The Frustrations of Uldaman
by Spencer Callaghan 
Aug 4th 2006 at 8:00AM
Lately I have been spending a lot of time with my level 44 warrior, grinding, doing quests and trying to get into a decent Uldaman group. I had no less than 6 quests for Uldaman, but finding a group to go is very difficult on my server, which is quite mature with not a lot of people around my level range.Uldaman is one of those necessary evils of the levelling grind. Personally I hate that place, it's long, boring and tightly packed with plenty of opportunity for a bad pull or some adds.
On the other hand, Uldaman has one of the best end boss sequences before level 60, the problem is no one ever gets that far. The end boss of Uldaman, a level 47 elite named Archaedas, has 3 distinct stages in the encounter and is very well scripted. In general, Uldaman has some of the best lore in the game, it is simply let down by the poor design of the dungeon itself. Oh and I would be remiss if I didn't mention the Indiana Jones-style summoning of Ironaya with the Staff of Prehistoria.
I have only ever seen the end boss once, and actually defeated him with my mage, but it is so rare to find a group that will actually stay together long enough to get there, especially since the quests involved have you going back and forth between Uldaman and Ironforge after each one.
So how many people have actually finished Uldaman? Is the journey through the winding caverns worth the payoff?
Filed under: Instances
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Shalkis Aug 4th 2006 8:34AM
One problem with Uldaman is the huge level range. You start to get quests there around level 35 or so. No level 35 group is going to get even close to Archaedas, and unless you have a steady group of friends, you aren't going to get those quests done until they are on the verge of becoming gray.
The distribution of quests is also troublesome. There's 3-4 quests that can be done without even setting foot into the instance itself, yet too hard to solo without getting frustrated. Because of the necklace quest (which is even more annoying for Horde), many groups splinter when a key member has finished his particular part of the quest chain.
Ideally, one should be able to gather quests for a particular instance and then complete them all with a single run. Or the instance bosses need to have good enough loot to entice people to visit them multiple times. Archaedas is simply not worth the trouble to kill multiple times.
John Gibbings Aug 4th 2006 8:44AM
I have been playing an undead mage on the Stormreaver server and I just recently hit level 49. Being an enchanter I have to continue to make Uldaman runs. Before last night I had never made it past the first few bosses, even with a level 60. The main reason that I haven’t made it further is because of people getting bored with the instance and just leaving. The one time that I did finish the Instance, we had beaten Ironaya and made it to the Obsidian Sentenal. This is when our shaman logged, leaving us stranded. I wanted to finally finish this frustrating Instance, so I decided to ask the guild for some help. Eventually we had a level 60 shaman come from the guild to help us out. The rest of the Instance went very smooth and we eventually made it to the final boss. The last battle was great, and the disk quest that you can do in the treasure room gives fairly decent experience. Finally being able to finish Uldaman was worth it in my book. Hopefully, as I level and continue going back into Uldaman for my enchanting skills, it will grow easier to finish. I just can't wait till the end game Instances so I can find groups that actually know what they are doing.
Willowspear Aug 4th 2006 8:57AM
I recently did the final Disks quest on my alliance toon and got almost 15k experience from the very easy followup quest chain, where you just go to Tanaris and talk to the golem near Uldum. Instances are not a waste of time at all if you do them right i.e. pick up all the quests before and focus on getting them done.
omenzhe Aug 4th 2006 9:01AM
I've done uldaman with all of my characters who've gone through their 40s. It is a long instance, but I've not had too many failures at it. Mind you, on my first ever character I have vague memories of doing it over and over again.
I think it's the first instance which really relies on assisting and good tanking. When the trogs get to level 46 and up, and on the groups of golems after the trogs, the party has to really work together to make it go properly. The pulls also have to be planned and patient.
The final boss was the first time I ever had to think about mana pots in preperation (my first character there was a priest) and the first to have a particular stategy. It's what I have always referred to as the Make-or-Break instance. So many people stop playing instances when they see Uldaman, or they percevere and become better more involved players.
I'll also never forget the first time I saw Ironaya summoned. I was absolutely amazed by the event and her size. No other instance really gave me that rush until the first time I saw Ragnaros summoned.
I'm very eager to get inside Uldum, and hope this will be part of the Burning Crusade. The storyline of the Dwarves is quite epic, and if they can put as many tricks into Uldum as Uldaman, it will be a very enjoyable instance!
Barkiel Aug 4th 2006 9:57AM
I went into uldaman with high hopes at level 48 warrior.. only to have the group i was with die at the end... they grew frustrated at the end boss and one by one.. the quit
Deafdumbandblind Aug 4th 2006 10:46AM
Done it to the end twice:
Once with a party of 4: 60th level hunter, 51st Paladin, 41st Druid and 36th Hunter. Only wiped once at the end with the big dude.
Second time with a party of 5: 53rd Rogue, 51st Paladin, 42nd Druid, 38th Hunter and 32nd Hunter. Didn't wipe once although it was close. The only one left alive was the rogue.
william Aug 4th 2006 12:06PM
Uldaman is one of the better examples of what Blizzard called "bad instance design". It suffers from escalating difficulty so bad that groups that enter the instance while being the right level have pretty much no chance at finishing the instance. I've gone through it so many times with different characters that we often know right at the beginning what we'll be able to do, which quests and bosses, and which will be out of reach for a few levels. I've even done the whole thing with little trouble and then kept eating it on Archedas.
Blizzard admitted at Blizcon that the idea of instances getting harder was failure in some of the early instance design. Thats one of the reasons they are going to the "winged" model like Scarlet Monestary. Lets you work on the stuff you are the right levels for and doesnt make you trudge through the lower stuff once you've moved onto the harder bits. That and you can break it up into chunks so you dont always have to commit 4+ hours to a big instance.
Urthona Aug 4th 2006 2:31PM
I can testify to william's scenario.
I assembled a ragtag group for Uldaman in my mid-40s. I didn't anticipate getting very far as the 5 man included a 45 warrior alt, who knew her way around the place, followed my a resto druid(myself), a feral druid, a shadow preist and a holy priest. To my surprise, we gelled very quickly and kicked butt on every mob —until the final boss.
Though not feral, I was in catform while the feral was off-tank and part-time DPS. We both watched our designated preists, and innervated accordingly. It became clockwork with the shadow priest using mind control as a kite. "Holy Nova" became a hell of an effective AoE when swarmed by beast mobs. The warrior was astonished how well we were doing and commented so.
We got so confident that we devised that the warrior, off-tank, and holy preist would take Archaedus, while I and the shadow would handle the summoned mobs. Three strategies and three wipes later, we decided it was getting late, bailed, and got some 60s to help finish. A very disheartening finish to an otherwise amazing and surprising run.
Argent Aug 4th 2006 2:34PM
this pretty much sums up my love/hate relationship with ulda. it's got great lore -- absolutely wonderful stuff. some of it foreshadows the lore for the conflict in blackrock mountain and the platinum disc lore is perhaps one of the most interesitng things you'll encounter up until that time.
however, the fights themselves....gah. i tied archaedas four times while originally leveling up back in 2004 and then just gave up. did it eventually after i hit 60 for kicks and have done it a few times on alts since, but still...nothing usually makes me wanna log off faster than someone saying in guild chat 'i need a few more for ulda...'
monkeywraith Aug 4th 2006 2:55PM
well, i seldom share the popular opinion, and here is another example. made it all the way through uldaman my first time at lvl 42 with my frost mage (for the quest). that includes defeating archaedas. undead on kirin tor us server. i enjoy the increasing difficulty (except when nobody follows strategy because its too easy and then somebody screws up), the winding mines, everything. it is one of the only instance thus far that i have felt were truly unique and worth running, and definately has the most background lore. if it werent for the large groups of earthen that attack at once and are immune to frost, i would try 2 manning with my priest buddy, but i will wait for at least another 5 levels. 50 now, and still enjoy running it from time to time. if any of you are on horde side kirin tor and want a very skilled and experienced group to run uldaman with, pst mahoutsukai or anybody else in the guild 'promise of a new day'.
Karras Aug 4th 2006 3:23PM
" nothing usually makes me wanna log off faster than someone saying in guild chat 'i need a few more for ulda...' "
How about: Who want's to run Gnomer!
Nothing worse than a level 30 instance that can wipe a party of 60's. Gotta be careful with your AoE's and NO Shooting Across the Halls.
ObtuseMoose Aug 4th 2006 3:26PM
My experience (and it is definitly only my experience and not an attempt to start the flames) is that most people who can fail to master Archaedas at level do because of bad tactics. While there may be multiple approaches to achieving success with this boss, it was clearly designed with a manageable "at-level" strategy in the Devs' minds. ...and that strategy works, every time.
This is actually important because its where players learn that taking the time to uncover the strategy means the difference between farm status and failure. Learning to think your way through a boss encounter rather than simply adopting a full frontal assualt is a crucial lesson for the end-game. The foundation for thinking your way through mobs like Rajaxx and others later in WoW life really starts in Ulda.
Jason Aug 4th 2006 8:45PM
I have to agree that Uldaman can be a pain (I mostly avoid pick-up groups, and all because of the really, horribly bad, just utterly terrible experience I had with one in Uldaman), but I had fun with it because I usually went with guildies, some of whom had been through there before. I consider it the "makes you appreciate the folks you get along with" instance.
Rumman Aug 7th 2006 2:12AM
While the first part of Uldaman is fine for a group of around 37-40, the second part, which includes the Trogg boss (Grimlock?) and Archaedus is more of level 40-45 range. I made 10+ trips and at first we would always wipe at Arcaedus. The first time I did Arcahedus, we went with my guild with a couple of 60s who masacred it. Not satisfied with it, I went back with a more equal group and got arcahedus a few more times (I wanted the ring that he drops), and had him well under control. It requires a good strategy, which will have to be vetted out before you start the fight. The moment you hear, all on the boss, you will wipe. The way that works the best for me is tank on boss, and healer will only heal tank. Two will work solely on adds. The 5 person will help will adds when the four golems appear, otherwise assit the tank. Since arcahadus himself doesn't hit that hard, this strategy works pretty good (I am sure there are other good strategies). I feel that getting the end boss in every instance in important (with out level 60 help) to actually learn to fight properly.
Hunter Crowell Aug 7th 2006 10:28AM
Yeah pick up groups can be a bit of a pain but that is all part of the game. You have to learn to work with different people and learn to co-operate...sort of like real life. Maybe World of Warcraft should be required for all World leaders. Just think World of Warcraft helps create world peace!