Recycled Content

[Maèl]

ZG and Stranglethorn were always places were you could spend a vacation. I think part of the appeal of ZG was the setting.

Think Jesse Ventura and a minigun.
I ain't got time to bleed.

It's a real badass place. I'm currently watching a Youtube vid.

I haven't played WoW in 2 months but the sound of a SnB proc is call to arms enough for me. That has to be the most iconic warrior tank sound ever.

Edit:
-I presume this is our boss.
-Is it named?
-H-i-gh Pr-ie-st Ven-oxis.
-Is that the bat one?

Bloody heathens!

[Selyndia]

ZA was a bit disappointing how little it has actually changed. ZG though is very good, and I like how much it has changed. The various mini boss things around with various extras are also very nice. I particularly enjoy the “Environmental” challenges, like the cauldron usage, fire tiki masks or the rock thrower. And I really liked rescuing the raptor from Mandokir, and how when it’s your pet it doesn’t say “XXX’s Companion”, but “XXX’aka.” These little things are enough for me to realize how much actually went into ZG’s revamp. I just wish half of that went into ZA.

The biggest fault I can see, is that it seems the hardest initial bosses, Venoxis and Akil’zon are essentially the first, and it front loads the difficulty. I also really don’t like how Akil’zon seriously penalizes melee (It’s annoying as hell to chase down kidnapers, the chained damage from the lightning tends to bounce to melee and tank, etc). I’m pretty sure Venoxis is the hardest boss in ZG, though Jin’do might give people some issues. I’m also fairly certain that Akil’zon is the hardest boss in ZA just due to his lightning mechanics (Shooting someone chasing a kidnapper, chaining it, or hitting a tank and bouncing to the melee), though Jana’lai might come close.

[feralminded]

I'm not sure how anyone can be upset with ZG ... it's 95% brand new and what isn't new is changed enough that it will induce nostalgia at worst. Its a fantastic instance that indeed shows the potential of a serious 5 man. ZA I have yet to complete but from what I've read it's a shame that they didn't revamp it like they revamped ZG. They did a fantastic job with ZG and it gives me hope for 5 man content one day being very serious.

[Muffin Man]

so clearing 1 boss and then wiping the rest of the time is fun? because,maybe you dont pug them.but thats all ive heard pugs can do so far in them.i know when i did ZA once because some guildies wanted to run it we wiped the whole time on that bird boss or whatever(he does the lightning thing,cant think of his name).i seriously doubt a random lfg pug group could down that

Really? On release I jumped in, joined two pugs. One was with a partial guild that obviously knew ZG as they chain pulled and yelled at me a lot as I stumbled after them.

Next was ZA where no two people knew each other. Also no one had done it before except one mage who wiped on the first boss with his last pug. We wiped maybe half a dozen times but completed it without much trouble, but definitely died to learning experiences. It was actually a really enjoyable pug with no one being negative or giving up.

There's really not a lot of trash in the ZA revamp though, which I think means it's going to be really easy in the future... (I haven't been back since).

ZG seems well tuned, if you get one guy who can't stay alive on Zanzil for example, then it's going to be pretty hard killing zombies and berserkers in a reasonable amount of time.

Venoxis is really fun (although easy... I tanked it with a half asleep healer who died < 50% of the way through). And Jin'do is an interesting encounter, seems like groups either get it or don't.

Archaelogy boss was kind of lol-worthy though, easy and two pieces of loot.

The names mobs are a nice touch too, IMO.

Of course the real reason I'm replying is the OP's statistics really shock me: it's true, leveling up you get 7 Cataclysm dungeons, with 2 more being available at heroic, which I think is a good touch so that it's still 'fresh' when you 'graduate' to heroics. But that's a really low number compared to the *12* from LK. I guess that's offset by the fact that there's more/better raid content in Cataclysm at launch (yes Naxx was huge, but beyond that there wasn't much).

[Theotherone]

I pug healed ZG on my pally this morning and it was a full clear no wipes, full pug group. In fact first tank and one dps left after we did the raptor and arch bosses (he skipped venom) and the replacement tank and dps were fine. We went back killed venom, crazy cat lady, etc. One of the dps had not been in there before, but was obviously a good player as he/she just need a brief "don't stand in this and go stand there" type explanation and did fine.

Having been in there 4 times now (this was first time downing last boss other tries got caught in server restarts and time for work), if the group is adequately geared it's pretty much of a loot vending machine once a majority knows the mechanics. I do really like the dungeon, it's just pretty and there's a lot of optional stuff to do if you want. Can't wait to get into ZA.

Got my first satchel as a healer - 48g and a flask of Steelskin; not bad for a mercenary take.

[Reev]

Of course the real reason I'm replying is the OP's statistics really shock me: it's true, leveling up you get 7 Cataclysm dungeons, with 2 more being available at heroic, which I think is a good touch so that it's still 'fresh' when you 'graduate' to heroics. But that's a really low number compared to the *12* from LK. I guess that's offset by the fact that there's more/better raid content in Cataclysm at launch (yes Naxx was huge, but beyond that there wasn't much).

BRC
Stonecore
ToT
GB
HoO
VP
Deadmines
SFK

8 at release, 10 now.

Also, keep in mind that each of the 8 original dungeons of Cata is FAR more involved that the original 12 of WotLK in terms of boss mechanics.

[Meshuggah]

I would have preferred ZG be a 10/25 man raid because of how much I liked it, but their motive was to drive the Troll story in a format all can enjoy. I think they did a great job. It's really fun actually. I just hope that they don't nerf it within a week because people can't do it.

[Banterloft]

I'm holding out hope for a Karazhan redux at some point. Maybe break it into Upper Kara and Lower Kara, and add a boss in the library area after Curator but before Illhoof.

As much as I would love a Kara redo... FOR THE LOVE OF GOD I DON'T WANT TO FARM KARA EVER AGAIN...

[PimpJuice4]

Having been in there 4 times now (this was first time downing last boss other tries got caught in server restarts and time for work), if the group is adequately geared it's pretty much of a loot vending machine once a majority knows the mechanics. I do really like the dungeon, it's just pretty and there's a lot of optional stuff to do if you want. Can't wait to get into ZA.

so zg and za are actually puggable? cuz i got bored today and was curious to how pugs do,so i queued up for random zandalari heroic and got zg and the trash was pretty rough up to the bear boss and we ended up getting the bear boss down to half hp before we wiped and everyone left

i figured pugs were gonna be complete fail but i was bored.im wondering if maybe today was just a bad day for pugging heroics cuz after that i got deadmines heroic and we wiped the entire time on admiral ripsnarl.but i dont know,did they nerf cookie because unless this guys strategy was better then every other pug ive seen that fight seemed to be alot harder back when i used to run heroics alot

we got both the achievement for that and the one for the reaper boss

[jere]

BRC
Stonecore
ToT
GB
HoO
VP
Deadmines
SFK

8 at release, 10 now.

Also, keep in mind that each of the 8 original dungeons of Cata is FAR more involved that the original 12 of WotLK in terms of boss mechanics.

He means 7 dungeons while you level (you forgot lost city) and the 2 after would be Deadmines + SFK (in his post)

So 7 to level with (At release)
2 extra at heroic (at release)
+2 heroic (4.1)

[Martie]

Also, keep in mind that each of the 8 original dungeons of Cata is FAR more involved that the original 12 of WotLK in terms of boss mechanics.

I disagree.

[Theotherone]

so zg and za are actually puggable? cuz i got bored today and was curious to how pugs do,so i queued up for random zandalari heroic and got zg and the trash was pretty rough up to the bear boss and we ended up getting the bear boss down to half hp before we wiped and everyone left

They are puggable, but like with anything it depends on the group. I did ZA yesterday and by luck got a former guildie as the tank, just lfg luck. Almost finished but alt raid was forming and I left. We had issues on first boss, lost a low dps hunter and pretty much just rolled through the rest. Puggable = yes; consistently puggale at this point = not really.

[Uranos7]

I like the reworking of the older content, I think they do a good job with it and would rather have it brought up to date then left unused. They seem to invest a lot of time and effort in doing these projects and, IMHO, are a far better product then Trial of Champion or Trial of Crusader.

We'll get new dungeons and raids in time.

AGREED!
These were my first ever raids and I love going back to them. Being reworked as 5 man heroics is much better than gathering dust or being farmed by toons 10+ lvl's too high to appreciate them.

[PimpJuice4]

They are puggable, but like with anything it depends on the group. I did ZA yesterday and by luck got a former guildie as the tank, just lfg luck. Almost finished but alt raid was forming and I left. We had issues on first boss, lost a low dps hunter and pretty much just rolled through the rest. Puggable = yes; consistently puggale at this point = not really.

ya,i guess i could try it again and see if i get a good group.i know one wierd thing is though i noticed when i queued up for the regular random heroic

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/2456906941

that same thing happened to me one time.im wondering if maybe the queue is bugged lately,ive heard bg queues were also messed up but for horde they've been messed up for a long time now with no sign of getting fixed

[Theotherone]

one wierd thing is though i noticed when i queued up for the regular random heroic

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/2456906941

that same thing happened to me one time.im wondering if maybe the queue is bugged lately,ive heard bg queues were also messed up but for horde they've been messed up for a long time now with no sign of getting fixed

Happened yesterday in ZA when we lost a dps, we requed and it said 6 sec wait and it took 6 min. Since when does getting a dps ever take 6 min.

[PimpJuice4]

Happened yesterday in ZA when we lost a dps, we requed and it said 6 sec wait and it took 6 min. Since when does getting a dps ever take 6 min.

hmm maybe ill wait then but i dont know.ever since i got that fail group in zg i havent really ran the new heroics since then,ive been farmin jp though cuz i need the dps boa trinkets for my druid still

[Kojiyama]

8 at release, 10 now.

Also, keep in mind that each of the 8 original dungeons of Cata is FAR more involved that the original 12 of WotLK in terms of boss mechanics.

It's worth noting, however, that Deadmines/SFK are semi to moderate rehashes, and ZA is very much a major rehash. So, out of the 10 5-mans, 3 1/2 of them are reused.

6 properly new dungeons is not particularly impressive considering TBC had, what...15 5-mans at launch?

I'm not too surprised people are a little disappointed. It's not like the recycling is leading to a ton more content. It's still a lot fewer 5-mans than in previous expansions even counting the recycled stuff.

(As someone who's played WoW from launch, I personally dislike the revamping a fair bit simply because I find it boring. I can see the value for newer players who didn't get to play the original stuff...but it doesn't personally interest me all that much. Even if the fights are totally different, I've already spent enough time in ZG to last a lifetime.)

[PimpJuice4]

This is madness! I want the entire instance cleared on the first day It comes out so I can have more purples!

ya i totally want some welfare epics when i can just run bastion of twilight,throne of the 4 winds and blackwing descent and get epics from that.the only reason i cared about the new heroics were the mounts,plus i need jp for heirlooms for a alt i made still and heroics drop jp per boss

i was just wondering because ive seen some people actually get the achievement for running the place.and they were tanks and healers,so im thinking eather the groups i had were just bad(ive only pugged zg once,and ive ran za twice but one of them was with a guild group).or its better to just wait until they get nerfed,because seeing as how theres at least 1 post a day on the battle.net forums about them being to hard,i figured it would be pretty soon that they would get nerfed

[Beefius]

I like the novelty of recycling classic raids & dungeons into current-expansion 5-man heroic dungeons; it means they will actually be seen again, because otherwise they just sit there unused, only seldomly solo or small group farmed for some rare mount or legendary weapon, or once for the achievements.

I definitely hope some more old raids can be recycled & updated to fit in with the current lore; probably not BWL as BWD is pretty much the conclusion of nefarian's plans, MC seems like it could be updated & worked in as a 5-man with 4.2 on the horizon; somewhere else on azeroth for ragnaros' toadies to be up to no good. The BC & LK raids would have to be tied into significant revamps of outlands & northrend respectively; hopefully blizzard will revisit them at some point in the future, and I think theyve officially said they'd like to at some point.

Lets not forget the holiday bosses too; theyre another way for old dungeons and raids to have some new life breathed into them, even if it is just for a single boss or event (& who can honestly say the shattering event bosses werent neat?).

[Marcis]

Too bad, that reusing content does not involve reusing bugless code...
I think all blood DKs are "extremely" happy right now how their runes (do not) work.