Project Lore

With rumors swirling about the incoming Patch 3.2.2's release date, last night I took some time away from Brewfest festivities to squeeze in a final encounter with Onyxia, in her classic form. I was hoping this would serve as inspiration of sorts for others to go battle her as well before the patch, but as we heard this morning it looks like the update is now underway. As early as tonight, a freshly angry Onyxia awaits those brave enough to enter her lair. Although I've seen plenty of videos and heard players brag about soloing the once epic brood mother, I wasn't confident that I'd be able to take her on alone in my squishy leather gear. So I rounded up a couple of guildies who also were keen to battle Ony, and together we headed for her lair in southern Dustwallow Marsh. The three of us - rogue, warrior and paladin - sneaked in through the gate and easily tore through a few trash dragonkin. I felt almost guilty as we rounded a corner into her nest and found her sleeping peacefully. But not guilty enough. She awoke with a fiery vengeance, ready to lay a team of 40 adventurers to waste with a single Deep Breath. Instead, she found just us three, 20 levels higher than she, and geared with equipment and spells far beyond those she once knew. Regardless, she put up a good fight. Most of her fire attacks practically bounced off the plate armor of the paladin while I threw DPS from the side. When her whelps came, spamming Fan of Knives worked handily. More ranged DPS would have come in handy when she took to the air, and the three of us ran around puzzled about how to get her down before her fireballs took us out. I was a fraction away from dying several times before we finally pulled her back within melee reach. The warrior was not so lucky; he took the brunt of fireball damage and reached his end. As Onyxia died, we each picked off a ton of loot. The little achievement whore inside me also was thrilled to get Onyxia's Lair, even though I've heard it will no longer be required for the Classic Raider achievement. But there will be new achievements! Plus a new pet whelpling and updated loot! Not nearly as troublesome as she was in her hayday, but still a beast to be reckoned with, Onyxia soon will be back at the forefront of glorious encounters. I don't know about you guys, but I am revved up to have this battle be returned to its nostalgic difficulty. With any luck, Onyxia will be back up and ready to really shine tonight. Who else plans to pay her a visit?

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In case you missed it the first time, Onyxia, the fearsome black dragon that was among many people's first introduction to raiding, will be re-released in patch 3.2.2 as a 10-man and 25-man level 80 instance. The encounter will be slightly modified to be put on par with the difficulty of recent raids. The 40-man level 60 version will no longer be accessible. Perhaps the best part of this are the new rewards. Anyone who logs in (within a three week time frame) for WoW's 5th anniversary will get an Onyxia Whelpling pet, likely BoA like the Baby Blizzard Bear from last year's anniversary. The pet attempts to Deep Breath occasionally, but usually fails and blows out smoke rings. The loot table from Onyxia includes the following:

• A 310% movement speed mount modeled after Onyxia called an Onyxia Broodling.
• Re-tuned items with similar skins to original gear, including the tier 2 helms.

Zarhym broke the news earlier this month with the following post:

She has lurked in her lair and done battle with the many brave adventurers who travelled to that familiar location over the years. Now, in honor of the World of Warcraft 5-year anniversary, the dreaded brood mother Onyxia is being revamped to make a return to the forefront of Azeroth, as part of our big plans for the upcoming 3.2.2 content patch. This permanent update to Onyxia will convert the dungeon into 10- and 25-player modes. We will be adding new items to Onyxia’s loot table that have the same model as some of the classic loot from this dungeon, like Tier 2 helms, with stats updated to match the current level of content. There will be a special new item too: a normal drake-sized 310% speed flying mount modeled after Onyxia herself called an Onyxia Broodling. We will also be updating the encounter mechanics to be more fitting for modern raiding, but we can guarantee players will get to experience the frightening horror of deep breaths once again. Then for a limited time, after the 5-year anniversary event officially begins in November, anybody who logs in will receive an Onyxia Brood Whelpling pet. We’re very excited to bring this classic encounter back to provide a fun new experience for both new and veteran players. Further details will be available in the near future, and we will be setting up the Public Test Realms soon to help test out this fight along with all the new content we have planned for the patch. Keep an eye on the forums for updates!

Deep Breath will be more random, and there will be lots of whelps. We will also need more DoTs. Check out the awesome mount you have a chance at:

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Just over a month ago ProjectLore turned one, and it seems that another of Alex's zanny ideas - read getting paid to perform his hobby - has paid off.  I first heard of Project Lore way back when Alex announced his intentions with the site.  I flat out loved the idea of "embracing WoW culture and the interactions between players".  So much that I covered the announcement for a completely different site, the now semi-defunct GetBuffed.com (no, it's not a porn or weightlifting site).  I applied upon seeing the open call for writers while the site was still in its infancy.  Here I am 365 days and 246 posts later, without any intention of stopping. I'll admit that I was apprehensive, anxious and even nervous during my early days here at Project Lore.  Those are three emotions I rarely ever feel.  My regression to an earlier mindset was due to the very community that I love being a part of.  I know the types out there on the Internet, and thus part of the WoW crowd.  WoW's own rampant success has creating a gigantic, teeming audience.  I've been writing about video games for nearly a decade now (over if you include my volunteer stuff), but ProjectLore brought me my largest audience by far.  Unfortunately not all of them are nice.  The haters, know it alls and sarcastic bastards intimidated me at first, but I grew a thick skin and can now take the criticism, constructive or not, in stride. Ok fine, so my early days weren't the pinnacle of journalism, or the highlight of blogging, but I like to feel that I have grown, substantially.  Grammar ("makes ends meat" anyone?), spelling and other stupid mistakes have been trimmed thanks to a higher attention to detail, and additional proofreading on each post.  But the meat and potatoes of writing is in the ideas, and they've come into their own thanks to the readers and guildmates.  Not only have your comments and forum threads sparked many lightbulbs, but you reignited my passion for World of Warcraft.  Although I returned during TBC, it wasn't until a few months in to this gig that I really returned.  That was because of the readers insatiable hunger for WoW content, be it digital or wordy. Speaking of ideas, here's a quick list of the reoccurring ones I've played a part in:

• Fond Memories
• Design a Dungeon (this will return with far more structure)
• The Balancing Act/Balancing Act (just realized this was split in three, woops)
• Another One Bites The Dust
• The Novel Post
• Questing
• The Experiment
• Melee DPS 101/DPS 101
• Wishful Thinking
• The Next Expansion

Although I am not a part of the detailed Proverb column yet, I hope Heartbourne (did I get it right?) will let me take the lore-filled column for a spin. I want to take this opportunity to say thanks for reading, keeping me on my toes, and sharing your opinions, objections and stories in a respectful manner.  That goes for everyone - except all you firsters, you can go to the back of the line.  Last is the new first. It's been fun watching the site mature, the readership grow and having additional writers to bounce ideas off of. Thanks for keeping my interest in the game at an all time high.  To another year of WoW, Project Lore and blogging!  Cheers. Oh, time for a little shameless self promotion.  I am on Twitter after much pestering from seemingly everyone.  Be gentle, I am still figuring out all this @, # and other odd uses of shift+numbers. /me packs for BlizzCon.

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Blizzard blue Zarhym revealed yesterday that Onyxia would be making her gallant return to World of Warcraft in celebration of the title's fifth anniversary.  Following last year's random non-combat pet that players got for the four year mark, we'll be granted a Black Dragon Whelps to go along with the our bear.  Obviously I am in favor of nostalgia, adding more vanity pets and content to the game.  I did have one reservation upon hearing the news.  I instantly thought, and entered into numerous discussions about, "how is Blizzard's creative team gonna pull that off lorewise?" The lengthy brainstorming session caused much WoWWiking and some heated discussion.  Believe it or not the mind melds came up with some well-crafted ideas, and of course, not so good ideas.

• The "Who Cares" Approach - More than a few people I have talked to spouted this defense.  Simply put, many players, hardcore and casual, don't feel that the lore is important.  They claim that they won't care how she went from a head displayed across Stormwind (read dead) to a level 80 boss (alive).  While I personally believe the lore holds more water than this group realizes, it's possible that Blizzard will just retune the encounter and ignore everything else.
• Retcon - Retconning is the fine art of changing a storyline after it has already taken place (meaning absorbed by the audience).  It's a popular mechanic in today's large franchises (Star Trek, Star Wars, too many comics to name), and Blizzard has employed the technique themselves.  Considering that Onyxia's quest chain has been removed, and her human disguise vanquished from the halls of Stormwind, a retcon with a new storyline is entirely plausible.
• Infinite Dragonflight - I posited this as my little baby.  We know very little about the Infinite Dragonflight.  We do know that they are messing with the timeline, but that's all we have.  Their actions could be at the request of Nozdormu himself, but it could just as easily be another flight created by Deathwing for his own nefarious purposes.  Assuming it is Deathwing's latest scheme, then the new encounter can be explained as an alternate timeline's Onyxia making her triumphant return.

It should be quite obvious what I want Blizzard to do, the Bronze Dragonflight.  Just think of how cool it could be.  First off, the process can be explained in the lore easily.  It'll also offer the encounter designers a chance to experiment with new moves for Onyxia (she's different after all).  Perhaps a Really Deep Breath?  She'd have to perform her asthmatic move more often of course.  Lastly, and most importantly, it'd offer a perfect time for Deathwing and his Black Dragonflight to rear their ugly heads. The overall consensus is that Blizzard may very well take the "Who Cares" approach.  After all, it's just a bit of added content to effectively pat themselves on the back for sticking around a half decade (has it really been that long? *checks /played*).  Unlike the rest of the Internet, I am not a pessimist, and I expect the developer to deliver something to us.  Retconning seemed to be as equally likely from the poll.  You'll recall that Blizzard said Onyxia's chain would be modified to fit into Wrath's timeline upon its removal.  That little diddy fits my Infinite Dragonflight hopes even more than a retcon.  Hmm. Which scenario is most likely in your mind?  Have any other ideas as to how Blizzard can write in the retune?  Do you think Blizzard will remove/replace the old encounter with the new one?

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I'd like to take a moment on the one year anniversary of Project Lore to address the fans in order to let you all know what's up with the us and what you can expect in the future from Project Lore. We're going through some changes here, which you may have already noticed. Over the next few months, you'll see the site and video content evolve, and in the end we will be an even better resource for you to find your favorite WoW content. We've heard your concerns about Project Lore and understand that you love the show for the same reasons we love it - embracing WoW culture and the interactions between players that make the game what it is.  Over the summer you can tell we've taken a little break from the bigger scale videos but rest assured that we want to give you a Project Lore Ulduar run just as soon as we can. In the mean time, be sure to check out the live streams of Ulduar runs that will be happening during the week and will start being featured here on Project Lore. They're going to be improving and becoming more interactive as time moves on, so watch our Twitter feed and check the site to see when they'll be happening. On one final note, we want to thank you all for your support over the last year. Without the fans, there would be no Project Lore, and we would never have made it for one year. Here's to the second year being even better!

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