Update: I've posted a followup to this article.

Every once in awhile someone asks if I'd like to go back and do Zul'Gurub or Blackwing Lair just for fun. Yes I would, if it was fun. I'd love to go and redo old raids for a bit of nostalgia and to blast through it because it's easy now, right?

?? ("skull") Bosses

It is easy for people in raiding gear. Unfortunately, Blizzard's ?? Boss mechanic gets in the way if players are slightly lower level or undergeared. The problem is in the Hit system, which normally I love, with current content it creates a good separation between PvP, Raiding, Heroic and normal gear.

A ?? Boss is effectively 3 levels above the max player in attendance. At level 60-63, Hit calculations didn't scale very far, but now with 70-73 you need a lot of Hit gear (see this Hit chart). If you're not max level, or you're not "properly" geared in Hit rating for a level 73 Boss, then you're just along for the ride or the trash mobs (unless you're a healer of course), you're going to get a very large amount of resists / misses on the boss.

An Example:

One of my guildmates, Xandar (a Paladin) recently just switched to a tanking spec. He's been doing well with in normal 5-man instances so far, but he has 0 spell hit rating and only 51 melee hit rating, so he's going to have significant troubles holding aggro on a level 73 boss. That's all fine and well with current content, just give him time to collect gear for heroics and maybe raiding. But why should he be so limited on old content?

Soooooo.. and this is typically how it goes. People DO run the older instances, they bring along a mixed group of raiders and non-raiders alike. Maybe they have a good time. Some of the undergeared folks don't mind gettiing "run" through an instance whether or not their own attacks are as useful. But I've heard the frustrations from others when they encounter an old boss with resist, resist, resist, miss, miss, miss: it's more insulting than anything else the game can throw at them. They feel like failures at content that's old and supposedly easy.

Old content is broken

Onyxia, Ragnaros, Nefarian, Hakkar, C'Thun, Kel'Thuzad: These old bosses could be a great opportunity for casual players to catch raiding content that they were never able to do previously. But old bosses should be level 70, so they aren't completely trivial yet playable by all. They shouldn't be 73, which brings the Hit rating system into play.

I understand that Blizzard tried to use the ?? Boss mechanic to keep a bit of challenge, but it's so gear focussed that it just creates the widest imbalance between players. Raiding content is for geared raiders, even if it's old content. =(

Dear Gloomys,

My attempt to schedule an Onyxia "Wipe and Learn" for 7pm (Pacific, server time) was a poor leadership decision considering the incoming 2.1 Patch today. However, we're stubborn peeps, those of us whom I've contacted are determined to continue downloading, patching, connecting and hopefully staying connected for our venture into the big O's Lair.

In other words, we might be slightly later than 7pm.

Note: Our server appears to be up again.

Tonight, our guild plans to step into Onyxia's Lair. For most of us, it's a trip into nostalgia, something we haven't done in awhile. For a few however, this will be their first time on the Onyxia encounter. We generally don't hold long strategy sessions, jumping in head first (also called: Wipe and Learn) is more fun, but I couldn't resist reposting this...

Once upon a time there was an angry raid leader with an unusual accent, a foul temperment and a mouth to match. He enjoyed punishing his witless team by removing their DKP (Dragon Kill Points, the usual motivation for large raids is a form of currency for loot) and generally yelling at them via their voice server. One day his teammates took revenge by recording his in-game tactical rant gone bad. The audio quickly caught popularity online and soon had been put to flash animations, which you can watch by clicking the image below (warning: I think I did mention he's foul mouthed):

It's an amusing snapshot of WoW history, but oddly it also illustrates very well the standard strategy for defeating Onyxia. For additional reference, there's this old diagram of Onxyia's Lair showing player position.

And finally, the angry Onyxia raid leader has been put to music as well in this wonderous Onyxia mashup with Loituma (mp3 download).

Here's another Onyxia video for nostalgia joy. This time around, it's a segment from the Onyxia key chain quests, where Marshall Windsor confronts Lady Prestor in Stormwind as Onyxia in disguise. Of course, his bold audacity results in his quick demise, which makes the quest line all the more epic for the players after the long escort of Windsor through Blackrock Depths.

This event still draws a train of players through Stormwind after all this time. While we were making the march with some guildmates for old time's sake, many other players wandered with us partway, commenting how it's still their favorite quest in the game. It certainly has that legendary feel to it, like nothing else in Azeroth or Outland. Even Thrall's rescue from Durnholde Keep isn't quite the same.

Sakkara and I hadn't really planned to add Onyxia to our 2man repertoire, this is just the result of curiousity. I couldn't remember what level the Warders and Whelps were, I suppose I could have looked it up on thottbot or something, but it was late at night and I was relatively nearby at Gadgetzan. I just grabbed my Drakefire amulet and went. On an equal whim, Sakkara decided to join me.

The actual plan was to throw Kal'nos (my blueberry minion) at Onyxia to keep her busy for a few seconds while I check out the whelp hatchlings.

To my surprise, Kal'nos wasn't doing too badly, in part from Sakkara's natural tendency to heal him (although she is feral, which I must note or otherwise face the wrath of the bear). Our impromptu attempt was messy as you can see. My noob crimes included: casting Immolate as if I'd never been there 50-odd times before, overhealing Kal'nos when Sakkara had it covered, the poorest DPS you've ever seen from a Warlock and the final coup de grâce where I pivot Ony right across my healing partner.

Although it did last about 3 minutes.

For those unaware: Onyxia was the first "raid boss" that Blizzard designed for World of Warcraft, intended for a group of 40 players. As a raid boss, her level is ?? which actually means 3 levels above the highest level player attending, at least in regards to resistances and some other base stats.

If you listen closely, you can hear the "resist" warning I have setup on my minion's taunt, which occurs several times and coincides with things going badly.

I'm pretty sure with a few consumables and a tank that doesn't rely on taunts, Onyxia could in fact be 2manned now, if someone hasn't already done so. Who knows, maybe some uber Paladin or Druid has already solo'd the famous dragon.