Breakfast topic: There is only Zul
by Mike Schramm 
Oct 16th 2007 at 8:05AM
Zul'Farrak vs. Zul'Gurub vs. Zul'Aman.Bronko on the forums says "if the mobs were of equal level... go!" but I can't tell if he means which we like better or which would win in a throwdown (my hunch thinks "throwdown," since that would be so much more interesting to see). So let's answer both.
I haven't played Zul'Aman yet, so it may be amazing, but I think I might have to agree with Bornakk-- the stairs in Zul'Farrak are pretty epic, especially for their level. Then again, Zul'Aman will probably have at least one or two events like that, so I'd be partial to the troll city in the Ghostlands in that case. And ZG is definitely a great
And in terms of a throwdown, as players note in the thread, the Blood Drinkers in Zul'Gurub make things harder for everyone else. Will the trolls from ZF and ZA know to down the other bosses before Hakkar? Or can anyone, for that matter, stand up to the might of Zul'jin himself? So who wins, ZA, ZF, or ZG?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Breakfast Topics, Instances
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Kaylek Oct 16th 2007 8:17AM
ZG was a 20 man. I haven't heard anything about a ZF-style mass mob event in ZA.
EmperorTuna Oct 16th 2007 8:53AM
Definitely 20 man.
hpavc Oct 16th 2007 9:12AM
ZG was the first real tactical raid instance and the first real rep instance. The addition of fishing and the subboss that spawns on different calendar days is unique as well.
ZF is a great instance, the first outdoor instance where you could use a mount or a inferno pet, its the first instance by level where there are real patrols and it has events (the subboss with the graves, 100 trolls, the lizardboss and the bly encounter). The pats with the stunning lizard and frogging spamming mobs coupled with the heavy hitting flame spamming totems is pretty heavy duty. It should be compared to strat/scholo for its play style.
If you compare ZF to other instances BRD/ LBRS/ ST/ UBRS they come up flat for complexity. BRD has the the arena, room of seven, the emperor area. In the end it has a lot of runners and mobs with a ton of health. I guess UBRS has rend and father flame. The other instances just have pulls and rarely have even a patrol to deal with. They are just dead mines with higher level mobs.
Charlie Oct 16th 2007 9:24AM
ZG was a great great great instance. It was a much better instance than MC. ZG was all about stratagey, while MC was just about getting 40 people together.
Good times.
Ugkul Oct 16th 2007 9:39AM
Yeah ZF and ZG are well-made instances. The boss fights are unique and challenging, and quite exciting. Not sure about ZA yet, but it has potential. I like the open air concept, and that bosses could be killed in any order in ZG.
jlb Oct 16th 2007 10:12AM
IMO the troll race is the best in WoW lore, and so any troll based instance is gonna be great. Cant wait for ZA.
sotallytober Oct 16th 2007 11:12AM
ZF had blood drinkers too :P
Flambeau Oct 16th 2007 7:48PM
well, from a instance appeal, ZG was great, ZA looks weak, and ZF was a pain. ZF was the first instance Pre tBC where you actually learned about group mechanics, a level 60 couldn't just run you through it, like a level 70 can now, but still ZF really had nothing going for it, sure it had the 2 swords that became 1, but other than that, the only real reason to go there was for the carrot on a stick quest reward which required you do goto a place that was MORE dificult just to get the damn mallet to summon the hydra boss (Ghaz'rilla).
ZG had complexity, but not real appeal, sure it was beautiful, but all the bosses were just multi phased fights, not too complex in how to fight. Jindo was way to OPd, and Bloodlord was almost always exploited in some way to kill him. But ZG does only have 2 pieces of loot going for it - the Polymorph turtle book that although Flambeau has seen drop 4 times, has never seen either of tehe 2 mage that got it or the person Flambeau sold the book to on the AH ever use it, though the piggy gets massive showtime. Also the tiger that every horde will basically say is the only reason they go there. as for teh dificulty of the bosses, there really wasn't any, Hakkar was a joke, the tiger boss just required 2 tanks, the panther boss was just a test of how much lag you could suffer when all those panthers spawned, the spider boss was a kite, and the other 2 (bat and snake) weren't even a challenge - and in fact most will attest not even worth doing. Sure ZG brought the token system, that later got overhauled to make even easier, but Flambeau doubts anyone even used DKP on it even though the armor was exceptionally good in PVP.
ZA looks like a re-hash of ZG, a bunch of bosses, with a multi phase ability, not much real complexity out side of what seems to be the dragonhawk encounter and a over powered bleed effect of which the horde will undoubtedly whine about dwarf tanks being too OPd, even though the alliance will claim tauren originally were glitched in the AQ20 kurrinaxx encounter. really ZA does look lack luster outside of teh mail set that looks weird and a plate set that is made of wood (guess they going "petrified wood is as hard as stone" deal.
Overall ZG was so far the best of teh Troll dungeons that start with Zul, even though ST no one will attest to being even worthwhile at all outside of a shaman trinket.