Project Lore

I've only had the chance to complete three weekly raids since the release of Patch 3.3 (with the fourth one awaiting me when I find the time this week), and I already can say that I'm a big fan. As opposed to the daily heroic quest that we had waiting for us prior to the new patch (replaced with random heroics that we continue to run without the quest), it seems that this new challenge of a weekly raid offers a slightly new experience -- plus the drool-worthy spoils of 5 Frost badges, 5 Triumph badges and 33 gold. The first couple of weeklies I got, Lord Jarraxus must die and Instructor Razuvious must die were pretty straight-forward since both include content that I've already seen plenty of times. And both involved me grouping with guildies who also were familiar with the fights, so it went really smoothly. Then last week threw a curve ball when Malygos must die made its way into the rotation. Since I've only made my way to the raiding scene in the past couple of months, I actually had not previously downed the arrogant dragon. And apparently I wasn't the only one, since out of my group only three players knew the fight going in. That made the fight interesting, to say the least, but also a lot of fun. Even though I died promptly at the start of Malygos' third and final phase in flight, the rest of the raid party battled it out, and we managed to one-shot it. This week, I'll take on everyone's favorite temper-tantrum throwing robot, XT-002 Deconstructor. So after a few shots, here's what I really like about the weekly raid:

• Coordination is necessary. It's a lot easier to screw up a 10- or 25-man raid, especially in a PUG. This also could be a bad thing if you get an inexperienced group. But I see it as a good thing, because it adds to the challenge.
• A variety of content. As was the case for me with Malygos, the weekly raid likely will introduce players to a lot of content that they otherwise might not go see ( such as the Obsidian Sanctum, Naxxramas, The Eye of Eternity and Ulduar). Likewise, it may also allow more recent level 80s the opportunity to try to get into groups for the newer content like Trial of the Crusader and, of course Icecrown Citadel.
• The option for 10- or 25-man raid groups of varying difficulties. If you're not having any luck getting into a 10-man group because everyone has already done it for the week, you can try to form a 25-man group. Or if you already have one achievement but need the other, once again you can choose to try that route. Options are always a good thing in my book.
• Only once a week. Which hopefully will prevent the raids from getting stale -- at least not right away.
• Phat lootz, as mentioned above.

And the cons:

• Once again, the need for coordination. If you find yourself in bad PUG after bad PUG, it could get frustrating quick. Players who don't know the fights (or don't have the achievements to prove that they do) also may have a hard time getting into groups if its not with guildies or other friends in-game.
• Killing of specific bosses leads to skipping over the rest of the content. Perhaps that's good for old school raiders since you can get the quest done pretty quickly. But for newer raiders hoping to get through the whole raid, they'll have to advertise it that way to the group or risk everyone leaving after the downing of the quest boss.

Overall, though, I'm digging the new system, which is why I'm obviously in favor of it. Perhaps that will change over time if I think of more cons to add to my list. What does everyone else think of the weekly raid so far? And what pros and cons would you add from your own experiences?