@p@tsh@t: I’m really enjoying running some of these instances now after their prime, because the fundamental idea of raiding, which seems to be to repeatedly wipe on a boss night after night until you finally crack it and then rapidly out-gear it, just doesn’t appeal to me. The great thing now is that you could grab TAGN and co, and go run places like UBRS and beyond, and experience them in all their glory, but with the time and stress levels being comparable with a five-man dungeon. A five-man dungeon of epic scale and spectacle. I seem to recall reading on TAGN’s site that you guys had run some of the old instances, BRD maybe? It’s well worth going for the others too, there’s some absolutely stunning design, content and lore still to experience in the Old World.

Post TBC our dedicated group tried to complete our tour of Azerothian instances at-level but unfortunately and incidentally out levelled them to the point where the challenge became trivial. The problem is worse now that leveling is so fast and green outland gear is so prevalent.

I would have loved locking my bar at 60 and running all the former end-game instances. As they were designed to be the old end game, they received so much polish and attention to detail that there are still easter eggs to discover.

Damned shame they’re all but museum pieces now.

Such care and devotion went into creating the “old world” instances, it’s really a shame they’re not used more.

@unwise: Definitely there is more freedom: you can tackle the place at your own pace, and also easily wander off the beaten track without worrying about adds or getting lost or wasting precious progression time. Come level eighty I imagine all classes will be able to solo these instances without having to blink twice, and then anyone will be able to go and take whatever time they want to tour these places and drink in the atmosphere.

@Zoso: “Been spending most our lives living in a Disenchanter’s Paradise” as Coolio may have sung if he’d ever played through Stratholme on an overpowered level 70 character. Still, on the serious side of it, there’re still very nice vanity lewts that could drop, such as the Baron’s Mount (ok, so that’s insanely rare, but the chance exists), so it’s not all shards ‘n’ shit, as my level 70 homies say on the streets of Stratholme.

@Elf: Adventure awaits us! To the Stratmobile! %Dun er, dun er, dun er, dun er, derrrr%

We’ll have to go to Dire Maul, if you have not been there either, as the elven buildings are just as grand and inspiring.

Thanks for making me remember the days when Molten Core was young, Stratholme was still a 10-man raid, and the difference gear and experience made until the day when the 45 minutes 5-man run was introduced.

It was a worthy experience, and somehow so different from raids and even 5-mans today. It all feels so goal-driven, loot-driven, while back then the experience was what mostly counted. I hope WotLK can spark some of that magic again – TBC could, for a month or two, but to me the original endgame when the first dungeon set was still great gear (and many people didn’t even know Valor was supposed to be warrior stuff) is unbeaten to date.