From the spoilers I've read into FCOB, there isn't just speculation but real....plots? Points? Yes I'm gonna half-heartedly slap you on this because dear fucking god do I want to be finished with T12 and T13 because what I've heard about them and what is going on is -sweeeet-.
The thing is, I'm happy they make "older" content more accessible. Honestly? I hate running T5 as just a "one off" or so with only one other person. If I don't have 6 other people (not just me and a person who needs it), it's such a pain to revisit because of the mechanics in the fight and not being able to trust said other "randoms". But when you can get a full party to wipe away at it, stick at it for a bit, you can eventually teach them how to deal with said mechanics if they're going to be raiding. I'd rather wipe with a group I know, and also prepared mentally because it can be exhausting otherwise, than do it with one or 3 people I know and the rest people that may leave in 30 minutes.
When the mechanics are messed with, the fights become almost entirely different. But sometimes those things happen just because of gear. I haven't done T7 yet since 2.41 and since the lockout was removed so this way we can go do T9 or go to T8 for farming, etc., but T7 was a completely weird and messed up fight because of gearing. We had long periods of time when we had to hold dps for a new voice or shriek because we didn't want to transition awkwardly -just because of gear-.
My opinion is that if you do care about raiding, you're most likely striving for the new content. If you do like the challenge, you reduce the gear you have to what is the ilvl requirement to queue into DF with like minded people. At those ilvls, a 3.5k hit to a mage will still hurt; it's still punishing when you take that blighted. I think the fights can still be quite challenging if you're doing it like that but if you're geared for T13 accuracy reqs and you're stuck at T5, I'm pretty sure you want to just be done with BCOB already. If you're striving for the new content and are behind (aka BCOB headed for FCOB) you might want to finish SCOB as fast as possible while T5 and T9 are still good gates.
T5 took me about 1 month (a couple of weeks of daily 1.5+hr sessions) to get comfortable with the mechanics and start clearing consistently with people, having gotten to see T5 a week or three before the lockout on T5 was removed and SCOB introduced. I've been working on T9 for maybe a month of raiding, 2-3 days a week and only just reached the sight of phase 4. I hit T9 like 2 weeks or so before 2.4 hit.
With echo, a Benediction or Lustrate is not nearly as needed on our Single Tank in T9 as it was before with Ravensbeak+kablooey it has. The double meteor streams that used to kill me are much more easily healable than before. The "your healer needs to time that Medica II better" isn't quite as jarring and needed. I walked into T9 last night with almost 6k hp as a BLM. 6000! With some of the food to boost my dps, I was almost 6100! The cleaves aren't going to one-shot me anymore due to nerfs or because the damage done is reduced. See blighted for reduced damage.
I mean, some things do come with raiding. Positioning a mob so that they don't deal massive damage to your group is a tank's job, not just getting hit in the face. There still is more to the fights than general tank and spank. Your party shouldn't just be everywhere willy-nilly taking all the damage as if they -are- a  -tank- either.
I think T3 is good for SBing but I forgot what ilvl. That's about it. The loot is the random general dungeon loot like potions or x-ethers etc. Nothing like the drops at the end of each turn like a HA CHEST OF HEALING OR WHATEVER.
The thing is, I'm happy they make "older" content more accessible. Honestly? I hate running T5 as just a "one off" or so with only one other person. If I don't have 6 other people (not just me and a person who needs it), it's such a pain to revisit because of the mechanics in the fight and not being able to trust said other "randoms". But when you can get a full party to wipe away at it, stick at it for a bit, you can eventually teach them how to deal with said mechanics if they're going to be raiding. I'd rather wipe with a group I know, and also prepared mentally because it can be exhausting otherwise, than do it with one or 3 people I know and the rest people that may leave in 30 minutes.
When the mechanics are messed with, the fights become almost entirely different. But sometimes those things happen just because of gear. I haven't done T7 yet since 2.41 and since the lockout was removed so this way we can go do T9 or go to T8 for farming, etc., but T7 was a completely weird and messed up fight because of gearing. We had long periods of time when we had to hold dps for a new voice or shriek because we didn't want to transition awkwardly -just because of gear-.
My opinion is that if you do care about raiding, you're most likely striving for the new content. If you do like the challenge, you reduce the gear you have to what is the ilvl requirement to queue into DF with like minded people. At those ilvls, a 3.5k hit to a mage will still hurt; it's still punishing when you take that blighted. I think the fights can still be quite challenging if you're doing it like that but if you're geared for T13 accuracy reqs and you're stuck at T5, I'm pretty sure you want to just be done with BCOB already. If you're striving for the new content and are behind (aka BCOB headed for FCOB) you might want to finish SCOB as fast as possible while T5 and T9 are still good gates.
T5 took me about 1 month (a couple of weeks of daily 1.5+hr sessions) to get comfortable with the mechanics and start clearing consistently with people, having gotten to see T5 a week or three before the lockout on T5 was removed and SCOB introduced. I've been working on T9 for maybe a month of raiding, 2-3 days a week and only just reached the sight of phase 4. I hit T9 like 2 weeks or so before 2.4 hit.
With echo, a Benediction or Lustrate is not nearly as needed on our Single Tank in T9 as it was before with Ravensbeak+kablooey it has. The double meteor streams that used to kill me are much more easily healable than before. The "your healer needs to time that Medica II better" isn't quite as jarring and needed. I walked into T9 last night with almost 6k hp as a BLM. 6000! With some of the food to boost my dps, I was almost 6100! The cleaves aren't going to one-shot me anymore due to nerfs or because the damage done is reduced. See blighted for reduced damage.
I mean, some things do come with raiding. Positioning a mob so that they don't deal massive damage to your group is a tank's job, not just getting hit in the face. There still is more to the fights than general tank and spank. Your party shouldn't just be everywhere willy-nilly taking all the damage as if they -are- a  -tank- either.
I think T3 is good for SBing but I forgot what ilvl. That's about it. The loot is the random general dungeon loot like potions or x-ethers etc. Nothing like the drops at the end of each turn like a HA CHEST OF HEALING OR WHATEVER.