The race to be the first World of Warcraft guild to complete the final raid of the game’s Shadowlands expansion on the highest difficulty is finally over, and it was a doozy.
Most WoW Mythic World First races take about a week of near-constant attempts by the world’s top WoW guilds. That was the case with the two previous raids in Shadowlands. The race to bring down the Jailer and complete Sepulcher of the First Ones on Mythic difficulty took a grueling 18 days, with the victory eventually going to European guild Echo with a raid composition of two tanks, five healers, and 13 DPS. Echo also claimed World First in the previous raid, Sanctum of Domination.
It is done!@EchoGuild is your #RWF Sepulcher of the First Ones champion! 🏆 pic.twitter.com/ofx5vemTNG
— World of Warcraft (@Warcraft) March 26, 2022
It’s important to remember that this isn’t a walk in the park. Top guilds competing for the World First title push themselves to the limit, playing on a near constant basis in order to claim the title. Players in these guilds have been playing 16 hours a day since March 8. The fact that the race went on for over two and a half weeks means that all the players involved are likely exhausted. The current runner-up for Sepulcher of the First Ones, Liquid, took a break over the weekend following Echo’s victory, citing mental fatigue. They will attempt to defeat the Jailer this week.
One extra wrinkle mythic raiders had to contend with this time around was the fact that the mechanics of the raid’s final three bosses were largely a mystery. Players are usually able to test upcoming raids and mechanics on the game’s public test realm, but Blizzard purposely excluded the Lords of Dread, Rygelon, and Jailer boss encounters from the PTR ahead of launch. That meant guilds had to rely on datamined and incomplete information to formulate their plans.
Even bosses included on the PTR, like Halondrus, gave raiders a run for their money, with Liquid making 357 attempts before the boss was finally defeated. The Jailer himself had a secret phase that was only revealed once the boss was reduced to 10% HP, giving guilds yet another challenge to overcome as the race started winding down. It took Echo 277 attempts on the Jailer to finally claim the World First title.
While the race was longer than usual, there have been longer World First races. Back in 2017, it took 19 days for a guild to defeat Kil’jaeden on Mythic difficulty. Sepulcher of the First Ones is the final raid of Shadowlands, and while the game will be getting a Season 4 that will repurpose previous raids, it will likely be a while before a new World First race. Blizzard is set to reveal WoW’s next expansion on April 19.
Source: Gamespot
