World of Warcraft is celebrating its 5th Anniversary starting this month! Five years of leveling, questing, partying, pvping, raiding, farming - what a long, strange trip it's been, indeed! Some of you may remember logging in last year and finding an adorable new Baby Blizzard Bear waiting for you in your mailbox. This year, you're in for another treat! Log in this year during the 5th Anniversary celebration and you will receive an Onyxian Whelpling, an adorable little dragon whelp in the likeness of the brood mother herself, Onyxia! And speaking of Onyxia... The Brood Mother Onyxia Returns! Patch 3.2.2 hails the return of of one of the most feared and beloved raid encounters in WoW history - Onyxia's Lair! Classic raiders will remember the horrors of her seemingly random Deep Breath ability, crossing their fingers in hopes for a shiny new Tier 2 helm, turning the Head of Onyxia for fame and glory (as it sat mounted on a pike for all to see), and (of course) getting punted into many whelps! The Onyxia encounter has been updated for WoW's 5th Anniversary, so while it will not be exactly the same old encounter as before there should be quite a few familiarities (yes, she'll still Deep Breath!). For players who have not yet had the joy of experiencing Onyxia's Lair, now's your chance to challenge the great mother of raid bosses as she finds new and embarrassing ways to wipe raids. Or maybe you'll be skilled enough to take her down and get your hands on some new and improved loot! Onyxia will be available in both 10- and 25-player flavors, with the 10-player raid dropping item level 232, epic-quality loot and the 25-player raid dropping item level 245 epics. The Head of Onyxia will be lootable in both versions of the encounter and can be turned in at either Orgrimmar or Stormwind City in exchange for updated rewards! Onyxia's drops include updated versions of her level 60 loot - including all-new versions of the beloved Tier 2 helms, classic weapons, rings, and more! To expand her loot table a bit, some upgraded Molten Core items have been added as well. Probably the most significant item added to Onxyia's loot table is a brand new, extremely rare 310%-speed flying mount - the Brood of Onyxia. This mount modeled after Onyxia herself "will be available for the luckiest of challengers" - ie. will have an extremely low drop rate, so good luck! In addition to epic loots and a new flying mount, new achievements have been added for Onyxia's Lair! The achievements are relatively simple though challenging, and it's worth mentioning that Onyxia has no "hard mode" or extra loot - sorry, hardcore raiders! Everyone knows Blizzard loves inside jokes, as two of the achievement titles are named in homage to the popular Onyxia flash video of years ago (found here - warning language and screaming)! Also it's worth mentioning that since it is now impossible to clear level 60 Onyxia's Lair, the Onyxia's Lair (Level 60) achievement has been recategorized as a Feat of Strength. Battleground Queue Changes Patch 3.2.2 also features a few significant changes to the Battleground queuing system. Straight from the patch notes: Players may now only queue for no more than two Battlegrounds at a time. The dialog box for entering a Battleground match has been changed to reflect the following options: "Enter Battle," "Leave Queue," and "Minimize." The time a player has to enter a battle when selected has been reduced to 40 seconds when not already in a Battleground and 20 seconds when in a Battleground. Players already in a Battleground can now choose "Enter Battle" for a new Battleground under any circumstance (i.e. while dead, in combat, falling, etc.). A new Battleground will not launch until the maximum number of players on each side are in the queue (i.e. 40 players per side for Alterac Valley). I can't say I'm particularly happy about most of these changes, as I prefer to queue for multiple battlegrounds when it's late at night and being limited to two may make the waits significantly longer. Also, while it is more convenient that we will be able to join a battleground "under any circumstance," the reduction of the time to accept a battleground queue invite will probably prove to be pretty annoying when doing battlegrounds in a group (especially if you or another party member likes to alt+tab during the wait). We'll have to see how these changes pan out after a few weeks of PVP. New Profession Buff Items A few new profession-specific items have been added in Patch 3.2.2 that will grant lite versions of class raid buffs. Now, if your group or raid lacks a priest they don't have to lack Power Word: Fortitude! These items can be used by any class/profession to provide a buff to the entire raid. Note that these buffs will not stack with their class equivalent spells, and that the class spells will typically be more powerful. Other Important Links We have a number of other guides, blogs, and other content for those of you looking for updates on Patch 3.2.2! The 3.2.2 Patch Notes ArgentSun's Strategist guide to the new Onyxia encounter Malgayne's 5 Years of WoW retrospective The new Onyxia NPC page New icons added in 3.2.2