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Onyxia returns for WOW's 5th birthday

Classic raid to be revamped.

Blizzard has revealed that it will celebrate World of Warcraft's 5-year anniversary by updating one of the classic raid dungeons from the original game, Onyxia's Lair.

The face-off with the brood mother of the Black Dragonflight will go from being a level 60 raid for 40 players to a level 80 raid for either 10 or 25 players, much as the Naxxramas necropolis did at the launch of the Wrath of the Lich King expansion.

Loot will be look the same as the equipment dropped in the original encounter - albeit with upgraded stats, naturally - and Blizzard will also add a new, rare, fast flying mount called an Onyxia Broodling, modelled after the big bad dragon queen herself.

Anybody logging into the game during the 5-year anniversary event in November will get an Onyxia Brood Whelpling vanity pet, too.

It's all coming in patch 3.2.2, apparently. More fifth birthday plans, no doubt, from BlizzCon next week. And for more nostalgia for WOW's early days, check out part one of our exclusive Making of World of Warcraft.