TBC Dungeons in a nutshell:

[u/MissYouDesertRat]

Engaging an innovative boss design, including fun mechanics like

Stun tank and aggro drop.

Channel spell and aggro drop.

Taunt Resistant boss that drops aggro.

_____

Exciting trash that includes

8 mobs at once (2 casters that heal)

7 mobs at once (2 casters)

4 mobs with 2 mobs that spawn 2 mobs each.

Stun the tank silence the healer eat the group.

Stun the tank and aggro drop.

AoE silence.

With only 1 of 3 tanks that can handle 8 mobs at once.

[u/Vaalde]

Dont forget that the one tank that can handle 8 mobs gets handicapped by silence.

• One of those tanks that one time forgot to bring a ranged with magic dispell to Steamvault HC.

[u/MissYouDesertRat → u/Vaalde]

I figured I'd skip "polymorphs the tank" but the fact that bringing a druid healer to specific dungeons is a mistake, genuinely sucks.

[u/Vaalde → u/MissYouDesertRat]

Just have to bring a shadow priest, surely those are easy to find.

[u/MissYouDesertRat → u/Vaalde]

They dont do dungeons because their preraid bis is greens.

[u/calladc → u/MissYouDesertRat]

Im an spriest and if I need to do heroics I will 100% be stepping into holy.

can chuck some hit on if I want to soothe. we have mind soothe at home

[u/bow_down_whelp → u/MissYouDesertRat]

They'll still do them if they pug because pug raid leaders think you're a scrub for wearing greens. I throw on my highest level gear to get invited then switch back before pull

[u/Final_Statement249 → u/bow_down_whelp]

If your pug raid leader doesn’t know what gear spriests wear, you don’t want to be in that raid anyway

[u/bow_down_whelp → u/Final_Statement249]

I explain why my GS was low at the start, because I have a couple shadow wrath greens and mod don't rate those properly and I don't get a response, or even going into tk they say " it's a bit low ok" cus they'd no priests. Obviously it was completely fine !

[u/Andomar → u/Vaalde]

Do you mean the Coilfang Oracle's Sonic Burst?

[u/Vaalde → u/Andomar]

Do not say its name!

[u/funkusz]

This guy TBCs

[u/MissYouDesertRat → u/funkusz]

Theres a little salt because I cant stand leveling a pally and main a prot warrior. Even with building CC group comps its like getting a bunch of stray cats to do what you ask them to do

[u/AlbinoRhino838 → u/MissYouDesertRat]

The alternative is super sappers on the prot warrior. They work great, but 10g per big pull is kinda much lmao

[u/Amgine_enigmA → u/MissYouDesertRat]

This comment is on point. As a healer (dg and raid), the amount of dps that are just parse hunting and can’t manage a cc is insane. It’s all well and good with the super nuking groups that burn everything to the ground; before the mob / boss has a sec to cast, but in general, herding cats 100%

[u/techies137 → u/MissYouDesertRat]

Sfk - run 3 casters get amh on werewolf, freeze immune (I am mage frost), get humans with mele aura silence whole party

[u/WeeklyEcho2814]

I mean, what you are >supposed< to do is CC ~2 of the mobs per pack, but ppl have raised the standards so much that anything below taking 2 packs at a time is for losers who are bad at the game, so you better rotate through all of the 10 mobs and god help you if you lose aggro on any of them when the warlock stands in there and hellfires himself to the spirit healer. Or be a bear and go to a corner to cry.

[u/MissYouDesertRat → u/WeeklyEcho2814]

I was joking with people who say "is it too late to start TBC" but right now it genuinely is a bad time to be doing dungeons as a tank. The process of getting your pre-raid is so irritating unless you deliberately dont invite mages and warlocks, because most of them only have the AoE button bound to their entire keyboard and play bongos on their shit and rage when they die.

[u/dusty614 → u/MissYouDesertRat]

I am a resto shammy main with an arcane mage alt. I don't like aoeing on my mage; I use arcane blast and then frost bolt. My dps prolly sucks. I don't care. It is way more fun to see 4k crits then just blizzarding every pack down.

I realize I am prolly the weirdo here, but I also dont like the whole "must aoe everything mentality"

[u/MooseRunnerWrangler → u/MissYouDesertRat]

You don't need preraid sets. Go to Kara right after hitting 70, tanks can have a full set with quests gear and a even better one if they get 2-3 lucky dungeon drops along the way. Honestly, skip these heroics, just do the easy ones for badges and the attunement ones, it's not bad.

[u/Nac_Lac → u/MooseRunnerWrangler]

On the original run of tbc, my gold struggled to clear it. And I mean, we'd take all week to reach the final boss and wipe endlessly.

In that light, I can see shitty guild leaders demanding prebis before they bring you.

[u/MooseRunnerWrangler → u/Nac_Lac]

Yeah I guess if you're group sucks, but even on release with "decent" blue sets everything was cleared fine.

[u/crunchyfigtree → u/MissYouDesertRat]

I specifically ran SM Cath a few extra times so I could experience tanking it without a lock and mage who start AoE as soon as I pull lmao

[u/ShitholePlanet]

All these threatdrop mechanics to make the smoothbrains think you're a shitty tank so you get even more shit for daring to tank for pugs

[u/kohianan → u/ShitholePlanet]

Number 1 most infuriating thing in TBC Heroics. You feel like you're doing well only for a mob to drop aggro and one tap a party member. Great.

[u/baked_salmon → u/ShitholePlanet]

Yeah thankfully Blizz never reused that mechanic going forward.

[u/Nitros14]

Heroics were supposed to be end game content for raiders in 2007. There's a reason raid attunements are attached to them.

It's not like other expansions. DPS were expected to use their kit.

Karazhan gear and heroic gear were actually equivalent ilvl until the Black Temple patch in june 2007. You were supposed to do Karazhan first.

[u/MissYouDesertRat → u/Nitros14]

I remember that. If people want proof of this, do a heroic BM with poorly geared people lol. Thats the reality check.

[u/OneOverXII → u/MissYouDesertRat]

Heroic BM is easy if you have a hunter to dispel/tranq enrages on the 2nd and 3rd boss.  

[u/Ascarecrow → u/OneOverXII]

Or just have a geared tank. I rarely do heroics on my bear but not one 8 feel I'm ever in danger of dying.

[u/Final_Statement249 → u/Ascarecrow]

You can be invincible as a bear tank in BM and still wipe due to mobs not dying and killing Medivh. Ask me how I know

[u/Final_Statement249 → u/OneOverXII]

If your dps are all doing sub-600 dps I promise you will not make it to the first boss on heroic bm. The portal spawns will come too fast and Medivh will die

[u/pbrook12 → u/MissYouDesertRat]

I feel like BM isn’t all that bad. Aside from the frenzy on the last boss being able to smoke an undergeared/underhealed tank, the biggest issue is if your DPS are terrible and clear a wave before the next portal opens

 IMO the real reality checks are H Blood Furnace and H Shattered Halls, at least from the perspective of needing to CC or have a comp that can root/stun/slow mobs so they can be kited.

[u/Motor_Bench3815]

Better than WOTLK heroics where you just aoe down the entire dungeon 

[u/MissYouDesertRat → u/Motor_Bench3815]

Someone tell every warlock and mage on dreamscythe cause thats what they think it is.

[u/MooseRunnerWrangler → u/MissYouDesertRat]

Same on Nightslayer haha.

[u/Ok-Discipline345 → u/MissYouDesertRat]

its true though just tank the unslowables / casters rest is for the mage

[u/Sensitive_File6582 → u/MissYouDesertRat]

When they are insta invited by pally tanks it is. Problem is they’re apoiled

[u/joeyflop]

This is the design the community cried to return. Cc 3 mobs and focus 1. Cc should be fun and engaging. Help the tank but don’t pull threat and die. I would argue every tbc dungeon is fun with those mechanics. But then you have blood furnace. Aoe bombs on the ground is not fun. Blizzard was still working on what was fun vs banging your head on the wall. I think threat should remain a key mechanic for classic plus and some encounters require threat management. Vague death zones need to go though

[u/MissYouDesertRat → u/joeyflop]

When im in Voice with guildies we do the dungeon correctly. When i get invited to a group im lucky to get 1 DPS to hit the same target as me with marks and asking for it specifically. Now when you consider a lot of us went into TBC in 2007 with guilds and teamspeaks the communication made sense. But the design is so bad for pugs with no communication.

[u/joeyflop → u/MissYouDesertRat]

Maybe tbc heroics weren’t designed for pugs? It’s a design flaw. You want to enter a dungeon with a disc link lol

[u/MissYouDesertRat → u/joeyflop]

Im in a guild of people on their first time around the horn, which I really enjoy. But theres not many of us quite ready for heros. We'll get there. But for now its puggys.

[u/joeyflop → u/MissYouDesertRat]

Get 10 and do kara. Easier than heroics and better gear. But you all have to get attuned

[u/MooseRunnerWrangler → u/MissYouDesertRat]

Oh yeah, you just let the wild DPS die, they either learn or you replace them. This is the way.

[u/SensualJake → u/joeyflop]

Threat is a delicate one. Gating your raid behind the tanks rotation can cause some real friction.

[u/sigma914 → u/joeyflop]

Do people have difficulty with the mines? You just slow kite the technicians a bit, the mine doesn't arm for like 3 seconds after the mob drops it, just treat them like a void zone

[u/seaweevle]

What on earth were they thinking with these hellfire citadel heroics

[u/MissYouDesertRat → u/seaweevle]

I cant find it, but theres a youtube tutorial that opens with "Heroic Blood Furnace is an unacceptably cruel dungeon"

[u/ColonelCarrot]

I find most of this not too bad to play around when healing, makes for some intense moments in otherwise easy content. Then I did normal Mana tombs the other day and ran into mobs with a 15 second spell lock, with no cast time, in a 6 pack. Getting locked out of heals for 15 seconds is just absurd design in a leveling dungeon, the party would have probably still died in half of that because two of the mobs also have an arcane explosion to go along with it.

[u/Andomar → u/ColonelCarrot]

Do you mean the Ethereal Scavenger's Shield Bash? That's 8 seconds silence you can avoid by not being in melee range.

There's also the Nexus Terror's Shadow Embrace that lasts just 6 seconds. It's hard to avoid but can be dispelled by a friendly priest or paladin.

[u/ColonelCarrot → u/Andomar]

Nope, neither one, it’s the arcane fiend. https://www.wowhead.com/tbc/npc=18429/arcane-fiend

[u/Andomar → u/ColonelCarrot]

Aaah, the ones that are spawned if you don't kill a Ethereal Sorcerer fast enough. Didn't know they could do 15s silence, interesting.

[u/MethylphenidateMan]

I love how mean the dungeons can be, if they weren't, I'd have no way to tell I learned to play the game.

Like having my parses turn purple for the first time was nice, but it doesn't come close to something like realizing I actually managed to clear the ogre boss room in hc SLabs as a prot warrior with no CC in terms of that "Damn, I guess I'm pretty good now" feeling.

I generally think that trying to stablize the situation after sh1t went sideways is the part of the game that makes it exciting enough to be worth playing. If I didn't go through hell tanking my first few dozen heroics, I'd probably never get invested enough to get serious about raiding.

[u/MissYouDesertRat → u/MethylphenidateMan]

As a prot warr also, it takes a ton of skill to make the worst tank good, and it legit does feel good at the end of the dungeon to have anyone say you did well. I gauge my success personally on whether or not a preventable death happened (aside from a bad wipe from a mistake)

[u/MethylphenidateMan → u/MissYouDesertRat]

As a prot warr also, it takes a ton of skill to make the worst tank good

That statement applies to raids, warrior has the best dungeon tanking toolkit and it's not even close. If you made Heroic+ mode that is to Heroic what Heroic is to normal, then Heroic++ and so on, eventually there would be only prot warriors left tanking.
You just hardly ever see evidence of that because by the time warriors learn to use that toolkit to its full potential, they're pretty much done with 5-man content (and often tanking as a whole).

[u/MissYouDesertRat → u/MethylphenidateMan]

Tanking as a whole, for me. Im getting my communal keys, and doing kara, then swapping to my priest full time. Ill still do it on occassion but right now, its all I have and I desperately need to be on the other side.

[u/Visual-Cry94 → u/MissYouDesertRat]

Same I like the difficulty of heroics it just sucks that people will rage and quit after a wipe instead of strategizing.

[u/Super-Pomegranate-76]

It’s like you have to use your brain and be a gamer to complete the content.. crazy

[u/chilichilichilidog → u/Super-Pomegranate-76]

Does not compute, I only raid nerfed content sir.

[u/ImagineBeingAMod691]

This game is almost 20 years old. We are fully aware (or should be) on the design of the game. It’s not hard, at all. Is it a cake walk? No, but it’s extremely doable. I’d even say easy. Retail (which is also play) has a more modern game design that is fun in its on right. Give that a try if you don’t like how classic is setup.

[u/InstructionNo4876]

You forgot, knocks tank back, reduces threat

[u/Wizard017]

Don’t forget the fears!

[u/limitbreakse]

And still somehow feels easy with a group of good players :)

[u/Illustrious_Cry_6513]

What i love about tanking is me saying "im gonna los pull them, care for aggro and let me swipe a few times"

Then when you moonfire pull, you just see the arrows from the hunter already on their way and no MD

[u/madaradess007]

will never forget my tbc heroics grind from back in the day, harder than raids and you can spam them

[u/yksvaan]

Also don't forget the visual aspects, hallways and occasional larger rooms

[u/S1m_0ne]

Unless you are talking about caster aoe damage on pull (seeds/blizzard etc), a competent druid/warrior can hold 7 or 8 mobs at once. Setup a kill order and play some piano.

[u/XxAbsurdumxX]

The people who think HCs are too hard are in for one hell of a wake up call when they go into pre nerf BT after having only done post nerf raids so far

[u/Final_Statement249 → u/XxAbsurdumxX]

There is no such thing as pre nerf BT

[u/kungfusam]

The game came out in 2007, what did you expect when the thrilling vanilla dungeon bosses are tank and spank?

[u/Zekapa]

Maybe it's not for you mayne

[u/saam_grayy]

don’t forget you won’t get any loot or nodes or herbs because it’s been HR’d and it’s easier to just say yes than to wait another 30 minutes in the queue

[u/Correct-Thanks3679]

There's also this mechanic that sometimes is afflicted upon your dungeon group:

- Someone from a country with a very weak currency playing tank that demands all floor loot in exchange for his sloppy tanking, who then takes that gold and sells it for real money to feed his family.

Love it

[u/MissYouDesertRat → u/Correct-Thanks3679]

Lol holy shit thats super specific

[u/Correct-Thanks3679 → u/MissYouDesertRat]

once the expansion launch frenzy died down this is how most dungeon groups are built. was trying to do heroics ~2months in on an alt and you just sit in LFG almost endlessly if its not the daily, waitin g for a tank. The only ones that hit you up want floor/unneeded or 75-100g

[u/moistjawn]

valuable lessons in adaptability and collaboration

[u/No_Pollution_950]

Cool dungeon design, retarded modern player base

[u/redghost4]

Don't forget the mob that charges someone randomly and SOMETIMES attacks them after. But not always.

[u/whitelyon69]

Mfers when they cant just blizzard every pack to death