World of Warcraft: Molten Core
Lore:
Deep inside Blackrock Mountain, fire elementals and Dark Iron Dwarves prepare for the summoning and return of the Elemental Lord of the Fire Plane, Ragnaros. If it works, the Dark Irons introduce the realm of fire onto Azeroth and probably take over. Too soon, however, and Ragnaros gets his ass kicked.
So, gather up thirty nine of your best friends and prepare for eight hours of slogging through a bunch of lava and then fight the big man himself. Your mission is to go in there and stop them from summoning the Lord, and if you can’t then to beat him back to the Plane of Fire.
Degree of Difficulty: Hard
The trash (especially the core hounds, which can resurect eachother) is difficult, but not impossible. But the density of it, along with all their gimmicks and fire damage will be cause for a lot of headaches, even for level 80s. Like I said, however, if you’re determined enough, you’ll slog through, even as that core hound re-ignites for the seventh time.
The bosses, on the other hand, are on the whole the most difficult of the vanilla raid cycle. Players with solid solo specs or a lot of time on their hands will be able to shove through it, but I’d usually advise two or three level 80s to make the slog through bosses worthwhile. Especially Ragnaros himself, because that knockback will put most players out of range, and he will likely DoT you pretty hard by the time you get back to melee range.
Special Features:
Partial mats for Sulfuras and Thunderaan drop only off bosses in Molten Core. This might not seem like a big deal, because they are level 60 crafted weapons, but they are Legendaries, which still hold a lot of status in World of Warcraft, and only truly dedicated players attempt to get anymore (except for the current Legendary du jour, which at this time is Shadowmourne). This makes them hardcore solo targets for acchievement whores who want the Feat of Strength for getting legendary weapons.
Players have to run through Blackrock Depths at least once to become attuned to the instance, after which an NPC outside BRD’s entrance will teleport you there.
Recommended for Levels: 60-63
It’s still tuned for players in level 60 tier gear, and it’s starting to show its age a bit. Upper level players who go in expecting to wipe the floor with the instance will find themselves in a great deal of trouble, but any halfway decent group of three will have no sweat finishing off every boss and getting their shot at the bindings for the legendaries.
I’d still say it’s worth it for 80s to check out, however. Molten Core was the be-all end-all raid of Vanilla content and you’re cheating yourself if you don’t at least explore it for posterity’s sake. Additionally, it’s a nice little bit of backstory (along with the other Blackrock Instances) for what you’ll be seeing in Cataclysm, since Ragnaros’ return has a huge impact on the storyline for Mount Hyjal.