2009-05-15, 08:55 PM
Judgment Wrote:Yep, WoW has came a long way from vanilla and even BC. I haven't experienced vanilla or BC raiding, but all the horror stories about it make me glad that I didn't, moreso for vanilla.
Vanilla = Nightmarish because imagine coordinating 40 people on what to do, which also means the raid bosses HAVE to hit like a truck because there are so many healers, not to mention everyone who's not an officer or raid leader is guilty of AFKing through most of a raid for the sake of free epics (I did it before) because there's so many people the rest will carry your weight.
Raids members were also pigeonholed into certain specs because this was before Blizzard attempted to make useless specs actually useful. Raids were also ridiculously long. Less than 3 hours is actually fast. Expect 4 hours as the norm, for gear that may not even go to you because 5-10+ people will fight for that one piece of lewt that only drops once per week.
Almost every 40-man dungeon has a "resist" fight where everyone in the raid needs to spend over several hundred gold (a LOT back then) to get gear to be able to resist that certain element. Fire resistance, nature resistance, cold resistance. It's just..... ugh!
TBC = Hard, but much more doable because it's downsized from 40 people to 25 people. More choices on what spec to raid with makes it more bearable and fun. Also a transition from people in Vanilla who rode coattails to free epics can no longer do that because smaller raids = smaller room for error. Gear was easier to get, but still sometimes hard when the boss seems to hate the raid and not drop that loot. The boss fights are less about keeping the tank alive, and more "GET OUT THE OF THE F*#^ING FIRE!". Essentially, pay attention to where you stand and the boss fight will soon be over.
There were still resist fights, but in honesty wearing resist gear is more of a suggestion than a mandatory requirement like in Vanilla WoW. If your raid is good enough, you won't even NEED that much resist gear. Maybe one or two major gear pieces and chugging a resist pot, but no need to deck out an entire wardrobe of resistance gear.
Example of more options for classes: In Vanilla WoW, I HAD to be a healer druid in order to get into the raid. In TBC, I can be a healer, a nuker, or melee DPS/tank. It's THAT much more variable in choices of how you can contribute to the raid. Druid/Shamans/Paladins can actually do something other than healing now. Paladins/Druids can actually tank now. ZOMG!
TBC raids >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Vanilla raids.