A kind-of-sort-of Ulduar preview
by Adam Holisky 
Jan 30th 2009 at 1:00PM
Our intrepid YouTube adventurer Dan O'Halloran found this video posted back on the 5th of January this year detailing the Ulduar raid zone thus far. It was made using private server technology, and contains heavy spoilers. You've been warned.
When you watch the video you'll notice that much of it is incomplete. Large areas are nothing more than gray swaths with no content in them. This is intentional and normal – the areas just are not developed yet.
However there are areas which are vibrant and high quality. Parts of the place resemble (as expected) the ancient gods look to it. The place could (and will) be sitting right next to the Halls of Lightning.
Take a watch through the video when you have a moment today. And don't forget to check out the previews of the Tier 8 gear MMO-Champion is offering.
Update 7:38 p.m. EST: Looks like Blizzard had YouTube take the video down.
Filed under: Patches, Machinima, News items, Instances, Raiding
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Drak Jan 30th 2009 1:04PM
Cool looking, can't wait
Wrabbit Jan 30th 2009 1:05PM
Looks too easy.
Ekimus Jan 30th 2009 1:31PM
Wha? There's no content in there beyond the structures. Stop trolling.
Flairy Jan 30th 2009 1:41PM
Ek...l2sarcasm.
spacehyena Jan 30th 2009 2:49PM
Just because you said that, now the greyed-out area will be one long Naxx-slime-style frogger run.
Good job!
JC Jan 30th 2009 2:55PM
so does your mom
Kor Jan 30th 2009 1:10PM
cool vid. Hey wowinsider what dungeon drops the most stone keepers shards? I want some BoA gear for my mage and druid.
nbcaffeine Jan 30th 2009 2:44PM
Which dungeon has the most bosses? There's your answer.
AyaJulia Jan 30th 2009 1:14PM
Thanks, WI... you just got my poor level 42 pally alt killed because I couldn't tear myself away from this to defend her from the aggressive raptors. What did she ever do to you? ;)
Seriously though... that is freakin' amazing. I can't wait to see it, hear it, and live it with my friends.... And I'm most looking forward to the lore that will (hopefully) permeate every inch of the place.
Xonate Jan 30th 2009 1:15PM
Very interesting. This instance looks to be very massive, perhaps much larger than the BC instances like Kara, BT, SSC, etc. At first, I admit, I was a bit disappointed with how it looked, as it appeared to be just a larger version of HoS or HoL. Not that those instances aren't cool, but looking exactly the same would be a bit lame. However, that quickly changed when more of the instance was explored, such as the garden/tropical area, the icy caves, and what appeared to be a coliseum.
One thing I did note, it seems unlikely that we'll be fighting Yog'sarron here, at least based on what I saw. The Old God would be underground, I'd think, and there doesn't seem to be any good places for that encounter at the moment, though with the addition of the material that is currently grayed out, who knows. Though also, to support that idea, it seemed that where the 'host' of the video ended up at the very last bit of the movie would be where the final boss it. At least it looks very final-boss-esque. If that's the case, I highly doubt it would be Yogg'Saron sitting there.
AyaJulia Jan 30th 2009 1:25PM
Eh, Blizz giving us Yogg'Saron this early would've been like Blizz blowing their load early in BC and having us fight Kil'Jaeden in... I dunno... SSC or something. In my opinion. ;)
It seems to me like Arthas, despite being the most in-your-face big bad guy in the game for now, is being set up to be a sub-boss for a far more nefarious force that is controlling him. But who knows, maybe they'll save all the big guys for one huge final multi-stage encounter... kill Arthas, Ner'zhul's imprisoned spirit comes out to try to smash your face... kill Ner'zhul, Yogg-Saron gets pissy that you ruined all his hard work....
The exciting part is not knowing. :)
Xonate Jan 30th 2009 1:30PM
Oh, I agree completely. I think that putting Yogg-Saron in Ulduar would have been way too early. However, wowwiki does say:
"It is very possible that Yogg-Saron will be the endboss of the Ulduar Raid. While a raid more related to the Nerubians may have seemed more feasible, this raid too will no doubt take players underground, and the fact that Loken has been corrupted by Yogg-Saron shows that his involvement does stretch here. "
I think that the layout of the raid instance will probably prove that wrong, but I can't say for sure.
Debesun Jan 30th 2009 3:26PM
Go inside the stump of Vordrassil to the bottom where the sapling was and look for tunnel that leads to a decently sized cave with another tunnel that leads deeper into the earth only to lead to sudden dead end.
Looking at the lore behind Vordrassil (and under it) and the setup of this fairly useless but specifically designed room and I think you got yourself the foundations of a raid zone.
crsh Jan 31st 2009 11:39PM
It'll be the Northrend version of Black Temple; lots of halls, lots of trash mobs, lots of bosses.
squeezy soft Jan 30th 2009 1:40PM
i was thinking the same thing....kind of start out in the first floow/basement area and work your way up to the very top of the dungeon where the big bad boss is waiting. reminds me of BT a little bit. I def. foresee lots of trash here either way.
Lemons Jan 30th 2009 6:19PM
I hope blizz overreacts to all the people yelling about the current content being too easy and makes Uldaur insanely hard to the point guilds have trouble with certain trash pulls XP
That'd teach em.
What am I saying!? They'd probably love that...
The Chilli God Jan 30th 2009 1:38PM
Bonus points for using 'In My Dreams' by Robert Miles as the music for the movie. I love that stuff.
Also, this just strengthens my belief that the bosses of Ulduar are going to be the keepers, like Keeper Mimir or Keeper Tyr. Each branch seems to be tailored for each keeper. You can see the ice for Keeper Hodir's area, and the lifeness for Keeper Freya's area, for example.
Haarits Jan 30th 2009 2:16PM
@Chilli,
Once I finally did the quest to visit the Keepers' areas with the library gadget, I had the same thought. They're all gone, and we know Thorim was captured by Loken and taken into Ulduar; it makes a lot of sense.
Despite Loken's fealty to Yogg, I don't know that this should be the place for a big bad Old God. I like the ideas presented here of Yogg directing the Lich King, and even of possibly redeeming Arthas and having to destroy Ner'zhul. Given the abandoned underground zone plans, and that the Nerubian realm stretches under so much of the continent, it'd be nice if Ulduar was the stepping stone to a later Yogg-Saron raid that existed more in the Nerubian world; perhaps the final boss here will be Thorim, controlled by Yogg or by the vanquished essence of Loken... or maybe a reborn Loken. Something. Looks great so far!
Dalrint Jan 30th 2009 2:18PM
It would make sense, and explain why they have all disappeared from their respective temples. Although at least one of them didn't go without a fight (their temple is a wreck, as if there was a big fight there.)
Killing the keepers would suck, though. Aren't they kind of necessary for maintaining the balance on azeroth?
laughtrey Jan 30th 2009 8:49PM
Looks huge, hopefully it's hard enough where it's not beaten in 2-3 days after it's released. Hopefully they stick to their word and won't release it all (at once) on the PTR.