Nihilum - Taking down even more bosses
by Krystalle Voecks 
May 27th 2007 at 4:01PM
There are a couple of hazards of being a blogger on this side of the pond. The first being that, when you consider one of the largest raiding guilds currently tearing through raid content is in the EU, there's quite a bit of time lag between when they take bosses down and when I sit down to run news postings. The second thing is that in the case of a guild like Nihilum, they've trained on the PTRs for quite some time and are thereby completely ready to tear through these fights and rack up the official Live Server World First kills in nothing flat. This said, as if to answer my progression post yesterday, Nihilum returned to Black Temple on the heels of their last string of accomplishments and took down three more bosses. First they turned their collective might toward Teron Gorefiend who dropped some quite tasty goodies. From there, they chewed up Gurtogg Bloodboil and spit him out. (again, not without snagging some sweet loot first!) From there, Nihilum headed for (and successfully tore down) the Shade of Akama for lots more nifty purple goodness, and another live server World First. While they did not finish the Essence of Souls event (pictured) they are hoping to return and knock that out in short order.
Now some of the reactions I got in mail the last time I posted a progression post for Nihilum raised an interesting question to me. If a guild goes on the PTR and learns the strategies there does that somehow lessen their world first accomplishment on live servers? It seemed like several people felt that the accomplishments were diminished due to having been done prior on the PTRs. Personally, I've got mad respect for those who blaze the trails -- whether on the PTRs or on Live servers, although I am nostalgic for when it was a bit more of a surprise as to who would do so. (One of the few downsides of the job, I suppose. heh)
[via Nihilum]
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Guilds, Odds and ends, News items, Instances
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Brasson May 27th 2007 4:13PM
Did they return to Black Morass or Black Temple?
Tim May 27th 2007 4:13PM
Every time I read about these guys, I'm reminded once again of the totally inverted and dumb Blizz approach of catering to the high-end raiders who live and breathe the game, and who are probably only a small minority. How about spending as much or more time for fun quests and rich areas for casual gamers? Yes, thanks for the new Skettis stuff etc, but really, lets have something massive and doable for casuals. I'm never going to see Black Temple or Mount Hyjal, and a lot of other people are in the same boat. And BTW, pardon me if I don't shiver in awe at the astounding game prowess of Nihilum.... /bitter
Krystalle Voecks May 27th 2007 4:19PM
/blush
That'll teach me to edit things at 5:45 in the morning after coming back from a party, won't it! ROFL! Thanks for catching that one. Got it fixed. :)
robot rock May 27th 2007 6:30PM
Tim I'm with you. I have zero desire to devote loads of time to raiding, but I still want to enjoy new, interesting areas of the game. Sucks.
Rich May 27th 2007 5:48PM
Meh
Oh wait, its the all powerful Nihilum... Woohoo...
Barnabas May 27th 2007 5:49PM
At least Blizzard wasn't handing the GM "Touch of Death" like candy on Well of Souls like they were on the prior encounters if your group was lucky to have one tag along. So, after downing the PTR PuGables, I can give more than a /golfclap for the accomplishment. In a month all will be beaten and then Blizzard will have to come up with moar content for these guys.
Also if you do a little reading on guilds like these forums. You'll notice a trend of mentions of 'hot fix nerfs'. Then suddenly after them. They get a kill. I am not down on anybody doing what they do well but Blizzard has made things very easy. Only cause the audience asked them to.
Chirs May 27th 2007 8:55PM
I bet if you gathered all the people in that guild together in a room you would find 1) 95% live in their parents basements, 2) would burn if sunlight hit them, and 3) women? what are those. It is a guild that requires them to sign up on the PTR and raid 6 days a week for 7-9 hours at a time. WTF? That's not a game that's a job. And why? So they can be the first one to kill a boss? I am sure when you are 70 and your grandkids are asking you what you did with your life, being the first to kill a Black Temple boss will be high on the list. Congrats you win at life.
Hybrys May 27th 2007 9:40PM
Ummm... You guys promote the worst stereotypes ever. If you'd listen to the Nihilum interview, you'd find that they are normal people, with normal jobs, normal houses, and semi-normal social lives... AKA not the greasy 20+ year old living in their parent's basement. They don't raid for 7-9 hours, and, when they do, they have fun with it.
Blizzard caters to the raiders because alot of people raid. They try to add solo stuff aswell, but, a suprising amount of people raid, even just casually.
Chris May 27th 2007 9:56PM
I am sure they found the 5% that are normal in that guild but considering the average for 99% of guilds at this point is that they are just now getting Magtheridon down I doubt that they keep 'normal' hours. There are guilds on the server I play on who have 5-6 day raid requirements who are not yet past the 2nd boss in SSC and these guys are trying to profess they are 'normal' and have multiple bosses in BT done? I will be you money thay my sterotypes you talk about are more acurate for that guild than the ones they tried to fake on the interview.
IKT May 27th 2007 11:05PM
@9 These guys are the best in the world. Not just the best on their realm.
TheTreasoner May 27th 2007 11:52PM
ZOMG RAIDERS ARE SMELLY PEOPLE WHO LIVE IN MOM AND DAD'S BASEMENT! BLIZZARD ONLY CATERS TO RAIDERS.
What is wrong with you people, seriously? Yes, clearly because someone is good at a video game (particuarly an MMO) it means they have no other life besides said thing, and clearly they still live with mom and dad. Wake up and smell the coffee. They're from the EU servers. Realistically they're probably more in shape and better off than the half dozen people who posted here decrying them. I swear, people are haters.
As for the "zomg only caters to raiders". What are five man instances? There are Black Morass, all of the 5-mans in Tempest Keep (that's three), Shadow Labs, Shattered Halls and Sethekk Halls (argue all you like, its considered lvl 70 for heroic-ness) plus the heroic versions of these. To boot they just added Sha'tari Skyguard, Ogri'la and Etherium Prison stuff. That's at least ten (more like seventeen with heroics) things to do at level 70.
What is there to do for raiders at level 70? Karazhan (which is argueably casual now, its so easy), Gruul's Lair, Magtheridon's Lair, Serpentshrine Caverns, The Eye, Mt. Hyjal and Black Temple. That's seven. Ten more for casuals. And if you say, "But... but... those take up more time!" Well no shit. You're casual. You only have one or two hours on at a time anyway.
tuxthepenguin May 28th 2007 12:15AM
@#11: You have one major fallacy with your argument: raiders also have access to everything casuals do. So, really, raiders have 7 MORE things to do than casuals.
However, all that said, I think the arena has done wonders to keep the gear gap minimal. THe fact that you can suck at arena long enough and still get the gear keeps raiders from descending down Mt. Hyjal and whooping everyone and everything. Remember the last days before the expansion? You hit a premade in T3, you lose. Period.
Now at least you have a fighting chance.
Only other complaint: why do raiders only get to experience the headline lore advancement? I get Ogri'la! Wow! I want to know what's going on with Kael and Illidan... ya know, the guys I played in Warcraft 3?
Rich May 28th 2007 1:53AM
God this is getting old... Everyone needs to stop whining.
Casuals: There are people who play the game alot more than you can or will. Deal with it. You have plenty to do. If you can get or make the time to experience the content then go for it. Otherwise, STFU.
Raiders: No one really cares if who you down or what gear your have. You have more time to do things and you have access to more stuff. You get access to the best gear because you work (and I emphasize that) for it. Enjoy your gear and the challenge and STFU.
Now I will say, the new factions are a freaking joke. The only reason to do it for the mounts. I personally am not going to waste my time for it, since there are no rep rewards that will do me any use and I am not interested in the mounts. There are people that will be and that fine, but still change the fact the rewards suck ass.
Chirs May 28th 2007 2:21AM
The fact of the matter is that you do not get THAT far ahead of the curve without spending MORE time at it than most people. You do not get ahead in school by being a casual student. You don't get ahead at at work by being a casual employee. And you do not get that far ahead in this game by being a casual raider. If you think that they are casual raiders that just happen to be that good then you are either misinformed or you are fooling yourself to make your casual raiding guild feel better you still have not killed the Prince.
The thing is, it's not hate, it's pity. Pity that they joined a group of people that think being the first to kill a boss in Black Temple is the best thing ever. Step outside, go for a walk, hang out with friends, when you look back at your life and list all your accomplishments not one thing in the top 1000 should have anything to do with a game you played online.
If you think they are casual you should ask them sometime how often and for how long they raid in a day or a week. Don't be surprised when they tell you 6 days a week and 5-6 hours those days.
That is all. Game over.
Tyy May 28th 2007 5:52AM
I think one issue for most casuals is that Blizzard spends a lot of efforts and casual's money to extent the game in areas, which the casuals will never, never see, but would love to experience.
Personally, I would like to set foot into Mount Hyjal or Black Temple, just to see it and play the encounters once. But the non-soloable attunements do not allow my friends to take me along, even long after the instances would be on farm.
I can live with it, but I think there's a mismatch between the effort in development and accessibility to the general player base.
Narugh May 28th 2007 7:09AM
#17 That was pretty common practice of all end game guilds at that point, mainly because Al'ar was only based on luck, spreading out and eating meteor and ressing removed the luck part. Because if one of your offtanks got a meteor then it was a wipe, just what happened on the second kill by that other guild. They just got al'ar down though before the were overrun.
I know "casuals" that spend as much time on this game as some members in Nihilum, they are just not as dedicated and while you have idled in Shattrath for 2 hours and then wiped in Shattered halls for 3 hours then Nihilum and similar guilds have cleared SSC and The Eye, and that is one day.
Barnabas May 28th 2007 7:56AM
#18 Yeah I have requested a removal of #17 post or I will offer a correction in this post to my thoughts.
I rather not single them out cause I am aware of other guilds that use the same tactics. Personally, I prefer clean kills. You go in the encounter and everyone brings their A-game. Yeah things happen in end game. I am a tank in those situations and the spike damage can be pretty bad from crushing blows and no single or multiple heals can keep you up or a meteor falls on you. So I do know where you are coming from. I just don't think stacking soulstones on the entire raid is using any skill. You wipe. You were unlucky. Deal with it! You can always try it again. I suppose a kill is a kill though. Still cheap in my eyes though. :/
I don't spend my time idling in Shattrath when I play. I tend to group for raids on new content and I still even play the classics. I also enjoy playing PvP as much as possible as well. Arenas are another source of amusement, though I still don't know why Gurabashi hasn't been opened up for Arena play? I guess they want to keep the classic chest runs and not mix that area with the Arena tournament. Though a flat circle would be ideal for certain arena teams. =)
I have gotten pretty far on the PTR myself on Hyjal and Black Temple. Enough practice that I have the pulls down pat and know what to expect. So I can see how groups that organize can get through that content really fast up until Well of Souls. The GM's left groups hanging after, which I think, is a good thing. Yeah, it leaves things untested but offers a challenge to actually figure it out live as opposed to the free-for-all attitude that we had on the other encounters. Yes, I agree that the encounters should be tested but at the same time we lose the mystery if we get to practice on it for weeks. I walked away from the PTR with that thought in mind.
I still don't think BC has brought to the table what Pre BC did in the challenge department. All the nerfs have made kills very easy. I do like the luck aspect though and we should've kept that besides screaming nerf. Naxx was still the most thought out instance yet. It'll still wipe a 70 (flasked 60) raid if you screw up. So should we scream nerf now cause maybe that place is still tough? I have been on a 70 MC run and the Baron still wiped the raid because the bombs wouldn't run away. Should we scream nerf because that boss will wipe your 70 raid? Chew on that. BC is cakeland if people in the raid can do their job. Even without all the big nerfs. You don't even need to play 12 hours a day. Things still happen but the encounters aren't THAT hard. =)
Theserene May 28th 2007 8:34AM
I say congrats to that guild!
And the rest complaining about it? Sounds like sour grapes to me. Jealousy because someone does something better than you is not attractive.