Illidan Stormrage and the Burning Legion are up to their old tricks once again in World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade Classic. WoW Classic players will have the choice to venture to Outland or to move their character to a Vanilla Classic server when the expansion launches later this year. Those who choose to go through the Dark Portal will find some of the most memorable raid events in WoW’s history.
While The Burning Crusade is remembered with intense nostalgia but many Warcraft fans, not all of of its raids were hits at the time. Here is the tier list of the raids that fans can expect to fight their way through in World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade Classic.
S-Tier
There is just one raid in The Burning Crusade’s S-Tier. This is not because those in the A-Tier are forgettable, or because they are worse than the raids that appeared in Vanilla and Classic WoW. Unfortunately for those in the A-Tier, however, Karazhan blows them out of the water.
Karazhan was a total tonal departure for WoW’s raids, and one of Blizzard’s most creative additions to the MMO in its early years. Ironically for the new expansion, its best raid wasn’t in Outland at all, but in Deadwind Pass. Former home to Medivh, the last Guardian of Tirsifal, the tower is still imbued with magic across its massive layout, which had seven separate floors and 17 separate maps.
Karazhan has some of the best music in The Burning Crusade as haunting melodies, and a jaunty but spooky harpsichord soundtrack some of The Burning Crusade's most memorable moments. The Chess Event sees players players reenacting the first war between King Llane of Stormwind and Warchief Blackhand of the Orcs. Players face off against the magical “echo” of Medivh, who even cheats by buffing certain pieces throughout the encounter.
In the Opera Event players face down characters from one of three plays. They might find themselves facing down the Big Bad Wolf in “Hood,” the characters from The Wizard of Oz, or Romulo and Julianne. Just as Medivh cheats, players can find ways to skip certain bosses as well. Karazhan combines the feeling of a Dungeons & Dragons one-shot adventure with some of Warcraft’s most important lore characters in a raid that’s still remembered as one of early WoW’s high points.
A-Tier
While Karazhan takes the top spot, it was far from The Burning Crusade’s only memorable raid. After Ahn’Qiraj, The Black Temple was one of the best early WoW raids to truly feel like an epic battle, with forces at play far larger than the players’ 25-man group. A battle rages around the players as they storm the gates, and the story of the raid plays out in the instance itself.
Players help Akama the broken Draenei betray Illidan, freeing the warden who imprisoned the self-titled “Lord of Outland”. Illidan may have come back in Legion, but The Black Temple was a great mix of brilliant visuals and Warcraft lore. During the final encounter, players can even see the planet of Azeroth in the sky.
Like Karazhan, Sunwell Plateau also brought the threat home to Azeroth, with players fighting back disgraced Blood Elf Prince Kael’thas Sunstrider’s attempts to summon Kil’Jaeden through the Sunwell. This raid had great music, stunning visuals, and felt like a fitting conclusion to the expansion but pitting players against one of the Burning Legion’s top lieutenants with parallels to the War of the Ancients, when the Highborne attempted to summon the Legion's leader Sargeras through the Well of Eternity.
Zul’Aman is also in the A-tier. With memorable bosses, this raid explored a often-forgotten part of Warcraft lore, the destruction of the once mighty troll empires across Azeroth. It also contained one of the most desirable mounts in WoW at the time, the Amani War Bear.
B-Tier
The B-Tier kicks off with The Battle for Mount Hyjal. Here, players got to travel back in time to a pivotal moment in Warcraft 3. Apart from Archimonde the bosses were relatively forgettable. However, not only did this raid reveal Mount Hyjal for the first time in WoW, but it was also one of Blizzard’s first experiments with the Caverns of Time which would lead to fantastic future instances like the Culling of Stratholme.
The Eye, also known as Tempest Keep, had strong connections to the lore, with players facing down Kael’thas for the first time. While Netherstorm’s scenery was visually striking and the raid’s focus on an important lore character interesting, ultimately it short-changed one of Warcraft’s most complicated characters, reducing him from a tragic hero to a mad-man. The same can be said for The Black Temple, but The Eye lacked the sense of epic stakes to make up for it.
Magtheridon’s Lair is also in the B-Tier. Players could see down into the prison of Illidan Stormrage's predecessor as the Lord of Outland in the 5-man dungeon The Blood Furnace. The raid was very straightforward, and a nice entry-level raid that called back to one-boss instances like Onyxia’s Lair. It was good to see such an important lore character again, though ultimately the instances simplicity made it less memorable than the expansion’s best offerings.
C-Tier
Last of all, the C-Tier includes Gruul’s Lair and Serpentshrine Cavern. With just two bosses, Gruul’s Lair ultimately proved less interesting that The Burning Crusade’s other raids, lacking the lore relevance of Magtheridon’s Lair and the visuals of Karazhan or The Eye. While Serpentshrine Cavern was interesting in terms of lore and visuals, it was particularly buggy on release, with many players getting stuck at its waterfall. Its been over a decade since the expansion released however, and players may now get a chance to take on Lady Vashj in a more memorable encounter than the first time around.
World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade Classic releases 2021.