A Whole New World (of Warcraft) #11: State of the Raid

Jeremiah Leif Johnson: I've heard from several guilds that think the new encounters in Cataclysm are too hard. This is, of course, in contrast with Wrath of the Lich King, with raids that could be beaten with a modestly competent group of random players only two months or so after launch. What are your thoughts?

Xav: Making content easier and easier -- like basically what happened in Wrath -- was a bad plan overall, as it rewarded players who had no idea what they were doing. Then all of the players who stumbled through Wrath hit a roadblock once Blizzard decided to make things somewhat interesting again; these players weren't trained for it. You have to keep content progressively more difficult throughout an expansion. Basically, I guess I feel all the normal modes are definitely easy enough for introductory raids, and the heroics are a decent jump up (but not outrageously so).

I feel like it somewhat devalues the design and hard work put in, if a bunch of random players who mostly aren't even playing at half of their character's potential can finish a normal-mode instance. That's because any decent-to-good guild going through content finds it absolutely trivial and way too easy. Then Blizzard has to tune the hard or heroic modes to be difficult for those guilds -- but not too hard, since those aren't the very high-end guilds, they're just above average. Basically, the hard modes aren't actually hard if you make the normal modes too easy... they're just what we used to call a normal raid boss.

Jeremiah Leif Johnson: Do you think those options lessen the experience? I mean, a few years ago, when someone beat C'Thun, you knew everyone else had to face the same encounter. Now someone can say "We beat Cho'gall," but that doesn't mean they beat the hardest version.

Xav: A little bit, yeah. Like you said, you used to be able to immediately recognize a guild's progression just by the bosses they had killed. Now, you can't really do that unless they specifically say "heroic" before it. I feel like a jerk when someone finds out I play WoW and they mention their progression, and I almost want to ask "in heroic?" after they talk about their recent accomplishments.

Jeremiah Leif Johnson: On a somewhat-related note, WoW has been out for several years now, and most servers have very established communities. How easy do you think it is for a new player without much raiding experience to get into a guild that stays on top of high-end content in this environment?

Xav: It could happen if you actually know what you're doing. I know people who have "snuck" into guilds despite having only done the most recent tier of content. These guys fabricated most of their past, but it ended up working out because they were solid players even if they didn't have all the experience behind them. But I'm not encouraging lying. The most reliable and respectable method is still to go up the rungs, apply to better guilds and stay with them for a bit, and then try to look ahead without burning the bridges behind you.

Jeremiah Leif Johnson: The next content patch is just around the corner, and it features two recycled instances and no new raiding content. Does this raise any concerns about future patches keeping you and your guild interested?

Xav: Not at all; we like time off. There will be kind of a long wait until we get new content, but it'll be nothing like the 11 or 12 months we had to wait through between killing the Lich King on heroic and the release of Cataclysm. We're not stupid -- we know this is a patch to sate the average player who doesn't raid.

Jeremiah Leif Johnson: What are some of the things that you'd like to see changed in the current raiding environment?

Xav: It's hard to achieve, but less exposure of the bosses on the public test realm would be nice. I want more surprises; Blizzard should find a way to blow up peoples' computers if they use recording programs like FRAPS or Livestream. I liked it when bosses were more mysterious, without complete videos and guides within days of a boss dying. But that's impossible to achieve since, well, exposure equals sponsors! Recruitment! Attention! But I can dream, can't I?

Jeremiah Leif Johnson: You've obviously been playing WoW for a while, and I imagine the same is true for other members of your guild. Have any of you ever seriously expressed any interest in migrating over to Rift or one of the other upcoming MMOs?

Xav: Quite a few people in our guild play every new game or MMO that comes out, and they all inevitably return. It's always "Yeah, it's missing this," or "It's just WoW, but with..." or something else. I don't think many people are playing other MMOs, because WoW is a phenomenal game. For us, it's the guild environment, being a team, and having done it for a while.

Jeremiah Leif Johnson: You bring up a good point about how long you've been around, since you're still going strong in an environment where most guilds come and go. Any tips for other guilds striving for similar successes?

Xav: From the get-go, Premonition has been far more modest than most of the other U.S. guilds that were competing for high-ranking kills, and we've tried to foster a much more mature culture. It seems to have paid off, as our extremely selective recruitment and trial process usually nets us really solid players that don't cause the types of problems we always hear about elsewhere. I know that's not something easily just "done," so I guess I'll just say "Don't be raging assholes."

Jeremiah Leif Johnson: One last thing: I couldn't help but notice, while looking over your armory profile, that you recently switched from human to Worgen. Mind sharing your reasons for that?

Xav: It's because I really liked the Worgen racial ability that gives you a short speed boost, and I decided I wanted it for progression.

Jeremiah Leif Johnson: Fair enough! Anything else you'd like to say?

Xav: Thanks for the interview and taking an interest in our guild. We're proud of our nerd achievements, and we enjoy playing together.

Leif Johnson is a former longtime member of the early world-class raiding guild Risen -- which, interestingly enough, was founded on the Alleria server along with Premonition. Leif misses those days, but he doesn't mind it too much, since he now regularly writes for several high-profile gaming sites. He likes sushi and paleography, and he loves having a wife who can kick his ass in Mortal Kombat. Check out what he's up to over at his blog or follow him on Twitter.