Project Lore

The first thing we did upon entering Onyxia's Lair for the first time in several years was wipe. Foolishly, after pulling the first trash mob, the tank managed to grab the attention of a second. Having walked down the slope, and farther into the cave, this left him out of our healers' line of sight. Our token meat shield soon found himself added to Onyxia's collection of floor rugs, which meant that the rest of us were quickly picked off one by one. Ahh yes, having my face cratered by Lair trash! Just like old times!

It stung even harder when the quick jaunt back to the entrance was met with another death. I guess those Warders weren't quite done with us yet after our Hunter attempted to Feign Death and, for one reason or another, failed at doing so. The affair made me doubly sour, though I couldn't blame him for his actions. After all, as a Rogue, I would've Vanished if I hadn't been next in line for a beating after the tank.

It turned out, though, that we'd just run into some bad luck. To use a common phrase, raiding Onyxia's Lair at 80 was like trying to ride a bike again: you never truly forget. Regardless, that first time you get back on the seat and grab the handle bars, your ride is going to be a little shaky. Promptly enough, we cleared out the remainder of the trash and found ourselves at the gaping maw of the dastardly dragon's inner sanctum. After briefly recapping the encounter for those who hadn't done the fight in a very long time (or ever), we breached the brood mother's den.

The first thing that struck me off right off the bat was how claustrophobic the room felt. I always remembered it being gigantic and, with 10 people instead of 40, it should have seemed even roomier than it did. Memories are weird that way, I guess. They tend to become exaggerated or warped over time and raiding experiences are, apparently, no exception.

And so the fight unfolded in ways that it never did when it was a part of vanilla end-game content. Sure, we wiped once, after failing to assign a tank to one pack of whelps during Phase 2 (you know, the one where she flies around in the air), and then losing a couple of people to her first Deep Breath (which, contrary to popular opinion, she did not seem to do more often!), but we caught on quickly and downed Onyxia on the second attempt without a single death. A well-placed Tremor Totem completely nullified her Bellowing Roar ability in Phase 3, making it only slightly harder than Phase 1.  The only new twist seemed to be the inclusion of a new add, the Onyxian Lair Guard, which spawns every so often.

To tell the truth, I'm not sure what this says about the encounter. It surely couldn't have always been this easy, as I distinctly recall spending hours in here on certain nights way back when. Angry Raid Leader will forever remind us of how frustrating the encounter can be. Sure the old girl hits a little harder, has a few more hit points, and adds can quickly get out of control if you don't burn them down, but it's nothing unmanageable. This isn't Hard Mode Mimiron, after all.

Maybe we've all just gotten better as players? That's always a possibility, but if the Onyxia was over-tuned at Level 60, I'd argue that she's under-tuned at Level 80. Let's not forget that the reintroduction of Onyxia is more of a love letter to the old raid than a legitimate addition to current-tier raiding, and that Blizzard probably wants as many players to be able to access it as possible. What once was a barrier is now a gateway.

On the whole, though, I think it's easier to make sense of the encounter because it's fundamentally less chaotic. Running a raid in the old days meant wrangling thirty-nine other people, making sure that they were always where they were supposed to be and that they could ably side-step the Deep Breaths or stay off the cracks in the floor when an Eruption was pending. The more bodies there are in the room, the greater the chance of someone being knocked into the whelps, as well.

Part of me really wanted Onyxia to come back and show modern raiders what a really, truly tough encounter could bring to the table. That may not have happened, but I'm still grateful for the chance to revisit one of the premiere raids in the game. It was great seeing some of that old loot drop again, too. Our first foray into the Level 80 version of Onyxia's Lair didn't leave us with a mount, but we did nab a Gleaming Quel'Serrar and I'm looking forward to nabbing the Enlarged Onyxia Hide Bag one of these days.

It may not be as difficult or imposing as my memories would have be believe, but in the end, I think it'll find a spot in our weekly rotation of raids, at least until the gear is completely outclassed by the next tier of content.

Have any of you had the chance to go toe-to-claw with the revamped version of Onyxia? We'd love to know what you think and whether or not it lives up to the legend!