World Of Warcraft: WarCry's Burning Crusade Beta Contest #8 - Winners

Dern:
Vaelastrasz the Red: "Too late...friends. Nefarius' corruption has taken hold. I cannot...control myself. I beg you Mortals, flee! Flee before I lose all control. The Black Fire rages within my heart. I must release it! FLAME! DEATH! DESTRUCTION! COWER BEFORE THE WRATH OF LORD....NO! I MUST FIGHT THIS!"

And twenty seconds later, there are forty corpses sprawled around. Raid chat is silent, one rogue types, "hehe, sorry." as thirty nine other people scream at their computer screen (some forgetting that they are still on vent).

The sheer challenge and distinct encounter makes Vaelastrasz the Corrupt my favorite raid boss. This, of course, was not so during the learning period.

Ah, the fond memories of five to ten minutes of buffing, the ghost runs back with thirty nine other people jumping up and down ("Um, I fell in this ravine... How do I get out!"), waiting for people to come back from being afk, the moronic discussions that entailed from the boredom ("Druids can SO tank better than warriors."), the flared tempers, and, my favorite, the repair bills ("Repair Bot please!" "Can I borrow 20g? LOL")

The nights of wiping are all worth it when magically, as if all of a sudden, everything clicks. Tank transitions go smoothly, Burning adrenaline spares the healers, and rouges and dps warriors understand that they can't steal agro. Watching Vael's hit points fall from 10% then to 5%... (the anticipation builds) 4...3...2...1%...

And then you wipe.

But three wipes later, there is a giant red dragon corpse on the ground! Everyone is cheering . All the time spent wiping was worth it, for you have conquered Vael! The ML kneels, everyone waits in anticipation.

"Aw S#%$, [Rune of Metamorphosis] and [Stormrage Belt]x2." The three druids cheer while, everyone else grumbles.

Vael is one of my favorite bosses because of all the memories and friendships that have come from that encounter. Through the difficulites of this encounter, people are forced to work together and become close, and being victorious makes it so much more gratifying. While the experience itself was grueling initially, I can finally look back and still smile everytime we kill that stupid red dragon and disenchant 2 [Stormrage Belt]s.

"Forgive me, Dern, your death only adds to my failure."

Ok, maybe I'm still bitter, but hopefully that stupid red dragon will get me into the beta.

Bladewraith:
Shaydre made hasty last-minute preparations before the inevitable swarm of Scarlet Crusaders set upon the ragtag adventurers. Making sure everyone was blessed by the powers of one of Elune's Chosen priestesses, she gave a final nod to the others, her long silvery hair barely covered her distinctive family markings before it fell back into place as if freshly brushed.

"So how d'you want to do this, big guy?" Bladewraith whispered to Khanon, snickering under his breath. The aging huntsman, ever the voice of in their small cricle of friends, gave Silk a gentle pat on the head to keep her calm. "Are we going to just dive in like the last time, Bright Boy?"

"Just keep that fleabag of yours under control, shoot what I tell you, and keep yer trap shut. Maybe I can concentrate on the task at hand better," Khanon shot back at him.

Bladewraith slipped Silk a bit of fresh ham as a treat, as he always did before he knew that she would likely be injured by their opponents. He had called the graceful feline "Silk" upon first touching her silky smoothe and glistening white fur when he found her in the snowy foothills near Ironforge. Being an albino leopard, she was quickly abandoned by her family, as they do to make sure only the most hardy survive. Bladewraith vowed, when he nursed her back to health, that she would never be without friend or family again. She, in return, has protected and aided him selflessly since that day.

Nykka giggled to herself, watching the pair of unlikely friends shoot barbs at each other as usual from the shadows. Though her markings showed that she was of Shaydre's family, nothing else would give away that the exhuberant and mischievous rogue was even remotely related the relatively quiet and reserved Starwynd family of Darnassus-proper.

"Little sister... Aren't your type supposed to be...you know...quiet? That whole 'hiding in the shadows to sneak up on people' thing you're supposed to do?" Shaydre, growing weary from their forays deep into the Monastery over the last few days, was at last running quite short on patience with her.
"She's right," Bladewraith whispered in the small, for a night elf, girl's direction. "Even Khanon can tell where you are."

Khanon, without a thought, quickly whiped his left hand at the hunter's shoulder, striking him sharply with the flat of his perfectly balanced shortsword. At once, he winced, realizing what he'd done, as the alarm was called out...

"You there! halt and submit to the Crusade!" The shouts went up all about the cathedral as the monks and abbeys called to the guards and mages who were to be protecting their sanctum.

"Here we go again," Vindaria sighed, as she called upon the powers of water and wind to conjure up the elements to hold the Crusaders in place. "You jokers better make sure these bastards don't survive to call for reinforcements." Though she had studied under the masterful tutelage of Stormwind's most reknowned and powerful mages, Vindaria knew she still had much to learn. Shaking off the regrets for having followed her friends to this gods-forsaken land, she redoubled her efforts to ensure that Shaydre, the only sane one of them aside from herself as far as she was concerned, remained untouched by the crazed denizens of this better left forgotten bastion of former Lordaeron glory.

Khanon and Bladewraith looked at each other once more, and a smile quickly grew across their faces. "Oh this is gonna hurt," Khanon almost laughed out loud.

"Yeah, but it's better than watching moss grow on the walls of Stormwind, eh?" Bladewraith laughed back at him as drew his bow and called on Silk to join the fray.

*************************************************

Such is the lead-in to one of my favorite encounters in the game. I've raided end-game. I've done every instance in the game multiple times, but the background and presentation of the Scarlet Monastery has always held a special place in my heart. The layout, especially accurate for a medieval castle and grounds, and artwork draw me back through all my levels of play. Within those halls, the most memorable and enjoyable confrontation is between any comparable party and Scarlet Commander Mograine and High Inquisitor Whitemane. The uniqueness of their interaction, both verbally and how the fight is done, shows the great thought that was put into the whole of the "4-winged" area.

Always the hunter come this encounter, everything leading up to and including the fight with the pair of bosses is a matter of crowd control, keeping my baby alive, and helping the main group kill them, not to mention making sure the casters stay protected. In all the instances I've been a part of as a hunter, I have found this one to be one of the few where the diveristy of my chosen class and playstyle really comes into play and allows me to show what I can do.

The whole storyline of the Scarlet Crusade, as well as the Worgen, has been a passion of mine since the days of beta play.

DorianSoma:
Oh, wow. This is a toughie. I'd have to say though that my favorite boss fight of all time has to be Witch Doctor Zum'rah in Zul'Farrak. Sergeant Bly follows at a close second.
Now, I can hear you guys saying "Zum'rah? WTF? That's a lame fight!" Hear me out though, okay? This fight isn't necessarily Nef or Chromaggus, but for me, it holds more than loot: It holds the sheer HILARITY of a memory with a good in-game friend.
You see, when I was still a noob warlock, I could never find a group for Zul'Farrak. So, my good in-game friend (who's name will be foreshortened just for caution), a level 60 Night elf warrior named Moon, offered to take me through. Within a few minutes, we were off.
I remember admiring how fast he killed everything; he'd scoop up 5 or 6 mobs, and whirlwind and cleave them all down. It was one of my first times seeing the true power of a 60 in a low level instance, and it was awe-inspiring to say the least.
We made it to Witch Doctor Zum'rah, and Moon was in and fighting him before I'd even gotten to the area. And this is where the glorious hilarity of the memory begins.
It being my first time, I noticed that there were mounds of dirt strewn about, and that they had gears on them. curious, I grabbed one, and pulled out a grey vendor trash necklace and 12s. I was overjoyed; I was broke, and this was a LOT of money. So, I ran to the next one, and the next, and the next, happily grabbing my money and moving on while Moon finished off Zum'rah for me.
Well, I don't think I can say it properly, so instead, I'll post the chat log (which I still remember vividly):
Moon: DORIAN
Moon: CHRISTS SAKE
Moon: STOP LOOTING
Dorian: Why? Did you need something from them?
Moon: THE GRAVES
Moon: FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT'S HOLY, STOP LOOTING THE MOTHER$%#@ING GRAVES
At this point, I turned to look, and noticed that somehow, a large amount of adds had spawned. I figured it was part of the Zum'Rah encounter, and thought "Oh, he needs me to help AOE them down". Between me and him, we managed to kill them (He Blew shield wall, but we did it). We looted, and he sat down to drink. Satisfied, I returned to the mounds and started looting again.
Moon: DORIAN FFS
Dorian: What? We're fine now that Zum'Rah's dead.
Moon: YOU GODDAMN NUB
Moon: LOOTING CAUSES ZOMBIES @DSVSUIDHG@
I remember getting a sinking feeling, and all I could put after we finished killing them was
Dorian: .....Oh. My bad?
Moon: WAAAARGGH, you almost wiped us!
He was completely frazzled then, but we laugh at it now. Except.....
A few weeks ago, I was helping run him and his girlfriend through on their mage alts, and we approached Zum'Rah. Then, a brilliant idea popped into my head. See, Moon doesn't leave emotes/say/yell in his chat in instances.....just party. So, curious if he still remembered, I ran to the nearest mound and, well, again, here's the chat log.
Dorian: Hey, there are gears on these.
Dorian: /kneel
(Moon's Mage): DORIAN STOP
(Moon's Mage): REMEMBER LAST TIME
Dorian: J/K dude.:P
(Moon's Mage): YOU ASSHOLE
(Moon's Mage): I HATE YOU
Dorian: /w (Moon's Mage) Come on, you know it was funny.:P
*(Moon's Mage) is ignoring you.*
......Okay, so maybe HE doesn't look back at it and laugh, but I sure as hell do.XD
And that's why Zum'Rah is my favorite boss fight.

AnubisOsiris:
My favorite fight by far has to be the first boss of the Death Knight wing of Naxxramas. Not only is it a fight that completely relies on the abilities of almost every class, but it's one of the few where you MUST use a mind-controlled mob to take a severe beating at the hands of the central opponent.
I remember the first time my old guild went into that ring to take him out. We, of course, had only heard a few rumors that the mobs would need to be mind controlled to be used as tanks, but what we didn't fully understand was the reason why.
That all changed within the first five or so seconds. Our vent suddenly exploded.
"Okay, I've got aggro."
"Wait...hold on."
"Oh shi-"
"OH MY GOD! TWENTY K DAMAGE?"
"Watch out, he's gonna Shout!"
"Oh em gee...run run run run."
"Fifteen K here."
"Anyone get the licence plate on that truck?"
"Oh damn it. Oh wow."
"Executed...holy crap. Ow ow ow."
"I think I know how Mr. Hands felt when he died..."
After having to run out like little girls while a horribly large man with a giant sword chased us (no...not Pyramid Head...although the effect on us was about the same), we came back for one more round. This time, the aggro was a bit better, but not perfect. It took us a few days, but eventually, we got him down and claimed our now obsolete epics :P
"So wait, what does the shout do again?"
"Horrible amounts of rape, so stay the hell out of it." "..."
"What kinds of rape, again?"
"The kind that leave you walking funny for a week and cursing any Nazis that were in your prison."

Puralis:
Imagine if you will that you are in a ruined city in the desert. Before you stands an army of giant insect-like humanoids. You're likely scared and quite possibly have to change your pants, but fear not, for backup has arrived. Yes backup...in the form of a barechested man wearing an eyepatch and wielding two axes. So you feel moderately safer now that this poorly armored, half-blind man and his men are here to help. You carefull discuss with your own men how you will go about fighting this army and let this man, Lieutenant General Andorov, know that you and your men are ready. Sadly all strategy is cast aside as Andorov yells out to the commander of the opposing army, General Rajaxx. It must have been this lack of strategy that kept him from becoming a General himself.
So you and your men work hard to contain the squad of troops Rajaxx sends your way. You decide the flying enemies are the main threat so you order your men to attack them first. Your druids work frantically to call upon the earth to hold the ground-based troops in place. Sadly, Lt. Gen. Andorov ignores your orders and attacks these troops, freeing them from their binds and frustrating the druids. You think you even hear one of them mutter something that may have been a Darnassian expletive.
Working tirelessly to command your troops through the seemingly never-ending onslaught eventually results in the complete annihilation of the army. Lt. Gen. Andorov's men all lay dead on the ground and a look from his one good eye tells you he holds you responsible. You are half tempted to order your priests to mind control him into one of the silithid hives outside the city.
All thoughts stop however as you see General Rajaxx himself rush at you. The site is awe-inspiring and you recall hearing him earlier speaking of killing the son of Archdruid Staghelm. Now that you see him up close you can believe every word he's said during the battle. You wouldn't be the least surprised if the dragons did indeed tremble before his wrath. He suggested Staghelm hide in the Emerald Dream, you now wish you could do so as well.
Gritting your teeth you order your warriors to attack him before he reaches the lesser-armored mages and priests in the back. As the warriors rush in they are suddenly thrown back by a shockwave generated by General Rajaxx slamming the ground. As your warriors shake off the attack you watch in horror as that idiot, Andorov, rushes in to fight Rajaxx on his own. You order your healers to focus on him, even that silly paladin that seems to forget that he can heal. Your warriors try everything they can to gain Rajaxx's attention, but everytime they do Rajaxx yells that they're not worth his time before turning back to Andorov.
Eventually the dust settles and by some miracle your entire party survived. Andorov looks horribly beat up, but alive. You almost wish he was dead but you know the Cenarion Circle will look more favorably on you knowing you kept him alive. He causes dissention in your ranks by announcing a limited number of bandages and potions for sale and you shake your head as you watch your party members fight over who gets what. Andorov just stands there smirking before yelling that you're on your own before running off. You simply shake your head and try to remind yourself that being a paladin requires you to endure all sorts of pain in the course of duty.
So as you can see, Rajaxx is my favorite boss encounter, because no other boss encounter can inspire me to write something like I just did.

Tyrannic:
Boss fights? Favourite boss fight? I think you forget that I'm a raider; I hate myself, and I hate everything that I fight. IT'S THE CIIIIIIIIRCLE OF HATE! Allow me to deviate from the question, and instead reply with:
WHY I HATE EACH AND EVERY BOSS FIGHT:
Lucifron: Guild sucks at dispelling, I burn all my mana in two spell casts
Magmadar: He is a dog who $@%!'s fire
Gehennas: Why does his rain of fire not suck?
Garr: Stuck on banish duty in a corner.
Geddon: "Sorry Warlocks aren't on my dispell list"
Shazzra: No DOTs, You'll pull aggro (I still manage to pull aggro without them)
Sulfuron: OH look, another nexustrike, thnx.
Golemagg: He has a cool title, The Incinerator. Is he like a pro wrestler or somethin?
Majordomo: Life tap to full mana... go to bandage... Portaled into fire pit!
Ragnaros: Sons. 'Nuff said
Jeklik: God, her voice is enough to wake the dead
Venoxis: However many times we do this, someone still gets the raid chained on
Mar'li: NOBODY EVER KILLS THE SPAWNS?!??!111
Bloodlord: Some random hunter always pulls aggro, always gets the raid whirlwinded
Thekal: Why wont ANYONE KICK THE HEALS?!
Arlokk: So many panthers... *shudder*
Jin'do: This guy is about a purge away from being a shaman.
Gahz'ranka: "Nice, a green chestpiece of the whale, WTF KIND OF BOSS IS THIS?"
Hakkar: How many people will NOT step in the poison today?
Fankriss: Sandtraps.
Rajaxx: Stop healing me priests! I DONT WANT YOUR HEALS.
Buru: This guy never watches me, am I ugly or something?
Moam: A) He blows us up, B) Fish cause the encounter to bug out
Ayamiss: "I'm going to focus all my attacks on you even when you aren't doing anything"
Ossirian: Shadow vulnerability! I can finally do some damage...You Have Died.
Razorgore: WTB hunters who can train
Vaelastrasz: Boom, there goes that half of the raid
Broodlord: Broodlord would be fine if not for the suppression rooms, really.
Firemaw: Hey guys why is firemaw in the raid?
Ebonroc: "I forgot my ony cloak"
Flamegore: TRANQ! TRANQ! OMG TRANQ! TRANQ FFS!
Chrommagus: Brood Affliction... BRONZE!
Nefarian: PRIEST CALL! PRIESTS STOP HEALING! PRIESTS! PRESITAHWEDAU!JM!11111!
Skeram: EARTHSHOCK! EARTHSHOCK! EARTHSHOCK!
Bug Trio: Ok just burn kri down... OMG HE GOT HEALED WTF?!
Battleguard Sartura: "Hi Tyrannic I'm going to whirlwind your face"
Fankriss: Someone is always curious and pulls Fankriss before were buffed
Huhuran: "What do you mean I have to farm NR? Im lazy! Do it for me!"
Viscidus: We don't acctually fight this guy, me and Vast just pull him to get people killed.
Twin Emps: I don't know where the raid leaders got it into their heads that I was tanking.
Onyxia: Always deep breaths. Always.
Azuregos: Magic Reflection.
Green Dragons: ZzzzZzzzz... (Sleep Clouds!)
-Failure to mention five and ten man instances is because I hate them as a whole, and have no reason per boss, although the failure to find a hunter to drain Drakkisath is kind of up there-
You know, I guess Eranikus would be my >Least Hated< encounter in the game. Big Dragon flying over Moonglade. Spawning Shades everywhere. Boss fight that takes MORE than the normal 40 people. Boss fight that takes up the whole zone and the whole town. Boss fight where theres NPCs fighting and healing you. Boss fight with a lot of lore behind it, something that acctually explains whats going on in the emerald dream. However I can find one problem with this fight:
Eranikus: Eranikus Does Not Win. (Stupid Elves)

Marissa:
<queues Music>
.... 1 Guild........
......... 1 mission .......
...... 1 spell .........
... could mean Victory......
....... or could mean Defeat.....
... World of Warcraft presents.....
+++ MIND CONTROL ++++ featuring Instructor Razuvious .... Rated W for wtfPwned by Pre-Mature MC Break.
.... Do you have what it takes? to Mindcontrol the adds???? *** IN NAXXARMAS NOW ***
Well, my favorite, and most spontanious Boss fight of World of Warcraft, would have the big Slaughter House himself, Instructor Razuvious. The fight is farely fun, mainly because, it uses the most useless spell in the game, known to Priests... 'Mind Control'. Not many encounters were designed to use this spell, heck, none that I know of atleast. This fight is all about positioning, and accuracy. You have 4 adds, that have about roughly 100,000 HP total. The goal of the fight is to keep the adds tanked / under control while Mindcontrol them to defeat Instructor. The adds are basically warriors, and have a taunt and shield wall ability which is an asset to this fight. Instructor has about 2 million HP, so dps is a necessity. Healers with about 6+% to hit with spells is a good ideal factor also. Instructor does an ability called 'Unbalancing Strike' which is similar to the Twin Emperors 'Hateful Strikes'. Also does an ability called Disrupting Shout: AoE shout, with a range of roughly 45 yards, which reduces the mana of everyone it hits by up to 4000 and deals twice the damage to the amount of mana burned this way. Also has a stun effect. This ability is cast every 25 seconds. Mages can ice block through it. This fight is both FUN and TIRING. Throughout the fight, Razuvious will say some quotes that are a spoof from another movie, I think 'Karate Kid'. He says things like Sweep the leg! Do you have a problem with that?", or "You should've stayed home!" .... hehe, it's funny. You could be doing really good on this fight, and screw up soo fast, and whipe.
<Demonstration>
[pulls Razvious]
* Adds are undercontrol.
* Razvious is pulled to the correct LoS spot.
* Adds taunt / auto attack Razvious / Dps beings*
* Same rotation, everything is going smoothely
* Razvious is near 50% HP
Raid Leader says: "We are doing a good job, keep up the DPS, MC, and we got this"
* Razvious is at 10%
Raid Leader says: "Okay guys, push the DPS HARD"
* Razvious is at 3%
Raid Leader says: "WE GOT IT, PUSH IT NOW!!!!"
* Mind Control Breaks *
Priest 1 of 2: "OMG, MIND CONTROL BROKE"....
* Add 1 + Razvious goes around killing people *
Raid says: "We hate this fight !!!"
More or less, you can hate it or love it. I love this fight, cause it has some of the craziest outcomes possible, with replies, and what not. I love this fight!

Zenerek:
Name your favorite boss encounter. Why do you like it so much?
I'd have to say that my current favorite encounter is Thaddius. It's an encounter that, while it can be very frustrating considering the ability of a single disconnect to wipe your raid, it based on a very interesting (and fun) concept, namely the polarization.
In case there's anyone reading that may be unfamiliar with the fight, I'll describe the encounter as I discuss it. Thaddius is initially untargetable and standing on wide, raised platform on the other side of the room. Beneath him is a pool of that lovely slime that you find all over the abominations wing with possesses the uncanny ability to lower all stats by 90% while also hitting you for a moderate amount of damage periodically while you stand it in (it hits me for about 100, but when you're at 10% health, you do have to have to worry about it). How the hell does it do that, anyway? Are you so dismayed by the fact that you got a little slime on you that you get really depressed and "can't go on". Ah, suspension of disbelief.
On a side note, things like this slime make you stop to wonder why the powers that be in Naxx don't order its use more often. I mean, that slime would devastate a raid should one of the bosses be smart enough to use it. I guess that's the problem: intelligence. All of the bosses in the abomination wing look like they were put together by a 3-year-old playing with Mr. Potato Head, except all those little pieces are insanely huge and are actual body parts. That brings up an interesting image, doesn't it? Imagine Kel'Thuzad and the Lich King sitting around screaming with laughter like the little girls that they are as they build some insanely nonsensical creatures together and set them on a war path to beat the crap out of anyone who tries to enter their "clubhouse".
Anyway, I digress. As you enter the room, there are paths to the left and right leading up to smaller platforms with two sub-bosses on them: Stalagg and Feugen. These guys look like our child Kel'Thuzad and Lichy read the Hunchback of Notre Dame and thought, "Hey, that guy sounds depressed and angry at the world. Let's make a monster out of him, only giant and with annoying abilities to help them take out their anger on aspiring vigilantes." Also, this is where the Frankenstein-esque "put monsters together and bring them to life" aspect of the abomination wing really comes out to shine. Both of these guys have a beam of electricity hitting them from a nearby tesla coil, which if the connection is broken (by pulling them off their platforms), it starts randomly shocking people in the raid. I don't remember the exact damage, but it'll make short order of your forces in a few seconds (which, again, begs the question why don't they just shock us in the first place? Oh, right, the intelligence thing). Moral of the story: you get to fight them on their platforms. So who fights whom? Well, my stalwart adventurers, they each have a specific ability that makes that choice quite obvious. Stalagg will gain "power surge" every so often that increases his attack speed by 200%. It's easy enough to heal through that on the main tank, so just don't pull aggro (which I'm sure you've all heard a million times by now, and are very good at not doing so). More importantly, Feugen has an AE mana drain. There we have it!! Casters go kill Stalagg, melee take care of Feugen. They both also have a war stop which isn't much of an issue and one other ability which makes it obvious that these guys were someone's (or thing) childhood toy: they like to play catch! Yes, I said catch. They like to toss the two MTs back and forth between the two platforms. Fortunately, they exchange aggro, so each MT can remain MT on the other side. This also makes for some funny moments (well, funny after, frustrating at the time) when the MT, every now and then, doesn't make it across. His new baddie then goes charging down into the slime to get him, and one half of your raid subsequently dies. I say funny because when I think back on it, I get this image of a retarded, giant hunchback chasing after "toy" and screaming while everyone else is yelling "NO!!!!!", which makes me chuckle. Once you properly sort your raid, and assuming the MTs get properly tossed each time, these two are not much of a problem. The one last gimmick is that they must die within a few seconds of each other or they will revive. Old trick, we've all seen it before, just communicate (like your GF wishes you would). This is that vent is for.
Now on to the big guy himself! Both of the platforms for Stalagg and Feugen are raised, so now it's just a matter of jumping down to Thaddius's platform. It is possible to miss if you jump to early, which makes for many taunts of the "Stop sucking at WoW" variety that everyone is so fond of, but seriously, it can be a problem because you need everyone alive and present to deal with Thaddius. Falling into the depressing slime is no excuse to slack off (though I know you want to because you somehow freaked yourself out enough to become 90% more of wuss-don't tell me it's the slime's fault, we all know slime doesn't do that to people), so run back to the entrance, up onto a platform, and try the jump again. If you miss again.............don't talk to me. About 10 seconds after the two retarded hunchbacks die, Thaddius will "come alive" (ie targetable) and start beating the crap out of whoever is closest. Make sure that's your MT. Now my guild uses the diamond strategy (or square, whatever you want to call it-THE QUADRALATERAL STRATEGY!). The MT pulls Thaddius over to the middle of the left section of his platform (his platform is kind of separated into two sections by a portion of the wall that juts out a bit behind where he is initially standing), and the rest of the raid stacks up on one side (we use the front edge, since it's closest). NOW THE FUN BEGINS!!
Thaddius has approximately 7 million hit points and you get 5 minutes to kill him before he flips out and kills everyone in the room (yet again, we see a "kill all" ability that he doesn't feel like using in the first place-that arrogant, and very stupid, prick. Let's kill him!). "7 million hit points in 5 minutes?! How is that possible?!" Well, my friend, it lies in his abilities. The first one is your standard chain lightning, which doesn't hit everyone, but I'm not sure how many "jumps" it makes. It's mostly an annoyance (bring your nature pots!!). The main ability (which is what makes the fight what it is) is polarization. Every 30 seconds he will polarize the raid, giving a "positive" debuff to half and a "negative" debuff to the other half. If you're standing within 10 yards of someone with an opposite charge, you get hit for 2000 damage every couple seconds (ouch!). Hence disconnects=bad. If you're standing within 10 yards of someone with the same charge, you get a 10% damage increase. Yes, the smart people already figured this out. 10% damage times 19 other people means 190% damage increase!!!!! Thus your goal throughout the whole fight is to keep all similar charges together while not getting too close to people of the opposite charge. Now you're fully equipped to mock his 7 million hit points and taunt Thaddius like the little girl he is. Upon the first polarization, everyone in the raid will move in a quarter circle to end up 90 degrees from the starting position. Positive people move left, negative move right. And there you have it, all like charges together and on the opposite side of the boss from the other charge. Nice and easy, right? Well, considering that it changes every 30 seconds and that annoying chain lightning, it's going to take some practice. At each polarity shift, people who's debuff remains the same run the quarter circle left, while those who's debuff changed run the quarter circle right. Now the smart people have again already realized that this is why it's called the diamond strategy, as you hit the four corners of a diamond throughout the fight (or a square, depending on how you look at it-QUADRALATERAL!). And that's the basis of the fight. From there it just takes practice, as the more people that die, the less damage buff you're getting, making his 7 million hit points once again quite manly.
So, now that we've talked about all that, you want to know why I like the fight? In a word, it's fun. It's not your usual fight which just involves some form of your basic chain casting (with varying degrees of avoidance). This fight actually takes skill, patience, attention, and knowing precisely what to do. You are always on the move, so it doesn't get boring. You have to pay very good attention, as delaying your quarter circle run for as little as 1 or 2 seconds could mean you kill the people from your previous group who got the opposite charge on this round. And to top it all off, you're doing 190% increased damage!! I mean, what dps player doesn't enjoy that. I love having my Shadow Bolts hitting in the 3k-4k range, with corruption ticking for 6 or 7 hundred. It just makes you feel like a badass (which is very necessary if you're going to properly taunt Thaddius for his girly hit points). In my opinion, there are few fights as interesting as this one, not to mention ones that combine such an interesting design with aspects that are purely fun (190% damage!!!!) A part of you does have to wonder, though, why don't opposite charges attract in this case. I think I would die laughing if I watched a big group of fighters set up, then get pulled into the middle and kill each other. But alas, then the fight would be unbeatable. Nevertheless, it's still quite fun and, undoubtedly, my favorite boss encounter.

Fareyes:
"Alright, get ready guys!" the expedition leader smiles, "Timber!!!"
(The huge obsidian statue suddenly loses whatever magical force that sustained its life and comes hurtling to the ground.)
Aggog, the "hero" of the group (you know the type, always charging in there to take all hits himself, and then he whines about how much it hurts later on) is bleeding from about five different places and is covered in the ooze of the giant wasp that we just killed. Wincing he asks, "So where exactly is this great treasure? And who the hell dug these tunnels?" In response to his question we here booming laughter from far down the "hall"
As we draw nearer to the sound the walls of the tunnel become stone and begin to form a great chamber; this place was built, not formed... In the center was one of the most horrific things I have ever seen. A transparent floating eye of behemoth size, that wildly looked about at our group. We knew we were standing before a god.
Suddenly the eye disappeared and the source of the laughter became appearent. Two gigantic human-like insects stood before us at opposing ends of this chamber, one held a transclucent sword and the other held a short (in comparison to him) insect leg of some sort. Their voices shook the ground.
"There will be pain..."
"Much pain, indeed."
The floor that spanned the enormous distance between us, a pitiful group of battle-worn explorers and the two great self-proclaimed brothers, was littered with insects. But atleast the insects didn't appear nearly as menacing. (Boy, are looks decieving.)
So after staring at the brothers for five minutes or so Aggog gives his battle cry and charges in after the brother that held the blade. The brothers stood as still as a statue and then right as aggog reached the bottom of "his" platform they snapped into action.
There is something awe-insiring when you see a creature so large that it -shouldn't- be able to move very quickly, do the exactly opposite. But I swear by the Light that the sword-wielding brother moved as gracefully as a bird and when he jumped he floated as if he weighed absolutely nothing.
The other brother was not as graceful, in fact he did not move very much at all. Instead he stood where he was and cast terrible magic at our party. Decimating our bodies from afar.
We tried to adjust and face them, and just as we did, they swapped places. I know not how, but I swear to you they did. They just swap places. At that point we couldn't hold ourselves together and we were quickly dispatched.
I awoke here, in this inn, and I have been far too wounded to move since that battle, so many months ago. I don't know what is happening in that tunnel, it isn't empty, but it isn't filled with treasure as my party was led to believe. Its evil. If you could have just seen that eye... (shudder) Had we even been strong enough to kill the brothers, I know not what would have happened should we have pressed on. In fact, falling in battle is probably the only reason those of us who survived did survive. I am afraid that is all I have to say on the matter. I bid you good day.

ForcefulCJS:
My favorite boss has to be Ragnaros, and not just because he drops Perdition's Blade =P.

I had been playing the game casually for over a year and a half before I saw the inside of Molten Core recently. Once I got over the unique music that plays inside the instance, I found that all the fights were boring because they could be so calculated. Even the "bomb" during the Baron Geddon was so carefully planned that it lacked any sort of excitement. We ground our way through the instance and I began to understand why people referred to Molten Core as the epic vending machine.

That all changed when we got to Ragnaros's Lair. Our raid was capable of defeating him, but we hadn't perfected anything, the fight relied on too many random factors and so the only thing we were told to do was collapse when Ragnaros sumerges beneath the lava.

This fight was amazing to me for so many reason. The first being that all the other bosses in the game, including Molten Core, were just variations on each other... bigger fire elementals, larger earth elementals, bigger fire lizards, and bigger dragons. Ragnaros is a one-of-a-kind boss, when he bursts from the lava I had to point my camera upwards just so I could see menacing molten mass that formed his enraged expression. I couldn't help but turn off my UI for a second and tap the screenshot button a few times. Our guild was playing along too, we would joke around as a way of alleviating tension for what was easily our hardest boss fight. People would scream, "DOMO RUN!", "IT'S A TRAP", "OH DOMO YOU DONE IT NOW!" as the fight began... I had no idea what was coming until a single burst of flame brought down the Firelord who probably would have taken our raid several minutes to defeat if we were ever given the chance.

Seeing Majordomo dropped in a single blow by Ragnaros set the mood for the fight. As first things seemed awfully calm, I was behind Ragnaros so I couldn't even see the devastation he was wreaking on our tank and his healers. It wasn't until Ragnaros started his AOE knockback that things got really interesting. I had my parachute cloak equipped to help reduce fall damage from the knockback and to aim so I didn't land in the lava, and when I was thrown in the air for the first time it took me moment because I wasn't used to being thrown hundreds of feet into the air during my time playing the game. Once I began my descent I activated my cloak and slowly descended on Ragnaros watching the epic struggle from above, it was like watching the people of Lilliput trying to tie down Gulliver is Gulliver's travels... having woken Ragnaros from his sleep we now attempted to subdue him, but what chance did the little green dots below stand against the overwhelming force of magma and flame that is Ragnaros?

I was really into the fight now, for the first time in WoW I truly felt like I was in an EPIC encounter, in the truest sense of the word. I watched my comrades swatted aside like insects and Ragnaros yelled "BY FIRE BE PURGED". Seeing them fly through the air like that reminded me of the scene from LoTR where the armies of Middle Earth rallied against Sauron, and Sauron sending anyone in his path flying back from a blow to his mace.

As Ragnaros began to submerge himself below the lava, the survivors rallied together on one side of the room, at first I didn't understand why, until from the depths of the lava came a small army of fire elementals appropriately called "the Sons of Flame". The fight then turned into chaos, fire elementals burst into our ranks and we scattered in every direction, desperately fighting against any flame that followed. And so, stretched to limits of our strength every was pushed into the fight, nobody could stand back and cast safely from a distance, we were all forced into a melee and fought with as much courage as desperation attempting to survive the onslaught until it was over.

After the Sons we were nothing but a ragged band that was just a fraction of the army that we had entered with, there were no tactics that could plan for this, we just had to go with what we had... just then Ragnaros re-emerged in his full glory, and we charged forward with a DO or DIE mentality.

This fight transcended the realm of a video game, I was IN the fight now, if we died here it didn't just mean a "wipe" or "rez and run"... for me, losing this fight would mean "DEFEAT", and I wouldn't let that happen. So now in the second bout against Ragnaros we gave it all that we had, I was knocked back several times and ran back desperately with just slivers of health yet clinging to the hope that my damage just might make a difference... I didn't want to end up like the piles of corpses that I ran by returning to Ragnaros, not yet.

Our surviving members were dwindling even further now, each passing second became more and more desperate as we lost another critical member of the team, I could feel the adrenaline rising and my heart pumping... it was going to be close. Ragnaros' health was nearing its end and just then our main warrior died and we had no other choice but to go all-out without any reservation... Moonfire! Shadow Word Pain! Judgement! We threw everything we had at him as he turned to each of us and quickly crushed us with his behemoth mace.

That was when I got knocked back again, this time is was almost straight upwards, I was myself flying up towards the top of Ragnaros' figure... that was when he turned towards me and raised his hammer and brought it down upon me... death came quickly and I found myself dead upon the very figure of Ragnaros, for me it was an amazing end to an amazing fight, it was only moments later that Ragnaros collapsed under the blows of my few remaining comrades.

Our ventrillo channel began filling with cheers and shouts of victory, such a reaction could not come from just any fight in the game. I couldn't help but smile a little myself. After resurrecting everyone the game returned to business as usual, distributing loot, teleports out, getting repairs...

But I will never forget that first fight with Ragnaros and the indelible impression it left on me, because for that one battle the game ceased to be a game of grinding and farming and it became Warcraft.