World of Warcraft is a game well-known for having complex and challenging raids that test players’ skills and push them to their limits. There’s so many stories about a single boss breaking entire guilds just because they couldn’t progress past it.
Over the years, Blizzard have increased the difficulty by introducing Mythic raids, but have also made things a bit easier for the more casual player base by adding Looking for Raid and keeping Normal and Heroic modes as well.
We’ll now take a stroll down memory lane and revisit some of the best WoW raids Blizzard added in the previous expansions and share some interesting facts about them.
Ulduar
@ Blizzard
Ulduar is Blizzard’s magnum opus in terms of raid design. This work of art was released during the Secrets of Ulduar patch in the Wrath of the Lich King expansion. It was a massive, sprawling raid unlike any seen previously in World of Warcraft.
What made it so unique and awe-inspiring was the theme and architecture of the raid. Players braved the large titan-made halls and challenged the corrupted Titans and their constructs. This is also the era when Blizzard experimented heavily with vehicles and was the first raid where players would actually fight a major boss encounter using only vehicles. The best case for this was the first boss of Ulduar, Flame Leviathan.
But Ulduar was not only beautiful on the eye – the raid was super challenging when it was first released. So much so that Blizzard had to severely nerf some of the hardmode encounters in the patch that came a bit later.
The final boss, Yogg-Saron, was an encounter unlike any introduced before. Players were facing an actual Old God himself and had to find ways to defeat him before succumbing to his insanity-inducing whispers.
This was the raid that many of the top World of Warcraft streamers still fondly reminisce about during their live sessions on Twitch and YouTube, and it still holds a special place for many WoW players today.
Throne of Thunder
@ Blizzard
Throne of Thunder was released back in the Mist of Pandaria, a highly controversial expansion that split the player base at the time. What was initially planned as an April Fool’s joke about pandas, actually turned into a full-fledged expansion and the players were shocked. Despite all the different opinions at the time, Mists of Pandaria turned out to be a great expansion and one that many still remember fondly.
Throne of Thunder was released during The Thunder King patch and allowed players to access the hidden Isle of Thunder where Emperor Lei Shen’s stronghold was built. Lei Shen, also known as the Thunder King, was the final boss of the raid and featured an incredibly interesting fight.
However, there was a surprise for players who managed to beat Lei Shen on Heroic difficulty. Once defeated, a special hatch would open that would lead deeper underground. There, players found the ancient titan Ra-Den, who was imprisoned by Lei Shen and had been the actual source of all the lightning in the area. Once defeated, Ra-Den delivers a speech and the raid officially ends.
To this day, Throne of Thunder remains one of the most fun raids for a large number of players. It’s no WoW news Throne of Thunder is also still one of the best raids for gold making, as it can drop transmog items and highly sought-after battle pets and mounts.
Black Temple
@ Blizzard
It’s impossible to talk about the best WoW raids without mentioning Black Temple. This raid was the highlight of the Burning Crusade expansion and featured one of the main villains of the Warcraft universe, Illidan Stormrage.
Illidan was so many things – a noble Night Elf, brother to Malfurion, a sorcerer whose pursuit of power led him to becoming the first Demon Hunter in WoW’s lore. He’s also the one who challenged Arthas at the peak of Icecrown during the Warcraft 3 campaign. A whole book could be written about Illidan and it would still fail to fully encapsulate the sheer awesomeness of this character.
The Black Temple raid culminated with a fight between the players, with the assistance of Akama and Maiev Shadowsong, and Illidan. At the very top of the broken temple, a fierce battle would rage on to decide the fate of all of Outland.
What’s most memorable about Black Temple is probably the loot Illidan would drop upon being slain. His prized Warglaives of Azzinoth were on the loot table, and every Rogue and Warrior in the game wanted them. Whoever obtained both, had a unique WoW rank in the game. It was a very small chance that either of them would drop, which caused intense drama within the guilds. Stories of ninja looting and guildies backstabbing each other for the Warglaives were not uncommon.
It’s still one of the most visited raids in World of Warcraft. Despite not being current content, many still farm the raid on a weekly basis in hopes of seeing the fabled Warglaives drop for them.
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