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by Matthew Rossi 
Dec 28th 2011 at 1:00PM
I'm sorry, but you have to be 50 kinds of jaded to not enjoy this. One of the things I've really enjoyed about patch 4.3 and the Dragon Soul raid is how it unabashedly throws massive, crazy, world-ending doomsday events at you. Between fending off not one but two faceless ones from within bloated abominations, balking an ancient earth elemental giant at the base of Wyrmrest Temple, and defeating Ultraxion and then taking on Deathwing himself, the fights feel enormous. The stakes are huge, and while the supposed saviors of Azeroth spend a lot of time thinking really hard at a McGuffin, we step the heck up.
Whether you are hitting it via Raid Finder, attending your weekly 10-man hardcore raid, or participating as a member of a casual 25-man raid alliance (or anything in between), in terms of pure aesthetics, Dragon Soul is a very satisfying raid in terms of pure scope and sweep.
No better than this bitter end
To be honest, I sincerely hope Blizzard doesn't try to Sunwell this expansion. Cataclysm must go out on Deathwing's demise. He was the villain all expansion long, and we put him in the ground. There's no better end for this expansion than to see the Age of Mortals come rolling around and for us to be the mortals that make that happen. Après Neltharion, le guerre, if you'll permit me to horribly butcher the helpless French language for a moment.
The Hour of Twilight heroics and the Dragon Soul raid do exactly what they should do and provide us with the end of Deathwing's story and his attempt to remake the world to his own twisted desires. I've never run a set of 5-man instances that so perfectly dovetailed with the raid they were intended to complement, not even the ICC 5s. (Those were admittedly close, however.) Perhaps it's as simple as finally getting made into another race than a human in a CoT or getting to see the biggest event in the Warcraft setting's history up close, but I'm in love with these instances.
Out with a bang
This is a seven-year-old game. The fact that it can contain a fight like Madness of Deathwing, that a raid like Dragon Soul can be this big in terms of pure engagement, that in eight fights we get to save the bloody world and everyone in it is pretty dang awesome. This isn't If we don't stop Arthas, he'll eventually destroy us all; this is Stop Deathwing right now or the planet blows up -- stakes we haven't seen since Algalon. And it was a blast to do it, too.
This is fairly awesome. I can only hope Mists can take this energy and run with it. Whatever your feelings about Cataclysm (I had some serious issues with it at start), no one can deny it went out big.
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm has destroyed Azeroth as we know it; nothing is the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion, from leveling up a new goblin or worgen to breaking news and strategies on endgame play.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Raiding, Lore, Wrath of the Lich King, Cataclysm
Reader Comments (Page 6 of 6)
bub Dec 29th 2011 10:21AM
Dragonsoul was a blast for the first four weeks. With 6 alts running lfr I was getting epics everyday and life was good. Not being in a guild I was left with pugs and can now pug the first 6 bosses reliably using some time and the explanations I have macro'd.
But I never felt I fought deathwing.
I made a hole in his armor so Thrall could shoot him and then when he is hanging off a cliff I stood on his fingers until he had to let go.
But the hero of the fight was never me, it was always Thrall.
Jack Mynock Dec 29th 2011 10:52AM
The hero of the madness encounter is definitely not Thrall. He doesn't do anything.
threesixteen Dec 29th 2011 3:04PM
GG WoW.
lightsabres!