Blizzard is bringing back the wayward Night Elf and the rest of the Burning Legion with World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade Classic. This is good news for many fans of classic World of Warcraft. After all, many consider this expansion as the best that World of Warcraft has ever had, with many going so far as to say that things have gone downhill ever since. With that said, one of the biggest reasons why this expansion was such a success was its raids. However, if you’re not a biased fan or someone who’s willing to take off their rose-tinted glasses, you’d know that not all the raids in The Burning Crusade weren’t as good as they make it out to be, which is why we’ve decided to rank every raid in the Burning Crusade Classic from the worst down to the very best.
The Battle for Mount Hyjal
Save for traveling back to a significant moment in time in the Warcraft mythos, The Battle for Mount Hyjal was largely forgettable, and but for Archimonde and the reveal of Mount Hyjal, no one really remembers this raid.
Gruul’s Lair
Another raid that really didn’t leave gamers with any significant memory, the only reason why Gruul’s Lair is ranked a bit higher on our list is that it introduced us to Gruul the Dragonkiller. This bad-ass of a Gronn was the overlord of all the Outland ogres and were essentially worshiped like a deity by those around him.
Serpentshrine Cavern
Had this ranking been based on when the Serpentshrine Cavern first launched, we probably would have ranked this raid all the way down to the bottom. However, subsequent updates have since fixed it, and we can expect the raid to play a lot better with the launch of the World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade Classic. With that said, the raid has an interesting significance in the game’s lore with visuals that are particularly noteworthy. Plus, most players would be lying didn’t leave a good impression on them.
Zul’Aman
Now, this is where the raids of The Burning Crusade started getting interesting. Even though the Zul’Aman raid explored a largely forgettable and easily missable part of the lore of Warcraft, as it took players through the destruction of the troll empires scattered all over Azeroth, it had a memorable set of bosses with the Amani War Bear, which, at the time, was considered the most desirable mount in the game.
Tempest Keep
Tempest Keep, otherwise known as The Eye, marked the first time players had a chance to take on Kael’thas Sunstrider. Unfortunately, this highly anticipated meeting didn’t turn out as well as many hoped. It showed players the downfall of one of Warcraft’s most popular figures, and saw him become a shadow of his former self, succumbing to his thirst for power. If it’s any consolation, Netherstorm treated players to some pretty amazing visuals.
Sunwell Plateau
Sunwell Plateau was the War of the Ancients of its time, with a descendant of the Highborn in Prince Kael’thas attempting to summon Kil’Jaedan through the Sunwell just as his ancestors did with Sargeras via the Well of Eternity. The Sunwell Plateau had it all: excellent music, gorgeous visuals, and high stakes. Unfortunately, while it had everything going for it, the other raids we ranked higher on our list just had more to offer.
Black Temple
The Black Temple raid was one of the first raids to really feel like you were part of a battle much bigger than just you and a couple of friends. You could clearly see on the battlefield the legions of soldiers who are fighting against each other as it took players storming through the gates with the raid’s story playing out in the instance to make it feel even more immersive.
Karazhan
For a while, Karazhan was considered the best raid to ever hit World of Warcraft, and for a good reason - it treated players to a massive quest that involved going through 7 separate floors and as many as 17 maps in total. It also didn’t hurt that it had the kind of music that helped set the mood with a Chess Event that saw players try and reenact the first war between King Llane of Stormwind and Warchief Blackhand of the Orcs. It even features Medivh, or at least a magical version of him, who isn’t above cheating to try and beat players. One of the biggest highlights though was the Opera Event, where players could find themselves facing off against three separate characters with a chance to skip through certain bosses. All in all, Karazhan felt less like a standard World of Warcraft raid and more like a quick Dungeon & Dragons game, all the while featuring characters that had a lot of significance in the lore and overarching story of Warcraft.
