Though WoW is one of my favourite games, I'm not subscribing anymore - I'm taking a break and that will probably last till next expansion.
By the time my 3rd toon reached 80, I was almost through with the rep grinding with my main. That is, the factions I wanted to max out. I'm not into raids, so that constant farming for gear, that's not my kind of fun. I find more pleasure in lvling multiple professions, but this became a problem in WotLK. While TBC had lots of good reasons to max out crafting, there's hardly any reasons at all to do that in WotLK. Crafting is now, unless something changed very recently, a pointless grind - nothing else. The increased stats at 450 does not make it worth bothering with, imo.
Since I'm not a raider, the next major patches won't hold enough content for me to subscribe. We all know it, all the major patches focus on a new instance, the rest is just minor stuff.
Achievements was the worst they added. Come on, where the hell is the fun in fishing up to around 5000 times on multiple locations, to add 10 point to a e-peen score?? Not to mention, grind MC 100 times to max out rep, unless you raided it pre-TBC?
No, WoW is still a great game, imo, but endgame contents (besides raids, at least) is extremely lacking, among the worst it's ever been. Again: imo.
OP, to sum it up. If you feel like I do, then just cancel your subscribtion and return when they add something that suits your tastes.
Originally posted by mbd1968 Originally posted by Nicolicious This is the reason why ppl leave, they think the game is over at 80.But it starts there, get a guild. They will gear you up. Start pvping with a partner and get some pvp gear if that is what you wish and so on. Farm stuff for gear through proffesions is always a good way to gear up as well.
This is a fundamental problem with WoW, it's all about gear... not the enjoyment of playing, just a constant gear grind.
Only if you let it become that...
----------------------- Past MMOs- Planetside, WoW. Current MMO: Current Games: L4D, Skyrim Tried- ATITD, EQ2, SoR, Vanguard,SL,LOTRO,SotNW,SWTOR. Anticipating- GW2, Planetside2
This is the reason why ppl leave, they think the game is over at 80. But it starts there, get a guild. They will gear you up.
Start pvping with a partner and get some pvp gear if that is what you wish and so on.
Farm stuff for gear through proffesions is always a good way to gear up as well.
This is a fundamental problem with WoW, it's all about gear... not the enjoyment of playing, just a constant gear grind.
Only if you let it become that...
Really? Yeah I guess you could do some PvP but damn no resilience! Have to start that gear grind. I guess this applies for arena as well. Maybe I'll raid Naxx, damn I'm only pulling 1500 dps, guess I'll do some heroics for gear. What can I do without gear you ask? Sign in and jump up and down for a whole hour before logging out.
This is the reason why ppl leave, they think the game is over at 80. But it starts there, get a guild. They will gear you up.
Start pvping with a partner and get some pvp gear if that is what you wish and so on.
Farm stuff for gear through proffesions is always a good way to gear up as well.
This is a fundamental problem with WoW, it's all about gear... not the enjoyment of playing, just a constant gear grind.
Only if you let it become that...
Totally agree. You can reduce any game to one simplistic task if you want too and try too.
I see no gear grind....but wait, how is it a grind? According to the trolls here, gear is too easy now, the game is too easy now and takes no skill so how is that a grind? I mean grind, to me, implies time consuming and boredom...but if gear is SOOO easy to come by, why call it a grind anyway?
Hope you detect the sarcasm because the too easy argument/grind for gear arguments are very contradictory of each other.
People are so obsessed with gear that they forget to have fun and enjoy the game. I don't care how many times we have kil;led this boss or that boss, I still enjoy the victory and seeing 10 or 25 people work together.
I am not sitting in all 25 man heroic gear and I have not grinded for gear once. However, if you feel that is all WOW offers, I do highly recommend finding a new game (just as I would if it were any other game). WOW isn't for anyone, but to try and reduce it to only a "gear grind" really shows that it isn't the game for you.
Grind "Grinding is a term used in computer gaming to describe the process of engaging in repetitive and/or non-entertaining gameplay". Sounds like grinding to me. And it is a gear grind. Once you hit 80 what else are you going to do? WoW is nothing more then a interactive chat room without the gear. I know a guy that says its more then a grind. He runs a guild but it's one of those guilds full of idiots and people who will never see end game. They all have your same logic. The game has held me to it since open beta up until last month. It is a great game, but to say it is not a gear grind is complety insane.
This is the reason why ppl leave, they think the game is over at 80. But it starts there, get a guild. They will gear you up.
Start pvping with a partner and get some pvp gear if that is what you wish and so on.
Farm stuff for gear through proffesions is always a good way to gear up as well.
This is a fundamental problem with WoW, it's all about gear... not the enjoyment of playing, just a constant gear grind.
Only if you let it become that...
Totally agree. You can reduce any game to one simplistic task if you want too and try too.
I see no gear grind....but wait, how is it a grind? According to the trolls here, gear is too easy now, the game is too easy now and takes no skill so how is that a grind? I mean grind, to me, implies time consuming and boredom...but if gear is SOOO easy to come by, why call it a grind anyway?
Hope you detect the sarcasm because the too easy argument/grind for gear arguments are very contradictory of each other.
People are so obsessed with gear that they forget to have fun and enjoy the game. I don't care how many times we have kil;led this boss or that boss, I still enjoy the victory and seeing 10 or 25 people work together.
I am not sitting in all 25 man heroic gear and I have not grinded for gear once. However, if you feel that is all WOW offers, I do highly recommend finding a new game (just as I would if it were any other game). WOW isn't for anyone, but to try and reduce it to only a "gear grind" really shows that it isn't the game for you.
Grind "Grinding is a term used in computer gaming to describe the process of engaging in repetitive and/or non-entertaining gameplay". Sounds like grinding to me. And it is a gear grind. Once you hit 80 what else are you going to do? WoW is nothing more then a interactive chat room without the gear. I know a guy that says its more then a grind. He runs a guild but it's one of those guilds full of idiots and people who will never see end game. They all have your same logic. The game has held me to it since open beta up until last month. It is a great game, but to say it is not a gear grind is complety insane.
No it is insane to say it is because you are obviously so obsessed with gear that it is ALL you see. Let's see what to do at 80:
1. Work on professions. I got engineering to 80 and enjoyed the mining part of it. I saw a lot of sights I missed while leveling.
I use to play SWG (pre-nge) and crafting was amazing. WoWs crafting has no depth. But true this is one thing other then a grind.
2. Run dungeons with friends because some are very enjoyable. Likewise, help friends level if needed.
SFK still being my favorite. Running instances, gets repetitive again see "grind". Although your not helping your self your still helping others in the great gear grind.
3. Explore. As I mentioned before, there is a lot to see that people miss.
Exploring in this game would be far more fun if you was not always guided by a arrow saying "GO THIS WAY FOR BEAR FOOT"
4. Level another character or two. Level one of each faction.
Level another character to 80 so I can start gear grinding with him. I played both factions. All the same.
5. Do all quests just for fun. Some have incredible storylines.
6. Raid and not just for gear.
Oh for sure, raiding is fun. The first time.
7. Work on the many achievements. And apparently people enjoy it because 3 large, major MMO's (that I know of) now have something of the sort.
Achievements was a horrible idea (for wow). Im not sure about your server, but this system is used to enhance your epeen on the forums, IE "Noob you dont have naxx completed your suck". I seen this type of shit on the forums every day. And this hardly adds to the fun factor.
And just for the sake of argument, any game has this. You cannot reduce LOTRO or WAR or AOC to just a few words to describe what you do at max level simply because NO game can be summarized like that. All games offer options at max level, even WOW.
SWG, I remember running around with doc buffs and normal clothing and being able to drop flagged rebels without a problem. Gear = skill in WoW. The games you listed are pretty much the same game with diffrent appearances.
Once you get to 80? You ask yourself why you played that long, and then quit when you realize there's nothing to do but taking a second job by raiding.
Once you get to 80? You ask yourself why you played that long, and then quit when you realize there's nothing to do but taking a second job by raiding.
Once you get to 80? You ask yourself why you played that long, and then quit when you realize there's nothing to do but taking a second job by raiding.
this coming from a darkfall IRC mod.....
I'm not allowed to have played other games? Flawless logic as always trolls.
Once you get to 80? You ask yourself why you played that long, and then quit when you realize there's nothing to do but taking a second job by raiding.
this coming from a darkfall IRC mod.....
I'm not allowed to have played other games? Flawless logic as always trolls.
you were the one trolling. I havent played WoW in 2 years, but i can think about 3 other things to do off the top of my head then just raiding
Basically clicking away text windows ruins every MMO, try to have fun instead of rushing things. Without story and lore all there is left is a bunch of mechanics. Reply Add Multi-Quote
the reason im saying "good guild" i dont mean a guild who has nothing but fully naxx gear'd 80's, i mean one that has ATLEST 4 other level 80's, who can do instances with me. but just about EVERY! guild is one of two things..brand fucking new with nothing but low levels. or already high up. its impossible to find a guild, around where i am
i do enjoy questing, but..not enough to go through each and every quest. i only do that for rep and achivements.
teh reason im even posting this, is for two reasons..im really wondering what i should do now, my sub ends on 4/20..i know..i know..ha ha, 4/20, we get it. and i dont want to waste the time someone else paid for..i got it as a gift from a friend two months ago. and dont want to waste time someone else paid for, im sorry but im not a dick like that.
breaking news, a brawl broke out between the hogger and arthas the lich king downtown gadgetzan. there where no survivers
i finally hit level 80 on my DK..and im finding myself rather bored. i cant find any groups for reg instances, and because of that i cant get geared for heroics, or raids. im not big on PVP honestly...so, now what?
OP, with your limited time left you may find some fun working through the Exploration Acheivements. I found it quite nice revisiting areas where I missed a few points-of-interests and hunting down the rare beasties in Northrend.
OP, with your limited time left you may find some fun working through the Exploration Acheivements. I found it quite nice revisiting areas where I missed a few points-of-interests and hunting down the rare beasties in Northrend.
lol well..i got the tabard and title the day i hit 77. as for the rare mobs, thats really not my think. only rare mob i would -ever- hunt for, is the time lost proto drake.
breaking news, a brawl broke out between the hogger and arthas the lich king downtown gadgetzan. there where no survivers
ok, answering a few questions here. the reason im saying "good guild" i dont mean a guild who has nothing but fully naxx gear'd 80's, i mean one that has ATLEST 4 other level 80's, who can do instances with me. but just about EVERY! guild is one of two things..brand fucking new with nothing but low levels. or already high up. its impossible to find a guild, around where i am i do enjoy questing, but..not enough to go through each and every quest. i only do that for rep and achivements. teh reason im even posting this, is for two reasons..im really wondering what i should do now, my sub ends on 4/20..i know..i know..ha ha, 4/20, we get it. and i dont want to waste the time someone else paid for..i got it as a gift from a friend two months ago. and dont want to waste time someone else paid for, im sorry but im not a dick like that.
So why aren't you playing with your friend? Seriously....you're here asking a bunch of strangers to find out how you tick and expect what? A correct answer to how to solve your problem? Come on...go to Wowwiki and look achievements. And that sir is my final answer.
"Small minds talk about people, average minds talk about events, great minds talk about ideas."
lol well..i got the tabard and title the day i hit 77. as for the rare mobs, thats really not my think. only rare mob i would -ever- hunt for, is the time lost proto drake.
OK guys stop it.
The guy is a pure troll not even playing WotLK. Title? Which title? There are about 200 possible titles and 750 achievements to go after in WotLK.
And btw... not one out of the 5 million western subs has all these achievements or titles.
Not a single one comes even close (and I am not even talking about the world events).
If you say you are NOT interested in ANY of 750 possible ways or end game options, well you are not going to find any other game either.
He probably ment the exploration title/achievement as that was what was mentioned. Really Zorndorf, you're way to quick to jump down anyones throat nowadays.
Anyway, there are a few options at endgame as they call it. You can work on the tradeskills. A few of them, achievements as mentioned earlier, pvp(you say you don't like it but you might be surprised if you give it a serious chance), revisiting the old dungeons boosting random nooblets through em(was my favourite for a while), reroll another toon(dps play quite different from a healer i.e) or raid. Some questlines have some good stories aswell. Do the old questlines for the attunements no longer needed. Some are quite fun. Gather people for the old outside raids. They used to be insanely hard but was easy tbc, should be even more easy now. Lots of people haven't seen them I suspect. Find a good guild to help you get equipment doing heroics with them. Ehm..what more? Try to get all the mounts ingame. There was this crazy gnome a few years back who actually did it. Funny to see a gnome on a kodo. Eh well, this should get you rolling for quite a while. If not, well..quit the game my only suggestion then.
Just to be fair Blizzard has messed up the content release schedule since the release of Sunwell. If you spend alot of time online and like raiding this year has actually been the worst in WoW history. For some reason Blizzard seems to be unable to find the balance between content amount and challenge. Setting graphics and lore aside AQ20/AQ40 was the perfect release. Smaller raid and a large raid at the same time. In addition the larger raid had a few bosses early on that were very accessible for the more casual raider until the challenge increased dramatically.
In TBC the entry level raid was splendid (Kara - that in my opinion represents the best group content Blizzard has released together with Naxxramas in vanilla WoW) but the larger raid content was plain bad (badly tuned and limited development resources - 'Hey lets create Molten Core again but base it on water instead of fire' - that is SSC in a nutshell).
In WotLK the entry level raid is ok - not more than that because it is too easy in my opinion (and so says my casual gaming friends as well). Heroics are easy as well (much easier than in TBC). So for the more determined players there is no real challenge and hence I understand the question what to do at level 80.
For any other game this might have been ok - what annoys me is that Blizzard is making so much money so how hard can it be to have a) leveling content, b) 5-man content (with heroic versions), a new arena season and an entry level raid dungeon at expansion release. And then a really challenging raid dungeon 2 months afterwards (adding content over time is much better such as in vanilla WoW rather than front-load with synthetic road blocks). Now we get Ulduar almost half a year after WotLK release (it seems).
Comments
This is a fundamental problem with WoW, it's all about gear... not the enjoyment of playing, just a constant gear grind.
Though WoW is one of my favourite games, I'm not subscribing anymore - I'm taking a break and that will probably last till next expansion.
By the time my 3rd toon reached 80, I was almost through with the rep grinding with my main. That is, the factions I wanted to max out. I'm not into raids, so that constant farming for gear, that's not my kind of fun. I find more pleasure in lvling multiple professions, but this became a problem in WotLK. While TBC had lots of good reasons to max out crafting, there's hardly any reasons at all to do that in WotLK. Crafting is now, unless something changed very recently, a pointless grind - nothing else. The increased stats at 450 does not make it worth bothering with, imo.
Since I'm not a raider, the next major patches won't hold enough content for me to subscribe. We all know it, all the major patches focus on a new instance, the rest is just minor stuff.
Achievements was the worst they added. Come on, where the hell is the fun in fishing up to around 5000 times on multiple locations, to add 10 point to a e-peen score?? Not to mention, grind MC 100 times to max out rep, unless you raided it pre-TBC?
No, WoW is still a great game, imo, but endgame contents (besides raids, at least) is extremely lacking, among the worst it's ever been. Again: imo.
OP, to sum it up. If you feel like I do, then just cancel your subscribtion and return when they add something that suits your tastes.
Only if you let it become that...
-----------------------
Past MMOs- Planetside, WoW.
Current MMO:
Current Games: L4D, Skyrim
Tried- ATITD, EQ2, SoR, Vanguard,SL,LOTRO,SotNW,SWTOR.
Anticipating- GW2, Planetside2
This is a fundamental problem with WoW, it's all about gear... not the enjoyment of playing, just a constant gear grind.
Only if you let it become that...
Really? Yeah I guess you could do some PvP but damn no resilience! Have to start that gear grind. I guess this applies for arena as well. Maybe I'll raid Naxx, damn I'm only pulling 1500 dps, guess I'll do some heroics for gear. What can I do without gear you ask? Sign in and jump up and down for a whole hour before logging out.
This is a fundamental problem with WoW, it's all about gear... not the enjoyment of playing, just a constant gear grind.
Only if you let it become that...
Totally agree. You can reduce any game to one simplistic task if you want too and try too.
I see no gear grind....but wait, how is it a grind? According to the trolls here, gear is too easy now, the game is too easy now and takes no skill so how is that a grind? I mean grind, to me, implies time consuming and boredom...but if gear is SOOO easy to come by, why call it a grind anyway?
Hope you detect the sarcasm because the too easy argument/grind for gear arguments are very contradictory of each other.
People are so obsessed with gear that they forget to have fun and enjoy the game. I don't care how many times we have kil;led this boss or that boss, I still enjoy the victory and seeing 10 or 25 people work together.
I am not sitting in all 25 man heroic gear and I have not grinded for gear once. However, if you feel that is all WOW offers, I do highly recommend finding a new game (just as I would if it were any other game). WOW isn't for anyone, but to try and reduce it to only a "gear grind" really shows that it isn't the game for you.
Grind "Grinding is a term used in computer gaming to describe the process of engaging in repetitive and/or non-entertaining gameplay". Sounds like grinding to me. And it is a gear grind. Once you hit 80 what else are you going to do? WoW is nothing more then a interactive chat room without the gear. I know a guy that says its more then a grind. He runs a guild but it's one of those guilds full of idiots and people who will never see end game. They all have your same logic. The game has held me to it since open beta up until last month. It is a great game, but to say it is not a gear grind is complety insane.
This is a fundamental problem with WoW, it's all about gear... not the enjoyment of playing, just a constant gear grind.
Only if you let it become that...
Totally agree. You can reduce any game to one simplistic task if you want too and try too.
I see no gear grind....but wait, how is it a grind? According to the trolls here, gear is too easy now, the game is too easy now and takes no skill so how is that a grind? I mean grind, to me, implies time consuming and boredom...but if gear is SOOO easy to come by, why call it a grind anyway?
Hope you detect the sarcasm because the too easy argument/grind for gear arguments are very contradictory of each other.
People are so obsessed with gear that they forget to have fun and enjoy the game. I don't care how many times we have kil;led this boss or that boss, I still enjoy the victory and seeing 10 or 25 people work together.
I am not sitting in all 25 man heroic gear and I have not grinded for gear once. However, if you feel that is all WOW offers, I do highly recommend finding a new game (just as I would if it were any other game). WOW isn't for anyone, but to try and reduce it to only a "gear grind" really shows that it isn't the game for you.
Grind "Grinding is a term used in computer gaming to describe the process of engaging in repetitive and/or non-entertaining gameplay". Sounds like grinding to me. And it is a gear grind. Once you hit 80 what else are you going to do? WoW is nothing more then a interactive chat room without the gear. I know a guy that says its more then a grind. He runs a guild but it's one of those guilds full of idiots and people who will never see end game. They all have your same logic. The game has held me to it since open beta up until last month. It is a great game, but to say it is not a gear grind is complety insane.
No it is insane to say it is because you are obviously so obsessed with gear that it is ALL you see. Let's see what to do at 80:
1. Work on professions. I got engineering to 80 and enjoyed the mining part of it. I saw a lot of sights I missed while leveling.
I use to play SWG (pre-nge) and crafting was amazing. WoWs crafting has no depth. But true this is one thing other then a grind.
2. Run dungeons with friends because some are very enjoyable. Likewise, help friends level if needed.
SFK still being my favorite. Running instances, gets repetitive again see "grind". Although your not helping your self your still helping others in the great gear grind.
3. Explore. As I mentioned before, there is a lot to see that people miss.
Exploring in this game would be far more fun if you was not always guided by a arrow saying "GO THIS WAY FOR BEAR FOOT"
4. Level another character or two. Level one of each faction.
Level another character to 80 so I can start gear grinding with him. I played both factions. All the same.
5. Do all quests just for fun. Some have incredible storylines.
6. Raid and not just for gear.
Oh for sure, raiding is fun. The first time.
7. Work on the many achievements. And apparently people enjoy it because 3 large, major MMO's (that I know of) now have something of the sort.
Achievements was a horrible idea (for wow). Im not sure about your server, but this system is used to enhance your epeen on the forums, IE "Noob you dont have naxx completed your suck". I seen this type of shit on the forums every day. And this hardly adds to the fun factor.
And just for the sake of argument, any game has this. You cannot reduce LOTRO or WAR or AOC to just a few words to describe what you do at max level simply because NO game can be summarized like that. All games offer options at max level, even WOW.
SWG, I remember running around with doc buffs and normal clothing and being able to drop flagged rebels without a problem. Gear = skill in WoW. The games you listed are pretty much the same game with diffrent appearances.
Once you get to 80? You ask yourself why you played that long, and then quit when you realize there's nothing to do but taking a second job by raiding.
Darkfall Travelogues!
this coming from a darkfall IRC mod.....
this coming from a darkfall IRC mod.....
I'm not allowed to have played other games? Flawless logic as always trolls.
Darkfall Travelogues!
this coming from a darkfall IRC mod.....
I'm not allowed to have played other games? Flawless logic as always trolls.
you were the one trolling. I havent played WoW in 2 years, but i can think about 3 other things to do off the top of my head then just raiding
go play maple story or somthin...
Basically clicking away text windows ruins every MMO, try to have fun instead of rushing things. Without story and lore all there is left is a bunch of mechanics.
Reply
Add Multi-Quote
its again funny to read peoples post here, if you say your own opinion wich is like i dont like raiding
then you are a troller imidietly ! seriously people , little maturnity here please.
m0lly says own opinion about the original topic " im 80 now, so what then? "
nothng, since m0lly dont like raiding community or just be forced to play with 10 or 25 people to get gear im not doing it just
because its " have to " and like i said somewhere before im not goan go buy milk in shop with 25 friend either.
so i suggest to look forward to new games wich gives you something else to do end game than just run instances over and
over to get gear and then what again? im sure some company will do somethign different soon.
if not then like m0lly you need to stop playing these games
ok, answering a few questions here.
the reason im saying "good guild" i dont mean a guild who has nothing but fully naxx gear'd 80's, i mean one that has ATLEST 4 other level 80's, who can do instances with me. but just about EVERY! guild is one of two things..brand fucking new with nothing but low levels. or already high up. its impossible to find a guild, around where i am
i do enjoy questing, but..not enough to go through each and every quest. i only do that for rep and achivements.
teh reason im even posting this, is for two reasons..im really wondering what i should do now, my sub ends on 4/20..i know..i know..ha ha, 4/20, we get it. and i dont want to waste the time someone else paid for..i got it as a gift from a friend two months ago. and dont want to waste time someone else paid for, im sorry but im not a dick like that.
breaking news, a brawl broke out between the hogger and arthas the lich king downtown gadgetzan. there where no survivers
now you can play the game.
OP, with your limited time left you may find some fun working through the Exploration Acheivements. I found it quite nice revisiting areas where I missed a few points-of-interests and hunting down the rare beasties in Northrend.
lol well..i got the tabard and title the day i hit 77. as for the rare mobs, thats really not my think. only rare mob i would -ever- hunt for, is the time lost proto drake.
breaking news, a brawl broke out between the hogger and arthas the lich king downtown gadgetzan. there where no survivers
So why aren't you playing with your friend? Seriously....you're here asking a bunch of strangers to find out how you tick and expect what? A correct answer to how to solve your problem? Come on...go to Wowwiki and look achievements. And that sir is my final answer.
"Small minds talk about people, average minds talk about events, great minds talk about ideas."
OK guys stop it.
The guy is a pure troll not even playing WotLK. Title? Which title? There are about 200 possible titles and 750 achievements to go after in WotLK.
And btw... not one out of the 5 million western subs has all these achievements or titles.
Not a single one comes even close (and I am not even talking about the world events).
If you say you are NOT interested in ANY of 750 possible ways or end game options, well you are not going to find any other game either.
He probably ment the exploration title/achievement as that was what was mentioned. Really Zorndorf, you're way to quick to jump down anyones throat nowadays.
Anyway, there are a few options at endgame as they call it. You can work on the tradeskills. A few of them, achievements as mentioned earlier, pvp(you say you don't like it but you might be surprised if you give it a serious chance), revisiting the old dungeons boosting random nooblets through em(was my favourite for a while), reroll another toon(dps play quite different from a healer i.e) or raid. Some questlines have some good stories aswell. Do the old questlines for the attunements no longer needed. Some are quite fun. Gather people for the old outside raids. They used to be insanely hard but was easy tbc, should be even more easy now. Lots of people haven't seen them I suspect. Find a good guild to help you get equipment doing heroics with them. Ehm..what more? Try to get all the mounts ingame. There was this crazy gnome a few years back who actually did it. Funny to see a gnome on a kodo. Eh well, this should get you rolling for quite a while. If not, well..quit the game my only suggestion then.
---
Grammar nazi's. This one is for you.
Just to be fair Blizzard has messed up the content release schedule since the release of Sunwell. If you spend alot of time online and like raiding this year has actually been the worst in WoW history. For some reason Blizzard seems to be unable to find the balance between content amount and challenge. Setting graphics and lore aside AQ20/AQ40 was the perfect release. Smaller raid and a large raid at the same time. In addition the larger raid had a few bosses early on that were very accessible for the more casual raider until the challenge increased dramatically.
In TBC the entry level raid was splendid (Kara - that in my opinion represents the best group content Blizzard has released together with Naxxramas in vanilla WoW) but the larger raid content was plain bad (badly tuned and limited development resources - 'Hey lets create Molten Core again but base it on water instead of fire' - that is SSC in a nutshell).
In WotLK the entry level raid is ok - not more than that because it is too easy in my opinion (and so says my casual gaming friends as well). Heroics are easy as well (much easier than in TBC). So for the more determined players there is no real challenge and hence I understand the question what to do at level 80.
For any other game this might have been ok - what annoys me is that Blizzard is making so much money so how hard can it be to have a) leveling content, b) 5-man content (with heroic versions), a new arena season and an entry level raid dungeon at expansion release. And then a really challenging raid dungeon 2 months afterwards (adding content over time is much better such as in vanilla WoW rather than front-load with synthetic road blocks). Now we get Ulduar almost half a year after WotLK release (it seems).