MMORPG.com World of Warcraft Correspondent Angela Lindsey writes this look at her top five boss fights before the launch of Wrath of the Lich King.

Boss fights. You love them, you hate them, or a little bit of both at once. I personally love them. Trash waves in instances are okay, for a little while (Yes, I'm looking at you, Hyjal!), but once you get to a certain point, you need the validation that only a big, epic boss fight can give you. That's why today I'm going to be talking about my favorite boss fights from before Wrath of the Lich King. To me, these are the best of the best (by which I mean the worst of the worst), and everyone should see them at least once. If you have favorites of your own that I haven't listed, please feel free to mention them in the comments!

Read Top Five Pre-Wrath Boss Fights

Good stuff, but why wasn't Hogger on the list!?

I disagree with your choice of number one.

Everyone knows that what made boss fights epic was coordination between 40 people.

Illidan Stormrage was my favorite for all the reasons you mentioned.  Lore and anticipation.

I hope Arthas will be at least half as Illidan, at least we know he's gonna have better loot than Illidan.... "You are not prepared" best line in a videogame!!!

Magtheridon was my fav in TBC - more so if I was chosen to be one of the 4 cube clickers =D (never did go to BT)

in Original WoW -  Majordomo Executus, just loved the fight.. every one had to be on their game.. never did get the leaf from the chest though for hunter quest =(

In wrath - dont know yet, only raid I have done is Naxx and OS, work commitments keep me away from Ulduar =(

I was definitely a fan of Onyxia when it was hard. The only boss who actually realized melee can't hit me if I fly...

1. C'Thun

2. Vael

3. Ragnaros (originally)

4. Kael'thas

5. Twin Emperors

My list is slightly different. Don't know why list Illidan since it was a joke in my opion. Yes, we killed him long before the nerf bat.

Wooo Angela, just go to Blizzard and ask for some kind of payment, 'cause you got me at "hello" there, I just sign in to write and let you know...!!

"If there's anything that I will remember when my World of Warcraft days are done, it will definitely be the raiding. The amazing nights spent with some of my closest friends, fighting for a common goal - the good, the bad, and the REALLY ugly."

I have never played a MMORPG, I always had stayed on the fence (not by self choice), first 'cause I didn't have the resources, then 'cause I felt it was too late to jump in the warcraft "wagon". (I was just waiting for the next big thing, for a moment I tought warhammer was, but it didn't grow in me, I was waiting for other game at blizzard or the next SW: the old republic)

Could anyone just tell me what to buy to start, just the game or also the expansions (maybe there are an area there where I can lvl up fast & easy)?, it seems to me that in game, the majority use someshort of macros, those are included or you had to buy them? (which one)?, anything else I could need.... mouse, keyboard, comunication clients (software), etc.?. Money is not an issue anymore =)

How to make friends in game, how to choose a clan, anyhting, thanks in advance.

Or it is too late...?

All through the article I couldnt stop thinking of how raid bosses are today.

All noobed down and so booring.

"Nuke, nuke and nuke some more"

WoW really IS made for 7yr olds today.

Great article, but some of the greatest fights are left out:

Vaelastrasz. The second boss in BWL, after Razorgore(who was also a fun fight), was an incredibly tight encounter. Having started with an incredible introduction by Nefarian, you only had three adrenaline packed minutes to burn through his enourmous hitpoints pool(even if he had only 30%). The randomness of the encounter, that came with burining adrenaline made for many a frustrationg try, when your healers were targeted and killed, effectively wiping you and driving your raid leader nuts. I loved how fastpaced and energetic the fight was.

Can't comment on anything beyond c'thun, since I had to quit for a while due to rl, but I heard that Patchwerk, Four horseman and Kel'Thuzad to name a few were quite extraordinary with 4h earning the title of the hardest encouter in game until M'uru.

In TBC:
Lady Vashj: I don't know if I should place her in the "I still have nightmares" boss list or "Great boss" list. The countless hours and days we wiped on her... I still sometimes dream of "Strider north! Tainted east! Why is the strider going through the MIDDLE??!! Get the core! Move from the green stuff! Cmon last 10% burnnn her!!!". Pre nerf it was an incredibly tight and engaging encouter. Also when we wiped on her so many times, people optimized their corpse runs(or go back runs) to the point where we raced to her to see who's path was better.

Essence of Souls: For it's unique style and downright creepy atmosphere.

M'uru: Said to be the hardest thing since Magically hardend Adamantium Saronite! Enough said. Well Yogg + 0 watchers is said to be harder... Also his void model bore the name Void god. How awesome is that?

Kil'jaeden: For having probably the most climatic enterance to date, rivaling that of Ragnaros and his "Too soon". It was also a very cinematic yet hard enoucter. An epic fight for an epic dude. Also he dropped a legendary bow, that didn't need arrows, making him the most loved/hated boss by hunters.

Hi Balhazer! I'm glad you liked the article. It's never too late to join an MMORPG. The later you join, the more experience other people have to share with you!

I'm going to have an article published in the next few weeks that includes tips for starting out, so keep an eye out for that. It should be right up your alley! But instead of keeping you waiting, here are a few tips to start with.

1. As far as expansions go, you'll want to weigh the pros and cons of each. For example, if you want to play a Blood Elf or a Draenei, you'll need to buy The Burning Crusade. If you want to use the Wrath of the Lich King expansion, you'll need the Burning Crusade first. There are a few small benefits to starting out with all three expansions, but to just dip your toes in and see if you like it, I'd suggest just buying the base game. You can get used to the game mechanics and get a good feel for the classes from that alone, and the majority of the benefits from the expansions come at the higher levels.

2. When it comes to scoping out a good server, keep in mind what kind of play-style you'll prefer. Do you want to roleplay, are you looking for the challenge of world PvP, or are you just looking to quest in peace? This will determine whether you create a character on an RP, RP-PVP, PVP, or "Normal" server. Also, keep in mind the population of a server when you go to join it. You may not want a ghost town (a "low" population server) or a long queue time (a "high" population server), so perhaps a "medium" population server is just right for you. (Why do I feel like Goldilocks?)

3. As far as macros go, those are things that you set up yourself. The game allows you to set them up, but you set them up based on what you want them to do. For example, on my priest, I have macros that allow me to right-click to cast a group buff spell, or left-click to cast a single buff. There are also many addons available for the game, which make tasks such as record-keeping, statistics, or even interface design a snap! The addons are free, and there are certain sites that are more reputable to get them from. I tend to get most of mine from Curse, but there are a few other sites to look at.

4. In regards to extra equipment, starting out, you'll need very little. You'll need a computer, a monitor, a mouse, a keyboard, and an internet connection. Anything above that (even speakers!) is optional and will only help make the experience even better.

Hope this helps! As I said before, be on the lookout for my article in the near future. In the meantime, good luck and happy questing!

Hi lordcvicek!

I agree that those bosses were all fabulous. If I had more room, I'd probably have included every one of them! Vael was definitely next on my list. As a healer it was amazing - I never ran out of mana! That was unheard of in those days.

As for Vashj though... I hear you on the nightmares. A few friends of mine -still- keep our core macros around, and toss them up randomly for no reason. It causes a general "shudder" to go through the group, as if we're trying to rid ourselves of a very painful memory!

Thanks for the insight! :)

Why do such rankings always feature final bosses of end-game raids?

Sure, all the above bosses were epic. But there are countless others, in both 5-mans and raids, that had unique and innovative abilities that should be noted. Some examples:

- the "time for fun!" boss in SL (forgot his name) - imba fight, perhaps the only boss fight in wow where having better gear actually made the fight harder

- Reliquary of Souls - unique, diverse and creepy

- Chess in Kara - free loot, but really interesting design and graphics

- Rend Blackhand - felt like the 1st real "boss" in game for me when i've done him the first time

- Twin Emperors - interesting intro and fight, mindless pugs still fail there at 80 :)

 And my personal favourite: The Opera Event. The excellent intro ("Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to this evening's presentation", etc) combined with the uncertainty of what your raid would get were epic. The idea was original, the fights themselves were well-designed and each event had unique loot to give.

Originally posted by dragos0305

Why do such rankings always feature final bosses of end-game raids?

Sure, all the above bosses were epic. But there are countless others, in both 5-mans and raids, that had unique and innovative abilities that should be noted. Some examples:

- the "time for fun!" boss in SL (forgot his name) - imba fight, perhaps the only boss fight in wow where having better gear actually made the fight harder

- Reliquary of Souls - unique, diverse and creepy

- Chess in Kara - free loot, but really interesting design and graphics

- Rend Blackhand - felt like the 1st real "boss" in game for me when i've done him the first time

- Twin Emperors - interesting intro and fight, mindless pugs still fail there at 80 :)

And my personal favourite: The Opera Event. The excellent intro ("Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to this evening's presentation", etc) combined with the uncertainty of what your raid would get were epic. The idea was original, the fights themselves were well-designed and each event had unique loot to give.

 

1. Kael without a doubt.
2. Vashj.
3. Illidan, was pretty epic downing him for the first time.. Still remember it like yesterday.. 
4. Kil'jaeden... Was also pretty epic.. Damn when he did rise of that shit of his I crapped myself, so imba...
5. Kalecgos, this boss surprised me.. I liked it alot.

There is alot more bosses I could fill in with. I love it all in TBC.. It was wonderfull..