How many end games have there been?
by Adam Holisky 
May 31st 2008 at 9:00PM
Today on the WoW Insider Show Mike Schramm, Turpster, Daniel Whitcomb, and BigBearButt were talking about the number of times the game has been beaten. This got me thinking, what exactly is that number? Off the top of his head Mike said 5 or 6 times, and I think that sounds about right. Let's take a closer look though at how many times the game has been beaten, and who's claimed the top spot.Molten Core – The first end game instance. For a while this was truly the end game. The first guild that beat Ragnaros was Ascent on the Medivh server.
Blackwing Lair – Added in patch 1.6, it existed for a short time as the pinnacle of end game raiding. Drama of the Shattered Hand server was the first guild to kill Nefarian, the end boss of BWL.
Temple of Ahn'Qiraj – Added in patch 1.9, and was opened up after the server completed the opening of the gates of Ahn'Qiraj. C'Thun is the end boss of AQ 40, and was first killed by Nihilum.
Naxxramas – Released in patch 1.11. It was the final 40 man raid instance pre-bc. It had (and according to some still has) some of the most difficult encounters in game. Nihilum was the first to kill Kel'Thuzad, the final boss in Naxx.
Battle of Mount Hyjal – Released with the Burning Crusade. Nihilum claimed victory in the first world kill of Archimonde.
Black Temple – Released in patch 2.1.0. For nearly a year this was the hardest instance in the game. Nihilum claimed world firsts for every boss, including Illidan.
Sunwell Plateau – Released in patch 2.4. This will be the final raiding instance released before Wrath of the Lich King comes out. SK-Gaming claimed the world first kill of Kil'Jaden.
So all in all, Mike was close. There have been seven times the top boss in the game has changed. An argument could be made that there have only been six times, since the Black Temple was released while players were still working on Mount Hyjal; however I contend it still represents a new final boss, and thus a new top spot to be claimed.
Quite an interesting history when you think about it, especially considering Nihilum's dominance up until the final boss of the Sunwell Plateau.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Ranking, Raiding
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Chamual May 31st 2008 9:23PM
You didn't mention Hogger?
Gerb May 31st 2008 9:30PM
...Erh, Battle of Mount Hyjal was released in the same patch as the Black Temple.
keith May 31st 2008 10:35PM
No it wasn't. It's just that nobody was keyed for Hyjal before the same patch that introduced BT.
Odintu May 31st 2008 10:16PM
Mount Hyjal was around before that, it's just that Kael'thas was so difficult that people didn't down him till after BT came out.
Gerb May 31st 2008 10:59PM
Then please explain, why in the same PTR where BT was tested, Hyjal was tested too?
Sure, the instance portal was there, but it wasn't active yet. It gave you a message (which I forgot).
kr3wman May 31st 2008 11:19PM
Didn't you need, you know, to get attuned by killing Kael'thas and Vashj?
Gerb Jun 1st 2008 12:19AM
Didn't I just say something like, you know, it wasn't active yet?
Opala Jun 1st 2008 2:03AM
As far as we know it was active, but no-one had reached it yet, though i doubt it was actually in the game. with the insane difficulty of kael and vashj, and the 3 vials per kill which were conveniently fixed once 2.1 was coming, obvious blizz was stalling and proper raid chance on the place till 2.1
With what was supposedly being discussed though, that being 'how many times the game has been beaten' then hyjal shouldnt count, and neither would t5 content, as neither was beaten when it was the top content in the game. So the game has been beaten 6 times, but yes there have been 7 end games, the only point in dispute is whether the 5th end was archimonde, or whether it was kael/vashj
SBKT Jun 1st 2008 2:17AM
And I'll never get the chance to play any of these, due to me being so stubborn and not wanting to give up a guild I've made almost solely for myself and nostalgia of... ten years ago even, my computer not being able to handle half of it, and not being able to ever keep up. I only joined around 4 months ago, and have a load of trouble even getting my main to 60, and he's still sitting at 61 due to me not getting on.
Looking at these makes me depressed. All of the things I'll likely never be able to do, and if I can, I'll just be laughed at because "Oh, you're doing them so late in the game's life." Well screw them. I want to get the experiences the first players had, no matter how hard I have to try to get them. I'll effing solo every dungeon, including the Wrath ones when I get to them, just to get the full experience.
I hate you players who say that Pre-Burning-Crusade content is dead. There are players who have recently joined who've yet to see it, don't tell them it's not important. I hate you, players who tell me to drop my guild. I'm not something that can be bought with gold. If my guild has value, you can be damn sure I'm not going to give it up with a fight, and me? I'll be putting up ONE MASSIVE FIGHT. I hate you, players who constantly attack me FOR those beliefs. I'm not going to conform for you or your ideal tier6 in a week or whatever the crap view you may have. I have a life, I have a bad computer, I have my own agenda, with these, you expect me to pick up yours, huh? Bah to you.
Yes, this is a pretty pointless wall of text which states I suck here, yes it's kind of QQing, but oh well, I want to be heard that FFS, let the newer people play the Pre-BC stuff without having to do some significant changes such as switch guilds which they have worked hard for, to make or be in.
Mike Jun 1st 2008 2:45AM
What are you talking about?
SBKT Jun 1st 2008 2:49AM
I'll try and tl;dr it because I have a problem doing that...
Some people want to see some of this stuff and a lot of people won't want to and it'll cause problems. Why the hell not?
Adam Holisky Jun 1st 2008 2:59AM
I think that anyone who laughs at you for wanting to do old world content has other issues to address. I'm fortunate enough to have found a group of players that play the game well, and we're working on Sunwell at the moment. However that doesn't stop us from our weekly Onyxia run (25g/person when you take 5 people in, plus a free 18 slot bag and some DE mats which sell well on the AH).
While some folks don't want to run MC/BWL much, since they spent months upon months in them already, I know for a fact that many of the top guilds and hard core raiders often take nostalgic trips through those and other instances like Naxx. Often times they'll even post on the realm forums inviting others along, just keep an eye out and you'll probably see something about once a month.
I'm sorry to hear that you've had a bad experience with people putting down your style and choice of content. Be assured though that there are others out there that share your views - and you might be surprised at their number. =)
Rastas Jun 2nd 2008 1:31PM
I say keep your guild and beat them ^^
My guild (one I was a founding member of) is a rather young one (6 months old, now, actually) and we've never gotten further than Zul'Aman. We're friends more than we're hardcore(and we're not hc at all), so it doesn't matter if we only get to Illidan after WotLK has been released. Most of us have never seen BWL, Ony, AQ or Naxx, but we intend to go and do them, just to see them (and to some for old time's sake).
It's not the speed that matters, nor the progression, it's the feeling. (Btw, go see the vid "Molten Chorus" to YouTube, it's hilarious ^^)
my2cents Jun 1st 2008 4:37AM
Yeah, I agree with you Adam. But the question still stands, "What the hell is SBKT talking about?" I mean, we know what he's saying, but it's more than slighty off the topic of this blog =P
Anyway, the fact that Hyjal was technically open on release of TBC is news to me. The explanation makes sense about the attunement though, as it was beyond ridiculous at the time to get everyone attuned for SSC and TK, and down Vashj and Kael enough times to get everyone their vials in time to see Hyjal before the 2.1 patch.
Adam R Jun 1st 2008 11:58AM
Man, why do anything with that attitude?
Ingame or out, that attitude's going to hold you back.
dotorion Jun 1st 2008 8:44AM
Retroraiding rules, don't let anyone ever tell you otherwise.
Savant Jun 1st 2008 10:22AM
Actually, Mike was right. Since the first boss was the MC boss, that doesn't count as a boss that changed - it was the first boss that existed in the game. The other six bosses were the 'changed' end-game bosses that usurped the boss before it for the title of 'end-game boss'. So while there have been 7 end-game bosses, there have only been SIX end game boss CHANGES. The first boss doesn't count as a change.
Surpriseb Jun 2nd 2008 1:51PM
I'm amazed that all the WoW-smart@$$'$ out there didn't mention that UBRS was technically the first "end-game" instance.