While tier 14 was split up between three different raids, the second tier of the expansion returned things to the grand, sweeping, epic raids of yore, with the largest raid since Icecrown Citadel (or, technically, Ulduar, thanks to Ra-Den.) We had heard much about the Thunder King, so it stood to reason that we would eventually fight the guy (though that may have been a surprise for those who had not done the quests in Kun Lai where he was resurrected.)
Throne of Thunder was intentionally created to feel huge, and it is neatly divided into four sections (that correspond with the LFR wings) with quite different tones and motifs.
Last Stand of the Zandalari:
The Zandalari's sudden turn into villains was a bit of a shock in patch 4.1 (especially given that there were friendly Zandalari quest-givers as recent as 4.0 in Stranglethorn Vale) but it's been long enough that, yeah, I guess we can accept them as bad guys. The relationship between the Trolls and the Mogu made the Zandalari a major presence within the raid, and the first boss is in fact one of the old friendly NPCs from Yojamba Isle (it would seem that this expansion is all about having us fight former friends, especially in the next raid,) Jin'rokh the Breaker. Jin'rokh serves very well as a gatekeeper boss, with relatively simple mechanics but who also requires a certain minimum DPS to defeat. This is mostly a brute-force fight that functions as a decent gear-check.
Horridon, on the other hand, is a crazy execution fight that requires everyone to have their wits about them, dealing with tons of different kinds of adds with different abilities. This one was more of a raid-destroyer, and while at this point it's not too bad, this was the fight that made you dread going in there in the early days. As a second boss, perhaps it was a little over-tuned? However, one thing I kind of enjoy is the way that both Horridon and the third boss, the Council of Elders, play on the theme of the four major Troll tribes uniting together under the Zandalari. Not to mention the fact that on the Council fight, we're sort of having that rematch with Gara'jal that he promised after we killed him in Mogu'shan Vaults.
Forgotten Depths:
Ah, this is the section that I believe was designed to test your patience with LFR players. While the bosses themselves are not too hard (Megaera is probably the easiest in the raid,) the trash area leading to the second boss can be a real struggle, given how easy it is for people to accidentally (or trollingly) pull additional packs. Likewise, the trash before Ji-Kun makes it very easy to fight tons of enemies you didn't need to just because someone walked over something they shouldn't have.
But the bosses, you say? Mostly, I like them, though Tortos could be a little frustrating (after shockingly little trash,) mainly due to the huge number of adds and the fact that those Whirl Turtles are nearly impossible to avoid getting hit by. As a Paladin tank, I've never been allowed to tank the boss (which is funny, because Paladins are definitely not "the AoE tank" that they used to be - I'd give that honor to Monks or DKs,) which I think is the one role that's fairly simple in this one. Still, I appreciate the Mario Bros. reference of having us defeat turtles and kick their shells at our enemies.
Megaera is very simple, but Ji-Kun has some interesting mechanics. The only sad thing about said mechanics is that only a tiny portion of the raid gets to experience them. Fighting Ji-Kun herself is pretty standard boss stuff, but being able to fly between nests killing adds before they become a problem is quite a lot of fun, especially if you play a class that has good cleave abilities. I'm always a fan of funky fight mechanics, and flying around fighting giant birds is pretty unusual.
Halls of Flesh-Shaping:
Somehow, the Halls of Flesh-Shaping fell the most "dungeon-like" area we've been in a long time. That might be because Durumu the Forgotten is basically a Beholder from D&D. The trash in this wing is notably quick. The trash before Durumu is actually substantial, but doesn't feel too bad because it all happens in the same room as the boss. Meanwhile, Primordius' trash is a quick AoE gauntlet-zerg, and there are only two pulls before Dark Animus (though the enemies have a lot of health.)
These fights had some tricky mechanics. Durumu in particular could be frustrating because you could be doing really well for about half the fight, and then totally wipe out when he does his maze. And in some ways, this was really more Blizzard's fault than ours, because seeing your way through that maze was, and to an extent still is, pretty hard. Still, conceptually I love the fight, frustrating as it may be at times.
Primordius is fun, but the absurd number of adds and objects on the ground and just plain stuff going on can make it a lag-intensive one (actually, all three of these fights have their sources of lag.) This is one of those fights that lets you feel really awesome, especially if you get a lucky set of buffs (having an extra 50% crit is pretty cool.)
And then there's Dark Animus. I understand that this fight works entirely differently on Normal and Heroic, in that you have to game which golems you kill to make sure he doesn't hit 100 Anima. But on Raid Finder, where he's only got 80 to work with, it's a fight that actually settles down after a bit. Really, the only major danger of this fight is when the Large Anima Golems are out, but damn if it isn't a fun little bit of chaos. It's also kind of funny that the more golems you leave up, the quicker you can just get to working on the boss itself. Anyway, my main thing about Dark Animus is that it's one of the coolest looking bosses they've done.
Pinnacle of Storms:
The Pinnacle of Storms is quick and easy until you get to the final boss of the raid, and then it's insane. Really, I think we should mention Lei Shen here, because he's the most complicated fight I've yet seen in Mists (though I have not done the Garrosh fight, so get back to me.) Iron Qon, I felt, was somewhat underwhelming. The Twin Consorts, on the other hand, have the fun aspect where if you have super DPS (and I've only done this once,) you can turn a four-phase fight into a two-phase one. The Celestial mechanic here felt weirdly tacked-on, but it's still pretty cool (though I've never actually done the sigil-drawing myself.)
Really, the Pinnacle of Storms does feel like the home-stretch of the raid, but it doesn't have the distinctive character that the middle two wings have. It also strikes me as kind of funny that, other than the handful of guards before Dark Animus, this is the first wing where we actually fight any Mogu in "The Mogu Raid," (ok, to be fair, MSV was also "The Mogu Raid.")
A Return to the Epic Raid:
Throne of Thunder was the first raid to break double-digits since Icecrown Citadel. As a raid, I'm actually a big fan. There's a lot of cool stuff going on in it, along with interesting new models and fight mechanics. I guess my only real critique of the place is that it's rigidly linear. Now granted, this is true of all Mists raids. Still, the place does just feel enormous. Simply trying to imagine how far you have to walk from the beginning of it to Lei Shen's sanctuary: it must be miles and miles (though are we meant to understand that the entire Forgotten Depths and Halls of Flesh-shaping are a detour? Having only run it on LFR, I don't know if there's like a scene after Council of Elders that shows why we've jumped down into a deep dark pit.
It'll be a little while before I get the post-mortem for SoO up, given that I have yet to see the whole place, but you can expect it not long after the Tuesday after next.
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