Progressions raids on... old content?

So, in case you haven't heard the news (and if you haven't, SHAME ON YOU for not keeping up with the WoW community, but hey, that's what I'm here for), Blizzard is re-tooling a beloved old raid encounter for patch 3.2.2. Which raid encounter, you ask? Well, it just so happens that Azeroth's own Onyxia raid encounter will be joining the ranks of level 80 raid content.

Yes, Blizzard, after oft saying that old content is old, and yet bringing us Naxxramas in Northrend (in all fairness, not many people actually did get the chance to raid Naxxramas), is at it again. This time the iconic WoW dragon Onyxia (they say they have made updates to the encounter, like maybe she deep breaths more!). And like Naxxramas, Onyxia will drop loot based on the level 60 loot table, she will be available as a 10 or 25 player raid encounter, and yes, much like Naxx, will no longer be a level 60 dungeon. This has me a bit torn...

Disclaimer: I have never fought Onyxia with a full level 60 raid group. I have also never ventured into the level 60 version of Naxxramas. I had seen Onyxia raids happen, had watched the videos, and read about the fight. It was something I looked forward to while leveling to 60, but never got a chance to run appropriately. Sure, like everyone, I ventured back when they removed the key requirement, but it's not the same as running the actual encounter the way it was meant to be. So this change should be for the better, right? I'll get to see the encounter in all its majesty. Maybe...

WoW players tend to have a romanticized view of the past. The game was great back then. The game still is great, but there have been many changes for the better, especially when it comes to encounter design. Heck, even Blizzard doesn't put much value on old raid boss mechanics being sacred (Thaddius and Mechano-Lord Capacitus, for example). In fact, many old raid boss mechanics have been reused in 5 man dungeons, though obviously not to the scale of a raid. Fact is, though, we have new raid mechanics. The old stuff just seems, well... old. I noticed this quite a bit in the level 80 version of Naxxramas. It was cool to see for the first time, but every time after, something just kept bugging me. The instance was stale and uninspired. Sure, it was massive, and it was different that other raids at the level 60 time (it was blue and green instead of red and black). Overall, though, I just got the feeling of "Yawn, been here before".

Onyxia is just one fight, though, and the mechanics are unique to most dragon encounters (of which there aren't many), so I'm hopeful that it won't feel stale. I used to want to see old content re-tooled for max level, because I didn't get to see much of it at the time. But after seeing Naxx updated, I'd be fine with just fresh NEW content. Yeah, yeah, if I haven't seen it, it's new to me, but if I've seen a minor tweak version with a fresher coat of paint then, well, yeah, I HAVE seen it. One thing that does redeem this a bit for me is Blizzards oh so subtle hint about Quel'Serrar: "The tier 2 helms aren't the only models we wanted to reuse, that's all I'm saying.-Bornakk". Yeah, that's about as subtle as the proverbial Elephant in the corner. Tier 2 helms? Yeah, who cares, you already DID reuse them (BC heroics, look it up). But at least I can gear up two of my tanks with the oh so sexy tank sword of old, so that's gotta be worth some points. And oh yeah, Ony's a mount!