I loved Scholo. Ran it countless times with my fury warrior friend - Belusterk. It was just a well put together environment and I dug it.
BRD, Strat, WC. I probably did those 3 more than any (except maybe SM Armory) and I still enjoy them.
Gnomer is hella long/grindy but I have some fantastic memories from there.
Deadlines and Scarlet Monastery. So many memories of runs there.
Deadmies because it's usually people's first dungeon. Everyone is in the same boat at that point; turning up in white gear with the odd green, slowly making your way through. If people start getting lucky with green drops you can actually feel the run get easier as people pick up gear with stats on them. If you have a good group it isn't too hard despite the gear. It's even better if someone brings a level 20 tank friend.
Then the relief as you escape out the back door to the hills South of Westfall, thankful to see the sunshine again. By that time you've usually a picked up a few greens, or a blue if you're lucky, and you already feel more powerful than when you went in. Then the excitement of turning the quest in for a guaranteed blue. Then running it again and again. I just love it.
Same with SM. I'd argue that finding a solid group to tackle Library, Armoury and Cath in one night is one of the most satisfying nights of gaming anyone can have. I ran that place so many times on different characters. The excitement of getting the sword rewards from the quests there on my rogue, or of getting some of Herods sweet loot as a lvl 40
Enhancement shaman. I tore through cloth mobs once I got Ravager, the helm and the shoulder. Like Deadmines, you can leave SM ready to go back to questing knowing that you're a lot more powerful than you were a few hours ago.
I'll also never forget the first time I did Cath. "Let's skip these mobs" we said as we got ready to fight Mograine, having never done it before.
"I wouldn't do that" said one of our guild's experienced rogues.
"Nah we'll be careful."
"Okay. Don't say I didn't warn you" she said as she hung back at the end of the room in stealth. The ensuing wipe was glorious, as was her "I told you so"
Just so many great memories of those early dungeons, and I can't wait to go back.
Deadmies because it's usually people's first dungeon. Everyone is in the same boat at that point; turning up in white gear with the odd green, slowly making your way through. If people start getting lucky with green drops you can actually feel the run get easier as people pick up gear with stats on them. If you have a good group it isn't too hard despite the gear. It's even better if someone brings a level 20 tank friend.
Then the relief as you escape out the back door to the hills South of Westfall, thankful to see the sunshine again. By that time you've usually a picked up a few greens, or a blue if you're lucky, and you already feel more powerful than when you went in. Then the excitement of turning the quest in for a guaranteed blue. Then running it again and again. I just love it.
Best summary of Deadmines I’ve seen yet.
Also, Blackrock Spire/Mountain. The whole place. The mystery, the excitement, the different areas, the quests, the interwoven dungeons and raids...Whether you start in BRD at 52 or raid its depths at 60, It's just a really well designed end-game zone.
This is a very early concept of the map for SM:
Fun fact, that map is still in the game files. Map 44 <unused>Monastery. Pretty cool place.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sj3rzrmft-w
Starts around 1:30. RIP Hayven. :sad:
Old school deadmines. Mr.smite is a personal favorite of mine!
BRD! It's not a dungeon; it's a city!
I loved SFK for its atmosphere and length - not too long, not too short. There was also that slight thrill of trespassing Horde territory. At level 60 I loved UBRS and Scholo, Strat was amazing as well. I have probably ran UBRS over 20 times to get Magister's Regalia.. ;)
It's gotta be Scarlet Monastery for me. I think I practically lived in that cathedral one summer during my quest from 30-40 as a Paladin. It seemed like it took the entire summer to finally make it to 40 for my mount, and each level up got me just one step closer and closer... But also because I was apart of so many PuGs for those dungeons, I met a lot of friends along the way, joined guilds, etc. I think that's the most memorable part for me is just the social aspect.
The rewards were great too -- especially as a retribution Paladin! The drops from the Armory wing were very nice.
My favorite dungeons are Shadowfang keep, Zul'Farrak, Sunken Temple - yea i really like this dungeon, there are cool weapon and armor drops, and first time you meet dragons in dungeon, and Scarlet Monastery. But in fact i love all dungeon content in vanilla and that's why i'm here :)
I was actually very partial to Zul'Farrak. I'm not sure why, but I remember running it a ton. I also met a lot of my future vanilla guildmates during that time. Perhaps nostalgia is the reason.
Also, BRD & UBRS was the bees knees.
I think Scarlet Monastery is cool, as well as Stratholme. I don't think I ever ran Scholomance in-era, but I like it thematically. In general I guess I tend to prefer the Upper-Eastern Kingdoms Scourge-flavored dungeons.
I also remember liking UBRS back in the day, just because it was fun to do a 3-group Mini Raid. I think I did it during the 3-group era, anyway. Really foggy memories, but the idea that I was doing a raid-style dungeon was like, "Alright, this is an endgame dungeon now, real shit." Ended up running it a lot to get my Valor shoulders (Causing the other warrior in the group to lose his mind).
And a special mention for RFC. The dungeon itself is kind of whatever, verging on modern-WoW dungeon design in its simplicity, but I always look forward to doing it because it's the first time you get to try out how your new character plays in a group.
BRD, because I was lucky enough to not run it 5,000 times in vanilla and burn out on it. I did run it a good bit, but it's such an epic dungeon with so many different areas that it's in a league of its own.
The fact that you're cleansing the land off undead filth, helping the Argent Dawn, you even wear a trinket so that filthy scourge knows who is coming. All the background lore from WC3, the interesting bosses like the mysterious Unforgiven, young Timmy or one of the four horsemen itself, Baron Rivendare. The loot is also really good, it even comes with an extra challenge for 'speed-running' it...
Stratholme is by far the best dungeon in WoW Classic (my personal opinion).