Breakfast Topic: What's your favorite dungeon or raid memory?
by Ashley Dourn 
Feb 18th 2011 at 8:00AM
Ah, Karazhan ... Remember when it first appeared in game, and it was new and shiny and you actually had to try? I do. I hit 70 shortly after The Burning Crusade was released, and my guild could not wait to get into Karazhan. Our first several attempts were rather uneventful. We got eaten alive by The Curator on more than one occasion. We were so proud of ourselves the first time we finished the opera event. It was a weekly thing. We would log on. My fellow alchemists and I would get all the potions and elixirs and flasks ready. Everyone would get a few last-minute dailies done so they would have enough gold for the inevitable repair bills that would follow another wipe on some boss we hadn't quite gotten our strategy figured out on.
Over time, we got the hang of it. There was more cheering over Vent than there was yelling in frustration. I will never forget one night our raid team was in there, though. We had just completed the chess event, when suddenly our shaman healer ran straight into a wall and aggroed the next several mobs. We got the mobs off of him and killed them with little effort. The shaman healer spent the entire time running in circles. We finally managed to get him back on Vent, where we found out he had dropped his keyboard and mouse and now was stuck running in circles because of stuck keys. We thought it spelled certain doom, especially for the Shade of Aran fight. It ended up being the most fun we had in a raid. There is nothing funnier than watching a shaman run in circles and still managing to keep everyone alive. He deserves a medal for that run!
What is your most cherished dungeon or raid memory? Is it a funny moment you remember most, or is your favorite memory a more serious recollection?
Filed under: Breakfast Topics, Guest Posts
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 7)
Kylenne Feb 18th 2011 8:06AM
Speaking of Kara? Drunk Kara runs. That place was amazing enough fun on its own, but for some reason liquor made everything 50 times more entertaining. Especially Shade of Aran.
That was the most fun I have ever had in this game.
Underage people and newbies, y'all have no idea what you missed.
Alphá Feb 18th 2011 8:22AM
Kylenne,
Drunken Kara runs are the basis of my closest friends that I have met in-game. People who I am now RL friends with.
The MT would often AFK, because he had to do another Jaeger-bomb, his signature beverage. Typically this would be done after he pulled a group and dropped a Consecrate.
We still talk about them, all the time, and every once in a while still go in and do it. The only problem is that now they only take 30 minutes.. if we're taking our time.
I guess we should progress to drunken BT runs or something. :)
Many of my dearest WoW memories are from those days.
blemelisk Feb 18th 2011 9:52AM
Mine would have to be, when I and the VP of the office (higher ed) was working for were with his nephew and some of his nephews friends doing old school Deadmines. We were at the ship and the VP was casting as a priest but used his wand sometimes to not use mana. We noticed a bolt fly way off and miss the mob(s) the tank was tanking and over vent others said "wow..i never have seen a miss that bad" however i saw that it had hit a mob up on the next level and i said (immitating Obiwan -"thats no moon") "thats no miss". we subsequently wiped but had a really good laugh at my comment. my VP was thoroughly educated in the dangers of tab targeting through this experience, but in a very funny manner.
He died about 6 months ago, he was a very good man, very learned and someone i looked up to professionally. And this is one of the moments i have kept, for it was good times.
Sky Feb 18th 2011 11:52AM
Mine has to be when our guild had the server first for Kil Jaeden back in BC. Those were the days, too bad university had to get in the way
CDave Feb 18th 2011 8:34PM
Drunk raids/dungeons are always amusing. My favorite was a guild run of Ulduar during the ICC period, so it was just for fun. We created a drinking and it has grown to something we try with almost every instance that we outgear. Anytime someone screws up on a specific boss mechanic, drink. Yoggy was probably my favorite; you lose some sanity? Drink. Die? Shot. Go insane? Shot. The goal wasn't so much beating the boss, but seeing how far we could get given our level of inebriation. Soooo much fun.
Also, people standing in fire? Drink. Makes PUGs much more tolerable.
MusedMoose Feb 18th 2011 8:08AM
I've talked about it here before, but my first dungeon run ever was Deadmines, back in the days of vanilla. It was the first time I'd grouped with others, the first time I'd really had to learn how to play my class - I was a warlock at the time, and somehow, it hadn't occurred to me to cast all my DoT spells then keep attacking from a distance. Eh heh heh. Anyway, the run took nearly five hours, since we were all learning as we went, but we learned to work well together and listened to each other. When we finally took down Van Cleef, it felt more epic than anything I'd ever done in the game before.
Once Cataclysm hit, my first new dungeon run turned out to be... you guessed it, Deadmines again. I'd been through the place so many times before that I really wasn't sure what was going to be different, and the place blew me away. It was a frantic, manic kind of run, with everyone learning the new mechanics on the fly, lots of shouting and lots of stuff blowing up. The battle against Ripsnarl was epic, with everyone running around and my little night elf mage hurling fireballs at anything that moved. To say nothing of the final boss. ^_^
And then, of course, after Horatio Lane did his thing, nearly everyone in the group yelled out "YEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!"
Neyssa Feb 18th 2011 8:58AM
I can also think back on my first ever dungeon experience, which was Maraudon. I started with a druid, knowing nothing about WoW, never playing an MMO before. I had no clue about anything really. I was happily leveling, when some stranger whispered me: hey you wanna tank maraudon? Well I had two issues with this question: not knowing what tanking is and not knowing what maraudon is. I told them but they still invited me, and teached me how to tank. They were very cool people, patient, and I so fell in love with tanking that I am still doing it after 3 years :D
Flolyn Feb 18th 2011 9:04AM
Deadmines was a first for me as well. I joined in BC so everyone else knew the fights except me, the tank. I don't think I've ever had a smoother run. Everyone there helped me both learn the fights and how to tank as a fledgling warrior. It was an incredible experience that I wish happened more often in this game.
leper1983 Feb 18th 2011 8:10AM
I really enjoyed ZG way back when it came out.. its a shame they had to go and remove it for cata :(
Fweet Feb 18th 2011 1:46PM
ZG was my favorite. Bass Pale Ale will forever remind me of that place. I still hold out hope that it will one day become a lvl 100 ten-man raid dungeon.
vertigobliss86 Feb 18th 2011 8:11AM
My favorite memory is the vanilla Onyxia raid. Finally, I could visualize and see a group of heroes facing off against a giant dragon! It was so epic to me, and she was beautiful.
The best one was when it was phase 3 and only 10 of us were left alive. When the final tank dropped with her at 20something percent, I tossed on my shield (being a warrior) and pulled her back to the tanking spot (I had never tanked her before). With about 4 more people dying in the process, she finally hit 0HP and dropped. Everyone cheered for my quick reactions and ability.
You'd think they'd give me the head or something afterwords eh? Sheesh.
Vehx Feb 18th 2011 8:12AM
My favorite memory takes me back all the way to patch 1.9 in Ahn'Qiraj, when raiding finally required much more coordination and effort. The Twin Emperors became my guilds first brick wall, and the encounter nearly broke apart our raid team as it took us nearly 3 months to finally kill them. I'll NEVER forget the screaming heard on vent when they first died!
Loradio Feb 18th 2011 8:13AM
*SNIFF* I miss the good ol' gang of the Kara days.. RIP AKF IllIdan. Thats were I learned to tank from one of the best. Pugging in a level 69 healer just to do the run, and finally killing prince who had a bad habit of dropping is damnable minions in the worst possible places. Those were a few of the highlights.
Uh fast forward... and the next best one was Killing Lady Deathwisper... biatch that she was when we first ran into her.. pugged a couple of guys who were playing on their lap top at McDonalds.. it was pretty funny thinking back.. they kept getting disconnected though so at the time it was hateful.
Looking back there has been a lot of good times, epic battles with one person left standing. they are always fun.
polydorr Feb 18th 2011 8:15AM
Ulduar. The whole thing.
Firestyle Feb 18th 2011 8:28AM
Seconded.
Pam Feb 18th 2011 10:14AM
Hands down. I still get goosebumps every time I'm hanging out up there.
Poppy Feb 18th 2011 8:19AM
Kara - my first raiding experience with my brand new level 80 lock. My guild were running it regularly, and they took me along as soon as I dinged. I never thought WOW could be so much fun. Especially opera - I so wanted those ruby slippers.
I'm not raiding these days for a few reasons, and I really miss it when I think back on the Kara runs.
(getting Hodir down for the first time was pretty cool too)
John Feb 18th 2011 8:19AM
There are two:
My guild's first Lich King kill. Ive never heard such cheering or been more proud of a group of people
Two: when I volunteered to tank for a friend's undue guild run. I was new to tanking and didnt realize you could fall off the Kologarn platform. Guess what I did? So I got my act together and went back.....and autoran right off the platform a second time. Laughing with people you know and complete strangers- it's what makes the game worth it.
Ok two more- We wipe on Lk becaus our dk had an itch to scratch and his hand got stuck in his pants while in defile and an underbog run where our Druid tank spilled milk all over his keyboard and fell off a platform. Nothing but love, Sappy, Luda
Imnick Feb 18th 2011 10:42AM
That last part is a truly legendary story
I can imagine the sound of ventrilo as your poor death knight had to explain why he just wiped the group
Imnick Feb 18th 2011 8:20AM
Finally getting Bane after a couple of months and several dramatic forced raid team reshuffles caused by people falling out or drifting off