WoW: WotLK - Welcome to Ulduar

Blizzard release infomation on their latest raid dungeon.

Ulduar clearly illustrates the new design challenges and innovations that come with the bigger scope of this expansion's raids. In order to make raid content more accessible, a raid has to offer a lot of variety, but it also needs to include a very granular means for players to adjust the raid's difficulty. This concept was first realized in The Burning Crusade with the introduction of Heroic mode, and Wrath of the Lich King is developing the idea even further with new Hard Modes.

Boss fights that have a Hard Mode are affected by certain variables that players can control and that change the encounter's difficulty. For example, spread throughout Ulduar's vehicle section are four Defense Towers you can destroy. The more Towers you leave intact, the harder the encounter with the Flame Leviathan will be, but the loot will also be better.

Ulduar isn't the first dungeon to include Hard Mode, but it certainly makes the most use of it. Out of 14 bosses, 11 will have a Hard Mode that offers additional challenges and rewards. Ulduar will appeal to a wide range of play styles, and the dungeon also has great longevity and high replay value.