After having replied all 3 raids on S4 and having a fresh overview, thought I’d do a post and share some thoughts raiding in DF. Would love to know which raid and bosses people particularly enjoyed or disliked and why.
Best End Boss
For me it has to be Raszageth. Firstly we experienced her quite a bit outside of the raid too, she felt like a tangible threat, she actually fought other characters and got them in trouble too. She pissed off and unhinged, the voice actress clearly enjoyed that quite a bit as it’s reflected in quite well in her work. Her design was pretty cool, I personally prefer it to Vyranoth’s and Fyrakk’s, though my favourite does remain Iridikron.
The encounter itself is loads of fun, every phase has very distinct strategy. The room design is a crucial part of the encounter as we dynamically use the space, hopping around different platforms for every phase. The looming threat of the other 3 incarnates above us adds to the vibe and spectacle.
Her death feels impactful, we defeat her but she still manages to free the other 3 incarnates, so she moves the plot forward and useful way and doesn’t feel like “threat of the week” disposable villain.
Best Overall Vibe
This has to be Aberrus for me. I know it’s the 3rd time we visit an evil black dragon’s lair, but this one felt more substantial. It was obvious for us players that Neltharion’s echo will turn out to be evil in the end but I still enjoyed how he escorted us and the NPCs through it and added narrative. The murals leading to the final boss room are just excellent and thought they reflected Neltharion’s fall to madness really well. Shame none of the characters noticed that, but that’s a different subject.
Favourite Boss Fights
I’m split between Sennarth and Smolderon, though I’m thinking the former wins. I love how we climb up the room and got to slide about and face her at the top. As for mr Smolderon I enjoyed the various mechanics of the fight, lining up CDs with the transition phase got us such awesome bursting phases. Mind you I reckon I enjoyed these fights particularly because I play DK, and can DA and AMS loads of otherwise likely annoying mechanics.
The Losers
Sarkawho? One of the least memorable end raid bosses I can think of so far. He’s meant to be this tragic character who think is doing right by his father and is juxtaposed to Wrathion and Sabellian… Yaaawn, it all fell flat on its face, his death had 0 impact and he never felt like a threat. His design was absolutely nothing special, even his final void form was a average. The fight was ok, first and second phase aren’t particularly interesting only the last phase feels more important.
The Emerald dream raid was by far my least favourite. By that time shadowflame creatures weren’t as impressive anymore and the lore felt again really flat. How on earth do we have somebody like Ysera on our side and she couldn’t freaking reason with some of the “guardians of the dream” which we just roll in and kill anyhow, only to get some sob lines “oh I’m so sorry your sacrifice own’t be in vain”…? Finally the intentions of the druids of the flame are never really explained properly, and Fyrakk is reduced to a comedy 80s cartoon villain who just seems to want to spread havoc just because? Seriously felt like a Captain Planet scenario. And the cherry on top is that god awful “family” cinematic.
Going Forwards
Overall I enjoyed raiding this expansion and very much look forwards to TWW raids. I hope they’ll manage to keep a stronger through narrative, and avoid creating irrelevant end raid villains that just feel like an excuse for loot.
How about you guys?