RWF Guild Spotlight: Method

With BlizzCon and Patch 10.2 around the corner, the Race to World First (RWF) for Amirdrassil is on its way! Today, we chat with Cayna, Cruella, Danwarr, Speed, and Hannah of Method to learn more about their plans for Amirdrassil, their roster changes, and more.

Table of Contents

“Every new tier, our preparation gets stronger, our performance improves, and the confidence of our entire roster grows. We go into every new raid planning to play our best, and at this rate of improvement, eventually our best will secure a World First.” –Danwarr

Q-1: Hi! It’s a pleasure sitting down with you today and looking towards the new tier. To kick us off, what is the best part about competing in the RWF on site?

Cayna: The on site experience and meeting so many friends you only get to see every so often IRL is always fantastic. The atmosphere is great and it’s really what it's all about for me.

Cruella: Hi! It’s a pleasure for me too. Getting together with my teammates, whom I've been playing with for a while, is the best part of competing in the RWF on-site. The atmosphere during the race and the moment when we kill the last boss, yell and hug, truly make for unforgettable memories.



Q-2: What’s the first thing you do after arriving at the RWF venue?

Cayna: If we arrive on the same day, I say hi to everyone! I say hi to my co-workers and the venue staff and get shown around so that I can get going with the work.

Cruella: The first thing I do is configure everything on my PC (although I do greet people first, of course) – this includes setting up my WoW UI, stream-related components, and more. I ensure that I have everything I need such as my mixing table for my stream and all the necessary elements to play properly as well. After completing all of this, I feel more secure – that’s why I do it first!



Q-3: Do you have any superstitions or traditions during the RWF? Anything funny to comment on from the last RWF?

Cayna: When the tier is done, we party. We had some great drinking games after the race.

Cruella: I put on my slippers and shoot an arrow at Tom (Wildi). Ah, and also I place a cat figurine at each raider’s desk.

Danwarr: I don’t have any real superstitions – I’m not really a superstitious person but I do have a selection of 4-5 songs that get played on repeat at a very high volume when we’re getting close to a last boss kill.

Speed: No superstitions. As for traditions, noon break naps are much needed in sustaining stamina for a long race – my friend Wildi is my partner in crime for this one 😀! One thing that I can’t wait for is the traditional day before the raid release gym session with the Method boys! 💪

Hannah: Similarly to Dan, I have a few select songs which I will put on as we approach a boss kill – they get the adrenaline and hype flowing. When I was in BDG for the last RWF, funnily enough, Naesam (BDG’s Elemental Shaman) and I believed we would not be in…so when we came in on the same boss and eventually killed Sarkareth together, it became a running joke to say “Buff MW/Ele” daily. I’ve already started spamming Method with it too. Also, having a “good morning/good night” channel always puts a smile on my face, as some of the GIFs are great.

“Amirdrassil looks to be more fleshed-out than previous raids when it comes to testing, featuring great boss designs all around with the obvious standouts being Smolderon and Tindral Sageswift.” –Speed

Q-4: We’d love to hear more about your upcoming RWF plans for the next tier. How has raid testing been going for Amirdrassil? Do any of the bosses stand out in particular?

Cayna: Raid testing has been great. The guild (and our raid leader Biff) really stepped up again. There are a lot of cool bosses. Tindral was a freaking amazing fight. Smolderon was also really fun.

Cruella: RWF testing has been quite promising for us, except that we're still awaiting the promised Blizzard fix for Volcoross – please, Blizzard! I believe our guild is well-prepared for the upcoming tier and fully ready to blast. Tindral stands out particularly with his Dragonriding phases that are, I think, well-balanced.

Danwarr: Raid testing for Amirdrassil has been great once again. We’ve had another step up in terms of the quality of our testing which has been going from strength to strength with every passing tier. The whole raid looks great from an encounter perspective. Not many bosses stand out in a negative light and multiple bosses are looking incredibly fun to play – particularly Smolderon and Tindral. There were a lot of doubts about Tindral specifically since he seemed like quite a gimmicky boss with the Dragonriding but it looks like it’s being pulled off in a very positive way.

Speed: The plan, as always, is to improve and compete with Echo and Liquid. We have taken a step in the right direction and massively closed the gap in Aberrus, and now we are looking to take the next step and aim for those top 2 spots 👀. Amirdrassil looks to be more fleshed-out than previous raids when it comes to testing, featuring great boss designs all around with the obvious standouts being Smolderon and Tindral Sageswift. While the design of Smolderon and Tindral is amazing, tuning is the key in making them great, so I can’t wait to see how it pans out. One wild card for now is Nymue, as we are not sure exactly what direction they will go with this boss and it looks like they aren’t either 😅.

Hannah: I’ve enjoyed testing; it’s been constructive and fun to try out new things on Mistweaver since there already are multiple builds which could be viable. Smolderon looks to be an incredible boss, and it really gives me that “Sludgefist-esque” nostalgia. I am very excited to see Fyrakk on live. I wish we could still test the end bosses, but it is quite enjoyable to sit there and brainstorm how the encounter will play out.



Q-5: Who would you love to see as a final boss in a raid? Are there any WoW villains that you would like to eliminate?

Cayna: Honestly, I've been so out of touch with lore that I don't have anyone in mind. I just want a really cool fight

Cruella: For the end of Dragonflight, if there is a Season 4, I would like to see Galakrond or Nozdormu as the last boss of the expansion.

Danwarr: Denathrius absolutely needs to make a comeback in a big way. It’s clear there are bigger future plans for him since the effort was made to keep him around in the story, albeit in “sword jail”. He’s by far one of the most interesting and charismatic villains since Garrosh and it would be great to see him get involved again. I’m also interested to see what happens with Iridikron going forward. As long as the build up is done right in the lore, he could become an interesting character.

Speed: The looming presence of Galakron throughout Dragonflight really made me wonder if we are going to face such a massive villain? Father of Dragons, The Beast, The PRIME EVIL! Who wouldn’t wanna face such a mighty foe?!

Hannah: Well, I am really hoping for some sort of void raid with Xal’atath and perhaps even N’Zoth: I like the idea that the Nya’lotha storyline didn’t result in his true demise. Other than that, Sargeras! I imagine the latter is far more unlikely or destined to be fought in the far future, but he has been the “big bad” for a long time.



Q-6: In an ideal world, which would have a higher fun factor for you: Raid testing on PTR or going in “blind” into a new raid and RWF?

Cayna: Blind 200% and it's not even close.

Cruella: Going “blind” into a new raid could be really interesting. It would force players to quickly adapt and experiment with various strategies to defeat bosses. My only concern would be the tuning and potential bugs of the bosses if we don't test them beforehand because we won’t provide Blizzard with data.

Danwarr: Personally, PTR testing is more fun for me. Getting a small window to start piecing together the puzzle of each boss fight is a nice hint for what we’ll get when it eventually hits live. I also believe that PTR makes the race more fun from a viewer perspective during RWF as well. Without the PTR, the painstaking process of blind testing each boss (and time being taken to develop necessary WeakAuras or other Addons) is put out in the open and will just slow the race to a crawl. I like that we don’t test the final boss, though. That kind of hype is fine to stay.

Speed: Personally, I would love to see a raid release without testing. So much excitement is lost because we get to see whole bosses on testing, even if they change by the time they go live. Figuring out bosses from scratch on the fly would add another layer of skill to RWF. This further extends to the topic of a global release – having the raid release at the same time for all regions would be great for more potential ideas and tactics to come to fruition, which would lead to more fun for both players and viewers.

Hannah: I think it would be exciting if the PTR didn’t allow us to test and guilds had to blind prog individually – it would be very chaotic, but this is obviously from a pure “fun-allowed” perspective. Of course, there is already an element of strategizing, but imagine the diversity if all the bosses were untested.



Q-7: What is the most important thing you do personally to prepare for the RWF?

Cayna: IRL? I get enough sleep and establish a good sleep schedule. I want to be motivated and be ready to blast. In game…well a lot less now that I am external and not competing as a raider, but I make sure everyone is on the same page and all things are organized.

Cruella: My sleep schedule is the top priority in my RWF preparations.

Danwarr: Making a good playlist is pretty high on the priority list before each RWF – although, during Aberrus, I might have just yoinked Fragnance’s playlist instead (thanks Jmy <3).

Speed: Getting a good sleep schedule is my absolute top priority. Prior to Vault of the Incarnates, I slept 2 hours which greatly affected my performance and mood during the race. I cannot overstate how important it is to get proper sleep before the long raid days during the race. Leading up to the race, I always make sure that all the boxes are checked in terms of class research, boss mechanics and UI 😎.

Hannah: I try to make sure that my sleep schedule is adequate far in advance. Also, I actually like to try and relax, whether that be something like a spa-day or a brief weekend holiday. I find that disconnecting momentarily prior to the intense race really helps me feel refreshed and raring to go. Other than that, I do a lot of meal prepping!

“I feel as though everyone truly cares about their classes and has incredible insight and knowledge. I have learnt a ton about other classes that I otherwise did not know, and I think this open communication is super healthy for the guild.” –Hannah

Q-8: What’s the Method Roster looking like for 10.2? Any new faces or players changing roles?

Cayna: Yeah we kinda stole like the entire BDG healer team (sorry Lozy). We had a lot of players quit due to burnout or IRL (a lot of healers) Crazy/Kali/Pima all left due to IRL, so we needed a lot of new healers. Luckily, some healers from BDG approached us who are EU players, and they did not really enjoy raiding on the US schedule. We also lost some DPS players but got some new DPS players.

I’d say the biggest change in our roster is that we have a new tank. Tief will be playing their first tier with us in place of Morana, who stepped down to work more in the backend for us again.

Cruella: The Method roster looks strong and well-prepared for Patch 10.2! Although we did lose a few players, we've also brought in some highly promising new recruits. The most significant change is our entirely new healer roster, but I have every confidence that this team will shine!

Danwarr: Once again, our roster looks to have stepped up in overall strength going into Patch 10.2. Our healing roster has an almost entirely new look to it, which is quite spooky at times but seems pretty good as things stand. We’ve also recruited a new tank in Tief, which has allowed Morana to take a step back into a more supportive role. This gives him the opportunity to dedicate significantly more time to WeakAuras and other Addon support, which is a massive boost to our team performance. All in all, our roster has possibly the best coverage we’ve ever had going into a race which could prove incredibly valuable this race.

Speed: The core group of officer team and dps players have been together for a couple of tiers now and this has and will be a major factor for us to improve and build upon what we have accomplished in previous tiers. Coming from Patch 10.1, we have made changes to our healing roster: Three of our healers have stepped down and we recruited Crystalize, Hannah, and FTM to the healing roster, which is looking extremely promising. Another major change was the addition of Tief as a tank which allowed Morana (big brain) to focus on outside the raid position as our WA/Addon support. Our class coverage has never looked better, and we are excited to show our best in the upcoming race! 😍

Hannah: Well, almost the entire healing roster is full of new faces. All of us have previous experience in the RWF together, so I think that adds an element of familiarity. I feel very comfortable sitting there with the healer group after every set of PTR patch notes, and I think having that pre-existing bond is really crucial. Morana is now working on WeakAuras full time, and trust me when I say that I have just a few already in mind!

I feel as though everyone truly cares about their classes and has incredible insight and knowledge. I have learnt a ton about other classes that I otherwise did not know, and I think this open communication is super healthy for the guild. I have been told that multiple people feel confident in this roster going forward, so I am very excited to see how we do.

“Losing valuable players to other guilds is always a tough experience, but I do believe that no one is indispensable. It also allows us to recruit and discover new talent.” –Cruella

Q-9: Given how many roster changes you’re going through for the upcoming tier, we’d love to chat a little more about the difficulty of losing players to other guilds and circumstances. What is your mentality around losing strong players and how do you search for new talent/recover?

Cayna: Players come and go and that’s been the case ever since I've started. We’ve never had a tier where we did not “lose” someone. It's demotivating as hell, to be honest. It legit eats you up and makes you wonder why you even do this. We barely lost players to other guilds this tier but the biggest thing is honestly just IRL and burnout. Farm is brutal and boring – the time commitment is insane and the rewards are not the biggest due to WoW being an insanely difficult space to begin with. New talent comes from everywhere. Lower ranked guilds, people returning, friends of friends of friends, etc. They often will reach out and apply and sometimes we make that push for them.

Cruella: Losing valuable players to other guilds is always a tough experience, but I do believe that no one is indispensable. It also allows us to recruit and discover new talent. We usually recruit people through Twitter and the Method website, on top of speaking about it on stream.

Danwarr: Losing players is never enjoyable whether it’s to other guilds or external factors. The positive with external factors, at least, is that maybe there is a chance these players could make a return should their circumstances change again. Losing strong players in particular is a negative but it has to be stated that a raid group is 20 players, with full rosters being significantly more. Losing 1 strong player is not an unrecoverable loss. Losing some players hurts more than others but it’s always recoverable. When it comes to recruitment, the vast array of backgrounds in our guild means that there’s a lot of connections with many players who could show interest in raiding at a RWF level so generally word-of-mouth or opinions of certain players matters the most.

Hannah: Losing a great player is hard. Unfortunately, competing in the race can be incredibly time demanding, intense, and taxing. If it is necessary for the player to step down, it is sadly understandable. Thankfully, there is a lot of talent still looking to play in the race. Often, people are scouted via word-of-mouth, meaning that those players usually have quite a lot of trust vested in them. Even so, there are often great players that have vast potential who apply and join that way. I believe that the mentality essentially has to boil down to one of true resilience. Method will continue, no matter what.

“We have a joyful and playful atmosphere. Many of our members have a knack for finding humor and fun in even the most mundane situations, which makes interactions with them enjoyable and lighthearted. This ability to have fun and maintain a strong bond in the face of challenges is remarkable and shows our true resilience.”
–Speed

Q-10: What do you see as your strongest traits as a guild? How would you define the culture?

Cruella: I believe our strongest trait as a guild is our ability to laugh and joke a lot. It makes the atmosphere really positive and warm. We are also good at recognizing when it's time to concentrate and maintain a quiet and focused environment during challenging encounters.

Danwarr: The atmosphere is absolutely the strongest trait of Method. We’re absolutely capable of having fun during the race while simultaneously knowing when it’s time to put our heads down and go full focus. Naturally it is still a high pressure environment so situations CAN occur but these are generally dealt with quickly, efficiently and without any hangover.

Speed: We have a joyful and playful atmosphere. Many of our members have a knack for finding humor and fun in even the most mundane situations, which makes interactions with them enjoyable and lighthearted. This ability to have fun and maintain a strong bond in the face of challenges is remarkable and shows our true resilience.

Hannah: As I discussed previously, Method’s level of open communication is highly helpful. I feel as though I can go to any one of our members and ask anything. I’ll end up receiving an essay on all the nuances and intricacies of the answer to my question, which is fantastic. Furthermore, the atmosphere has been really great. Everyone has been kind, and I’ve really enjoyed the jokes during farm. I know that when the time comes, we will be able to fully focus but also still have a good time during progression. I also know that I can rely on Kwepp to come out with some of the funniest things I’ve heard in a while.



Q-11: How do you integrate new members into your guild? Do you have any cool or fun rituals?

Cayna: Nothing in particular, I'd say. Memes and funny gifs always do the work. I think everyone is almost always “nervous” the first 2 weeks, but after that, it really quickly becomes normal. During the first call I have with new people when I introduce them to Method, I try to make it clear that we are just a guild and you can be yourself.

Cruella: The whole guild welcomes new members on Discord and TeamSpeak. I personally like to trade some grey quality items to people during raids :D

Danwarr: We don’t really have any rituals in terms of integrating new members. Generally, it’s a case of, “you get out what you put in,” and some people can run with that very quickly while others will remain quiet for some time. No one will ever be completely ignored or ostracized. The general guild atmosphere seems to help new players settle in relatively quickly, especially with so many strong personalities around.

Speed: One of our strongest traits is our ability to make everyone feel welcome and included. We embrace diversity and are open to new members, creating an environment where people from all walks of life can come together and have a good time. That being said…Personally I like to test our “fresh meat” by trying to assassinate them with mechanics during the raid. This shows if they are truly up to the task. 😈

Hannah: I always joke that having to play Mythic+ with (Skåne) tanking was definitely my initiation ritual. I have never seen a 200% count in a dungeon until I geared up my demonic alt characters with his help. It’s quite funny how it’s a running joke within Method – run when you see Skåne tanking! As a new player, multiple people have reached out to joke with me, assassinate me on Amalgamation, and then proceed to give me Spatial Paradox as an apology, etc, All of this has made me feel more welcome (paradoxically, I know). I’ll rock up to raid and receive Blubbery Muffins and random grey items from different people, and it makes me smile. Generally, everyone has been welcoming and kind so far.

“We intend to keep improving each tier. Last tier, we had glimmers of moments where we overtook Liquid/Echo on certain bosses. If the trend continues, we will be in for a freaking good race.” –Cayna

Q-12: Do you have any closing thoughts to send us off with to get us hyped for Method’s plans and presence in the coming tier? Anything related to BlizzCon?

Cayna: We intend to keep improving each tier. Last tier, we had glimmers of moments where we overtook Liquid/Echo on certain bosses. If the trend continues, we will be in for a freaking good race. BlizzCon is gonna be super awesome with a lot of Method people going. I think it’s about 11 guildies, 3 staff members, and the PvP team. I’m also really excited to see how the Guild Clash will play out!

Cruella: I feel like we are getting really close to Echo and Liquid – this tier could be a huge success for us. On top of that, I’ll be challenging Lorgokz to an arm-wrestling match the next time I see him (and win of course). I’ll be competing in the Guild Clash event at BlizzCon with Method! It’s going to be an incredible experience for me as it’s the very first time I am going.

Danwarr: I’ll be going to BlizzCon for the first time ever and competing in the Guild Clash event! I’m super excited to be going and seeing all of the hype in person instead of through a screen. As a guild, we have taken some great steps forward every tier since the rebuild in Castle Nathria. During Aberrus, we were biting at the heels of both Echo and Liquid at various times, being the only other guild to kill Sarkareth in the same reset. Every new tier, our preparation gets stronger, our performance improves, and the confidence of our entire roster grows. We go into every new raid planning to play our best, and at this rate of improvement, eventually our best will secure a World First.

Hannah: Well, I am looking forward to attending BlizzCon (hopefully!) for the first time ever. I am super excited to meet a lot of my friends from Liquid, Method, BDG, etc.! I have watched Method grow from the outside over the tiers, and it is incredibly exciting to now be participating in the race with them. Watching them reassess, improve, and grow has been very impressive. Being able to potentially truly compete with Echo and Liquid is an exciting prospect, and I am really looking forward to the next tier.

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