REFLECTIONS:  A YEAR LATER (5/18/2006)

It's been over a year since that first Onyxia kill, and I still get chills while reading the account of the event.  At the same time, I have to laugh at our ignorance and naivette at the time, so in case some players are reading this journal to get some tips on how to defeat Onyxia, let me reveal some information that we have learned over time.

• The theory that Onyxia will not Deep Breath you if you are properly spread out in Phase 2 is completely wrong, and I don't think anyone has ever really figured out what specifically triggers Onyxia to Deep Breath.  The best thing to do is simply dps her down as quickly as possible in phase 2 and position raid members where they can easily get out of the way of the Deep Breath if it does happen.  What we do now is assign a party of whelp killers to each of the whelp cave entrances and then split the rest of the raid in half.  One half stays on her right side and the other half stays on her left side.  Players should avoid the 45 cone in front of her but otherwise should spread out reasonably well enough so that multiple players aren't being hit by Onyxia's fire balls.  This configuration allows for excellent dps.  In addition, if Onyxia does Deep Breath, the raid can simply run toward the nearest wall and dodge the breath completely.  As Onyxia glides around the room, the raid should move with her and keep its orientation with respect to her.  If Onyxia does Deep Breath, she will telelport to the other side of the room, so raid members will need to run across the room to her to resume their positions next to her.
• The Onyxia scales are used to make Onyxia Scale Cloaks, which are essential when fighting the three drakes and Nefarian in Blackwing Lair.  Luckily, only one scale is needed to make each cloak, and you can get multiple scales from each Onyxia kill.
• You can no longer out-of-combat resurrect like you could before, which makes things more difficult.
• Onyxia's third phase was changed so that the fears happen more often but are much shorter in duration.  It's more hectic, but I think it makes it easier, because you don't get your main tank feared as long, which could cause Onyxia to turn and face the raid.
• Onyxia's loot table was changed to make it so that she always drops two Tier 2 set helms and never drops any other Tier 2 set items.

Regarding the personal and guild issues described in this journal, Neriad officially joined The Offenders one month after the events described here.  Several months after that, TO broke up over disagreements over guild management, and the core members of TO reformed into a guild appropriately named The Core.  Neriad is still happily raiding with The Core, and TC has cleared all of Blackwing Lair and AQ40 and is waiting patiently for Naxxramas to be released.