Onyxia returns in Patch 3.2.2
by Michael Sacco 
Aug 12th 2009 at 9:12PM
You read that right. In honor of WoW's 5-year anniversary, in the upcoming Patch 3.2.2, Onyxia will make her triumphant return to the world of Azeroth!
The patch will convert Onyxia's Lair to a 10- and 25-player dungeon, along with new items whose models match the old-school gear available in the vanilla instance, like Tier 2 helms. Additional rewards include a 310% speed flying mount modeled after Onyxia herself!
As a bonus, anyone who logs in during the 5-year anniversary event in November will get an Onyxia Whelpling pet.
The full announcement after the break!
The full announcement reads as follows:
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!
Filed under: News items, Raiding
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 15)
Neceseatie Aug 12th 2009 9:17PM
sweet
Kevin Gass Aug 12th 2009 9:36PM
Moar DoTs!!!.........ok no moar dots...
Steven Aug 12th 2009 10:13PM
I dunno. While I think that it will be legit cool to do this at 80, I can't help but feel like this is just recycling more content (and not just the instance this time, the loot too). Don't get me wrong, Onyxia is awesome, but when will we start feeling like we are doing vanilla raids instead of new ones?
Terethall Aug 12th 2009 10:29PM
Guaranteed you'll see achievements like "Hit It Like You Mean It: Kill Onyxia within 4 minutes." And "50 DKP Minus: Kill Onyxia while at least 10 whelps are alive."
Also, I JUST CRAPPED MY PANTS.
TWICE.
ONYXIA MOUNT FOR THE F****** WIN.
Fenrix Aug 12th 2009 10:32PM
Onyxia has been deep breathing more often since the last patch...
joerendous Aug 12th 2009 10:40PM
i just wet myself
volicio Aug 13th 2009 2:43AM
I had to re-read this article like 6 times before my brain stated to work. I was such great news that my brain blew a circuit and couldn't process the information
Knyle2 Aug 13th 2009 6:50AM
They finally listened to me! too little too late!
amberrain Aug 13th 2009 8:07AM
For those that do not realise, the level 60 Onyxia will STILL be there!
Take a look at our new raid interface.
Dungeon.
Heroic Dungeon
10-man Raid
25-man Raid
Take a guess?
Friday_Knight Aug 13th 2009 11:05AM
This is relevant to my interests.
Cyanea Aug 13th 2009 11:02AM
@Steven:
If this were the focus of an ENTIRE major content patch (for example: Patch 3.X), then I think that would be a valid complaint. But this is only a minor patch (3.2.2) and is really intended as nothing more than a gift to the players. It probably took 5 guys all of ten minutes to retune this for level 80s. Not only that, but Zarhym did say "as part of our big plans for the upcoming 3.2.2 content patch" meaning that there's gonna be more to this patch than just Onyxia.
While I've never raided Onyxia at 60 in the video game (I joined during the latter days of BC), the thing that got me interested in playing it was the Onyxia Raid in the Trading Card Game. I, for one, am really looking forward to this patch.
Seaborn Aug 13th 2009 11:56AM
@ Cyanea
5 guys and ten minutes to re-tune this for 80? That was a joke....right?
rosencratz Aug 13th 2009 12:30PM
@ Stephen - Minor patches don't normally have content such as new raid content swagger and such so for one to recycle old content is hardly a crime especially as it allows the player base to experience something they've been crying about for a long time.
Bubsa Aug 13th 2009 1:46PM
Losing my head was merely a setback.
Luthielle Aug 12th 2009 9:18PM
Truly Epic!! Ooooooh man, I can't wait :D
Druidski Aug 13th 2009 9:27AM
Make sure you kill her before the patch, I'm assuming the achievement for the "old school Onyxia" will become a FoS.
MusedMoose Aug 12th 2009 9:18PM
Woo! Huzzah for updating old content!
..note to self: get guild to go through Onyxia's lair before this happens, when our casual selves can actually handle Onyxia...
And a new pet too. Today is a good day. *grin*
jjcoola998 Aug 13th 2009 11:24AM
Yea who needs new content
chipersoft Aug 13th 2009 11:52AM
Oh go QQ somewhere else, us legacy players will enjoy this.
You see that third octet on the end of the version number? This is a very very minor patch, and as they already said it's for the fifth year anniversary.
Onyxia is the easiest old-world dungeon to update because it literally has three NPCs (guards, whelps, big-fucking-dragon) and no mechanics that would be damaged by raid size. All they had to do was bump up the NPC levels and the damage multipliers. Give her a loot table with a few drops from TC and bam you've got a raid. It was probably one hour of tweaking, an intern could have done it.
Maxim Aug 12th 2009 9:19PM
Zero lore. Maximum fun. HOORAY!