I've always been more of a PvP'er but I enjoy the occasional dungeon/raid. I was too new to World of Warcraft in Wrath of the Lich King to really get into raiding and when I was I had a few unpleasant experiences and was turned off.
I'm definantely more of a solo-player and PvP allowed me to do that more so than PvE, in short I didn't have to worry about others screwing it up for everyone, I didn't have to rely on others as much.
Raiding is the pinnacle of PvE gaming, its designed to be the final frontier and most challenging for PvE'ers, raids usually come in "tiers" in an expansions life and each tier will be harder than the last, allowing for a "gear progression".
1. Ulduar: Ulduar was the first raid I ever took part in. I didn't know any of the fights but I was assured that I would be ok, after 5 hours that night we only managed to clear the first 3 bosses but it was still an amazing experience working as a team, overcoming and improving on what was keeping us down and downing a few bosses.
Later in Wrath and Cataclysm I ran Ulduar 10/25M and eventually the Heroic version of the raid for the Iron-Bound Protodrake. Ulduar has many wings like other raids and is absolutely breathtaking, particularly towards the end.
Most fun I've ever had in a raid and most fun I probably ever will, Ulduar is one of the most spectacular places in WoW and fits in well with the whole Storm Peaks/Iron Dwarves setting that I like so much.
2. Sunwell Plateau: Sunwell Plateau is the final raid "tier" of Burning Crusade, its set on an island called Quel Thalas, off the coast of the Eastern Kingdoms.
Sunwell Plateau has a very Blood Elven theme, lots of reds and golds which looks nice.
Killing Kil Jaeden was one of the most epic things I've experienced in the game and although zone fights were too much of a steamroll at 85 it was still very enjoyable - and the legendary bow is AWESOME.
3. Black Temple: Black Temple is one of the middle "tiers" in Burning Crusade, its located in The Outlands, in Shadowmoon Valley. In the Black Temple is where Illidan is, Illidan is my favorite lore character in WoW and is a badass.
Most of the raid is pretty bland, but its not what your there for. Your there to kill Illidan, and that final fight with Illidan Stormrage is amazing.
I wish I played back in Burning Crusade where I could experience the fight where it wouldn't of been as much of a face-roll but even at 85 the fight mechanics in the final fight will Illidan Stormrage still had a few of us dying.
Also note, there is a chance Illidan will drop one of his signature weapons - The Warglaive of Azzeroth, these are the most badass weapon in World of Warcraft hands down, its a shame only Rogues and Warriors can wield them but after getting both on my Rogue its still awesome to walk around in Org with them and get a ton of /whispers.
4. Firelands: Firelands is a raid released in patch 4.2 in Cataclysm. I wasn't a fan of Blackwing Descent of Bastion of Twilight but Firelands restored some of my faith in Cataclysm raiding.
There's nothing I particularly enjoyed about the dungeon and even now I'm only 5/8, and I'm kind of disappointed they recycled Ragnaros but just the sheer polish on the raid is staggering.
There were no bugs and the zone looks amazing, its just so much smoother and polished than the other raids we've seen in Burning Crusade and WoTLK and is pretty challenging too!
5. ICC: ICC or the Icecrown Citadel was the final "tier" of raiding in WoTLK. Icecrown Citadel was released in three stages by Blizzard and although this annoyed a lot I didn't mind it as I wasn't pushing for server firsts or anything.
I did finally get around to running it towards the end of Wrath and had a blast, the best fights are by far Sindragosa and The Lich King and as always Blizzards left those fights to the end.
With 12 bosses and quite a bit of trash its certainly quite a long raid to get done in one sitting, I pugged this on Heroic at the end of Wrath and none of us were all that well experienced or geared, it certainly wasn't easy and we wiped a few times but it wasn't anything all that challenging.
My second favorite WoTLK raid before Ulduar hands down.
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