There are a lot of complexities to Race to World First guilds, yet they have a lot of similarities to regular guilds. Recently we sat down for a chat with three of Method’s guild officers, Bangerz, Djjohn and Kina, to find out more about the challenges, responsibilities and excitements of running a Race to World First guild!
Introducing the Method Guild Officers
We understand that some of you may not be familiar with our officers, so we’ll begin with a short introduction!
Starting with Djjohn, our raid leader. Raid leading a guild competing for world first is quite different from your regular raid leader as Djjohn calls the shots externally, without being in the group himself. He does so by monitoring different points of view shared to him by the raiders as they fight the boss, taking away the stress of having to shotcall whilst dealing with mechanics himself.
Bangerz carries out a different job, being the officer who’s responsible for ranged DPS research and understanding the meta going into each tier. Additionally, Bangerz keeps track of the raiders' attendance through various spreadsheets and actively works to ensure the raiders maintain a high raid attendance.
Kina mainly works with the logistics of the guild which includes organising boosts, theorycrafting open world content to find useful items and tricks for the Race to World First, all whilst being a core healer for Method. In addition to his primary duties, Kina often finds himself attending meetings as well as assisting with healer specific theorycrafting for the upcoming raid race in Dragonflight.
What to Expect as a RWF Officer
When asked what a regular work day looks like Kina expresses that it’s very seasonal, explaining that there’s quite the difference of workload during and in the lead up to the Race to World First compared to when the raids are on farm.
Djjohn emphasises that one of the most difficult aspects of being an officer during the Race to World First is keeping the raiders mentality in check as it is easy for negativity to snowball when you’ve been raiding for over 14 hours. Bangerz highlights that because the progression days are usually very long, it is important for the entire team to maintain healthy routines in order to keep their mental stability. This means encouraging raiders to eat healthy food, regularly stretch, move around and get a decent amount of sleep during the breaks as it is vital for the entire raid team to maintain a high level of gameplay performance during the marathon that is the Race to World First.
Although the officers specialise in different roles, they work closely together as a team, often finding themselves collaborating to organise raids and planning for what is yet to come. Kina underlines that teamwork has been absolutely essential, especially during stressful weeks leading up to raid launches. Sometimes there are difficult calls to be made and it is important for the officers to support one another, listen to the raiders and make decisions that benefit the team.
Although it has intensive periods, Kina states that it is a dream come true to work within his favourite hobby and that it was very satisfying to leave his job at the time and work full time within gaming. Djjohn shares similar thoughts and expresses that it feels extremely rewarding seeing your work pay off as an officer and as a team, hinting at the progress Method has made throughout Shadowlands.
The Method Officers on the Future
The end of Shadowlands has been exciting for Method following the world second Jailer kill in the Sepulcher of the First Ones. Bangerz mentions the recruitment of several new players to the raid roster following 9.2 and is thrilled to see how they perform in Vault of the Incarnates, the first raid in Dragonflight.
Continuing with Dragonflight, we asked whether the officers would like to see any changes to the raiding scene in the future.
Our raid leader, Djjohn, quickly stated that he would like for the need of external help to come to an end, highlighting that it takes tremendous amounts of energy to organise 20 split runs as it requires the guild relying on help from players who are not racing themselves. He continues by expressing his sincerest gratitude to the community for all their help during Shadowlands, but hopes that the reintroduction of Master Loot in Dragonflight will eventually phase out the need for external help.
Bangerz states that he’s eager to see global raid releases during Dragonflight, expressing that it would be incredibly exciting for both the raiders and the audience to see all the guilds start the race at the same time. Djjohn agrees, saying that a global release is something he would fully support “even if it means having to start raiding at midnight”.
The Method officers are excited for Dragonflight considering the progress the raid roster has made throughout Shadowlands, and hopes to continue making strides as a guild, raid team and organisation!
