Why we wanted to interview these guys? Well, because they are the world #1st guild and we wanted to hear some of their opinions regarding Cataclysm and the current raiding content. But don't worry, we didn't speak only about raids, you can find a lot more info about Paragon.
I want to thank once more to Verdisha and I hope you will all enjoy reading this. We also wait for your comments and reactions.
Wowjuju: Hi there. I’m Luci from Wowjuju.com. First we would like to get to know you. What’s your position in Paragon? What class do you play and stuff like that...
Paragon: Hey, I am Verdísha. I play a fury warrior and I'm also the third tank of the guild, so if a tank is needed to kite or tank multiple adds on bosses, I'm the guy for the job. Don't have warrior tanks so I'll do the stuff warriors are best fit for.
Wowjuju: We’d like to know how did you guys prepared for the Cataclysm raids. Have you tested everything you could on the Beta realms? Did everyone speed leveled? How was it? Can you give us some details?
Paragon: Well of course. We raided what we could on the beta and we tested everything that was available in the public testing. As of how we prepared for cataclysm, well of course we wanted to do it as fast as possible, and I do think we leveled fast for sure. Some people had prepared better than others, but there was nothing like "guys we need to be the fastest lvl 85s in the world".
Wowjuju: Any of you got some Level 85 Realm First?
Paragon: Yes. We got Realm first of every class. I got realm first warrior for example
Wowjuju: Hehehe. That's great. Grats!
Wowjuju: With Cataclysm, a lot of guilds are focused on the 10man raids only. What made the guild decide to continue with the 25man raid?
Paragon: We had 34 or so members at the start of Cataclysm, made no sense to raid 10 man, 25 man is where the "glory" is at, at least this is how most of the top guilds feel anyways.
Wowjuju: Figured. Most of the people aim for 25 glory. I just had to ask to be sure
Wowjuju: What Cataclysm encounter was the first real challenge for Paragon? And why? Do you think that the Ultimate bosses were the "meanest" ones?
Paragon: Hmm, hard to say actually. I think Valiona and Theralion was the first "hard" one we did and, no, in my opinion the end bosses weren't actually that hard, just very bugged.
Wowjuju: Guess you speak mostly about Lady Sinestra here. Right?
Paragon: All end bosses were. Nefarian, Sinestra, Cho'gall, Al'Akir... All of those we had to make new tactics for after first kill, because blizzard had flaws in their design.
Wowjuju: Let’s say you are on a progress raid and you first see that boss. Who is going to work on the strategy? Do you have some specific people who are very good at this or is everyone coming with ideas and then you put them all together? How does it work exactly?
Paragon: We have a lot of good players in guild, everyone tries to put in as much as they can. It's easier to see things with eyes of 25 than 1
Wowjuju: Well put.
Wowjuju: If you could choose right now, what raid would you pick? Would you go back to WotLK? TBC? Vanilla maybe? Or do you think Cataclysm raids are the best so far? I know we only scratched the surface of Cataclysm raids, but still…
Paragon: I think Cataclysm raids have been the worst ones.
Wowjuju: Why is that? Because of the bugs?
Paragon: Raiding 12hrs a day for nearly 2 months wasn't even so much fun anymore. No gating, just pure grind, and horrible bugs everywhere. I would much prefer WOTLK gating with Cata difficulty of bosses, then it would be even more about skill and would have more to do other things than just grind a boss for hours.
Wowjuju: But if it weren't for the bugs? You still think Cataclysm ones are the worse?
Paragon: Well yes due to the massive time consumption it took.
There shouldn't been some sort of gating system, not 13 bosses available. Only like 5 at a time, for example. Then 2-3 weeks farm, new set and so on. So wouldn't have had to raid nearly 2 months 10hrs a day.
In WotLK, they implemented limited attempt bosses. Like ToC, 25 tries and you are done for the week. Now it was just pure grind. 13 bosses and no time limits, no gating, nothing. Just playing hardcore for weeks to get all world firsts
Wowjuju: That's true. I wonder how come they didn't implement it on Cata raids too. That's the exact reason they put it in in the first place. To avoid situations like this.
Paragon: Yeah.
Wowjuju: Oh well, maybe in future raids. We shall see.
Paragon: Hopefully something different.
Wowjuju: If you were to make a top 5 cruelest encounters designed in 25 man raids (as in dps/healing/tanking requirements, tolerance to mistakes, overall tactic complexity) which are the ones that would you choose?
Paragon: Mimiron heroic pre-nerf, was really tough.
I'd say M'uru in Sunwell was a hard one as well.
LK heroic was tough. Like really quite hard. That's why we were the only guild to kill him with the 5% buff.
Then I'd say Al'Akir heroic pre-nerf.
And Atramedes heroic pre-nerf.
Not really sure what the order would be but all those came to my mind.
Wowjuju: Nice top 5
Paragon: Sadly, there are only 2 end bossed in this list.
Wowjuju: How do you handle the amount of applications? How many people apply actually? Even if you are a Finish guild, I bet there are still a lot of people who send you their applications.
Paragon: Well actually I don't know so much about this, but let's say, if u don't have something to show your worth in the first place, you won't even be considered.
I'm not a very old member of Paragon, so if u want to know I can tell you how I got in.
Wowjuju: Sure. This would be interesting.
Paragon: I have been in paragon since ICC heroic modes. I was taken for an interview since my class was needed, I played a feral druid back then.
Things which made me worth considering:
2x #1 title from arena. Meant I must have some decency in my play.
I already was in a top 10 guild when applying to Paragon. So hardcore raiding wasn't new to me.
Wowjuju: PvE guild considering arena titles... this is nice.
Paragon: Well, u need skills in arena as well ^^. Can't be no keyboard turned in arena, especially if you are "the best" ^^
Wowjuju: True, I don't deny it.
Paragon: I was also #1 on most encounters in WorldOfLogs as a feral druid. This obviously showed that dps wise, which was my role, I was a top player...
I was also a leadership type person, so I always will put in my 2 cents when they are needed when we do raid and especially on new encounters.
Wowjuju: Well, if you were a top player means this was your ticket in actually.
Paragon: Yes of course, but these are the things we do check when people apply. Because we don't actually know who is top and who is not. Everyone says they are insane and pro, but if you don't have anything to show, you are worthless.
But these are not the only things we consider, these are some things that do help. I mean you don't have to have high PvP ratings but, if you do have them, they will help you.
Wowjuju: Yeah, but you need something to prove your skills.
Paragon: Yeah definitely. Logs, for example, are good. Your gear and gems also shows a lot of what you know about theorycrafting.
Wowjuju: Nice to know. I guess the Paragon applicants should read this...
Wowjuju: Now, after you cleaned up everything what are you guys plan on doing? I don't really think you'll just wait for the new content and that's it ...
Paragon: Well we are farming content to gear up with best equipment for next content and we will also gear up as many alts as we can, since they can be very useful in the future in case Blizzard will fail with class balance once again. But are raiding only few days a week now.
Wowjuju: Hehe. Blizzard will read this too, you know? Guess they won't fail again... but who knows.
Paragon: Hehehe
Wowjuju: What do you expect from the future Cataclysm raids? I guess Paragon will still aim for the world firsts. Am I right?
Paragon: We'll aim for #1 and actually we will be #1! I'm confident with that. We expect great competition and hopefully we will see some new amazing mechanics.
Wowjuju: I guess everyone wait for amazing mechanics. Especially the old players.
Paragon: Yeah definitely.
Wowjuju: Is there anything else you’d like to add? Some words to your sponsors? Friends? Rival guilds... heh? Any words of advice for any raiders out there?
Paragon: Great thanks to Asus and Steelseries, and some advice for those who want to become the best: always strive for it, don't be satisfied for less, it's a lot about mental attitude, you will one day be #1 if you really want it ;>
Wowjuju: Well, I’d like to thank you for your time and I’d like to wish you good luck with the future raids.
Paragon: Thank you as well.
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(i know, i know i could just go to elitistjerks^^ but its always good to hear some thougts from the best players out there at least for me^^)
