Through streaming, general organization, and also the public participation of fans, the whole thing has probably taken on more of an event character in recent years, where most guilds see themselves as participants. Logically – after all, they are not only fighting for a good place in the rankings but also for a good reputation and a positive impression in the community.
If you’re interested in more details from the German WoW pro scene, you should listen to the full interview because it’s worth it.
How things will continue in World of Warcraft can be found in our summary of Patch 9.1 Chains of Domination.
The raids in World of Warcraft have improved over the years. “Blizzard can just do it,” says the head of the best German Alliance guild.
The first professional guilds of World of Warcraft have already started preparing for the next raid in Patch 9.1 Chains of Domination. After all, 10 new bosses are waiting, and there is a lot to do. But what is raiding like in a German pro guild, and how do they view international competition? YouTuber Geezax was able to ask professional Lanyx about it.
Who’s speaking? The answers to the questions were given by Lanyx, guild and raid leader of the guild “ad hoc gaming.” In the realm of mythic raiding, “ad hoc gaming” is currently the best German Alliance guild, ranked 2nd overall in Germany behind the Horde guild Aversion. You also frequently encounter “ad hoc gaming” in the global rankings, where they currently hold 26th place (via raider.io).
The interview was conducted by Geezax. He mainly engages with guides, discussions, and analyses on his YouTube channel and on Twitch – or in this interview.
For many expansions, raiding has been getting better
Primarily, of course, the conversation revolved around the raids and thus also the quality of the game content. While criticism often comes from the community that the developers have run out of ideas or that raids today are simply not as fascinating as they used to be, many professional players see it differently. Lanyx adds:
Of course, there are things like Conduit Power, that you have charges to switch your conduits – that’s all nonsense and crap. But at the end of the day, the raids we get are really good. Ny’alotha, for example, was also a great raid.
The only thing that diminished the fun of the raid in Ny’alotha a bit was the Corruption system. That they tuned that in the content and brought hotfixes was all nonsense. But we really keep getting better raids. And that’s what makes it fun for me. (…)
So raiding has been getting better since I started playing the game. [Since Blackhand – Warlords of Draenor] I wouldn’t say that any raid has been really bad. It’s always getting better. They can actually do that.
Lanyx’s only major criticism of the last raid was the fight against the Stone Generals. The fight was extremely RNG-heavy at the beginning. So it could be that one had a good or worse attempt purely by chance, without the players being able to have a significant influence on it. Thus, the second-to-last boss felt more like a final boss, which slightly diminished the sense of achievement when defeating Denathrius. However, “ad hoc gaming” is not alone in this criticism – it has generally been criticized by all larger guilds.
Nevertheless, it remains to be concluded that raids in World of Warcraft have become better and more fun over the years. There is fundamentally little to criticize. Only the accompanying systems, such as Conduit Power, Corruption, or Titan Forging diminish the joy of playing. However, this has primarily little to do with the design of the raids.
In casual guilds, “more players play for themselves”
In recent years, it has become common for many guilds to have a 21st person observing the raid from the outside. They then have a clear head and can overview everything and give tips that other players may sometimes miss in the heat of battle. Sometimes, this role is also taken on by the raid lead, who then only assumes an observing and supporting role – even if that means they are not present with their own character during the first kill. Lanyx says:
For me, for example, it isn’t important whether I’m there with my own character during the first kill, because the well-being and success of the guild is what excites me about raiding. The success – together. So that you achieve something, have fun together, and set goals that you can actually achieve.
For some, however, it’s actually … they lead a guild and they want to be part of it, want to get the achievement the first time, and so on. (…) That is really something only for guilds that have the motivation to go further up. (…) That’s the difference to, let’s say casual or worse guilds, where people play more for themselves and not for the well-being or common good of the others.
“The German scene has always been very challenging”
When asked about competition with other guilds, especially in the German scene, Lanyx also provided some interesting insights. The climate seems to have changed in recent years. Previously, there were often jabs. Specifically, he states:
Competition in Germany was always a topic until recently. The German scene has always been very challenging because – I don’t know if it can be called competition, but there was a lot of jabs. This has changed due to all the streaming and Aversion, as they are also somewhat of an organization and do – it has changed a lot. I really feel that we are all supporting each other.
Through streaming, general organization, and also the public participation of fans, the whole thing has probably taken on more of an event character in recent years, where most guilds see themselves as participants. Logically – after all, they are not only fighting for a good place in the rankings but also for a good reputation and a positive impression in the community.
If you’re interested in more details from the German WoW pro scene, you should listen to the full interview because it’s worth it.
How things will continue in World of Warcraft can be found in our summary of Patch 9.1 Chains of Domination.
