Why do Old World Raids?

I was asked this question just last evening while our guild was doing a marathon of BC Raids. The questioner was annoyed because the Plate Wearer in the family was not available to tank for him due to him participating in this guild event. Since I was busy beating on Kael at the time he only got a one word reply from me "mounts". But while it did shut him up, it isn't the ONLY reason to go back and revisit some of that "Old" content. So why SHOULD you go back and visit some of this content and as a Guild Leader why would you even SUGGEST such an event?

1. Achievements.
Those little vanity points that don't mean much other than to individual egos...but MAN are they FUN to accumulate.

2. Mounts and Pets.
This one limits the number of Raids you have access to but to do a "Mount Run of ZG, AQ and The Eye" can STILL be A LOT of fun. Also Mojo out of ZA is even today highly desired even if the bear mount is no longer available.

3. To visit content you may have missed.
For myself I never made it into BWL pre BC and there are many others who never set FOOT in Ony's Lair back when it took a LONG quest chain to gain access.

4. Build Camaraderie.
Unlike when doing Ulduar or any other higher level Raids where the focus is often on the next upgrade or boss strategy, you can instead focus more on the just the other people in the raid. Joke around, walk down memory lane, whatever best suits you and your group.

5. Try new Specs or Roles.
Last night our usual Main Tank ran his DPS spec and some of our usual DPS ran their tanking specs. We also had healers running DPS as well. With Dual specs you can really mix things up and give people a chance to taste a raid from a new perspective. Take it one step further and have your usual raid leaders take a step back and someone ELSE organize.

6. Widen the participation base.
With "Older" raids you don't have to have a group made up of "well geared" 80's to have success. Individuals can bring those toons who may be Level appropriate for Molten Core and run right beside their higher level guild mates. Some of them will even walk out with UPGRADES of all things along with earning XP.

7. Further guild recipe and Trades.
Many of those old raids have recipes that can ONLY be gotten even now via running the instances. Sure, there may be better enchants now but for someone who is leveling an alt or a Twink some of those "older enchants" are still useful. Mongoose from Karazhan is a great example of this.

8. Recruitment.
There are a lot of people who want to do these raids but never get the chance. Offering them up from time to time can get your guild some recognition.

9. Gather Decorative sets.
WHAT?!?! Yeah you heard me. How many Paladins do you know who STILL wax eloquent about the Tier 2 "Judgement" set? Some of those sets were EXTREMELY attractive and if you have the bag/bank space to spare I know many who just like to collect armor sets.

10. Fight Burnout.
When all you are doing is running the SAME raids OVER AND OVER again, week after week it is a good idea to get something "fresh" as it were. Sure we may all remember the times when we said "I will NEVER set foot in this instance again I am SO tired of it." But months and even YEARS can put rose colored glasses on it. In addition to that it can be somewhat satisfy to run in and one shot a boss with a small number of people when you spent WEEKS banging your head against them "back in the day".

Couple of things to keep in mind when you go to do these type of events though:

1. Do your home work.
Don't think just because you have a group of well geared 80's you can walk in and zerg every boss. Certain bosses Game Mechanics will even now dictate how many people you HAVE to have with you. Lady Vashj is a good example of this, I wouldn't try to do her with much less than 15 so you can handle the Tainted Cores.

2. Know your group make up.
This may seem common sense but I have seen many of these types of raids fall apart because you get there and realize you only have 1 healer and no tanks. While with some raids even THIS wouldn't be a deterrent know going in so you can take it into account.

The main thing to keep in mind is make these FUN events and you will have guild members begging you to do them on a more regular basis.