WOW's "truly epic" Ulduar raid previewed

By Oli Welsh Published 18 February, 2009

14 bosses, vehicle combat, hard mode.

Blizzard has provided the first solid details on Ulduar, the raid zone that will serve as the first major new content in the game since the launch of second expansion Wrath of the Lich King.

It promises a huge, two-stage zone featuring vehicle combat, 14 bosses, and a hard mode for seasoned raiders, and calls Ulduar "World of Warcraft's most ambitious raid to date".

According to the official site, Ulduar is all about scale. "Many players have already gotten their Wrath of the Lich King raiding feet wet in Naxxramas and the Sartharion raid, but Ulduar is the first example of the expansion's much larger, truly epic scope of raiding, as will be evident from the second you set foot in the instance," reads the preview.

Eurogamer has it on good authority that Ulduar's size will surpass that of the Sunwell, the climactic raid of the game's Burning Crusade era.

Beyond the gates to Ulduar in the Storm Peaks region, players will find "a horror even the Titans could not, would not destroy, an evil they merely... Contained. Beneath ancient Ulduar, the Old God of death lies, whispering.... Tread carefully, or his prison will become your tomb."

Ulduar will be composed of two distinct areas. The first is an "epic battle against a vast army standing between you and the entrance of the dungeon proper". You'll be able to face this Iron Army down and defeat the Flame Leviathan tank using motorcycles, demolishers and siege engines.

Of the dungeon's 14 bosses, 11 will have Hard Modes - optional ways to adjust the difficulty of the encounter and improve the loot, similar to the current Sartharion raid in Wrath of the Lich King.

"Ulduar isn't the first dungeon to include Hard Mode, but it certainly makes the most use of it. Out of 14 bosses, 11 will have a Hard Mode that offers additional challenges and rewards," said Blizzard.

"Ulduar will appeal to a wide range of play styles, but the dungeon also has great longevity and a high replay value."

Expect patch 3.1 - containing Ulduar and the new dual specs - to be available on the public test servers "very soon", and in the live game within the next month or two.

Picture of Oli.

About Oli Welsh

Oli is Eurogamer's acting deputy editor and reviews editor and likes to take things one word at a time. He is among the best dressed people in South London.

Read more articles from Oli by visiting the Oli Welsh archive page.

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Comments (13) Latest comment 3 years ago

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  • ps3owner #1 3 years ago

    so how long will they take to finish all of this? 10 hours?! Can't tell... never played it, just from the last expansion it seems as though it's a bit easy.

    I am really talking out of my arse here... no idea what's going on with this game.

  • Gurgeh #2 3 years ago

    Whoever thought that vehicles were a good idea in raids and dungeons should get the boot.

    They're fun in quests, and OK in Wintergrasp, even though they too easily get snagged on the smallest twig, but you don't have to repeat quests so the vehicle fights don't get dull. "Epic" it might be the first time, but after a dozen fights of 5 minutes of pressing 1,1,2,1,1,2... the splendour wears off.

  • rudedudejude #3 3 years ago

    This raid will be like the Geek Mecca.

    GEEEEEEEK!

  • Grimrita #4 3 years ago

    same old crap, just in different colours. Blizzard are running out of ideas.

  • bigbadbeasty #5 3 years ago

    Vehicle combat?

    That really is a terrible idea. I think Gurgeh is being nice saying it is 'fun'; its bloody awful. Sigh...

    Silly Blizzard.

  • WJF #6 3 years ago

    From the press release it sounded like the vehicles will be mainly used to destroy towers and such-like, making the boss fights easier, but at the same time reducing the value of the loot.

    Not really vehicle combat then, more a re-playability device.

  • DrDamn #7 3 years ago

    @Farticus
    /faints

    Any particular reason or just wanted to move on and use the time elsewhere?

  • Notez #8 3 years ago

    I hope they get rid of raids in their next MMO, might be worth playing then.

  • iokthemonkey #9 3 years ago

    It's all a bit too little too late for me though as I stopped playing a few weeks ago.

    ---

    Well done! Now you can start playing grown-up MMOs... ;)

  • WJF #10 3 years ago

    GW is good. Lots of variety in attacks/buffs/debuffs within the separate classes. The missions are pretty decent, too.

    Problem is the lack of the MM part of MMORPG for me.

  • loopy #11 3 years ago

    "Eurogamer has it on good authority that Ulduar's size will surpass that of the Sunwell, the climactic raid of the game's Burning Crusade era."

    To be honest, the Sunwell instance was actually pretty small, I'd say Serpentshrine Cavern and Black Temple were actually bigger in pure geography terms.
    Edited by 1 at 18/02/09 @ 16:36

  • iokthemonkey #12 3 years ago

    Problem is the lack of the MM part of MMORPG for me.

    ---

    That was my initial worry and something that put me off playing for so long.

    But I then figured I played CoH in solo instances a lot and so decided to give it a go.

    The biggest problem with GW is people try to play it like a "normal" MMORPG when in reality it's more akin to Dungeon Seige or an RTS in the way it plays out...

    From a storytelling point of view, though, I think it's right up there as one of the best and I do genuinely find myself wondering "what's next?" in the upcoming Missions.

  • Thornhillboy #13 3 years ago

    I'm not good with raids and dungeons. I don't usually have the time free to complete them all in one go.