Might as well follow one highly anticipated instance with another, right? In this post, I'll take a look at the newest of the extremely popular Caverns of Time dungeons, Old Stratholme... Stratholme Past... Unfucked Stratholme? Whatever you want to call it, this dungeon recreates the mission The Culling from Warcraft 3. Arthas, in his journey through Loraderon to investigate the plague and try to stop its spread, comes to Stratholme to find that all the citizens have already been infected. Spurning his teacher Uther and his hottie friend Jaina Proudmoore, he embarks on the first step of his journey to becoming the Lich King by murdering every infected citizen he can find. Here, though, the Infinite Dragonflight is attempting to stop Arthas from coming to this, thus preventing him from ever becoming the Lich King and unravelling reality as we know it.
As with all the Caverns of Time dungeons, this place is accessible by heading to Tanaris. As a bonus, Blizzard has been kind enough to put in a portal to the place in Dalaran, inside the Violet Citadel. As far as I know, it requires no reputation like the Shattrath one did, but I'll investigate this and update here when I know more.
There's a single quest line for this place that starts from Chromie, our old friend from the Bronze Dragonflight, inside the instance. Like most instance quests it's easily completed by simply running the place, but the first portion of it also gives some really cool leadup to what's to come as you're tasked to mark crates of plagued grain for Arthas and the troops from Lordaeron to find.
Stratholme Past Ekerameter:
Difficulty - 2
Loot - 5
PUG Factor - 4
FUCK YEAH Quotient - 4
Overall - 4
Comments - In expanding on the innovative instance design of Old Hillsbrad and Black Morass, Stratholme Past mixes a lot of different elements that will be familiar from both to weave its story of Arthas going wrong. The first portion of the instance is reminiscent of the beginnins of Old Hillsbrad, while the first two bosses are vaguely similar to Black Morass (albeit with a less urgent feel to them). The latter two bosses go back to the Old Hillsbrad feel of things with a harrowing escort. Through it all, you get an up close and personal look at the events that resulted in the Stratholme we know today - eternally aflame and filled with the minions of the Scourge.
As far as difficulty goes, this place is honestly rather easy, at least on Normal mode. The first two bosses are almost pushovers, and while the escort portion and the latter bosses are more challenging, with a good group you'll hardly break a sweat. With that in mind, the chances of a bad PUG wiping your group are pretty small, unless they're fond of dying repeatedly. As with any instance escort, pulling off a resurrection in the short amount of time you get between fights can be pretty difficult.
The loot for this place is fantastic - there are lots of useful 80 blues here, plus a further one from the quest. All bosses drop one blue save for Mal'Ganis who, when defeated, leaves a chest with two of them. Being that the place is relatively easy AND fun, it's definitely worth running repeatedly. FYQ? The chance to see Stratholme in all its pre-destruction glory is pretty damn cool, and Blizzard really pulled it off well, as you can see from the screenshot comparisons above. You'll be pointing out familiar shops, noting a couple familiar names, and generally be wowed the whole time. My only beef is with the actual meat of the dungeon. In The Culling in WC3, Arthas was killing living citizens. Here, he's smashing already-Scourged zombies. Plus, the race with Mal'Ganis never really materializes. That does disappoint a little bit, as it's a departure from the source material, but the rest of the place is so well done it's honestly a minor concern.
Summed up, once again Blizzard has made an extremely cool and fun instance in the Caverns of Time. One could wish that the majority of their dungeons were done like this, as it would allow us to relive a lot of the cool moments in Warcraft history. As it stands, what we DO get to see this time around is well worth the wait.
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Foolishly you have sought your own demise.
Brazenly you have disregarded powers beyond your understanding.
You have fought hard to invade the realm of the Harvester.
Now there is only one way out --
To walk the lonely path... of the damned.
Changing things up from the bevy of 5-mans that I've reviewed, it's time to take a look at the most anticipated instance in all of Wrath of the Lich King: The Dread Citadel, Naxxramas. Raised from the depths of Northrend by the Lich King, this floating ziggurat originally served as Kel'Thuzad's fortress in Lordaeron, hovering above the Eastern Plaguelands. It's rather nebulous as to whether that incarnation of Naxxramas actually existed, and whether Kel'Thuzad was defeated there before the whole thing flew back to its current home over the Dragonblight in Northrend. Regardless, Kel'Thuzad, Sapphiron, and all the other familiar names are back again and ready to roll again... and this time, they'll probably wreck a lot fewer guilds.
As stated, Naxxramas lies above the Dragonblight. Specifically, it's almost directly above Wintergarde Keep, the Alliance base in the eastern part of the zone. Just southwest also lies Venomspite, the Horde town here. So, either way, a 30 second flight tops from vendors and an inn. This makes the place extremely convenient compared to its old version, as well as the introductory dungeon of The Burning Crusader, Karazhan. Note that there will be plenty of comparisons between these two raids, as they serve the same purpose in terms of progression.
Quests? At present, this place has no quests, which is a disappointment, as there is a lot of potential. This actually reminds me to make a post asking about this very subject on the beta forums, but that's neither here nor there. Karazhan had not only an attunement questline, but also two long lines that took you inside the dungeon, spanning several bosses and giving you a bit more lore background on the place. While Naxxramas requires no attunement, it would be nice to see some quests for the place, even if they're only as simple as being tasked to kill X boss or gather Y drops from trash. Being that it's still beta, however, I wouldn't count this possibility out just yet.
Naxxramas Ekerameter:
Difficulty - 5
Loot - 5
PUG Factor - 2
FUCK YEAH Quotient - 5
Overall - 5
Comments - Naxxramas was the most popular dungeon of the original game because of its innovative design, interesting and numerous boss encounters, well-itemized and varied loot, and extreme difficulty. So how does the place fare when you take away the last factor and try to present old content as new again?
I have three words for you: it's fucking Naxxramas! Seriously, I don't know anyone who didn't at least have a few good things to say about the old place; all raids grow old if you run them often enough, but that's the thing: this came out so late in the process of the old game that almost nobody got the chance to really see the place. Now, Blizzard's best-designed instance will be open to all, and THAT is pretty damn cool.
Now, let me preface the rest of my comments by stating that my boss exerience in the place so far consists of Anub'rekhan, Noth, Heigan, Loatheb, Razuvious, and Gothik, but I feel like that's a fairly good spread of bosses to determine difficulty. In addition, my experience is limited to the 10-man version, although from what I understand, there isn't a very large difference between the two. That said, I think the place is extremely well-tuned for an introductory raid. There are individual exceptions - the opening bosses of each wing save for Patchwerk might be TOO easy - but generally, things seem to be tuned fairly well. Loatheb is appropriately hard, Heigan is medium difficulty (and as "fun" as ever), etc etc. As with Karazhan, for quite a while this place won't be doable with a pick-up group. I imagine, barring nerfs, bosses like Loatheb and the Four Horsemen will be a nightmare for PUGs even well down the road.
As far as loot goes, as it was before, once you're killing a good number of bosses this place is a pinata of loot. Two epic drops per boss, plus my guess is that the end bosses of each wing will drop either two epics plus a set piece, or two set pieces plus an epic. Not entirely sure on Sapphiron or Kel'Thuzad yet, but my guess is 3-4 items apiece. Even at two drops apiece, though, you're talking 30 epics for a full run. There seems to be a great variety here for all classes, including weapons, relics, and of course the sets. T7 will be recolored T3, and following in the footsteps of TBC design, will have a set available for every spec where applicable.
FYQ? Again, it's fucking Naxxramas. Everything you loved about the old place is back. The creepy atmosphere, the haunting music, the Four Horsemen taunting you as you progress through the Military Quarter, the Frogger slimes after Patchwerk, Mr. Bigglesworth, stabbing yourself in the eye because half the raid just died on the Heigan dance AGAIN... it's all here, and now those of you who missed it the first time around will get a chance to see all of it in all its glory. Granted, if you hated the place when you came here originally, you'll probably continue to hate it, but if you're THAT GUY/GIRL nobody likes you anyway.
Well worth the wait and anticipation. November 13th can't come soon enough.
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