Friday afternoon, Blizzard employee Bornakk posted a poll on the General boards to find our favorite 5-man dungeon of the Burning Crusade. As you can see in the above image, the Caverns of Time is rocking the charts.
I can't say I disagree with the numbers there, they're pretty close to my opinions as well. Old Hillsbrad and the Black Morass offer something that most of the other instances don't: Fast pacing, minimal trash pulls, and a story element. The instances aren't very long, either. Black Morass is what, thirty minutes? These dungeons on Heroic remain difficult and dangerous, adding some new elements to the instance, such as a necessity for speed and stealth when it comes to the patrols in Old Hillsbrad. Some of the other Heroics do this as well, but most of them coast along on 'ow this mob hurts a lot'.
The current runners up are the Mechanar and the Shattered Halls, though they're pretty far off from matching the Caverns of Time in terms of popularity. I can't help but notice that both of these instances have a small element of setting the pace, similar to the CoT. The Mechanar's final gauntlet has an element of urgency about it, you don't have much time to catch your breath before the next wave. Shattered Halls also has a similar gauntlet between the first and second bosses. You keep moving, or you're in trouble. As an added bonus, taking a Protection Paladin and a few Warlocks to Shattered Halls is the most fun you'll have. Period. Yes, I may be a little biased.
It's fairly easy for me to see why the Caverns of Time is dominating that poll, they're so different from the pull-drink-pull mob parade of the other dungeons. I hope the devs take these poll results to heart and step up the sense of urgency and danger in Wrath of the Lich King instances. The level of excitement in Black Morass just isn't topped by anything in the Burning Crusade before the raiding scene. Heck, not much in the raid scene matches the rush of your first BM run, either.
If you haven't voted in this poll yet, go do it! The poll closes on February 1st so you have quite some time left, but if you're like me and wait until then, you'll probably just forget. So, don't wait, eh?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
1-27-2008 @ 3:16PM
Meira said...
I used to hate Black Morass, because only in the 10th time I went there I talked to Medivh (bad PuG's, don't ask). Now I love it: the thrill, the quickness and the lore of the instance is much better than other instances *cough* auchidon *cough*.
My second is Old Hillsbrad, you can do the Thrall run or just hanging out in Southshore seeing Kel'thuzad, Mograine and others... ok, and good ol'Blankie (or young in this case).
Third is Arcatraz, Milhouse Manastorm is in the house! (And Dalliah & Soccothrates are always refreshing.)
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1-27-2008 @ 3:40PM
Smaug said...
Exacly, first time I was there was with bad PuG ... I left after 5th wipe. Next day I did it with guildes and it went smooth but it was still exciting, running from one portal to another, catching adds... it adds some flavour.
Hope to see more of similar dungeons in WotKL
1-27-2008 @ 3:19PM
Lucas said...
Guildwars already did this with all of their 'missions' (Basically an instance, except without large bosses and more story based with a solid plot thread between them)
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1-27-2008 @ 3:24PM
Charlie Taylor said...
they already what? Took a poll? Polls aren't a new thing...
1-27-2008 @ 3:28PM
Lucas said...
I meant having more plot based instances.
1-31-2008 @ 7:27PM
Faar said...
Who cares if they did it first or not.
Besides, there's plenty of story to be found in the dozens of quests leading into the various old-world endgame instances, so there's not as if there's a huge lack there or anything. We just don't care much about that stuff anymore, but it's still there to experience for those who wish.
2-02-2008 @ 7:54PM
Lucas said...
I didn't mean to degrade from WoW, I meant to say that the way they did it is a good model.
1-27-2008 @ 3:25PM
Ellyndia said...
The closest pre-BC 5 man dungeons got to the level of urgency (due to required speed of pulls) is perhaps 45 minute UD Stratholme runs. Chain pulling, minimal drinking, and waves of undead monsters to fight make it one of my favourite instances in WoW.
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1-27-2008 @ 3:33PM
Alex Ziebart said...
I definitely agree with you there, Undead Stratholme is easily the most fun pre-BC dungeon, especially the 45 minute runs. Very much my favorite. I'm hoping they manage to pull that off in the upcoming Caverns of Time: Stratholme instance as well.
1-27-2008 @ 4:33PM
Ollej said...
I also agree about Black Morass, as if you are in a group with a bunch of people that have never run it before (like I have been) it can seem like such a horrible, difficult, nearly impossible dungeon. Then once you are able to complete it, there's quite a feeling of achievement. It's so fast paced that first time you go there, because there hasn't been anything quite like it in other instances that it gets your adrenaline pumping.
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1-27-2008 @ 4:39PM
Matthew said...
Not surprised that Auchindoun is pulling up the rear. I have had some awful experiences in there, especially on my warrior tank. Just a drab environment and not very fun to play through, at least the crypts and mana tombs. Haven't done shadow labyrinth yet.
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1-27-2008 @ 5:04PM
Zaringu said...
I guess I just dont understand why people love these timed instances so much. . If you have a good group then any instance should be like this. My guess is that most groups these posters have run with have been like my guild's first Gruul run ..(sitting around for 30 min+ in between fights etc.) Most runs with guildies have been fantastic like whenever UB is the heroic daily I dont think we ever stop pulling in there and the boss fight are all 1 shots. You might say that we only enjoy it because it's easy but it's fairly evident that most of the above posters only thought BM was fun after they could clear it and hated it before they reached that point.
Overall, I'm trying to say that players set their own pace and theres no reason that all instances can't be as fast paced as BM or Old Hillsbrad. (Bot was my favorite by the way.)
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1-27-2008 @ 6:00PM
cuteunit said...
CoT is great because there is almost no trash pulling ( hall trash is a CHORE, blizzard. Hall trash is like your mom insisting you eat green beans before the steak) and they are full of story and dialogue, with things to discover and experience.
"The Ashbringer..."
I'd like to point out that like most things in wow, it seems that the more Draeni-related the instance is, the lower it scores on this poll. Further backing my opinion that the draeni and their prominence in TBC are the worst things in the expansion, followed closely just by how they ruined the character of Illidan.
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1-27-2008 @ 8:17PM
SaintStryfe said...
... what?
Mechanar, a Draenei themed instance is the third leading. (TK was all Draenei)
Also, how did the Draenei ruin Illidan? It's almost tangential that he's in outland - it's a continent place to put him to down him. I don't recall anything specific to Draenei in his story.
1-29-2008 @ 10:00AM
elaren said...
cuteunit is right, the lowest rated instances are Auchindoun which was a former Draenei burial site (http://wowwiki.com/Auchindoun). The Tempest Keep are not really Draenei instances, they're more Naaru as they were part of a Naaru fortress (http://www.wowwiki.com/Tempest_Keep). The Exodar was used by Draenei when fleeing Draenor (Outland) and crash landed on Kalimdor.
I'm gonna have to agree, the story, lore and pace all made for two great instances. And yes, 45 minute Baron runs were a blast!
1-27-2008 @ 6:47PM
Jack Spicer said...
I'm wondering what's "obvious" about the poll results? I'm actually quite surprised at the size of the lead the two CoT instances have over the others.
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1-27-2008 @ 7:55PM
Alex Ziebart said...
Well, they were obvious to me. ;) My bias tainted the topic. They might be a surprise to everyone else! I voted for Black Morass thinking about how the CoT blew me away the first time I went through those.
Minus Hyjal. Hyjal was a big disappointment.
1-27-2008 @ 8:17PM
Pzychotix said...
These people haven't tried Old Hillsbrad on Heroic much. It's pretty much the only place I've seen where it actually REQUIRES a class to stealth the bombing part, or face multiple multiple wipes due to the extreme number of pats, on a 15 minute respawn timer.
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1-27-2008 @ 9:26PM
Schadenfreude said...
Agreed. Our group runs without much CC, so to set the bombs on heroic, we all stood on the roofs of the longhouses and had one person do a suicide run to lead the mobs away while another person jumped in and set the bombs. While naked, of course. Our rezzer stayed on top of the houses and then rezzed these noble souls who died for the good of the group. Then we did it again. When the boss showed up, there was a point where we could pull him behind one of the houses without pulling any other mobs.
All in all, pretty fun actually.
1-27-2008 @ 10:40PM
Milktub said...
I can see BM on top, but Old Hillsbrad? I'll do that one time with each toon, just to unlock BM.
I love BM. Love it a lot. Clear some non-elites, then you start. But it is pretty awful when you're with someone who's never done it before and doesn't get that there are no breaks. Yeah, the guy who after about round 13 types "brb, bio" or "afk for smoke break" and the group wipes, setting you back to round 1.
I wish the forums were up right now (most of the servers being down isn't helping) so I could see how my favs stack up, but i'll list 'em anyway:
1. Black Morass / Dark Portal. Fast, fun, enjoyable. I'd probably hate it if I was on add patrol though.
2. Mech. Pretty short, with a couple fun pulls. Though I could do with them removing the little arcane bomb demons.
3. Shadow Labs. Sure, it's long, but each boss is different (even though Murmur is boring as hell), but the Inciter's room alone is fun. I love six-mob pulls.
4. Ramps. Short, with lots of variety and fun pulls.
Least Favorite:
1. Mana Tombs. What's worse, the mind controlling mobs or random adds that appear out of thin air? (or am I thinking of Crypts? I don't do either any more.)
2. Shattered Halls. I love the boss fights, I kind of like the gauntlet of fire, but I hate the hallway with the fighers on the sides.
3. Blood Furnace. This one is on there just because of the second boss encounter.
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