The Best & Worst WoW Raids RANKED! - Part 2

[@oskr152]

You can really see Mike feeling nostalgic when talks, and when pauses reliving his memories about each of this raids, awesome content

[@Granolie]

once he started hitting the top 10 you could almost see him getting emotional. Vanilla to WotLK were truly lightning in a bottle.

[@ctx4241]

@@Granolie possibly why there is huge number of people replaying classic/BC/WOTLK content over and over and over again on private servers, why every time Ulduar releases, there are huge spikes of people just pouring in for 10+ years old content. IDK if its sad or joy to see, but it has gravity. Imagine replaying BfA.

[@martinschurig9826]

@@Granolie qA

[@Fed034]

I think it's such a shame Mike's missed Throne of Thunder, I feel like he would have loved it

[@michaelkennielsen1422]

When he came to top 4 i was like. Dude.... You forgot one of the absolute best raids ever made. Like it literally rivals Ulduar

[@DomerNoodle]

@@michaelkennielsen1422 He didn't forget it to be fair, he said in part 1 that he won't rank Throne of Thunder because he didn't progress it as current content due to real life commitments

[@Numbers_Game]

@@DomerNoodle It was shenanigans! ToT beats Ulduar, but that would mean the crown would go to a MoP raid and certain mouth breathers would only screech "fucken pandas, reeeeeeeeeeeeee!" Any pre cata raid has no business to be #1 mechanically wise and they are only given a pass because of the expansions they were in. Slap the ICC story on BRF mechanics and the original would be considered shit by comparison.

[@karlzone2]

Lei Shen being the most epic, fun and most well tuned fight ever made, while classes were at their absolute prime gameplay-wise.

[@price8346]

@@karlzone2 Definitely. Lei Shen is the pinnacle of a raid boss feeling consistently tough but fair through the entire encounter.

[@Slimjim2147]

These really are the best vids Preach has made since BfA. Reminds me of when legacy vids and other more casual/fun vids were the frequent upload here. Rather than just discussion topics about the state of the game or tdps, obviously I still like those videos but that's all it's been for a while

[@aroundthefur1210]

Yeah; this is the kind of content that brought me to his channel in MoP. Would love to see a lot less TDP and instead some class guides.

[@UnwrittenNoise]

@@aroundthefur1210 I think TDP is a great format to just have a chat, it's also clearly a lot less effort for him to make, so its not either those videos or these. But yeah, sprinkling these in much more often would be great.

[@TheAssirra]

@@aroundthefur1210 He stopped doing them for a reason. For one they were very draining to do them every patch for every single spec. For another reason is that classes change a lot all the time so a video format besides the basic gameplay is useless. Another reason is that there are la lot of guides on different places as well and people with the help of discord can constantly interact and help each other. It would be basically cost a lot of time with no benefit.

[@aroundthefur1210]

@@TheAssirra Totally get that, its just what brought me to his channel in the first place and would be cool to see it come back. Discords have a wealth of information but part of the reason you go to you a KZbin video is for the entertainment in it all. If he did a few less TDP's he could maybe put a class discussion video once in awhile was my thoughts on that basically. The TDP videos are him spacing out (to concentrate on the game), or side railing his own thoughts, and it just turns into a very disconjointed conversation most of the times. Probably wont see the old content come back but a person can dream at least, lol.

[@bordapatrol4930]

Still waiting on Legacy of the druid !

[@kaidal2]

Mike, this is the first time i comment on any of your videos even though i've been a lurker for many many years but i felt the need to do so here as you've brought a tear to my eye. Reminiscing all these great moments i've had in this game while raiding made me emotional. It just made me realize how WoW has been such a large part of my life and reminded me why i still play it to this day even though it has its ups and downs. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.

[@LilianOrchard]

This was so cool. Please do more stuff like this. I missed these kinds of videos.

[@joshstraub6972]

Same

[@hydrogamer471]

this person thinks genocide of 90% of a race is better than being totally mind controlled and doing objectively far less.

[@markushofer2722]

Operator Thogar: Everything in that fight is massively on rails Well....yes.

[@Spinexus]

That´s kind of the point, right? xD

[@brantchristopfel2130]

Lol! I thought the same thing when he said "on rails" rofl

[@InfamousNapkin]

everything is on rails.... HEH!

[@Rton1000]

so stoked to be seeing the second part released just as i cracked a cold one open

[@beradical695]

Same, proverbially.

[@Xriswest]

Exact same! Space Commander Gigahop!

[@tyrannosaurus696]

Best two WoW videos I've ever watched. Fair play Preach.

[@Spectacular66]

Serpentshrine Cavern was one of my more favored TBC raids. I didn't get to see it until long after the attunement quests were removed but I'd done both quests with my first raid guild before they fell apart in the summer of 2007 trying to take on TK for Fel Reaver. That raid tested your guild's mettle if Magtheridon wasn't enough of a complexity for you!

[@Mathus1]

ToGC is massively underrated. No trash mobs and just bosses is great.

[@Hjiel]

Everything about that raid except for the encounter design was thoroughly shit and lazily done though.

[@axl4394]

@@Hjiel well, most of a raid are the boss encounters -_-

[@Hjiel]

@@axl4394 And yet time and time again Preach stresses the importance of spectacle. And if that is important to a guy like him, imagine how much it means to someone less progress oriented? And even disregarding the spectacle and the visuals of the place (which are so so far below even a place like Molten Core), the design of the raid tier made sure you had to do the place 4 times every week and then return to and outdated raid to get some healer their legendary. The encounter design is quite literally the only redeeming quality of the entire tier and every single other aspect of it is a stinking heap of garbage.

[@aightm8]

Every now and again it's ok. A raid wouldn't feel like a raid without the trash

[@sango3128]

4 lockouts was the most dumb thing about that raid. The time for the RP to finish was pretty dumb too.

[@ampere11]

Ulduar is by far the best raid in wow history. I will always remember the reaction of my guild when we ran through the doorway and Kologarn popped up and killed several people. It was epic and fun and unforgettable.

[@davidfence6939]

Not really. That's by far your opinion. Your opinion never has been a fact. Never will it be. And Ulduar is by far NOT the best raid in WoW history.

[@Colaschnittchen]

@@davidfence6939 he never said he ment it as a fact. And then you do the same and state your opinion like he did (which is fine)

[@ampere11]

@@davidfence6939 I bet you're fun at parties. I thought it was pretty clear I was speaking from my own perspective. Lighten up David.

[@gostreiver8036]

So what’s the best raid David? Or are you just arguing to argue ?

[@Granolie]

@@davidfence6939 god what a fuckin buzzkill lmao

[@Kiwicrack]

The guild I was in were pretty much baby's raiding, but we started going through the old raids to learn and gear up when ulduar was out. By the time we got to Ulduar, we had made it to the Conservatory of Life when TOC came out, and half the raid got antsy so we stopped running Ulduar. Which was heart crushing, because it was such a fucking joy to be there.

[@Bounce23]

"Operator Thogar ... everything in that fight is massively on rails." Yes Mike, that's the whole point of the fight.

[@richardjones8846]

fucking GOTTEEEEM!!!!

[@Varichan]

My thoughts exactly :D I think he didnt even notice his accidental pun.

[@ShouldBeKorean]

Another bit of the "cool" feeling of Onyxia is the attunement questline. Especially for Alliance

[@RenonTTV]

Ya saving that dude just to find out onyxia has been corrupting sw the whole time you were playing was awesome. Also when she spawns with all her dragonkin to fight everyone in the throne room, thats peak rpg shit

[@RZethusE]

This was a cool list and listening to you reminiscing on your experiences was quite wonderful! Great stuff Mike!

[@DJ_Treu]

16:30 - Valheim has done this for me. Mining in the forrest w friends and then you hear stomping and all 3 of us turn around and yell "OH MY GOD ITS A TROLL!" and actually being worried and having to work together to kill it is fun.

[@tribore_9933]

As a member of the silent majority for all these years, I have to say that it's an absolute joy to listen to you speak about all the fond memories you have on this game we all love. And to see your face lighting up, while pouring your heart and mind out, is priceless. You sir, are a legend.

[@Trapphus22]

Love hearing these stories. Raiding and WoW was so different back then and I'm sad that I'm way too young to have experienced it. Also love the ranking of the raids from someone who was actually there

[@SwedetasticGames]

Ulduar captured the scale of epic. In a oldschool RPG setting, Ulduar could've been an entire game. Only experience in gaming I've had that's come close to it since, is Legend of Grimrock 1 and 2.

[@aFoolsMartyr]

Dark Messiah of Might and Magic, my dude.

[@tracidvoyager]

Give Divinitiy Original Sin 2 a shot! Thats an epic single player RPG journey

[@Nr4747]

Wow, what a nostalgic feeling ! You gushing about all of those Vanilla, TBC and Wrath raids really brought back some great memories, thank you, Mike ! Also: The striders on Vashj weren't difficult to kite without losing threat, at least not as a warlock (I was the warlock "tank" on the Twins in AQ40 and the striders on Vashj) - you just had to stutter step a little bit while spamming Searing Pain.

[@WolframYouTube]

Hearing you talk about Serpentshrine Cavern, and how you got into Killcount Lost just put a massive smile on my face. It's so clear how fond you are of those times, and how much you enjoyed doing things like nailing Illidan on your first night, or showing them how you tanked the Striders on Vash that remind me of the amazing experiences you can have in this game.

[@Baumaster1]

"let hatred and rage guide your blows!" still gives me chills to this day

[@EternalDevastationMoon]

YES YES, SHOW THEM NO MERCY! GIVE NO PAUSE TO YOUR ATTACKS!

[@JS310]

I was not prepped to feel this level of nostalgia. Great vids

[@cammywammy420]

ICC, Karazhan, Ulduar. That is all I need in my life and I am happy.

[@TheGamerReaper]

Amen brother

[@jpdundee6551]

Kara is love

[@Traumglanz]

Did not like ICC really. Maybe because I stopped progress Raiding after sun well. Ulduar got me going for some time, but ICC never clicked with me.

[@Carpatouille]

@@Traumglanz It wasn't as much the raid as the people playing in WOLTK that fucked my experience with the game, with people demanding stupid high gearscore for doing fucking normal mode lich king lol, despite having more gear than the raid you wouldn't get invited by idiots with blue gear, not to mention the group finder which fucked the community in the same expansion. I much much rather play BC and Classic, because despite the stunning zones and raids, it's where activision started to fuck the game and ruin what made it good for a MMORPG

[@AskalonGaming]

Thanks for including my footage in your video! Love your content!

[@cavetendobiggles1841]

BT, the build up I think was the best for me. Having him in the background as you levelled up, progressed to raiding tiers...the quest to get in to BT. But Karazhan for me. Great guild at the time, really fun bunch of people. Good times.

[@Quettesh]

I wonder where Throne of Thunder would be, it was awesome raid with such mechanically different bosses. Lei Shen is the best boss ever made for me.

[@bumpin0]

I was wondering the same thing besides ulduar nighthold and throne of thunder were my favourite raids.

[@Immersed94]

I'd say it would take 4th place, based on how biased Preach is towards the early expansions (which is very understandable). Ulduar, Kara and ICC are just iconic, and for someone like Preach who's been around since day 1 of the game, I don't think they'll ever be topped. ToT was insane though. I'd say my personal top 3 is Ulduar, BRF and ToT

[@karlzone2]

I also really, really liked Siege of Orgrimmar. Classes were sooo fun, and then the tuning perfection with five insanely good bosses with Malkorok->Thok->Siegecrafter->Paragons->Garrosh was probably my favourite time ever in the game. I liked all its bosses, even Spoils of Pandaria felt like a such a great race against time (though I may be biased in favor of this one cause I got a world rank 4 dps parse on our progress kill without any padding shenannigans). And I still feel like Malkorok is by far the best dps race boss ever made, it was so HAM all the time. I wish I had enjoyed ToT as much as other people, but my guild at the time was such a mess. I remember wiping on Horridon (or Horror-don) so many times because our tank was giga shit. I don't feel like raids since then have been nearly as consistent, and their difficulty curves weren't so well tuned.

[@Immersed94]

@@karlzone2 100%. Raid and class design was never better than from ToT to HFC in my opinion. Truly a great time to be a raider

[@karlzone2]

@@Immersed94 Indeed. I'm not saying raid design is bad nowadays (because it isn't), but it has had a slightly hit or miss quality ever since Legion where there's always something dragging it down. You have occasional great bosses, but more often than not, those are tuned way too easy, and then there's some extremely annoying boss that's tuned too hard. - Emerald Nightmare... - Nighthold was pretty great, but Botanist was shit and Gul'Dan had zero mechanics for melee dps and was a 14 minute fight. Loved Elisande though. - Tomb of Sargeras had Avatar that was great, but also had Mistress and Maiden and Kil'Jaeden that were all horrible - Antorus was ugly as fuck for its first 80%, and had no interesting bosses outside of the last two (of which one was shit) - Uldir I didn't really progress - Battle of Dazzlerazzle had Jaina who was just annoying - Eternal Palace had Azshara and Zaqul, both of which were giga shit and annoying - Nyalotha was much better, but its most fun boss (Carapace) was undertuned as hell and it had a lot of stinkers (Ilgy, Drest, Vex) and Nzoth was.... loooong with only phase 2 being interesting - And Nathria is pretty boring, looks and mechanics wise. And people say it becomes horrible with SLG. What I find interesting is how most of the modern raids are also kind of one-boss raids. There's always one boss that takes up 60% of your total progress time. So if that boss isn't stellar (and they haven't been), then the raid becomes shit. Only Nighthold and ToS had more than one difficult boss. SoO, ToT, BrF and HFC all had 2-3 end boss quality fights.

[@tomekkruk6147]

Trial of the Crusader was a decent raid and Anub on hard mode, (or was 25 or heroic, i can't remember, it was changing every raid) was a very fun fight!

[@Kornn66]

It was ok but i really hated the pvp fight.

[@joshfike6464]

ToC is easily one of my top ten, I really enjoyed it

[@Metalton95]

I fucking LOVED the Beasts of Northrend, after a run where every DPS but me and 2 melees died in phase 1. We still managed to beat it, with the highest % damage I ever did. Jaraxxus was always fun as a mage. And Anub'arak finally got a little more justice... BUT! I still wish we had gotten a full Azjol Nerub raid :( Just look at the scenery in the Azjol Nerub dungeon, when you fall down after Hedronox lair. It's gigantic (spans all of Northrend), and it had SO much potential..! I still have a vague hope for a Azjole Nerub (REDUX) raid in Classic: WOTLK, but I doubt they'll retcon/redo content. Could have been a varied raid with the monsters, fauna, colours, undead, old gods etc. underground!

[@traeberkeley3902]

We have the same top 3. Except I rate Karazhan higher for my own reasons. And for me, Wrath Naxx was special because it was the first raid I was ever the main tank. But I agree with your list. I respect your unique point of view.

[@joshfike6464]

Yea tbh, i'd say ulduar and kara are tied for first imo

[@driskulls7834]

Seeing Preach get nostalgic talking about the final 10 raids was super heartwarming. Reminded me of my fond times raiding/playing WoW. I think honestly these were some of the best videos you made and would love to see similar things like this in the future!

[@Orjari]

Tks for sharing your memories and moments especially to those who never raid BT, SSC, EYE etc... Feels really good to see someone so passionate with the game that you can see their eyes shining when bringing back those events

[@clawhammr666]

Lot of fun watching these, and I even just raided in vanilla TBC 1-2 times in MoP SoO, finally started again this expansion and having fun with it.

[@peterhoogeveen8482]

Another awesome video, loved it, thanks for the memories Mike!

[@dynklive4559]

Mike, I personally love these type of videos. it's like sitting across from a friend at a bar and just chatting it up. Feelsgoodman

[@PandarenBa]

So sad Mike never had time to experience Throne of Thunder. That's so close to Ulduar it's ridiculous.

[@Dimi.Petrov]

ToT is my top for a raid. Absolutely amazing place and such unique fights

[@Razhork]

It doesn't quite beat out Ulduar for me, but it's easily nr. 2. There are so many genuinely great fights in the raid, environment is cool and being a Demo Lock at the time was probably one of my fondest times playing Lock in any raid. It kind of suffered from a super weird difficulty curve and Tortos being a really awkward boss, but otherwise really well designed raid overall.

[@Xriswest]

It's for sure in my top 5! Amazing raid!

[@Buju3000]

YES! ToT was AMAZING!!!

[@Garlant29]

Yeah ToT is a close second for me too, really all of patch 5.2 was amazing.

[@Chrismagnu]

Love these kind of videos from you! I know you aren’t as interested in dungeons, but would love to hear your top 10 if anything. Have a good one Mike

[@ujai5271]

Seeing and hearing people reminisce about their favourites and all the stories they remember... I just love it.

[@Fyrlink]

Am I the only one who absolutely knew the top 3 in exact perfect order? Epic video mike.

[@TheNicore2630]

Watched most of these through Limit Maximum's stream, but went and found the spot when you talked about serpenshrine caverns which Max skipped, just to hear you flex. That was honestly the best part of the videos.

[@YoutubeMyn]

Didnt expect myself to see me in a Preachvideo haha. Thanks for sharing xD

[@thiamine130]

I know in the last video you said you hadn't done Throne of Thunder while it was current, but hearing you gush about Ulduar and call it a fluke makes me think you would have loved it. The buildup with the Isle of Thunder was so good, and it's a good example of how Blizzard could still catch lightning in a bottle (pun slightly intended) at the time. I hope they can do it a third time, at least.

[@jhbringh]

I loved this pair of videos so much! Now do dungeons! As many as you want, and by whatever criteria you want. It’s just really fun to hear someone else’s experience with encounters I remember so well.

[@crimsonacid]

Been watching since...WoD? By far my favorite content you have ever done Preach. A lot of the WoW community sees you as this Git Gud icon, and these videos just show how untrue that is. It feels like Blizzard has really established (via your top 5, and a number of standouts, like Firelands) that when they come up with a meaningful, interesting concept and really deliver on selling the ADVENTURE and FANTASY of it, the developers bring their A-game to make sure mechanics match. So much of Castle Nathria feels like its meant to "Check a box", which is a damn shame. Like you said, the Boats in ICC were amazing because they helped to sell the fantasy of a raid on each faction for resources and good ol' fashioned Horde v Alliance, not because they were "hard." Maybe the new Torghast raid will be able to sell a similar fantasy, only time will tell.

[@NCrowe]

could hear the emotion while you talked about these old loves of yours. great video.

[@jeffrafen]

Great videos Mike. Brought me down nostalgia lane. I loved raiding through out the years.

[@samvincent7613]

Preach, this content is awesome. It's great to see you so happy again! Keep it up!

[@BarlytheDwarf]

Great, wholesome videos with interesting and fun stories on top. Thanks, Preach-man, 10/10.

[@Vingsworld]

So glad to see TotGC up there, one of my favourite all time raids. Getting the Immortal achievement was one of my best moments in WoW. loved it!

[@justinbartlett1971]

Thought I was going to have to wait a while for this, so happy I don't. I can't stand retail atm (PvP focused) but I'm on my tbc prep. Happy that even though we are on different half's of the same coin that I can still enjoy your content. Keep preaching Preach!

[@NoOne-py5or]

33:34 I remember being such a try-hard, on my rogue i'd skip being in hands so i'd cloak to not take that much dmg and killmespree on a hand target on the way down.

[@shen-f8c]

Vanilla to Wrath of the Lich King 01. Ulduar 02. Karazhan 03. Icecrown Citadel 04. Eye 05. Serpentshrine Cavern 06. Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj 07. Obsidian Sanctum 08. Onyxia's Lair 09. Zul'Gurub 10. Gruul's Lair 11. Magtheridon's Lair 12. Eye of Eternity 13. Crusaders' Coliseum 14. Blackwing Lair 15. Temple of Ahn'Qiraj 16. Black Temple 17. Zul'Aman 18. Naxxramas 19. Sunwell Plateau 20. Ruby Sanctum 21. Molten Core 22. Hyjal Summit

[@JustForTheTunes]

I teared up watching this. All the stories and the sheer joy you can tell Mike has when telling them just brought a flood of nostalgia back.

[@andyyyz9114]

I've never raided any content that was current - just went into old raids to smash them. Ulduar was definitely the one that made go "Ooohh, so cool" :)

[@Kornn66]

What? Why not?

[@andyyyz9114]

@@Kornn66 Because I'm a really bad player ! Like keyboard turning and spell clicking levels of bad :)

[@Kornn66]

@@andyyyz9114 Well you dont have to join mythic guild to raid. There are casual guilds with really bad players who only raid normal. I was never top raider but i got to see alot of group content. Raiding was WoW to me. Nothing wrong with playing solo ofc. Just think you miss much if you never joined guild and try raiding :)

[@cammywammy420]

@@andyyyz9114 You can still raid and be bad, have you tried WoW Classic? But on a serious note, we were all bad at one point, but I would rather be terrible with a group of friends than be the best player in the world on my own. But to each their own, if you like solo play that is what you like

[@juanfrainsane]

Well... you should try it. As preach here says, the only thing wow does better than any other game is raiding, and every good wow player can confirm that. Even pvpers. Edit: dont be afraid! I have like 15 cutting edges and i know bad players thay have more of those than me, just try hard, dont be stuck in a guild that doesnt kill bosses and it will be enough, promise.

[@CaptainIcebeard]

I kind of agree with what you said about optional and summonable bosses, even though I never experienced it for myself. But you know as well as I that people would immediately start complaining about mandatory content. Because if you enjoy raiding, which you do, then you want to do all the bosses, which makes that world content required. And you made it very clear before Shadowlands that you don't want mandatory content outside of the raids itself.

[@michaelbeleut6480]

Please do more videos on stuff like this. Maybe rate expansion systems over other expansions? Dungeon list? There are so many good ideas you can do for more stuff around this its crazy! Love this Preach.

[@jorickthekek2660]

Everytime I go farm Ulduar for Tmog or the mount or even Timewalking and hear the music kick in when I enter the inside of Ulduar, I get this overwhelming wave of extreme nostalgia of being a kid and staying up far too late just to raid Ulduar with my guild. It was the start of my raiding career from what I remember and nothing hits me with such intense nostalgia like the raid music...

[@TE-eq1dc]

Just seeing your fond memories of SSC makes me want to play more

[@travisbroadway2668]

What an awesome trip back down memory lane, ty mate good stuff!.

[@lucas8265]

loved every seconds of this including the first part, lets us know abit more about you and how you shaped as a player. and ulduar has to be the top amazing raid so many good memories from this

[@EdBurke37]

Fucking thank you, Mike! I am one of those monsters that really really liked Trial of the Grand Crusader! It was a fun side thing to do while we farmed Ulduar. Those bosses were GOOD! Even the PVP style fight was fun. I loved that Raid and it gets slagged on all the time! Respect for ToGC!

[@TheUnderJaker]

I also am a monster. I thought it was cool. good idea. short. fun. what else could you ask for? people are just so hard focused on gear colors they forget to have fun

[@Kornn66]

Pvp fight was shit tho.

[@Criterion515]

@@Kornn66 PvP fight was hilarious!

[@drewcrabtree7593]

I was suprised and happy to see black rock so high up in your list! It is easily my favorite raid I have ever done and I have a ton of memories of that place I will never forget. Tbf I didn’t start really playing the game and raiding till WOD.

[@ii2gjdp20sjdj2]

I didn't expect mine and Mike's opinions to line up so much. Ulduar was just insane how good it was. The bosses were fun, but the sense of scale and awe in that raid have never been recreated since. Walking into the Antechamber of Ulduar and hearing the music for the first time... god, still sends chills down my spine. And the courtyard into the beggining with the skybox and the pillars of light from the towers. Yeah, Ulduar was just mental.

[@rince5598]

" To supplement the Ulduar". Yeah, and almost every piece of loot it ToGC was better then from Ulduar.

[@Kornn66]

Yeah my guild back then just about stopped raiding Ulduar as there was better and easy to get gear in togc.

[@deamon002]

Yeah, I really don't get what he's talking about. Trial killed off Ulduar way before its time, it didn't supplement diddly squat.

[@gostreiver8036]

As good as ulduar was unless you were in a hardcore raiding guild. You were not clearing it weekly. So ToGC Atleast gave options to people who sucked and couldn’t do anything else. It was easier to pug too because it was a small raid

[@Criterion515]

@@gostreiver8036 We were a large, semi-casual guild. Far from hardcore, raided 2 nights a week, 3hrs each night. We cleared every week with 2 25man groups, then whoever wanted went in with their 10 mans. We did put some effort into Sarth 3D though, first horde guild on the server to achieve that. And an achievement it was indeed. Several guilds working on that one at the time with some egos involved. We got the pleasure of sitting outside the bank surrounding the lucky individual that received the mount drop.

[@Freestyle80]

Preach was no lifing back then so he used to clear everything probably who the fck cares about Valnyr, ICC rendered that useless anyway

[@nikolajmadsen5921]

I agree with so many of them. had goosebumps for many of the instances yo spoke about in the end :D ssc, TK, Ulduar etc such joy

[@monsterdragondeluxe]

Thank you for this! Loved this video soo much!

[@francis.valencia]

such a delight walking down memory lane with all these sidestories.

[@JAlvarez1104]

Man, the way you described seeing Onyxia for the first time, really took me back to my first raid into her lair. Definitely one my favorite memories.

[@xDheNgzTxD]

I really enjoyed myself watching you relive those memories in the vids. Good times preach... good times!

[@nicktherogue7306]

Great list, Preach. I haven't done as many of the raid tiers as you (particularly in the more recent expansions), but I agree with the ones that you rate highly and most of the ones that you rate lower. I do think that the original 40-man Naxx deserves a higher ranking, but I understand your gripes with it. As you stated at the start, I bet that if you'd done it at the time then Throne of Thunder would rank highly too. It was a great raid.

[@praexil395]

Original Karazhan is still my all time favorite raid. My guild had that on progression too, and it was so fun to progress through the required bosses and as we get more confidence and better geared we started adding in the optional bosses. It was so fun. I have since borrowed some of those fights when I DM D&D games. I still have such fond memories of Karazhan.

[@Njald]

Trial of the Crusaders crime wasn't coming after Ulduar, it was how soon it came, how much better the loot was and how mandatory the different difficulty levels became. It was the start of the "throw away ALL old loot, here is new shit". Blizzard started down the path of loot not meaning Anything anymore, because in 2 months it's outdated.

[@ScorpionP2C]

A lot of good points, I definitely agree on the opening. Black Temple was a complete tedious grind to get through but it did end in one of the most memorable raid boss fights to date.

[@brianstokley9918]

Ulduar was so.... so good. I feel so privileged to have been able to prog it.

[@WeSmallBand]

Loved this vid and Pt1. Shame there's no option for you to create your own guild from everyone you've met and bonded with thus far. Feels really good to watch someone talk about genuinely happy memories. Cheers Mike.

[@Erelyn1]

had the pleasure of progressing kharazan and ulduar when they were current, 100% agreed on ulduar. Best experience I've had in any game and probably will have. The music, the ambience, bosses mechanics were so amazing and optional hardmodes which unfortunately my guild wasn't good enough for but I'm sure made it even better for those that could do it

[@joff3]

This was an enjoyable journey. I feel so nostaglic remembering the raids of past.

[@matheusmterra]

Finally!! The cliff hanger left me genuinely pissed lmao

[@katamere4308]

Karazhan is totally #1 for me. Not only due to the many points you mentioned (spot on by the way) - but having read the book Warcraft: The last Guardian where you learn about Kadghar and his studies in the Tower of Medivh and then actually going there ingame totally blew my mind. Plus beeing a protpaladin at that time i had a blast - even the trash was strong, interesting and enganging.

[@seenbeen1110]

excellent 2 part series, was great to watch!

[@MellonVegan]

We've done some ZG speed running for fun in p4 (me on my ele) and it was honestly the most fun I've had raiding in all of Classic. More than even being #1 in the country, for a bit. It's just such a flavourful place. Also, the music in AQ20, dude, you can just park your character there and vibe for an hour. And while it probably was a bit too easy with the gear we had, it was still heaps of fun, too.

[@DarkScreamGames]

as someone who played ulduar when current, i whole heartedly agree; I always liked the "in game" hard modes, this was their experiment before splitting up the difficulties more with togc. TOGC model of 4 different raid lockouts is still what we use today, although with some differences.. Imagine if Sire had a "big red button", which made the sword an active target for all 3 phases or something crazy like that.

[@alconeuskhan4747]

great vid mike. I agree with the majority of your choices. Ulduar still my favourite memories of wow, with ICC and SSC/Eye and kara from tbc. but i also agree on the newer ones, BRF and Nighthold were amazing raids. I might have put Dazar alor higher though :/ mechatorque is one of my fav bosses ever.

[@alconeuskhan4747]

i only be a hc raider though so that changes things.

[@perrywilliams206]

Agree so much with what you said about the Illidan fight - I remember somehow getting accepted to a guild on trial that I had absolutely no business being in ( Crucial on Twisting Nether EU ) that had BT on farm and killing Illidan for the first time, albeit face down for at least 50% of the encounter. By far the most epic experience I had in wow! I was 12 at the time haha!

[@stevenharkema5456]

My own top 10: 1) Karazhan 2) Ulduar 3) SSC 4) Blackrock Foundry 5) Tempest Keep 6) Ice Crown Citadel 7) Throne of Thunder 8) Nighthold 9) Zul'Gurub 10) Black Temple Crazy how close our lists really are. 5/10 don't have multiple tier difficulties. 1/10 has special hard modes requiring activation. Majority are also within the same time period. Makes me so excited for TBC Classic. I think the raids were definitely more memorable when there was only 1 difficulty. As a Cutting Edge raider, the feeling from killing bosses was just different back then because there was a finality to each fight. Gear became more illusive and it really gave you a benchmark to hit. Certainly the newness of the "raid" design itself played a factor, but man, just not the same these days. PS - Nice choice on Hades music.

[@Wuselol]

I have such fond memories of hardmode Sartharion.. it was probably the first difficult boss that I killed during progression since I was in a more serious guild during T8 and 9 and also had lots of leather items as a fury warrior. If I remember correctly, T8 was the reason why Blizzard added the soft armor type locks, because warriors had like 90% leather BIS items and with them close to 50% base crit. You got essentially more crit from agi and more raw AP that you'd get from any plate items. And then progressing on that really fun boss while doing insane damage was just such a joy.

[@helmsgaming84]

Ulduar was incredible. I never got to do it as current content, but my fondest raiding memories came from achievement runs in there late in Wrath, and on into Cata. Yogg Saron was no pushover for many months after he ceased to be progression and a few of his mechanics are still relevant even today, more than a decade later. Ulduar is timeless. It will always be fun.

[@redsven7624]

Great watch, and while our raiding experience is sooo vastly different. I think it is interesting that the older raids are generally higher rated, and something you said really resonanted with my view that fights not feeling 'rpg wise' epic really diminishes the recent bosses as an experience. This for me means I stopped bothering with raiding and that lead to giving up on the game.

[@olololo4807]

thx for the ride down memory lane. this was awesome.

[@scope1812]

so glad your top 5 is spot on. too many people disavow THE nighthold which is one of the all-timers. whole instance is drop dead impressive-I don’t think they’ll ever make an instance that mechanical again. I too wonder where throne of thunder would be-prob a top 5. that instance is also like sent from god in terms of how good it is, the only flaw is the complete linearity. wrath is so funny because they rehash naxx then make their two best, most impactful instances in ICC and ulduar. I am really looking forward to sanctum of domination and hope you are too, if you’re continuing on.

[@fatelvis1473]

I could listen to Preach' old raid stories for hours

[@ingolf82]

the thing I loved with professor Putricide was his Futurama line right before and during and at the end of the fight... "good news everyone, I have perfected a plague that will destroy all of Azeroth", I also really like Festergut and Rotface

[@KenB42]

I love when Preach does ranking videos, even if he and a lot of people view ranking/top 5s as click baity, seeing him reminisce about the old raids, which I didn't experience due to being a noob kid, brings a big smile, and quite a bit of jealousy to me

[@jamescundiff3264]

I'm glad he enjoyed Karazhan as much as I did. My favorite dungeon of all time.

[@dizzy1429]

I was so upset on my commute home when I found out the first vid was only part 1!!

[@maddy02_]

Yeah only stood in the title...

[@Aetherian1]

As an eternal Blackrock Foundry fanboy I'm more than satisfied with this result. The voice acting was so wonderfully expressive. Every boss was good to fantastic and the transmogs are still uncontested in my eyes for several classes. The DK, warrior, warlock, paladin and shaman sets hold up brilliantly to this day, 7 years later, and the weapons from that place were beautiful. This was the first time Blizzard really overhauled fire and explosion effects in WoW (Nazjatar redid them to look like liquid fire everywhere and it's strange), and bombs no longer looked like they let out a red fart cloud - they looked properly lethal. Gruul was the weakest boss and he was still fine, to tank he was absolutely thrilling and terrifying. At any moment you could accidentally cleave the raid and crush them, the next moment solo soak the other cleave and explode into flames.

[@cody2856]

Only old school raids I ever prog'd were Kara and Ulduar. For the longest time I thought it was just personal bias that I had those two as my top raids in the game. Guess I just got lucky. Quit Legion just before Nighthold, so thats kind of a bummer.

[@Claudio89DK]

As someone who raided almost exclusively in TBC & WoTLK and only came back to WoW to raid in Castle Nathria. My first thought when I started this two part video series was "I wonder where he is going to place Karazhan and Ulduar". Low and behold they are number 1 & 2 on the list. Seems like TBC & WoTLK were some good times for raiding. If not the best.

[@Starrky923]

Not too surprised with ToGC tbf, I loved it as well, the atmosphere was amazing and the achivements you could get and stuff were really damn cool

[@crz89]

The hair is coming in well, thanks for the videos really enjoyed the 2 parter ❤️

[@heinkoelen]

i loved this video, it brought memories back to Kara, Gruul, ICC and Ulduar