Breakfast Topic: What I won't miss
by Zach Yonzon 
Jun 28th 2010 at 8:00AM
First of all, getting to the instance itself was no small task. Surrounding the lake where the temple was, well, sunken, there were elite dragonkin that were a handful for characters of appropriate level for the dungeon. That meant needing to be sneaky (or swift) just getting to the middle of the lake. Once you got inside the temple, you had to deal with mummified trolls, oozes and snakes -- elite as far as I can recall -- just to get to the entrance of the instance! That by itself took a good while. Let's not even talk about getting lost on the way there ... the temple before the instance was a convoluted maze of unnecessary rooms, corridors and levels that was littered with NPCs who didn't drop anything good in particular. Oh, and did I mention that there are a whole bunch of quests that take you all around the world and can only be completed inside the instance? It would've been epic if it wasn't such a pain in the butt.
It was fun for a short while, but I suppose I've grown up enough as a player to recognize that it was simply bad game design. Blizzard has grown up, too, right along with us (or it might be the other way around) and started putting out dungeons that were quick, fun, and significantly less confusing. When Cataclysm finally breaks the World of Warcraft, a lot of things will change and go away. I don't know what Blizzard has in store for the Sunken Temple, but I wouldn't miss it if it finally goes under. There are a lot of things I won't miss, actually, but the Temple of Atal'Hakkar is somewhere near the top of my list. How about you? What won't you miss when Cataclysm changes the face of the game world? What parts of the world wouldn't you mind bidding 'good riddance?'
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Breakfast Topics
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 10)
quasarsglow Jun 28th 2010 8:03AM
That reminds me, I never completed the sunken temple, better head back there.. after gathering all the quests, of course.
Linnia Jun 28th 2010 8:45AM
You can never gather all the quests. Just when you think you are done, you get sent there again by someone half the world away.
quasarsglow Jun 28th 2010 9:32AM
Well, yes. I found that with Dire Maul as well. But at least when you have to go back you have a better idea of where to go. Right now, its just a matter of "which loremaster do I want most."
Wowwiki helps me find those quests at least.
Pyromelter Jun 28th 2010 3:19PM
Most of the dungeons around that level appear to be horrid. BRD and Dire Maul are also royal PITA's. But nothing holds the cake to the amount of suck sunken temple is. Worst instance in the game, and it's not even close.
Stratholme is pretty fun, but the problem is that once you are ready for Strat, you're basically in outland or almost ready for it, and at that point, you're getting way better gear from a more enjoyable area in hellfire peninsula and the ramparts.
Like many people, I learned that once I hit the mid 40s area, it's easier to just quest and shrug off those dungeons. Nothing worse than getting stuck in a fail 5man for 3 hours trying to figure out where to even go, when you could have gotten a level or two if you were just questing.
jrb Jun 28th 2010 9:26PM
Alotnof people shrug off the complex instances, the spread out quests, having to revisit the same instance over and over as poor game design. Personally, running those places, bed and dire maul especially are some of the fondest memories of wow. Remember, levelling was slower back then. Quest rewards were generally weaker back then. Blizzard knew that a temple for a troll god would have influences the world over, so why not put quests the world over?
Now, we have these bite-sized 30 minute instances that we out-gear too quickly, have little impact on the lore, have one, maybe two unimportant quests, and serve only as a way to get players to grind for emblems.
Bring back slow levelling, bring back lore-driven content, bring back hard to earn epics, and bring back complicated instances that you have to engage your brain in...otherwise we may as well just go play world of farmville.
Suite Jun 28th 2010 8:04AM
BRD. I dread that place, hate it so so so much. Im leveling in the dungeon finder at the moment and fully plan to quest just that portion of the level range so I dont have to run it ever again. I know people love it because it's "Old School" but it's so terribly, needlessly long.
Kylenne Jun 28th 2010 8:13AM
I tend to stop doing randoms on my lowbies around the time they hit Sunken Temple. I do that (usually around three times because I'm generally at the mercy of the tank as far as getting all the quests done), and then I don't do randoms until Ramparts. That has the added benefit of avoiding all the idiot 58 DKs trying to tank BRD with barely any tools to hold threat on the huge numbers of mobs they try to pull in their OP Acherus gear.
Of course, then I have to deal with the idiot DKs in their early 60s...but at least then they have SOME tools to use.
Hal Jun 28th 2010 8:31AM
I've found that BRD becomes navigable once you've been there enough. I've even come to enjoy it now that I've learned how to get around. It still takes a long time for a pug, some of the quest chains are annoying, and the level span of the bosses means that some groups just can't finish the thing, but I still enjoy it for what it is.
And for what it's worth, I've had DKs tank for me, successfully(!), in Dire Maul. I know fresh DKs have terrible reputations, but it really is a matter of the player.
Jen Jun 28th 2010 8:39AM
BRD, yes, a hundred times yes! I hope Blackrock Mountain gets hit by Deathwing very very hard, and it crumbles into little pieces, destroying the lava and the stupid goddamn retarded path you have to take as a ghost if you're unlucky enough to die there. After my priest got stuck in the lava as a ghost and I spent 10 fruitless minutes trying to get my body back, I ticketed a GM to get me out and only queued for Dire Maul until I got to 58.
Not to mention the fact that all that red lava makes my head hurt. I am not happy we're getting a new Blackrock dungeon in Cataclysm...
Possum Jun 28th 2010 8:47AM
I had a fresh DK, tank successfully for me in Dire Maul too and it was his first time tanking ever! It was the most amazing thing I had ever seen in my (world of warcraft) life. Which made me cringe all the harder at the successive DK tanks in ramps, each poorer than the rest..
Bronwyn Jun 28th 2010 9:03AM
I have a love/hate relationship with BRD. I love BRD when you go back as an 80 and there's no pressure and you can take your time and roflstomp whatever tries to kill you.
But leveling there I don't like so much- especially because you're getting to the realm of instances that have a lot of bosses that you don't actually have to complete, and people wanting to either speed to the end or kill every. single. thing. I get too stressed to even notice how awesome the area is and remember how much I love it.
PictoKong Jun 28th 2010 9:27AM
I did level a prot warrior recently, and queued for some dungeons at 55
And i did sunken temple, during 2 hours (but ooh god, i got 3/4 of my level)
Its not that big of a maze actually, the plan is really simple once your inside: you go front and clear all the upper circle + trolls miniboss, then you can go kill the end bosses of you can go clear all of the lower circles + activate the crystals (in good order, instance note FTW) to get the optional boss downstairs...
What is a pain is that you get no boss until the very end of it, when you kill'em all
BRD, its a pain without the key, otherwise its pretty smooth
kooda Jun 28th 2010 10:58AM
my shaman: started level 52 27-32 (i stopped counting) BRD runs later and 1 dire maul i reached level 58.
Edge Jun 28th 2010 12:33PM
I love BRD now after having done it so many times, I never miss it on any toons anymore. I especially love leading a team of people who know nothing of the place and giving them a chance to see the whole thing. I know, it's long and needlessly convoluted, but once you got the key and bypass the prisons, it's all pretty simple and straightforward actually.
Ringo Flinthammer Jun 28th 2010 12:38PM
Wow. I hate Sunken Temple with a fiery passion, but I cannot imagine disliking BRD. If I were on the design team, I'd make one BRD-style megadungeon per expansion, although I can see an argument for taking it out of the random dungeon tool.
mistairdvant Jun 28th 2010 12:44PM
Nothing is worse than Maraudon back in the day.
NOTHING. Now you get sent there all fast and willy nilly and they even broke it into parts! First time I completed it, it took three hours and a very hot laptop on a very hot summer day. Why didn't I just go outside :(
AltairAntares Jun 28th 2010 12:53PM
It's been the same for me- I hated BRD because I never knew where I was going, but after awhile I started figuring it out and it made sense to me, and I have no problem queueing for the place now. But that doesn't mean that I don't mind wiping there. Some many people drop group because they can't figure out how to get back. Once Cataclysm comes they'd better stick a graveyard in an easy to reach place because right now it's simply terrible how the GY run is.
Personally the one instance I love to hate is Maradon. I simply can't stand that place- from the utterly wacky paths that you have to take to get through the instance, to just how impossible it is to rez once you wipe, impossible to find out no matter how many times I've ran that instance; it's the once place I really hope gets removed or totally redone in cataclysm.
kdeselms Jun 28th 2010 4:19PM
My vote goes to Maraudon, too...especially with the random dungeon finder. If you wipe, might as well drop group because most of the people won't be able to find their way back to the zone-in point. That, and the fact that between 40-44 you will ONLY run Mara purple
ash Jun 28th 2010 4:39PM
I'm with Bronwyn, there's something epic about BRD, which makes me appreciate it, but this has mostly been done as a level 70-80 toon. Sunken Temple I still get lost in till this day. I like the feeling of trying to make it epic, but I just get too lost. DK and ZD are missing something, though. At least you don't get lost in them.
toddcore Jun 28th 2010 5:43PM
"I've found that BRD becomes navigable once you've been there enough. I've even come to enjoy it now that I've learned how to get around."
Wait. What? I must have misread that, because it looks like you said that it becomes easier to navigate and makes for a more enjoyable experience once you *LEARNED* how to get around. I don't think you understand what today's World of Warcraft is all about.
What part of learning or experiencing new things is supposed to be fun? If I can't click 2 buttons, AFK for 15 minutes and then sleepwalk in a straight line from point A to point B collecting experience and/or loot on the way, I'm not having fun. If it takes longer than 7 or 8 minutes I'm *really* miserable.
I remember the terrible old days when you actually had to find people willing to group with you to do things that required a group, and when if you didn't have a friendly warlock in the party you had to endure the horror of traveling to your destination, and when exploring a dungeon you had never been to before involved some.. well.. some exploration. Terrible design indeed, I'm glad we've come so far.