In an exclusive interview with Mein-MMO, the guild and raid leader of the best German raid guild Aversion, Nexxzz talks about World of Warcraft, progress raids, and guild cohesion.
The best in Germany, top 10 in the world: The Horde guild Aversion from the Onyxia server was the first German guild to defeat the final boss of Legion, Argus in Antorus, the Burning Throne. With their first kill, Aversion even made it to 9th place on the world ranking list.
Their success comes with a lot of hard work: Every evening from Monday to Sunday, raiding happens from 19:00 to 23:30 – until all bosses are down (the so-called “progress” part). Once the raid is defeated, the guild takes it a bit slower, usually one evening with about four hours (“farm” part).
In progress, passionate guilds like Aversion focus on every second they can be faster than anyone else for a first kill on a boss. A “first kill” – especially the “world first kills” – brings a significant boost in prestige.
Once it comes to farming, players’ characters or twinks are equipped with missing gear to achieve the best possible results. Or it’s about distributing particularly rare mounts, like the Bound Ur’zul from Argus, to everyone.
We take a look behind a guild that spends a significant part of its free time raiding and give you an insight into their guild life, their successes, and the surrounding events.
This is how the best WoW guild in Germany raids
Mein-MMO: Aversion is the best raid guild in Germany and even ranks 9th in the world – with a significant lead over the currently next German guild at 32nd. Surely, this requires a lot of work. How do you prepare to be the first as quickly as possible?
Nexxzz: A lot of effort is involved. Ultimately, every player has to play three characters, so we have various options and can cover all eventualities. Furthermore, the leading personnel organize many things to make it as structured and efficient as possible.
Some examples include: Split runs (Note from the editorial team: raids with twinks and mains to obtain optimal loot for main chars), boss tactics, requirements for twinks, roster planning, recruitment, preparing weak auras (Note from the editorial team: weak auras belong to an addon that provides more overview), guild bank containing all materials or raid lead.
This is very hard to answer in general, as there are many aspects that create the overall picture.
Mein-MMO: The race for the world first kill on the last boss in new content is one of the few PvE events that even outsiders often watch with interest. What does it feel like to be part of it instead of just watching? Do you believe you have a good chance to snatch the world first with BfA?
Nexxzz: It is incredibly fun to progress raid, and that’s what keeps us together as a group! No, we don’t have a chance for the world first kill since we raid “only” 4.5 hours a day while Method invests almost 12 hours per day.
This cannot be caught up with skill and moreover, the players from Method are still a notch better than us.
Mein-MMO: In mythic raid content, you are certainly under a lot of pressure most of the time. How does a guild leader maintain concentration? What rules are in place? Has it ever happened that someone had to be swapped out right before a first kill during a raid?
Nexxzz: It is extremely important to maintain a positive atmosphere, as people simply perform better when they enjoy what they are doing. Breaks can be very important when playing a single boss for four hours and small mistakes start to slip in.
We are not particularly strict because we have a very adult group that knows exactly what we expect from them. Often, for bosses that are very difficult, people must be put on the “bench” because their class or specialization is not helpful for that boss.
And of course, it can happen that players are swapped out before kills if they are not performing, but we also have 26 people in the roster.
Aversion: Horde by Conviction and for Advantages
Mein-MMO: Aversion is a Horde guild. Did you choose this faction for a specific reason? Are you wholeheartedly with the Horde?
Nexxzz: We landed with the Horde because the racial bonuses have been significantly better for a long time than those of the Alliance. And of course, it’s nice to be a member of the Horde.
Mein-MMO: Azeroth is a world of conflicts – and the Horde is in conflict with the Alliance. Does your guild also actively engage in PvP? Do you even have some members who are more interested in PvP than in raiding?
Nexxzz: As a guild, we do very little PvP, but we have a former raider who is now the best PvP balance druid in the world, Corkiy. He participates in all tournaments and is an exceptional talent in the arena. However, our raid team focuses entirely on raiding; otherwise, they would be in the wrong place with us.
Mein-MMO: What was your best moment in the fight against the Alliance?
Nexxzz: My best moment in the fight against the Alliance was the old city raids over eight years ago.
Achieving something together brings cohesion
Mein-MMO: A little look back at your past: Aversion arose from the guild Impact, which disbanded in 2017. How long have the core players known each other? How did you originally come together?
Nexxzz: Aversion is Impact without the guild leader Tkaine. We separated from him and he did not want us to continue the guild, thus we had to found Aversion. The core has known each other for over three years, and some of them for over eight years.
Mein-MMO: In large guilds with a solid core of players, there are sometimes players who may feel excluded. How do you ensure cohesion in the guild?
Nexxzz: We see raiding as a team sport. It is extremely important for us to integrate people quickly to strengthen their trust in themselves and the guild for upcoming progress so that they can deliver their best performance.
This happens through the regular raids, our Discord, which we use as a forum, and the Teamspeak server, where players can talk to each other and thus participate in activities together.
Mein-MMO: Many players leave WoW after some time. What keeps you, or you specifically, in Azeroth?
Nexxzz: We really enjoy progress raiding, and we love playing in this community together. Like many, the community is very important to me, and Aversion has become my team, which makes me feel very comfortable. As long as I have the time, I want to spend it with the guys.
Mein-MMO: Do you have any tips for less progress-oriented players to be more successful faster?
Nexxzz: Enjoying the game, good organization, and a friendly atmosphere are extremely important. Above all, the leading individuals should always keep the team spirit in mind, as it is a team of 20 people and not a one-man show.
Thank you very much for the interview and your time!
Aversion will also actively participate in the raiding scene in Battle for Azeroth. The first raid of the new expansion will be Uldir. You can find all data for the opening of the individual wings of Uldir in our post.
