Race to World First Day 2: No more world firsts, but much more competition

About twenty guilds have hit 4/8 Mythic in Nerub-ar Palace, but no one has killed Broodtwister Ovi’nax, the first boss these raid groups haven’t steamrolled over. Ovi’nax is an interesting encounter that seems to take a lot of cues from Broodkeeper Diura in Vault of the Incarnates: Ovi’nax is in a room full of eggs, which you need to break in a controlled fashion to kill the add spawns. Throughout the encounter, Ovi’nax will break open canisters of black blood that will empower the eggs (and adds that spawn from them), so you have to clear those eggs consistently or you’ll get overwhelmed with powerful adds… on top of everything else this worm throws at us.

Ovi’nax doesn’t necessarily feel like a hard wall, but it is the raid’s first challenge. Here are the highlights from the Nerub-ar Palace Race to World First on day 2.

Team Liquid gets Ovi’nax down to 24%, but that’s still a lot of health to get through, and the team may need more gear to bring that number down. Other guilds are closing the gap, but Liquid remains in first place.

Echo is catching up and progressing on Ovi’nax too, not having any trouble with those first bosses. They’ve zoomed past other guilds working on Ovi’nax to reach second place, but as of right now their best pull is 43%, but the team is nearing the end of its raid day.

End Myth is proving Chinese guilds are in the race. Raids in China open two days after they open in North America, and while there are plenty of great Asian guilds they’ve never been likely to take world first. World of Warcraft just returned to China this expansion, after Blizzard struck a deal with NetEase and Chinese authorities to bring the game back to the market… with an unusual perk for raiders. NetEase is offering any Chinese guild that wins the Race to World First a ¥1,000,000 prize, and End Myth is putting in a serious effort to claim it. The team rocketed through the first bosses and is currently sitting in third place, with Ovi’nax at 62%. To make such speedy progress, the guild skipped doing heroic splits and blasted right into Mythic as soon as the raid opened. It’s put the group among the top guilds for now, but could slow them down later.

Honestly wants to prove that Oceanic guilds are in the race, too. While raids open for Oceanic servers on the same day they open for NA servers, Oceanic guilds typically don’t hit the top tiers. Honestly has claimed a number of Oceanic World Firsts, but in Aberrus an Oceanic First was an only a World 10th. Honestly is progressing on Ky’veza rather than Ovi’nax — at this point in the raid, you can choose to go to either of these bosses, but most went to Ovi’nax, with the conventional wisdom being that Ky’veza is the more difficult. Honestly has gotten the boss down to 75%, and it will be interesting to see whether they keep working on Ky’veza or decide to switch to Ovi’nax.

The state of the race

Current Nerub-ar Palace rankings

1. Team Liquid (4/8), with 24% on Ovi’nax after 77 pulls
2. Echo (4/8), with 43% on Ovi’nax after 25 pulls
3. End Myth (4/8) with 62% on Ovi’nax after 96 pulls
4. Method (4/8) with 65% on Ovi’nax after 20 pulls
5. Honestly (4/8) with 75% on Ky’veza after 40 pulls

Bosses killed: Ulgrax, Bloodbound Horror, Sikran, Rasha’nan

The top five paints a very international picture, but a lot could change over the next 24 hours. When I write these in the morning, it’s also about the beginning of the day for North American teams and a closing in on the end of the day for European teams, which could give Liquid time to cement a lead after Echo and Method head to bed. But with End Myth pushing hard, it may be that none of the typical top teams can rest easy.

Want to watch along with us? Here are the streams to follow to watch the Race to World First live. You can also go back for our coverage of day 1.