Instance Pride
News at 10, something incredible is happening, I am snatching up an idea from a posting of Mike Schramm, as opposed to him milking wow_ladies! Rar.
Today’s WoW Insider Breakfast Topic asks the question, which instance you have missed out on at the correct level. It fills me with a little bit of pride to say that I haven’t missed a single 5-man instance. There are people in my guild who used to tease me about my obsession to run instances in order. But I did. In vanilla WoW, I ran every single instance, in order, at the right level, with my warlock. We ran an instance every Sunday, always picked in order. Our instance group was so much fun. We spent like three consecutive Sundays in BRD, and never managed to make it through the Lycaeum, but not for lack of trying. We ran LBRS so many times, when the damn spider seemed like a real obstacle. I fondly remember discovering Maraudon for the first time and it’s colorful beauty. Of the 60s instances, Dire Maul was my favorite, I loved all of its wings. The tribute runs were genius.
In TBC I changed mains to Kadomi and from then on tanked my way through all instances, in order, at the right level range. We didn’t set foot into 70s instances until we were all 70. Didn’t skip a single one.
Discovering 5-mans, when they’re all fresh and new, that’s the best part. I can’t wait for the new 5-mans in WotLK. Wiping and overcoming obstacles with people you like to spend time with, that’s simply the best part of WoW for me.
I’m like you, Kadomi; I have done every instance at the appropriate level at one time or another. However, I know people that haven’t and in a way it makes me feel a little sad.
For example, my guild leader on Scarlet Crusade has never done a live Stratholme run, despite having played the game for over a year and a half now. And he barely did Sunken Temple until he had to run people though the instance at 70. Since a lot of us rerolled on Scarlet Crusade, I’ve been trying to drag his sorry butt into those instances at the appropriate levels so that he can finally enjoy them — yes, enjoy them — the way they’re meant to be experienced!
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admin Reply:
August 7th, 2008 at 5:31 pm
I really don’t enjoy instance run-throughs at all. It defeats the atmosphere and the purpose of said instance. I usually skip all instances while leveling these days, which is sad, but I’d rather skip then get the easy tour.
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I find tanking 5 mans stressful. I’d rather tank Prince or Lurker over Murmur or the last boss in Ramps (forget his name but his dragon alway burns down my healer). I don’t mind healing 5 mans though.
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admin Reply:
August 7th, 2008 at 8:59 pm
I love the added stress of 5-mans. Everything I have learned about tanking I know from 5-mans. I find that in 5-mans you have to be faster on your feet, ready to pick up targets that run loose, and there’s no one there to pick up your slack.
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Tankette Reply:
August 11th, 2008 at 10:23 pm
Your are confirming my thoughts, 5 mans are harder than raids. I’ve got boat loads of stress in real life so WoW stress isn’t what I am after, lol.
The only time i get really stressed in raids is Hydross. The transition from nature to frost is tricky. If I mis-time my SS its a raid wipe.
Back to 5 mans. I did Heroic Bot the other day and it went very well. If someone else leads the party, marks the mobs, knows the boss fights, etc. it really helps. I guess I make enough decisions at work that when it is play time on WoW I’d rather someone else tell me the kill order and what to tank.
Tankette’s last blog post..Raiding update, some successes
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On my first toon (my alliance mage), I did tons of instances at the right level… I remember being thrilled to get the Whitemane Chapeau and wearing that thing for ages. I also remember running Uldaman over and over and over again trying to finish my mage quest at the right level.
With every other toon, I haven’t really done instances at the right level, and I’m kinda sorry I didn’t. When LK comes out, I fully intend to try and do as many of them at the right level as I possibly can… both to get the most fun out of them, but also for rep grind purposes. I’m seriously thinking of respeccing Inaara to holy and instancing her way to 80.
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LOL! you are so… whats the word…. GERMAN!!!
Hehe, but I can relate, I did all the quests in order through all the zones, then finished them all up for epic flyer gold at 70. I spent a chunck of time in Silithus at lvl 60, so I wouldnt go to Outland too early. OOsh, that place just has too many BUGS!
Its a tanking mentality too I think, to be very organized.
But now I’ve joined a larger guild its paid off. Champion of the Naaru tick. Attunement chain for BT tick. Attunement chain for Hyjal tick. This is while t5/6 guildies are scrambling around looking for a tank for regular Arcatraz … (hehe play with a noob tank & dont ask me again)
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admin Reply:
August 7th, 2008 at 9:02 pm
Haha, I guess it is a bit German.
At least I can say there’s method to my madness.
If I ever moved on to 25-man content, I would do stuff in order too. But for now, I shall be happy with obtaining my Champion of the Naaru title hopefully soon. 
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Ah good luck with that I hope you get it soon. I love your blog, btw
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I must be getting over my burn out, the thought of instances doesn’t make me wince any more. Though Not Scarlet Monastery for a while. The man decided he wanted the scarlet mail set from there for a vanity set. Sick of the place. Hee.
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