A WoW post

When I am being lazy, I'm going to throw whatever jibberish I wrote over at GWJ in here. It's not that I don't care, it's that I think the quality of my writing is superior to must of the drivel found over there, and I find a sentimental desire to host it separately from a forum post. In this topic, I describe Black Morass, an instance from The Burning Crusade:

I know the gilded lens of time tends to make the older instances seem better than ones we run ad nauseum now, despite almost universal praise for the structures of the Northrend instances. That said, I must follow suit in describing my favorite instance: the Black Morass.

First, I am one of the few who thought the limited timestream stuff Blizzard did in The Burning Crusade was great. I loved the concept of going back to an epic turning point in the time of Azeroth and, finding that what was once thought to be a horriffic disaster (the Horde invasion) actually was the lesser of two evils, as it eventually led to the alliance of Horde and Azerothian forces to expel the scourge and Archimonde from Mount Hyjal. Armed with this knowledge, your band of mortals must travel back, Terminator style, and keep the Infinite Dragonflight from re writing history and plunging the world into a yet darker fate than already exists. You defend that great betrayer, Medivh, and, if successful, watch him bring across the first Horde Shock troops that will spell years of devastation to Azerothian lands. A truly bittersweet victory, indeed.

The structure of the instance was brand new at the time. An outdoor instance, which allowed mounted travel, the entire thing took place in a large, swampy area. You had to clear the indigenous, and hostile, fauna before accepting Medivh's assignment, lest their innocent desire to protect their land come while fending off the devastating blows of Chrono Lord Deja or one of his powerful dragonkin minions. Now, everyone recognizes this structure (Violet Hold imitates it), but back then it was shiny and new.

Finally, it truly showcased the differences in classes. You *had* to have someone who could handle wave upon wave of adds. Do you pick the mage, a devastating AOE opponent but desperately fragile? Do you pick the warrior, who could probably just whirlwind and thunderclap everything to death while still on the target elite? Or do you allow the skills of a good hunter to shine as he expertly juggles trap cooldowns, pet management, volley and multishot to deny everything access to Medivh's delicate shield? A smooth team could protect Medivh with minimal effort; often our priest healer would throw out competitive dps, as well timed stuns and threat management minimized incoming damage. But never forget: one mistake often spelled doom for a group, as the adds kept spawning and Medivh's shield rarely could be saved after a wipe.

And the final boss fight! What fun! Before nerfs, his enrage, time stop, and sand breath could line up in one Global Cooldown, spelling panic for even the most seasoned healers and tanks. Beyond that, Aeonus's genuine outrage at our attempts to keep him from re writing history was magnificent.