Project Lore

With Wrath of the Lich King's first content patch looming on the horizon, I thought it would be a good idea to take a stroll down memory lane.  Molten Core was the only 40-man raid instance when World of Warcraft launched in 2004.  The lengthy instance was considered unbeatable for quite some time, with most servers leaving Ragnaros untouched until well after Onyxia - who was added later on via a patch - was killed.  The depths of Blackrock Spire held 9 bosses, tons of trash mobs, quick respawn times, diverse encounters and eons for early guilds to get to know each other.  All these attributes lead to intense battles, failure, drama, success, full Tier 1 sets, Tier 2 pants and additional drama.  I'll never forget it. When my guild began running Molten Core, I was in my last stretch of leveling.  Thanks to a hefty load of work from my pre-Junior year at Drexel, I had already missed the server first Onyxia kill and vowed not to miss any other.  I failed at participating, but managed to view the deaths of Lucifron and Magmadar from my roommate's screen.  The following day I was invited for the guilds second round of attempts at Gehennes.  After four years, I can't recall how long it took us to down the Flamewalker and his guards, but it was the first time I had been a part of a raid kill in an MMORPG. I poured hours upon hours into the instance, for the guild and for my Tier 2 pants.  Through all of the memories - the lava swimming druids, Aqual Quintessence smashing, Core Hound looting, suicide bombing, giant stomping, lava leaps of faith - nothing stands out in my mind as much as my first glance at the firelord himself, Ragnaros.  Not only was his model incredibly awesome and original, but he was freaking GINORMOUS.  "Surely, he must be nerfed by Lucifron before the fight," I thought to myself.  No, not at all.  The shock I experienced at his first site has never left me, and as of yet, has never been topped in a virtual world. It took All That Remains (long defunct) weeks to down Ragnaros, mainly due to many members not having the required Fire Resistance gear/Stamina (thank god those fights are gone).  It became so bad that Officers decided to only accept the members with the highest FR sets to the raid.  The new rule forced many of us to spend stupids amounts of time and gold one that one extra point of FR.  The price for rings with FR stats went through the roof, and we even began heading to UBRS to steal the FR buffs.  This was at a time when 1000 gold was Bill Gates rich.  The guild's commodore, dedication and expertise was never at a higher point than the end of Molten Core, and we needed all of it. When Ragnaros finally sank into his relatively small hitbox for the last time, everyone tossed up virtual high fives via Ventrilo, and sang Kumbaya as his hammer fell to the ground. Weeks, possibly months passed before SolidSamm finally got his T2 pants, and with Blackwing Lair launching shortly after, it was perfect timing.  My Tyr's Hand days were an ends to a means, my days spent in Molten Core and the jaw-dropping sight of Ragnaros were simply an experience.  One that I will never forget, but hopefully a memory that is eventually one-upped.  Hell, I still don my MC items including my Perdition's Blade from time to time. I have always wondered one thing.  For those of you that were big PvEers in earlier MMORPGs, did Ragnaros still manage to floor you?  Or was it more old hat because you have been downing gigantic dragons for so long?  If you are new to World of Warcraft, then I suggest you try to run a Molten Core on the weekend, if not for the two achievements, then just so you can experience his impact.  It can be done quickly and easily at level 80 with only a handful of players. Hey, look what I found!

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