But this article is about raid instances and going back all the way to Molten Core here is approximatly what is needed to get into them (errors are due to faulty memory).
- Molten Core (MC) - A 5 man instance.
- Onyxia's Lair (Ony) - A long quest chain with solo, 5 man and 10 man content (the 10 man being UBRS).
- Black Wing Lair (BWL) - A 10 man instance (UBRS again).
- Zul'Gurub (ZG) - None.
- Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj (AQ20) - None (unless you include the server wide war effort and quest line starting in BWL that was needed to open the gate for the server).
- Temple of Ahn'Qiraj (AQ40) - See AQ20.
- Naxxramus (Naxx) - You buy attunement based on Argent Dawn rep, free at exalted. This rep can be gained solo or 5 man.
- Karazan (Kara) - Long Quest chain including Solo and 5 man content.
- Gruul's Lair (GL) - None.
- Magtheridon's Lair (ML) - None.
- Serpent Shrine Cavern (SSC) - Used to be kill Gruul and Nightbane so 25 man & 10 man content. Requirement now removed.
- The Eye (TK) - Used to be 3 quests into 4 heroic level instances 5 man content. Requirement now removed.
- Mount Hyjal (MH) - Kill Vashj & Kael'thras the last bosses in SSC & TK. 25 man content.
- Black Temple (BT) - Complete quests in SSC & TK, then the first boss in MH. 25 man content.
Ok, pre TBC raid attunment was done via 5/10 man and solo content. Some like Onyxia was a long chain but there was nothing that could hurt or kill a raiding guild if members left. New raiders could get themselves attuned without a raiding guilds support and therefore made applying for and recruiting to those guilds easier.
Post TBC thigs began to change. Karazan the new 10 man instance is really equivalent to the old 20 mans (ZG & AQ20) requires 5 man and solo content to gain attunement this makes it no different from from the old raids. Gruul and Mag are both very short 25 man raids on a par to Onyxia's lair neither of these requires attunement to enter so irrelevent to this post :p
Then we come to SSC, before they removed the attunement if you had a guild membership upset you would be set back to Gruul. This is annoying but for a guild in SSC should be able to clear Gruul's in under an hour even carrying halve a raid who have not killed him before. And as long as you have people who know how to play there class you can get the nightbane kill done in Karazan simply enough as well.
TK, this was just 5 man content to get attunement so while you couldn't easily pug it, it was possible to run people through to get their quests done for attunement.
So far I have no real problem with the attunement needed. The TBC ones before the requirement was removed could be irritating if you suddenly have to recruit new members but that was all. This all changes though when we hit the current end game instances.
For MH you have to kill the last boss in SSC & TK. These fights are not easy they are two of the most complex to execute in the entire game. Every member of the raid needs to know their job and understand what is going on. You can't afford to carry anyone in these encounters. They take practice to get all the pieces to neatly slot into place.
On the one hand this is progression, but on the other hand if you on your way through MH & BT like we were, a major guild upset can dump you straight back into SSC & TK! Hell you could of cleared MH & BT and if you lose members you get dumped back into SSC & TK! which is why the guilds at the top only replace there members with those already attuned. These have too come from the guilds just starting this content. People moving to those guilds get a free ride (in my opinion) to epics and the guild they came from gets a bullet in the gut. Demoralising and painful.
I really beleive that in The Burning Crusade blizzard really FUCKED up the end game raid requirements.
Wisp
