In what is probably the last "first" post I'll be making until we get to tear into
Wrath (my money's on November, by the way),
Deus Vox (Laughing Skull-A) has gotten the US first kill of
Kil'jaeden (
SK Gaming achieved the world first three days ago). Congratulations to Deus Vox! Glad to see the North American realms stepping up, even if it does take us a few days. Anyone have any speculation on why the European realms are usually ahead of us?
Their loot was:
And, presumably, some Sunmotes and Badges. The winning raid here was two druids, two hunters, one mage, two paladins, four priests, three rogues, five shamans, three warlocks, and three warriors; for more details on this and Armory links,
check World of Raids.
This makes, as
WoR notes, four KJ kills without any drop of
Thori'dal, so maybe there is one more "first" post in the making after all. The world-second and third kills were scored by
Method and
Nihilum, both European guilds and both yesterday.
Tags: 25-man, deus-vox, first, guilds, raiding, sunwell, sunwell-plateau, swp, tweet-this, us-first
Filed under: Guilds, Raiding, Bosses
May 27th 2008 at 1:00PM 
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Godless_angel May 27th 2008 1:04PM
I'd just like to also point out that hand of the deceiver has dropped for every guild so far.
Richard May 27th 2008 1:45PM
Yeah, you're not the only one who noticed that. I really hope it's a fluke, and it's not one of those items that has a super high drop rate. :/
CvijaFaQ May 27th 2008 1:56PM
Random chance?
Blasfem May 27th 2008 1:06PM
They look alliance to me.
Eliah Hecht May 27th 2008 1:08PM
Er...yes, thanks. I must have been thrown off by the Tauren in the screenshot -- Orb of Deception, maybe. But it wouldn't really be a news post from me without some sort of factual error, now would it?
kain May 27th 2008 2:33PM
mmm.. are you sure that this screen is not fake? look deeper..
Milktub May 27th 2008 1:12PM
"Anyone have any speculation on why the European realms are usually ahead of us?"
Europeans get more vacation time.
Lenina May 27th 2008 1:26PM
I don't think there's any particular reason that EU guilds down stuff before US guilds. The better players just happen to live in Europe. Or maybe the individual players just happen to be able to spend more time raiding (for whatever reason, i.e. working from home, etc)
madgoat May 27th 2008 1:41PM
Europeans have to have a job to have vacation time ;) I kid, I kid!
But I agree there isn't anything inherent that makes Europeans better at WoW than Americans. I wonder what the average age of the people in top American and European raiding guilds are and whether or not they are students or have full time jobs. In all seriousness Europe does have a higher rate of unemployment, especially among those in their 20s out of school, than America. I am 27 and don't really have the time to spend on WoW as a second full time job to hold down a place in T6+ raiding content. I work in the high pressure environment of American business where 50+ hours a week is the norm, not happy socialist 35-40 hour weeks plus vacation time (not that I'd complain, as long as I had a job).
Jay May 27th 2008 4:28PM
Sweden.
PeeWee May 27th 2008 5:02PM
Working 50+ hours a week? Why should I? Living here in Sweden, it's perfectly possible to work 15-20 hours a week at an average salary job and still have money for an apartment, good food, clean clothes, a 100 MBps connection and all the rest you need. You don't live in luxury, but who needs luxury when you've got T6?
Vibber May 28th 2008 7:16AM
In general, Europeans works less hours per week and less days per year than North Americans. This is no crack at them, god knows we all would like that deal.
Takamuri May 27th 2008 1:40PM
My theory is more flexibility with their schedules, KJ came out earlier than a lot of people thought it would. I don't know how alot of their jobs work for vacation time, but in the US quite a few jobs require an earlier notice of when your going on vacation.
We spent around 40-50 hours on Kil'jaeden, about the same as the other guilds who got the kill. Just we werent able to raid early in the day or go too late on most nights, and we didn't raid at all on Saturday :p
Wolftech May 27th 2008 1:42PM
That 3 hour lunch break they take may have something to do with it...
Silkath May 27th 2008 3:12PM
Ever been to Europe? Or more importantly had a job here?
Also you talk about Europe as a homogeneous region whereas it has greater diversity than any other region of comparable physical size. I raid in a guild with guys from 6 different time zones (including South Africans and guys from Dubai) who have 10 different first-languages (though we all do speak English.) It's pretty hard to describe 'Europe' with any particular traits cos it's just so different from place to place.
con-man May 27th 2008 3:48PM
Dubai and South Africa aren't in Europe
PeeWee May 27th 2008 5:11PM
"Dubai and South Africa aren't in Europe"
No, but they play on our servers.
JPN May 27th 2008 1:46PM
I would assume there's more to it than "no particular reason" - even if it is just schedules or something. It's not like it's a 49/51 split...I can't back it up with numbers but it seems like most world kills are Euro. Maybe just a different mindset? Play style? Cultural thing? Who knows....
ermansup May 27th 2008 1:48PM
According to wikipedia Europe has more than 2 million players while the United States has more than 2.5 million and Asia about 5.5 million. Slight advantage there for US compared to EU. However the group of players that have any serious chance with first kills is so small that it is almost completely a matter of luck which region happens to have the best raiders. US had better odds to get them with having half a million more players (56% vs. 44%), but EU ended up "beating" the odds, for now atleast.
What's up with Asia? Do they get updates at the same time?
Kolo May 27th 2008 4:27PM
Chine got TBC in September 2007.