Breakfast Topic: Five-man thoughts
by Mike Schramm 
Dec 7th 2008 at 8:00AM
We talked about this quickly during yesterday's podcast, but I think most of us have seen most of the instances in Wrath at this point, so we'll ask it here: what do you think of the 5-mans so far?Actually, I should say that I can't quite pass judgment yet -- I haven't visited the Halls of Stone or Lightning yet, and I haven't yet seen The Oculus, which is the instance I was most excited about at launch. But so far, I have to say that Azjol-Nerub is a standout -- not only does it look great, but the fact that it's pretty much all bosses and no trash is a real plus. And having a well-known lore figure to fight at the end doesn't hurt, either.
And of course I remain a fan of Utgarde Keep, though I think it'll eventually be like Hellfire Ramparts, in that I'll just have done it so much eventually that it'll lose any charm I have now. What are your first impressions on playing through all the five mans so far?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard, Instances, Expansions, Lore, Bosses, NPCs
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
ScubaSteve2188 Dec 7th 2008 8:12AM
Haven't quite finished all of them myself, but so far i've really enjoyed every instance. Personally, i ran the BC instances for the gear i needed, then never went back unless it was the daily. In Wrath i've done most instances multiple times, for gear, badges, achievements, or just for fun. Less trash is a plus, but i feel like most Wrath instances are just designed better. They look great visually, the boss fights are fun and interesting, and they seem to have a lot more lore as well.
Cyanea Dec 7th 2008 2:02PM
I just love how they're shorter.
You no longer have to dedicate your entire night to a single instance. It's GREAt.
steve Dec 7th 2008 8:15AM
I just got the Northrend dungeon master achievment the other day; at this point I've run everything at least a couple of times (on normal mode). I think Blizz has done a great job with all of the dungeons: all of them are much quicker (assuming a competent group and no wipes), more events, and some interesting boss mechanics. I just dinged 80 and haven't done any heroics yet, so I'll leave the debate about whether they are too easy to other posters. Also, I appreciate the fact that for a lot of the dungeon quests, they've moved the NPC questgiver right into the instance so you can't miss him or her. Oculus is so different from anything I've seen before; I did that one in a PUG with people who had never seen it before and it did take us many wipes to learn the fights, especially the last one. I won't give out any spoilers, but would say that if you don't mind spoilers, you'll save yourself a lot of frustration by reading up on it in advance, even if you are going with folks who have done it before. But overall, instances like CoT:Strat, Violet Hold, and A-N are just fun because there is no time for marking, it is just go, go, go.
CvijaFaQ Dec 7th 2008 8:17AM
My favorite instnace is the Oculus, hand down. It's a real pain to kill the last boss in PuGs on heroic, as it takes about 10 wipes before we agree on a strategy or new people get the gist of the boss.
Piratexdave Dec 7th 2008 8:25AM
I got my dungeon master achievement as well and done most of the instances on heroic. I'd have to say I love The Oculus, the fact that the end boss is fought on drakes and requires extra learning and some know how is really great...I like to call it the thinking man's instance its not a tank and spank instance its a tank and run around and fly up and shoot laser beams instance. But my healer hates it haha
All in all with the championing in heroics and 80 instances and the no more 6 mile dungeon for 2 badges, I'm talkin about you Sethekk Halls, its great fun wherever you end up going.
Cheers Blizzard!
Theschroe05 Dec 7th 2008 2:44PM
I agree with the previous posters. A large number of the bosses are not simply tank and spanks (Loken in HoL sticks out to me for sure). Especially in PuGs, the wipes are what make the instances enjoyable because it gives the group a higher sense of accomplishment after actually downing a boss. Overall though, level designs are much more striking and Blizz really seemed to go the extra mile in coming up with new fight mechanics that give each boss something to remember them by.
Evi Dec 7th 2008 8:42AM
Azjol-Nerub is fast and has a good flow. However, as a skinner, the place is highly aggravating. The disappearing mobs really get on my nerves. It's on of the best places for Nerubian Chitin and they disappear as soon as they hit the floor. Even as a melee DPS character I often miss the chance to skin them. So annoying! I like the fact that less loot speeds up the run, but could they have done that with mobs that don't drop a highly desired leatherworking item? Yeesh.
Drall Dec 7th 2008 8:44AM
Yesterday I did Utgarde Keep with four other people. I started off as the tank, but when we had wiped two times in a row we changed tanks to an Arms warrior with a two hander. We got all the way to Dalronn and Skarvald, but wiped twice there, and since it was light called it a night. Our mage, a 74, gave us a port to Dalaran, and it was stunning.
All this to say that it was a lot of fun, even if we sucked. I love the whole feel of the instance.
RacoonKnight Dec 7th 2008 9:11AM
As a Holy Paladin, I hate most 5mans, especially on heroic. Feel like nearly every fight was thought around having a healer with a viable AoE heal or some sort of instant cast or HoT spell. Unfortunately a Holy Paladin has none of these (with the exception of Holy Shock, but it has a 6 second CD and a highish mana cost and Bacon of Light doesn't come close to helping with AoE). We have one weak Major Glyph that helps with AoE, and thats just when you use Holy Light. The only way to do it is to get a crap load of haste, but that still consumes a lot of mana...
WotLK, to me, feels like the WoW Devs concentrated too hard on Retribution and Protection Paladins to worry about Holy Pallies. The biggest kick in the teeth is the absense of healing plate goggles for engineers. I'm going to enjoy leveling my Druid now, Deadmines here I come!
orangedude Dec 7th 2008 3:48PM
Sounds like you need to find a better tank that can hold aggro off all the mobs, because you shouldn't even need to be healing anyone else in the group besides him. As a Holy paladin, I've found no trouble at all clearing almost every heroic. On the off-chance that there is a really AOE-intensive fight such as Loken from Halls of Lightning just put Beacon of Light on the tank and heal everyone else.
Schadow Dec 7th 2008 4:39PM
Just wait til you raid.
Bacon is really powerful in the raid environment and your talents are tailor-made for MT healing.
In Naxx yesterday our healadin was top healer by a fair margin.
pants Dec 7th 2008 10:15PM
"Bacon is really powerful in the raid environment"
/lol
Beatphreek Dec 8th 2008 11:33AM
Beacon is a very effective tool... however it doesn't come close to CoH and the other chain heals. I did a pug Nax 10 man and the CoH priest and aTree in the party were outhealing me by a fair ammount. I'm not the greatest pally ever by any means, but I was surprised to see how much I was being outhealed esp by the priest who was not geared as well as I was at all.
I was having some doubts about the new heroics as a Pally too.. and then I started running with a better tank and it got much better. I also replaced a few items to get a bit bettere geared... I still haven't ran all the heroics, but the ones I did do went much better after I got used to how Pally's heal now and started using our little shields and divine plea more.
Thiosion Dec 7th 2008 9:37AM
I'm a MASSIVE lore nerd, and of the 5-man dungeons I've run already (all except Halls of Lightning, Culling of Stratholme, Oculus and The Pinnacle), Halls of Stone is... amazing. Of course, I'm completely biased. I love Titan lore, and it was the first Titan place I had been for the whole expansion, having been summoned there at 76 without going into Storm Peaks first. Brann is also one of my favorite lore characters, though I admit his voice actor was a little... startling.
All in all? Tribunal of Ages. It's FRICKIN' SWEET.
Amaxe Dec 7th 2008 9:35AM
I've only run four so far. Nexus felt like your average McInstance like the BC instances. Utgarde Keep was very well designed around the viking theme. Azol went along the lines of "Is that it?" Drak was another very well designed one.
So they were dead on for half of the instances, and sort of "meh" for the others. Of course I recognize that I have seen only a small fraction of it all, and the rest could be excellent.
Schadow Dec 7th 2008 4:48PM
I really liked AN because I went in there the first time knowing absolutely nothing, with a group that also knew absolutely nothing. It's an original layout that has a very nice feel.
I must say I chuckled a lot at DK. It seems a fairly random collection of things. Sort of the opposite of UK, which is themed to the point of being monotonous. But in DK, you have creepy undead, then really creepy spiders, then creepy bats, then... ohwait, we forgot dinosaurs! WTF?
Jack Spicer Dec 7th 2008 9:43AM
One thing that has really disappointed me about 5-mans so far has been the new trend of not marking, no CC'ing, and simply AoEing everthing down. As a healer, it really feels like most of the work is being put on my shoulders as no one seems to care about doing anything to mitigate the damage they're all taking.
Dulock Dec 7th 2008 10:53AM
I think i would have to agree with you. However, being melee I think I have beaten our healer it to an amazing healer because he has to worry about everyone and the stuff we make him do in 5 mans reflects well in raid. Secretly though I love the no marking go ape shit on all the mobs thing while the tank and healer try to support my craziness.
shadowmeld FTW
Prolifikshadow Dec 8th 2008 2:51PM
Being a mage it can be fun at times, but I miss my sheep. =(
It used to be just pally tanks that I couldn't sheep with, but now none of them want it, I miss sheeping.
Galipan Dec 7th 2008 9:58AM
I've done all the instances to this day except Halls of Stone, which I really want because there's some cool epic legs in there. On Heroic, my favourite one would have to be Keep/Pinnacle but then again, there's a lot I haven't done on Heroic. AN, is hardcore, it's fun, yes, but it is NOT easy; by far.