NPCs comment on how rude you are, but you don't care because you are a hero and you are more important.

We trust goblin and gnomish technology as it blasts us through the air in a zone comprised completely of giant thorns. We have killed Old Gods. The Lich King calls you the greatest champions in the world.

You think your character isn't a little arrogant/insane?

...hes got a point...

[Envojus]

Have to agree (then again I think Ulduar was just the best raid in all of Wrath with ICC coming very close in second).

I know why? Because there were only 2 descent raid dungeons in Wotlk? No really.

Naxxramas - Old Raid
Malygos and Sartharion - Not Full Blown raid dungeons.
Onyxia - Old Raid
ToC - Filler raid...

Still, i have to agree on one thing - Ulduar was THE best designed raid dungeon in WoW (having the new blizzards philosophy in mind).

It was fun, it was pretty much rich on lore, inventive, new mechanics (The bridge boss, Mimiron). It was NOT easy (Well the first month. How much guilds downed Ignis(?) the first week? Not a lot, and a lot of guilds didin't kill YS normal mode).

[Yoshimiko]

Personally, MY FAVORITE heroic Activation was XT. Quiet simply imo the best hard mode activation. For the most part though, Hard modes don't really make sense to me from a lore standpoint. XTs can make sense. You break teh heart safely, and the items are freed inside her{I know it's a stretch, but you can somewhat understand it}, or killing hodir before he breaks his box, Thorim's female accomplice having items with her etc... all make sense.

Really though, this is just being nitpicky. Honestly I most prefer ICCs method, although I don't think it should require a LK kill, as the fights are not proggressivly harder {HLDW is considered to be the 4th-5th hardest fight, where as the fight that follows, isn't even generally considered a boss.} And much of heroic ICC is easier then LK on normal{Festergut, rotface, marrowgar, lootship, Princes, 10 man LDW, and Valithria possibly}.

[cannibalghoul]

the new method is more practical/easier to keep track of, however ulduar hardmodes were awesome in that there were unique mechanisms which you used to activate them, and that added more character to the bosses and made sense lore-wise.

i prefer ulduar's hardmodes

[Will]

My guild leader insists that the ICC version of hard modes is better because he has 'full control over the difficulty'. I assured him that you actually had more control over the difficulty in Ulduar, because some encounters provided not 'easy' and 'hard' modes, but multiple levels of difficulty via mechanics such as the FL towers or Freya trees. He countered this by arguing that in Ulduar you are dependent on other people in the raid to trigger hard modes.

As a raid leader, he obviously prefers full, direct control over it. A bit like a 'control freak if I say so.

I do not agree with him at all. As an MMO, and for raiding in particular, teamwork is essential. Having to rely on a team in order to trigger HM's is good. Teamwork + raiding = good.

On the topic of difficulty levels, blizzard is quite narrow minded in the regard that they're only offering two difficulty levels - normal and heroic. Some players may arguably find normal too easy and hard too hard. Blizzard had the right idea with FL and Freya because they offered the middle difficulty level(s) giving players more flexibility. I guess they're just too lazy to balance loot tables for 3 or 4 different difficulties.

Finally, I feel that the Ulduar way of triggering hard modes was VERY immersive. It gave the raid experience a higher sense of immersion because you actually had to interact with the encounters. It also allowed Blizzard to give a theme to the boss fights for each hard mode and made sense lore wise by 'explaining' where the bosses get their power from. Most importantly it gave fights an additional element to experience.

I think the ICC method is just lazy. Reliance on the UI serves to break immersion, requires far less effort or brain cells and is in essence a way of dumbing down the raid experience. Too simple. Too dull.

[Onisuofdreams]

My guild leader insists that the ICC version of hard modes is better because he has 'full control over the difficulty'. I assured him that you actually had more control over the difficulty in Ulduar, because some encounters provided not 'easy' and 'hard' modes, but multiple levels of difficulty via mechanics such as the FL towers or Freya trees. He countered this by arguing that in Ulduar you are dependent on other people in the raid to trigger hard modes.

As a raid leader, he obviously prefers full, direct control over it. A bit like a 'control freak if I say so.

I do not agree with him at all. As an MMO, and for raiding in particular, teamwork is essential. Having to rely on a team in order to trigger HM's is good. Teamwork + raiding = good.

Finally, I feel that the Ulduar way of triggering hard modes was VERY immersive. It gave the raid experience a higher sense of immersion because you actually had to interact with the encounters. It also allowed Blizzard to give a theme to the boss fights for each hard mode and made sense lore wise by 'explaining' where the bosses get their power from. Most importantly it gave fights an additional element to experience.

I think the ICC method is just lazy. Reliance on the UI serves to break immersion, requires far less effort or brain cells and is in essence a way of dumbing down the raid experience. Too simple. Too dull.

He obviously hasn't had a random raid member turn off the Varian/Hellscream buff.

[kittenpotpie]

ulduar was easily the best raid they made with the hardmodes in mind

Hell no! Sunwell beasted that shit, hardmode or GTFO. Make everything hard, don't give stupid kill order or gimmick shit to make it "hard mode". Yogg0 was pretty epic though.

[BoomChickn]

Hell no! Sunwell beasted that shit, hardmode or GTFO. Make everything hard, don't give stupid kill order or gimmick shit to make it "hard mode". Yogg0 was pretty epic though.

This be looking like a troll post....

I like the idea of hardmodes, you have an easier mode for the "casuals" and for the people looking for a real challenge, that's what hardmodes are for. You let many many more people see the content, while still keeping the challenge seekers satisfied.

[Deleted]

OP I love you and I totally agree that ulduar hard mode activation system was the best system blizzard have had for wow so far.

On another note, im banned from the official wow forums, any chance someone (the OP maybe?) could make a thread like this one and link to this thread so blizzard could see the poll and hopefully make the same kind of hard mode activation as they did with ulduar.

[Will]

Blizzard really should see this poll. The almost unanimous support for the Ulduar model is staring us in the face here. If they continue to use the ICC model, I will face palm.

Did Blizzard say what hard mode design model they preferred and plan to take with them into Cata? They might have but if anyone can provide a quote or something i'd be grateful.

[Kralljin]

Ulduar Hm's > Icc Hm's.

If you tried the Ulduar Hardmodes, you noticed a real difference between Hard and Easymodes.
In Icc I feel on most bosses no real change between Easy and Hardmodes (Best Example is BQL).

Ulduar Hardmodes were just awesome, i loved every Hardmodes of this Instance.

[Jawstrock]

They said it would be per boss basis kinda like icc, using the ui.

Not sure if they said if it would need a last boss kill to activate or not yet.

[Sukula]

Am I the only one who likes the way Ulduar hardmodes were done,because you do more than just turning on a switch for heroic?

Oh, yes! Always wanted to press the big red button

[Hateful]

Ulduar Hardmodes were idiotic. Literally.

They made our heroes out to be a bunch of bumbling buffoons who constantly did stupid, unnecessary shit that made everything harder.

"Guiz, i dunno wut brann is talking about with orbijal defense, but those towers r pretty "

"IT'S A BIG BUTTON! PUSH IT PUSH IT PUSH IT PUSH IT PUSH IT!!!"

"Pfft, we dun need ur help n00bs. we can take on teh old godz by ourselves!1!"

What? Hardmode activations are there to be interesting mechanics. Why should it matter if what our characters do doesn't make complete logical sense?

It's about making the game more interesting and innovative, not ensuring that our in game characters make the most appropriate decisions. We're arrogant, selfish and indeed some of our characters may be stupid. Why does it make any difference?

I'd much rather my character be an idiot with ADHD who makes hardmode activations fun and interesting, than a logical dickweed who prefers right clicking his character frame to have bosses magically change their strategies without any explanation AT ALL. Apparently the vast majority agree with this as well. Funny that, isn't it?

P.S: Explain to me how aiming for the heart (the weak spot) of a giant robot is stupid?

How changing the kill order of the Iron Council defies logic?

How trying to down a guardian in a set time is pure idiocy?

How racing to engage Thorim makes my character a dumbass?

For every hardmode activation you contend is stupid, there's also one which makes perfect sense. But hey, just lump them all together into one category I suppose...

---------- Post added 2010-07-30 at 12:47 PM ----------

By the way:

I assume you've done a lot of the quests throughout the world? Do you have any idea how batshit insane our characters are? We surf on harpoons and purposefully crap out berries for other people to eat. In Borean Tundra, you skip to the front of the line and the NPCs comment on how rude you are, but you don't care because you are a hero and you are more important.

We trust goblin and gnomish technology as it blasts us through the air in a zone comprised completely of giant thorns. We have killed Old Gods. The Lich King calls you the greatest champions in the world.

You think your character isn't a little arrogant/insane?

[VincentWolf]

Hated them. Fucking. Simply. Hated them. It was almost like 2 raids in 1, you just learn tactics for normal fight and then BOOM go learn it again because heroic is quite different. Glad they're gone and now I hope they won't ever make a raid without scaling buffs ever again (like icc was).

[Hateful]

Hated them. Fucking. Simply. Hated them. It was almost like 2 raids in 1, you just learn tactics for normal fight and then BOOM go learn it again because heroic is quite different. Glad they're gone and now I hope they won't ever make a raid without scaling buffs ever again (like icc was).

What? That's exactly what Hardmodes are meant to be....2 raids in 1.

Learn it once = normal
Learn it again (but different) = hardmode

So you're basically complaining that you got 2 raids inside of 1 instance? I'm not following...

Scaling buffs trivialise everything, but I guess you've got to do that to keep most of the players who can only PuG happy (I'm being serious, I acknowledge that is the majority of the raiding playerbase).

[Deleted]

I don't understand why people seem to think that by activating an Ulduar Hardmode we are making our characters look immature...

XT - "Hey his heart is vulnerable! Bring it down! Lets get this sack of bolts out of the way"

Mimiron - "Ok guys we already killed this guy last week and he wasn't much of a challenge, but for some reason we seem to be stuck in a weekly loop of events and therefore he's back again! so lets really piss him off and push that button of his on the back wall, heck we've killed C-thun lets see what can this guy can really throw at us!"

Freya - "Not this one again... last time it took ages for us to clear this room just in case she called for help from those tree guys... lets just take her and leave her friends, my northern stew is getting cold"

Vesax - "Hey Boss! If you kill these green clouds the puddles they leave restore mana!" "What!? so you mean we didn't have to kill that huge thing that materialized last week? Well that should make things easier"

Yogg - "Hey you guys need help with that old god?" "Nah, we've already beaten one Old God into submission back on Kalimdor, this one should be easy"

[Lilija]

I have a feeling a lot of people misunderstood the question :P

I prefered Ulduar hard mode fights but the whole turning them on thing was a bit annoying at times. Doesn't change the fact that overall it was the best raid instance of WotLK both mechanic and lose wise.

[bahumut5]

Loved those Hard Modes.

Hell, even Flame Leviathan fight was Fun, New AND Exciting when you enabled Hard Mode.