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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsWrath Retrospective: Ulduar
by Matthew Rossi 
Jun 11th 2010 at 2:00PM
Ulduar was released with patch 3.1 in April of 2009. Until the release of patch 3.2 in August 2009, Ulduar was the highest level 10- and 25-man raid content in World of Warcraft. It's fair to say that Ulduar was at best tangential to the overarching story of Wrath of the Lich King that concluded in Icecrown Citadel, but I also think it's fair to say that Ulduar took everything that had gone before it in Naxxramas, the Eye of Eternity and Obsidian Sanctum and distilled down to a refined, satisfying raid experience.
Ulduar took the vehicle fight mechanic of EoE and managed to make it fun, interesting and variable, incorporating the hard mode mechanic first developed in Obsidian Sanctum and then expanding on it in several different ways. It allowed for optional bosses that could be killed if a raid was gearing up or skipped once you were ready to move on to the end of the instance. It took the various teleport mechanics first seen in Karazhan and Black Temple in BC and made them part of the instance. It even had a "hard mode only" fight with a limited duration that could only be attempted for one hour every raid week from the first time it was started.
It's no secret that Ulduar is one of many people's favorite raids for this expansion (it's personally #2 for me, as I'm a much bigger fan of ICC than most), and there are quite a few reasons for that popularity.
Blowing the doors off what came before
As much as I think Naxx gets a bad rap nowadays and certainly accomplished what it was designed to do, it's fair to say that in pretty much every way, Ulduar pushes the bar higher. The instance itself when it released was absolutely striking and distinctive, taking art elements from old instances like Uldaman and totally updating them. There really is no comparison between Naxx and Ulduar from an art design perspective. The encounters were well designed, often challenging, and each succeeded in emphasizing different mechanics. Those fights that had hard modes unfolded in organic ways that made sense, whether it was simply killing the Iron Council in a different order or breaking XT-002s or even pushing a clearly marked "Do not push" button in Mimiron's room to work on Firefighter.
Furthermore, achievements in Ulduar felt far less punishing and far more organic. The instance was clearly designed far more naturally to take advantage of them and make them worthwhile, challenging and even sometimes fun without being the ridiculously unforgiving ones Naxxramas offered. Compare Conquerer of Ulduar with The Immortal.
Blowing the doors off what came after
Yes, I'm fairly happy with my certainty here. Ulduar is simply far, far more enjoyable than Trial of the Crusader/Grand Crusader. The art design isn't even comparable (a sprawling titanic city prison for an Old God versus a round room?). The fight design for Ulduar is far more interesting that almost every ToC fight except possibly Anub'arak (and I'd definitely put both Yogg-Saron and Algalon ahead of Anub for challenge and fun). ToC's hard modes are basically far less organic than those of Ulduar. Furthermore, I generally find the Ulduar hard modes to be superior to the conceit of running the exact same instance up to four times (10-man, 10-man hard, 25-man and 25-man hard) with minimal changes and no real explanation for why it's suddenly harder.
If it's fair to say that Ulduar took on a bright shine for many raiders after coming out of Wrath's introductory content, it's also fair to say that the release of patch 3.2 ultimately led to Ulduar taking on an even brighter shine of reflected glory in comparison to ToC/GC.
Making use of existing lore, creating new lore
Frankly, being tangential to the developing story line of Wrath of the Lich King works very heavily in Ulduar's favor. Ulduar as a raid instance is very heavily tied into the lore of Uldaman, Un'Goro Crater, Ahn'Qiraj and the long-established titan/Old God conflict. At the same time, it establishes the existence of the watchers, servants of the titans who worked to shepherd Azeroth and protect it from Old God influence. The existence of Yogg-Saron helps contribute to the story of the Lich King by providing a source for the strange material he uses to construct darn near everything, as well as providing a rich resource for future stories in unfolding titan sites like Uldum. Furthermore, the presence of an actual Old God of Death working against Arthas/The Lich King has all sorts of possibilities. It's fairly clear from the Yogg-Saron fight itself that ol' Yoggy was tipping us off to Arthas' plan for Bolvar, and it wouldn't surprise me at all to discover that Old Gods like C'thun and Yogg aren't so easily slain as all that.
Also, Ulduar contains the ultimate in high stakes. Yes, if we fail to stop the Lich King, he'll continue to try and destroy or subvert all life on Azeroth, and while the idea of a cadre of heroes like, say, you and your fellow raiders as servants/soldiers of the Scourge is indeed very bad news, even that has a hard time topping the idea that if you don't beat Algalon in one hour, Azeroth and everything on it will be broken down into component elements and recreated from scratch. There's simply no way around it. The stakes here are as high as they have ever gotten in WoW -- and the best part is, if you have ever run the Halls of Lightning, it's possibly directly your fault that the world is about to end, because you killed Loken. Killing Loken, Yogg-Saron's enslaved prime designate among the titanic watchers, is what activated the Algalon Protocol in the first place.
In the end, Ulduar took what had gone before it and very handily separated the wheat from the chaff, and then made some really awesome bread out of that wheat. (I just did irreparable damage to that poor idiom; I'm a monster.) It either improved upon or created everything we currently enjoy in raiding and was, by virtue of its freedom from the overarching plotline of the expansion, totally able and willing to create awesome new antagonists for us to murder for loot. It is definitely a candidate for best raid of this expansion.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Wrath of the Lich King
Reader Comments (Page 3 of 5)
Kunikenwad! Jun 11th 2010 2:50PM
WTB EDIT
"I've never enjoyed being killed by a 30 foot tall Sean Connery." should read "I've never enjoyed being killed by a 30 foot tall Sean Connery MORE."
Maxpowr Jun 11th 2010 2:28PM
There is a decent amount of the lore section missing. For example, Yogg-Saron corrupted the world tree in Grizzly Hills, Vordrassil, and later corrupted much of the wildlife surrounding it. The Faceless ones are Yogg's minions (like Herald Volazj in Old Kingdom) that tie into the Nerubians and their battle against the scourge. Not to mention the "visions" inside Yogg's head suggesting it was involved in said events.
Overall, a good article and the reason why Ulduar is my favorite raid this expansion.
J Jun 11th 2010 2:36PM
I loved Ulduar. I spent many, many hours in there with my guild, working on those drakes (Mimi, how you taunted us!), and I'd do the whole thing again in a heartbeat.
It saddens me, even now, that ToC was pushed out too early for the vast majority of players. While most of the raiding guilds had conquered Yogg by then, far too many were still working on those hardmodes, and far too few had even witnessed the absolute awesomeness that is the Algalon encounter. ToC was *boring*, and I know I'm not alone in absolutely hating it, but Ulduar was abandoned because raids couldn't ignore the superior loot.
I hated saying goodbye to Ulduar. We've dragged on for months and months with every other tier, far longer than we really should have... and yet we didn't get enough time with the best one.
Sword Jun 11th 2010 9:40PM
It was probably due to the new direction blizzard wanted to take the game sometime into 3.1 that caused them to release TOC as they did. Also it was around that same time that Blizz unleashed the first news of cataclysm, including the first trailor, so I would imagine that had something to do with it.
Cambro Jun 11th 2010 2:38PM
I think "separating the wheat from the chaff" is more of a biblical/literary reference than an idiom. :-p
Great article, as they usually are!
(cutaia) Jun 11th 2010 3:02PM
Oh...I thought it was a euphemism...
Cambro Jun 11th 2010 3:11PM
Eh kinda, I guess. It's both! :D
Al Jun 11th 2010 3:13PM
Neither, it's an expression.
Cambro Jun 11th 2010 3:21PM
Uh yeah, biblical/literary reference, coming from the Bible, specifically Matthew 3:12 et al. Euphemism because you thresh out the undesirable chaff and keep the much more valuable wheat. So, both. Or all three, sure you can call it an expression. An idiom, it is not though.
And yes Matt, Ulduar is awesome bread.
Matchu Jun 11th 2010 3:30PM
I believe it would be better defined as a "proverb".
Al Jun 11th 2010 3:31PM
So because the Bible mentions a farming practice, it's a Bible quote? Euphemisms swap an unpleasant part of the event for a simple word, and what's so unpleasant about removing trash from a wheat harvest?
Cambro Jun 11th 2010 3:43PM
*sigh* I didn't say Bible "quote", I said it's a "reference". As in "His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." (you made me quote it, but see the difference?) It's in the Bible, so it's a biblical reference. The Bible is a published literary work, so it's also a literary reference.
I don't think "separating the wheat from the chaff" would be considered an idiom, but maybe. I really don't think it would be considered a proverb (biblical or otherwise); it would need to be more like "Better to be grain in the barn than chaff in a furnace" or something similarly enlightening for it to be a proverb.
Zanathos Jun 11th 2010 4:07PM
it's definitely a biblical reference, whether you realize you were referencing it or not. It can also be considered an idiom, proverb, or expression, or whatever you want to call it. It's not necessarily exclusive
Matthew Rossi Jun 11th 2010 5:51PM
"An idiom (Latin: idioma, “special property”, f. Greek: ἰδίωμα - idiōma, “special feature, special phrasing”, f. Greek: ἴδιος - idios, “one’s own”) is an expression, word, or phrase that has a figurative meaning that is comprehended in regard to a common use of that expression that is separate from the literal meaning or definition of the words of which it is made.[1] There are estimated to be at least 25,000 idiomatic expressions in American English.[2]"
It absolutely is an idiom. The fact that it is also a biblical allusion does not in any way shape or form exclude it from idiomatic status. It has a figurative meaning that is comprehended in regard to a common use of that expression (even if that common use is far less common now than it was fifty years ago).
Yangli Jun 11th 2010 2:39PM
After we got our rusted proto, no one in my guild wanted to run Ulduar anymore. Not even with alts; those go straight to ToC in blues, an instance where you can drag 2-3 fresh 80s (in 10 man) with ease, while in Ulduar you'd never see Yogg with them.
It's sad... I'd really like to run that masterpiece of a raid a few times again before we outlevel it. Maybe on my Alliance alt.
Glad you mentioned the fact that the events surrounding Ulduar were even more dreading than ICC and the Lich king. Who's he compared to Algalon? But a lot of people didn't get that. Because Arthas has been everywhere around, they were confused about having to battle an Old God instead of climbing the citadel at once.
Ves Jun 11th 2010 2:41PM
Ulduar was indeed the best WotLK had to offer, but that's not to say it's without its flaws. Most importantly, it was supposed to be in the retail release of Wrath.
Also, there was too little lore explanation inside it. Everything you knew about what was inside was based upon knowledge you got from quests outside. Having, for example, a Hyldnir standing amongst the rest of the NPCs offering a quest to kill Ignis because he had mutilated Veranus, then to put the poor beast out of her misery.
The other thing that kind of ticked me off was that after defeating Algalon we sent a message saying "Nothing happening here, just ignore us." I wanted to tell the Titans "Do you remember the little fleshy things you left on this world? We'll, we've grown up and managed to beat up a pair of Old Gods. Are you proud of us?"
Memorious Jun 11th 2010 2:51PM
It's insane that it's been a year, by far this was the best raid in Wrath. The art was fantastic, the fights were complex and genuinely engaging, hell, even some of the trash was engaging. it was so nice to require CC on the pull towards Kologarn after XT, to need to burn the adds down going to Mimiron. I'm convinced it's a harder instance pound for pound than ICC, and I like it that way - it's great that it remained essentially unpuggable for the entirety of its run, that the emphasis was definitely on strategy and execution. By comparison TotC and ICC are by and large utter jokes, at least on normal mode.
And who can compare the feel of Ulduar to ICC? Ulduar was made of tropes, it was everything you expect from the home of the gods, and every single boss made sense in the context - FL and XT were made by Mimiron as guards. Kologarn defends the entryway; Auriyaya is the last line of defence, roaming the halls. The watchers are, well, the watchers, and Yogg is the reason Ulduar exists. What's in ICC? A load of disparate elements that have a lore-shaped lampshade on their heads plus a wing of fart jokes. I couldn't care less.
Oreet Jun 11th 2010 2:56PM
Ulduar is my #2 all-time raid.
I did vanilla raiding, BC raiding, and Wrath raiding, and the only raid I enjoy running over and over again more than Ulduar would have to be Karazhan.
alexg154 Jun 27th 2010 2:23PM
I really regret not spending much time in Ulduar when it was new content. I am still eager to get in there and complete it but it is more difficult to find a group these days on my server
Oreet Jun 11th 2010 2:57PM
/yell OBLIVION!!