[WoRBot]

Frostshock (a Hungarian WoW blog) interviewed the two leaders of SK-Gaming

. Questions: Csulok & Hancu. Answers: Mackzter & Mekon



So first of all grats to the Kil'jaeden first kill! You've been behind Nihilum for a really long time, what do you think was the turning point that made you guys gain lead? What do you think changed in the guild?

• Well for starters we never really took the race as serious as we do now, but for Sunwell we really prepared ourselves to be more competetive and the whole guild already had that mentality automatically so :). Nothing really changed in the guild, its just that me and mek and also the other leaders made sure that people understood what our goals were and that we'd do everything we could to achieve them.

 

So the morale change was the most important factor in your opinion?

• The morale change and a bigger focus on trying to become the best guild.

 

The time you spent raiding at M'uru and Kil'jaeden was incredible, 40+ hours over 4-5 days. How do you manage the guild during this time? what are your guildmembers doing IRL to be able to raid so much? how much support do they get from families, school and employers?

• I can't believe we hear so much whine about this, I guess its just because I'm young and live in Sweden. But I can't really see any job where you can't take 10(?) days off over a whole year just to play, you have vacation days and its up to you how you want to use them. People ask this question all the time and I just don't get it :) Its only during progress, and now when we've killed Kil'Jaeden for example we'll be going back to raiding 2 days a week or so at normal times, Its a hobby and if you want to be the best at the hobby you think is fun you can afford to take some days off to do it.

 

How much did the M'uru and Kil'jaeden tries cost in terms of repair and consumables? how did the guild bank handle this hard time?

• Not that much in repairs, we had the guildbank pay everything and we still have ALOT left so its no problemo on that part. However consumables cost alot for each individual, but it was the 2 most important bosses which we've been waiting for over 12 months so it was well worth it :). We have alot of free time now to save up for the next expansion aswell so its not going to be a problem at all really.

Next question is about sponsorship. Can you tell us more about how it really works? how much help you get from them? Also there are some wild theories out there on the forums about you guys getting payed for raiding, premium for first kills, there's also the famous "Meanwhile at the Sk Office" video

. So how much of these rumours is actually true? :)

• Haha, there's no way SK or Mousesports(that sponsors Nihilum) can afford to pay 30 active raiders each and every month. The thing you get from sponsors can be guildmeetings, a bit of hardware and stuff like that which is really really nice. And also you get the chance to send a few people to new events and so on. Can't really talk about everything but I think you get the idea. About first kills and so on, of course first kills are worth more to lets say SK or Mousesports so we are definatly going to fix a guildmeeting this summer!

 

Looking back over the "Sunwell Barriers" as Tigole likes to call the gate system, what's your opinion of it? good? bad? did raiding progress gain anything from this system?

• Before Sunwell everyone thought it would be absolute garbage since everyone thought the bosses would be as easy as in Hyjal or Black Temple (Most of them atleast), but they turned out to be sooo hard and soo demanding. If there wouldn't have been gates guilds would have burned out I think, I think the gate system turned out to be very good, the only flaw with it is that US gets it 1 day ahead of EU basically. After a 4day raiding session it is really nice to have 3 weeks relaxing I tell you. (Until the next gate)

 

It was interesting to see Neg on the killshot. can you tell us a bit about the recruit? do you know what the drama was that made him leave his previous guild? Our knowledge is very limited about this.

• Well I can't really comment on the state of his old guild Nihilum, but he wasn't happy there and was looking for a new guild at the same time as we needed a shaman so it worked out really well for both of us I'd say.

 

What's your guess about the number of guilds that can defeat M'uru and Kil'jaeden in their current form, or before the wotlk talents are patched into the live realms? (13 guilds killed muru before the casting time interrupt fix, and another 15 since then)

• Kil'Jaeden probably not that many, sure the topguilds will kill it in time but it is such a demanding fight from everyone in the raid WITH a couple of random elements which makes it even harder. M'uru I'm sure alot of guilds will kill since its mostly a dps race with tactic involved. I'm not saying Kil'Jaeden doesn't require a perfect strategy because it surely does, It is definatly the hardest and the most demanding fight ever, Everyone in the raid needs to really be on the ball so to say.

 

How was the "rp" part of the Kil'jaeden fight and the stuff after it? we know from datamining, that a fair bit of talking is involved between Anveena and Kalecgos, the little lady sacrificing herself eventually. How epic was the fight in terms of lore? Also how was the event after the fight? Again from datamining we gathered Velen and Lady Liadrin talking a lot about the blood elf paladins and the things they did with the Naaru. Aside from the conversation's transcript, we dont know much about the events. Can you tell us a bit about the events?

• To be honest I wasn't really looking too much on the event afterwards, I was more out tabbed fixing news and stuff like that hehe. You'll see when we release the movie though and it was about 10minutes long so :) Pretty epic I'd say! The death scene looks really cool aswell and after the whole event you can see the Sunwell.

 

So you promise we'll see this in the movie? Excellent!

• Yes for sure, we had quite a few that frapsed the fight so you'll see it soon!

 

How much of the tactics is spoiled in the movie and the different POVs btw?

• Well its not done yet, but you'll see the fight basically. The boss is SO hard and SO demanding from everyone as I said so its not like you can watch the movie and go in and one shot him, thats for sure! We'll have 3(?) different POVS I think.

 

After M'uru and Kil'jaeden - the two ulimate boss encounters in the Burning Crusade - where do you see boss tactics evolving in terms of increasing difficulty, complexity, executing the tactics perfectly? Or it's pretty much maxed out and only new mechanics can increase difficulty?

• I was really amazed they managed to tune M'uru so well, I was almost thinking that Kil'Jaeden would be easier since it hadn't been tested at all on the PTR but it turned out to be even harder! Lets just say our expectations after these 2 fights are really high and we're hoping for even better fights. I think they are trying to make personal skill more important more and more.

 

After seeing and defeating everything possible in game, what is your top 3 favourite encounters in the expansion?

• M'uru, Kil'Jaeden and Magtheridon. While Kil'Jaeden can be REALLY frustrating it is a really nicely tuned fight. And Magtheridon because of the cubes of course :D

 

Do you realize that Nihilum's "haegemony" lasted for 5 tiers and exactly 25 months? Does it make you guys especially proud or you were not concerned about stuff like this at all? only the world first?

• No I did not, I was sure we could beat them for Sunwell. They were still our main threat though hehe, but yeah it feels better to break their streak for sure!

 

Any last words? Shoutouts?

• :o)

Thank you so much for your time and congratulations once again.

[torchill]

Cool.

[Biteme]

Cool interview

Will be nice to see exactly how many guilds that are capable of killing him in a near future

[Quaalude]

Well with six months of no new content in terms of raiding, a lot of bosses SHOULD be able to kill him.

[Endonyx]

6 Months depends on the release date of Wotlk

[Chrono]

Nice interview

Have fun for the next 6 months of nothingness <.<

[Ideon]

now we wait for Nihillum's interview when they down KJ

[pungpillaren]

IF they down KJ

[Quaalude]

Endonyx said:

6 Months depends on the release date of Wotlk

6 Months Max. It won't be later than December... even by Blizzard standards.

[stormgust]

I wouldn't call 5 shamanen nicely tuned. Especially if you consider, that the less wanted classes (druid/mages) got even worse "class calls" then the already more represented classes... (with druids being the hardest probably, thanks to the awesome raiddamage the moonfire provides on your raid )

[QuiSiLoR]

Nice Interview, good to see some fights will require near perfection. We all know by the time a lot of guilds get there if they do he will be toned down.

SK Gaming can go on farming him for a while now.

[mjmorrell]

Fantastic Interview. It answered just about every question I would have for them!

[stesolid]

pungpillaren said:

IF they down KJ

Myeah, because that's been an issue before.. Oh wait, it hasn't.

I guess Nihilum got a bit unmotivated.
After 20-something world firsts it can't seem that important anymore :>

But yeah.. gz, or something, to SK GAMING on KJ ;p

[Xentropy]

"I can't believe we hear so much whine about this, I guess its just because I'm young and live in Sweden. But I can't really see any job where you can't take 10(?) days off over a whole year just to play, you have vacation days and its up to you how you want to use them."

Yeah, because everyone can walk up to their managers and say, "Hey, the gate just opened in the US! I need a week off to slay a virtual dragon, starting right... NOW," then walk out the door... right? I wish my job's vacation policy was that lenient.

[Krematoria]

Xentropy said:

Yeah, because everyone can walk up to their managers and say, "Hey, the gate just opened in the US! I need a week off to slay a virtual dragon, starting right... NOW," then walk out the door... right? I wish my job's vacation policy was that lenient.

You're saying you cant ask for 2days off from work when you know 3-4works beforehand when you need that time off? Or call in sick or w/e?

[Cartina]

Really nice interview, love the questions about KJ and the event, looking forward for it myself.

Regarding the vacationdays, don't see why this causes confusion among people. As far as I know most countries in the western world got laws on vacation. How people choose to spend their vacationdays is up to them. Some use it for a 2 week vacation in spain, others use it to get some time relaxing at home.

In this case, they used vacationdays to get time to do their biggest hobby. Gotta agree here, can't see why there is so much whine about this.

[swift_killa]

Nice interview, but he sounds like one ignorant person. Never really liked SK gaming or nihilum, but nihilum have had world firsts for the last 2 years, and to be honest, thats much larger achievement. And when guilds beat them in one instance and state "Now we've proved we are the best" (which... uhh.. they clearly aren't), it really says a lot about the attitude of their members.

Thats my opinion, anyway. Get offended and rage-reply if you want, but I really don't give a shit.

[Visanideth]

Krematoria said:

You're saying you cant ask for 2days off from work when you know 3-4works beforehand when you need that time off? Or call in sick or w/e?

More or less, yes.

Any adult worker with a relevant job won't be able to take 10 or more days off work in a 5 week period to get "first kills".

But honestly the fact that you're actually suggesting the idea of "calling in sick" (something that not only can get you fired if you're caught doing it but is also a legal fraud in most countries) speaks volumes about your maturity and approach to real life responsabilities. Sorry to be brutal, but that's the truth.

The kind of mentality displayed in this kind of arguments is showing you're more serious about your hobby than about your work. Most people who actually do something meaningful on their workplace don't have the priviledge to call it off (or sick) when they want to because they tend to be actually useful on their workplace and they work on schedules.

By using this kind of argument, you're just fueling the stereotype that all hardcore raiders are either working at daddy's place or warming hamburgers.
I honestly would respect you more if you said "i'm a college student and I just miss my lessons/exams/skip my part time job when it's progress time" than actually implying that you magically manage to get 2 weeks off every month a new instance is out or you fraud your employers to play a game.

[Visanideth]

Cartina said:

Regarding the vacationdays, don't see why this causes confusion among people. As far as I know most countries in the western world got laws on vacation. How people choose to spend their vacationdays is up to them. Some use it for a 2 week vacation in spain, others use it to get some time relaxing at home.

I think the perplexity of most people who actually work is based on the fact that they know how those "vacation laws" work. It's not like you say "boss, I'm off" and you go.

Working people have a set amount of vacation days each year. You're not free to decide when you go off (ie, you must find an agreement with the employers) for obvious reasons. You can't just go and say "ok boss, I'll skip the 3 weeks of summer vacation and do them on March" because it's not like the boss can "keep the shop open" on summer just for you. "Work iz zerious businezz" if you want, but the kind of oversemplification people puts in this kind of arguments makes those who actually work suspicious about the fact that said people ever actually did have a job and asked for days off.

Personally I've had to refuse workers 5 days off for their long awaited US trip because the work period and schedule couldn't allow me to go on without them. I think it's the same in most workplaces - and I doubt all hardcore raiders are so "expendable" on their workplaces that their bosses go "oh, you need this week off too? no problem" all the time.
But who knows.

[neeshman]

Visanideth said:

More or less, yes.

Any adult worker with a relevant job won't be able to take 10 or more days off work in a 5 week period to get "first kills".

But honestly the fact that you're actually suggesting the idea of "calling in sick" (something that not only can get you fired if you're caught doing it but is also a legal fraud in most countries) speaks volumes about your maturity and approach to real life responsabilities. Sorry to be brutal, but that's the truth.

The kind of mentality displayed in this kind of arguments is showing you're more serious about your hobby than about your work. Most people who actually do something meaningful on their workplace don't have the priviledge to call it off (or sick) when they want to because they tend to be actually useful on their workplace and they work on schedules.

By using this kind of argument, you're just fueling the stereotype that all hardcore raiders are either working at daddy's place or warming hamburgers.
I honestly would respect you more if you said "i'm a college student and I just miss my lessons/exams/skip my part time job when it's progress time" than actually implying that you magically manage to get 2 weeks off every month a new instance is out or you fraud your employers to play a game.

There is something terrifying about this reply. And thank god there are people out there who manage to get their ass out of the drudgery to achieve "meaningless" stuff like world first kills for absolutley no reason at all. Except they just want to.