In the MMORPG World of Warcraft, the race for World First demands everything from the best guilds in the world – and apparently that is too much. As the leader of the guild “SK Pieces” based in Berlin states, they want to withdraw from this race after 10 years. The guild is disbanding. The price to compete at the top has simply become too high.
What kind of guild is this?
- The guild “Pieces” has existed since 2010 in World of Warcraft. It has been competing for the “World First” since 2017. Here, the best guilds in World of Warcraft compete to be the first to defeat a raid boss on the highest difficulty level.
- Its peak came in May 2019, when they achieved the World First Kill in the raid “Crucible of Storms”, a raid in “Battle for Azeroth”. In the current raid, the guild ranked 4th worldwide. For about 5 years, Pieces has been among the top 5 WoW guilds in the world.
- A few months ago, “Pieces” joined the German esports organization SK Gaming and has since had “Berlin” as their location. However, this is actually an English-speaking guild.
To be the best in the world, one would have to sacrifice everything in real life
This is why the guild is disbanding: In a post on Twitter, the founder and leader of the guild, Luml, says it makes him sad to announce after 10 years that Pieces is disbanding:
The market has become so competitive when it comes to how many hours everyone has to invest that it is not sustainable without sacrificing everything in real life for the raid.
He thanks the guild members for their dedication and wishes them all the best in the rest of their lives. He himself will take a break and rethink his options for what he wants to do with his life.
Luml writes: Maybe he will stay true to the “race for World First” in some form, possibly with less dedication, on a smaller scale.
He says the scene is growing and it is exciting, and some will finally be rewarded for their time and talent.
Latest raid lasted 19 days until World First – That was too long
Here’s what’s behind it: World First raiders prioritize everything for the raid during the “progress” period, pausing their lives and raiding with maximum commitment. However, it is usually just a sprint; it should only take days, a maximum of two weeks. The first two raids in Shadowlands were “cleared” in 8 and 7 days (via dotesports).
However, the current raid in WoW was perceived by the raiders as “too hard”; the race lasted too long and was too exhausting: It took 19 days until the World First raid – that significantly exceeded the “limit” of 14 days that most guilds set.
The length of the “World First race” apparently disrupted the raiders’ schedule and led to significant problems: One of the top guilds had to abandon their attempt. Because the break in “real life” could not be extended indefinitely – WoW had to take a back seat.
Blizzard has now acknowledged the problems and promised not to overdo it in future raids. There were suspicions that Blizzard deliberately makes the “race for World First” so difficult to prolong it, allowing viewers to watch longer as the raiders struggle against the bosses:
WoW: Pro guild spends the equivalent of €85,000 in gold, loses ‘World First’ race
The title image shows Psybear, one of the casters of the team. The actual guild leader is pictured in a tweet in the article.
