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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Time for the first level 80 instance of the batch. This time, I'll take a look at The Oculus, that giant floating series of rings and platforms you see in the picture below. Using the Arcanomicon, a map of Azeroth's ley energies and lines, Malygos has been diverting them to The Nexus, where the magic is then redirected upward through the ascending rings of the Oculus and forcefully channelled back into the Twisting Nether. Malygos' end goal is to strip Azeroth of all magical energy and thus deprive the mortal races of what he considers to be a horribly misused tool. Because the game would be pretty boring if all the mana-using classes suddenly had to fistfight instead, you're out to stop him.
Like the previously reviewed dungeon, The Nexus, The Oculus is on the island of Coldarra, off the west coast of the Borean Tundra. As you'll have a flying mount by the time you're ready to do this place, it's a quick flight from either Warsong Hold or Valiance Keep. Don't forget to stop by the Transitus Shield first, however, to pick up the quest for this place.
There's only one quest line for the instance, beginning at the Shield, but it's interactive and takes you throughout the entire instance, involving all of the bosses. From the looks of it (doesn't appear to be finalized yet at the time of this writing) you'll receive two blue rewards from the line, making it definitely worthwhile since you'll basically trip over completion on the way through.
The Oculus Ekerameter:
Difficulty - 3
Loot - 4
PUG Factor - 3
FUCK YEAH Quotient - 5
Overall - 4
Comments - The Oculus is a landmark achievement for a Warcraft instance in several respects. First, it completely redefines the idea of a "dungeon", being that the entire thing is outdoors; the terrain you fight upon is literaly no different than if you were to fly up to the Oculus outside of the instance and look around. Second, much more importantly, a great deal of the place is completed while flying. After the first boss, you'll receive your choice of a red, green, or bronze dragon mount, each with their own abilities, that you'll use for the rest of the instance for both transport and combat. In fact, the final boss is fought exclusively using the dragons. In this respect, much of the instance is truly three-dimensional; it makes it almost disappointing to run other, more linear and "flat" dungeons.
Difficulty-wise, at least on Normal, the place isn't hard. There's a decent amount of trash, and some of it can be tricky, and each of the bosses has some abilities that can be fairly dangerous, but nothing to the point of group wiping unless you're on autopilot. Consequently, a shitty PUG won't be a huge hindrance, although the final boss fight isn't exactly easy; all three types of dragons' abilities are key in defeating him, and if someone slacks it could be trouble. Mostly, thoguh, the place is fairly intuitive.
In terms of loot, the four bosses here have a nice spread of gear available for the different classes, specs, and armor types. You'll get 5 total drops from bosses, plus the quest will net you two more blues the first time through, meaning this place is absolutely worth the bare minimum of one run. That being said, for FYQ, there is no instance I've seen yet in Wrath of the Lich King that compares to this place. The views are breathtaking, the design is innovative, and the use of "vehicular" combat as a central point in completing the dungeon and the general variety all combine to make this an absolute must-do. There's enough fun to be had here that I could see running it plenty of times in the future, especially on Heroic.
In short: do not miss The Oculus.
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This time around for the Ekerameter (gosh that name is clever, it's so catchy and not at all retarded) I'll be taking a look at Azjol-Nerub, the city of the Nerubian spider people... things. For thousands of years, the Nerubians dwelt beneath the glaical ice of Northrend, building, amassing knowledge, and generally being creepy as shit. Once the Lich King showed up, however, he conquered them and raised those he had killed from the dead to serve him. Of the living Nerubians there are few left, and while they're evil, the Lich King is more evil. Enemy of my enemy is my friend and all that, so you're tasked by one of them to fight your way into Azjol-Nerub and slay the traitor king, Anub'arak.
For both factions, Azjol-Nerub is very easily accessible, although it's not immediately obvious. Outside Icefall Village in western Dragonblight, there's a hole in the ground called the Pit of Narjun. It is from here that the Lich King's Nerubians have spilled to flank the Horde and Alliance on their march to Icecrown. Thus, Azjol-Nerub itself is very quickly reachable from Star's Rest (for Alliance) and Agmar's Hammer (for Horde).
The questing for this place is very simple. While there are quests in and around Icemist Village for both factions, none of them lead to any actual instance quests. Instead, just outside the instance, you'll find Kilix the Unraveler, one of those "friendly" living Nerubians, who asks you to stroll on inside and finish a couple things for him. While there isn't any loot involved in either (beyond what you get from bosses), you get a hefty amount of XP for both, and neither requires any excessive time investment.
Azjol-Nerub Ekerameter:
Difficulty - 3
Loot - 2
PUG Factor - 2
FUCK YEAH Quotient - 4
Overall - 3
Comments - Azjol-Nerub is short. Very very short. Not including what is directly connected to bosses, there are 6 trash pulls in this place. Six. Counting the first boss, that's nine. If your group's all been here before and knows the pulls, I could see knocking this place out in 20-25 min if not faster. For all that, though, it can be tricky. The trash packs connected to the first boss can be dangerous if you don't know how to handle them correctly, although the boss himself is kind of a pushover. The final boss, good old Anub'arak from Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, is not especially challenging, but can be made a lot more annoying by slow players.
Lootwise, three bosses plus no quest loot doesn't make for much in the way of rewards, but what does drop is generally useful. Plate-wearing DPS will want to look elsewhere, though. Design-wise, this place is stunning. The Egyptian/Mesopotamian feel of the Nerubians is really brought to life here, and you will spend a whole lot of time looking around in awe at the scenery, even in such a short instance. This is actually improved by the lack of trash, as you'll have long periods of running to see the sights. The bosses themselves are fairly fun and engaging, and the speedy nature of the place is helpful for quick XP and loot.
All told, this isn't really a place you'll run more than once or twice, unless you're desperate for a piece of loot from here. It's very very neat to see, and plus there's the novelty of killing a big name like Anub'arak, your feelings on a WC3 hero being "just" a 5-man boss aside. The shortness of the instance does kind of detract though; it takes away a bit of the epic feel. Granted, this has to be only a small portion of the true size of Azjol-Nerub (it's purported to, at minimum, span the length and breadth of the Dragonblight underground), but considering Blizzard's very early plans were to make AN a whole underground zone unto itself, it would've been nice if this instance was a bit longer.
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This time out, I'll be reviewing one of the first two dungeons you'll get a chance to enter after arriving in Northrend, The Nexus. The instance is situated at the center of the stronghold of the blue flight, Coldarra, which itself is off the western coast of the Borean Tundra. Based here is Malygos' plan to divert and destroy all magic on Azeroth; the Aspect believes the mortal races have abused the power of magic for too long and seeks to rein them in by ensuring they can no longer use it. Allied against the blues are Alexstrasza's red dragonflight and the Kirin Tor, the latter of whom obviously have a vested interest in not losing their magical ability. Dalaran would probably look less spectacular if it were cratered in the middle of Crystalsong Forest.
The Nexus, as stated, lies in the subzone of Coldarra, accessible by flight from the Amber Ledge in the Tundra. One can run the place fresh off the zeppelin or boat, however... the flight path is available already to all players, and though Blizzard states the place is suited for 71-73 level players, I've done it multiple times in a group of all 70s without a problem.
There is a significant amount of quest support for this instance. No less than FOUR quests, all providing blue rewards, are available eventually. All of them require you to do a quick pre-questing line that starts at the Amber Ledge, and then a bare minimum of questing in Coldarra itself. One comes at the end of a very long line, but all in all, it's worth it to get all four. The rewards are very good, especially for newer 70s, and there's a significant amount of XP to be had leading up to them.
The Nexus Ekerameter:
Difficulty - 1
Loot - 5
PUG Factor - 4
FUCK YEAH Quotient - 4
Overall - 4
Comments - The Nexus is easy. VERY easy. It's intended to be, however, as it's an entry level dungeon. Like Hellfire Ramparts, you're expected to be able to run this place with damn near any group composition, and in the very worst of gear. To that end, Blizzard has accomplished a decent effort at sleight of hand - the boss fights are engaging and fun for being so easy, and if you do all the pre-questing, a run here is a literal XP and loot bomb. Four blue rewards await you from quests, plus four bosses worth of loot that is equivalent to or better than Black Temple epics.
The design of the instance is very good, and reminiscent of the Tempest Keep flavor of dungeons. It acts as a nice counterbalance to the Viking-themed Utgarde Keep and the relative "normality" of the Howling Fjord's vrykul. The instance is circular, so one can go in almost any direction to start with, arriving back at the beginning for the final boss fight once the rest have been defeated.
All told, this place functions very well as an introductory dungeon to Wrath of the Lich King. The loot is good (great if you're going through on a poorly-geared TBC alt or if you're relatively new to the game), and it's fun and great XP. Plus, you get to fuck with the blue flight, payback that's long overdue considering all the times those shitheads dazed me off my mount in Azshara while I was farming for Dreamfoil.
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Next up for the Ekerameter is the first troll dungeon you'll run into in Wrath of the Lich King, Drak'Tharon Keep. Situated roughly where the zones of the Grizzly Hills, Zul'Drak, and the Dragonblight trisect, in the past this keep served as the Drakkari Empire's southern bastion. Now, however, the Scourge have driven the Drakkari out in their march into Zul'Drak and hold the Keep against all comers.
Technically, Drak'Tharon Keep is in Grizzly Hills, although it is also accessible from Zul'Drak; in fact, once you pick up the flight path for Light's Breach just inside ZD, it's a quicker trip to land there and ride south to DTK than to weave your way up through the forest from Conquest Hold.
While not immediately available - in fact, for one of the two lines, a minimum of an hour of questing is required - there are two quests that eventually lead here. This follows the renewed trend by Blizzard of giving clear quest support to almost all of their dungeons. Seek out some familiar faces at Granite Hills in the forests directly south of Drak'Tharon Keep for how to get started on these.
Drak'Tharon Keep Ekerameter:
Difficulty - 3
Loot - 4
PUG Factor - 2
FUCK YEAH Quotient - 4
Overall - 4
Troll dungeons have gotten a pretty poor reputation through the course of the game. Zul'Farrak is tiny yet has tons of trash, Sunken Temple is... horrible (the only instance for which I'd give a PUG Factor rating in the negatives), and Zul'Gurub and Zul'Aman have both caused their share of headaches. So, now it's ice trolls? Well, for one, Drak'Tharon Keep is as much DEAD trolls as anything - the Scourge have taken over, and nearly every inhabitant is reanimated. Additionally, the design of the place is unlike anything I've seen before - it seems sort of a strange combination of Mayan and Japanese architecture. Moving on into Zul'Drak proper gives some Greco-Roman hints too.
Difficulty-wise, the place is average. At present in the beta, the bosses are on the easy side, but that may be intentional for most of the leveling dungeons. Trash can be tricky in places. Considering this is around the Mana-Tombs/Auchenai Crypts point in leveling in comparison to TBC, this place beats the pants off of those.
The loot here is well-suited for the levels, with a good mix of drops. As with most dungeons, each boss has 3 blue drops, meaning you won't need to run these places a thousand times unless your luck is truly horrendous. The two quest lines that lead here also give some good additional blues. An errant PUG member could cause havoc in the pulls leading to the latter two bosses, so keep your idiots on tight leashes. In the FYQ side of things, one of the quest lines, while having an ending that most will see coming, nevertheless concludes in a very cool fashion, and sets up a storyline that continues into Zul'Drak.
All told, this place defies the odds for a troll dungeon, and is definitely worth running several times for good XP and drops in the mid 70s.
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So, first up on the agenda for instance reviews is the first of two 5-mans set in Ulduar in the Storm Peaks, the Halls of Stone. Ulduar is a Titan city, like Uldaman or Uldum in the old world, except this one isn't buried and isn't in ruins. Ulduar itself (and thus the instances) are only accessible by flying mounts unless you are summoned, much like Tempest Keep.
First, a handy dandy series of ratings for the dungeon's merits, and some spoiler-and-strategy-free comments to supplement and explain the ratings. This all sounds very official but actually it's entirely arbitrary and I reserve the right to blah blah on with it.
So here are the 5 ratings categories and what they mean:
Difficulty - Quite simply, how hard is this instance relative to the level it's presented at? 1 means the place is poorly tuned - either it's way too easy or WAY too fucking hard, whereas 5 means it's very challenging and manages to be fun because of it.
Loot - Is the loot worth coming here for? 1 means skip this shit, it ain't worth it (Auchenai Crypts anyone?), whereas 5 means almost every boss drop is a keeper. This includes rewards from quests that take you inside the dungeon.
PUG Factor - Different from difficulty, this essentially answers: How likely is it that a complete moron pickup member could wipe your group? 1 means you're better off 4-manning it; conversely, 5 means shitty players are a nonfactor.
FUCK YEAH Quotient - Essentially, how cool is this place. Are you going to be sleepwalking through another boring highway of loot (LOOKING AT YOU AUCHENDOUN INSTANCES)? Are the boss fights innovative and engaging? Is there cool scenery? Familiar NPCs that show up? Tie-ins with leadup quests/zone content? 1 means YAWN, 5 means FUCK YEAH. Who didn't see that coming?
Overall - Sums it all up. May not necessarily reflect the other 4 ratings perfectly, as some things weigh more heavily than others in a given instance.
With that in mind...
Halls of Stone Ekerameter:
Difficulty - 2
Loot - 4
PUG Factor - 3
FUCK YEAH Quotient - 3
Overall - 3
Comments - Medium sized instance with some decent variety. The boss fights are relatively simple and very difficult to wipe on at their present state in beta. Loot here is very good for the level, with some great, relatively common BoE trash drops. The PUG Factor refers to a specific boss that will have a familiar mechanic. FYQ-wise, there are definitely some cool visuals here, but a lot of it is offset by a long lost character's return... specifically, his voice actor is fucking TERRIBLE. Lots of good lore here about the Titans and the dwarven race, however. Overall, an instance that's worth a run or two on regular.
Quest Availability - Aside from the heroic/nonheroic dailies, there is only one quest for this instance, started inside as part of a boss event. No pre-questing is required.
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