Ed interviewed!
Karfhud: Hey there Ed, introduce yourself first.
Ed: Hey, I’m Ed, Guild Leader of Fallen Legion since the guild was formed in October 2005. Also Main Tank and Raid Leader. 
In real life I’m 28 and work as marketing specialist in e-commerce business.
Is WoW the first online game you played?
Not the first one by far, I’ve been gaming online regularly since 1997 (damn, I feel old now). I’ve been a big fan of Blizzard games since Warcraft 1, I played Diablo 1 online before it was destroyed by hacks, I used to play Starcraft quite a lot as well (and obviously Warcraft series too). My first MMO’s included Everquest and Anarchy Online, but Dark Age of Camelot was the first one that really sucked me in (played it for 3-4 years if I remember right).
How did your WoW-career evolve?
My WoW experience goes back to U.S. Beta in 2004. I loved it, so did most people from my old guild. We decided to officially move with the whole guild from DAoC to WoW, so I started playing on U.S. retail servers on day one of the release, which was 23rd November 2004. Played there for almost a year, progressed through Molten Core and started Blackwing Lair. However, none of us predicted how many problems time difference will cause in WoW (wasn’t such a big deal back in DAoC). This ultimately lead to most of our european players moving to EU servers.
Let’s move to Fallen Legion. How was it created?
Fallen Legion “started” from a private message I got, that contained a link to an announcement on Blizzard boards, about new English PvE server being opened. The timing of it was absolutely perfect, for several reasons, so I thought it’s the best time for a fresh start. As an interesting side note, I’ll add here that I originally wanted us to be Horde guild, and even had Ed created as Orc Warrior for very short time. It’s funny how different everything could have been.
What was the most difficult time FL had to live through?
We had some major problems shortly after Burning Crusade release. After our initial early progress we had to go through several lockouts without the ability to do 25-mans at all. However, we managed to rebuild the guild, and once we got our first Gruul kill (which was one of the major turning points), things started to look much better.
Right now you’re the top guild on our server, with just Kil’Jaeden left to beat – did you expect that your progress will be that good or did it just come along the way?
If someone told me 2 years ago this is how things will look like today, I would probably think he’s crazy.
I did have long term plans back when I rerolled on Nordrassil (I always plan everything long term, that’s just how I am), but I never really expected we’ll be in the position we are in today. It just came along the way.
Sunwell Plateau is an instance that most of us will never get to see. Tell us, how does it feel to explore the very end content of TBC? How do the bosses differ from the MH/BT ones?
Progressing through Sunwell has been very satisfying (despite all the frustrations the zone can cause), each new boss kill was a great feeling. We put absolutely crazy amounts of work and gold into M’uru and into Sunwell overall, and had lots of very frustrating evenings in Sunwell. However, our first M’uru kill was something I won’t forget for very long time (and I’m sure I’m not speaking just for myself). It was definitely one of the most memorable moments in WoW. For me personally, it’s worth raiding for the few awesome nights you’ll remember for years to come.
As for second part of the question. Sunwell is a significant jump in difficulty compared to Mount Hyjal and Black Temple. Personally I think it’s bit too harsh, the transition from Black Temple to Sunwell could have been a lot smoother than it is. Nothing in Black Temple can even begin to compare to Sunwell bosses. Kalecgos is already a lot harder than Illidan, and on M’uru, if one person in the raid makes a mistake (or disconnects), you wipe.
SWP demands a lot of focus, everyone needs to bring their A-game. How’s it looking in FL time-wise? Do you tend to raid well over the raid-time limit, turning more into a “hardcore” guild, or you prefer to take things slowly?
We raid at our own pace and always did. We currently raid 21 hrs/week and our schedule changed very little since the guild was formed. Our raids very rarely go past midnight. As FL’s Raid Leader, I’m quite sure I can count the times I pushed raid time significantly past midnight on one or two hands (not counting extending raid time by few minutes to finish the last boss attempt). I make it a point to only extend raid time in exceptional situations. We will never turn into a “hardcore” guild that raids 30+ hrs/week.
Kil’Jaeden itself – some say it’s a truly epic fight, others – like Kungen from Nihilum – state that it’s not really up to the expectations. What’s your opinion on this boss?
I have very mixed feelings about this one. On one hand, when I tried the fight personally for the first time, I couldn’t shake the feeling I expected something more. On the other hand though, if you asked me what exactly I expected, I’d have a hard time answering. The boss looks great, his facial expressions are quite awesome, the fight is long and epic, it has unique elements, and voiceovers are great… so technically there really is nothing wrong with the fight itself and Blizzard done a good job with it. Maybe it’s partially the fact C’Thun was one of our last major kills before TBC, so perhaps I expected something comparably unique from the last boss fight I’ll experience before WotLK, but got a fight that still feels like tank and spank in the end.
WotlK is gonna hit the servers in a month’s time. We’re gonna see a huge change to raiding – each instance will have a 10 and a 25 man version. Do you think it’s a good idea, or will it gimp the unique 25man raid experience?
I think it’s a great idea for many reasons. Small guilds will love it, obviously. Larger guilds will benefit from it as well, it means more things to do for everyone, extra places to gear up in, and something on par with your current 25-man progress to do if you have a worse night and can’t field a reasonable 25-man raid. There was lots of negativity back when Blizzard first announced TBC will not have any 40-man raids, and while it’s not exactly the same situation, I really see no reason to panic. Also, from what I’ve seen so far, WotLK will not lack challenges, for those of us who like them. Completing Glory of the Raider achievements for example (which includes clearing Naxx with 0 deaths or killing all 4 horsemen within 15 seconds of each other) sounds at least as challenging as progressing in Sunwell to me.
Imagine yourself being one of the key developers of WotlK. What would be the main 3 changes you’d try to
implement?
- More unique fights like C’Thun that try to move away from tank and spank schematic.
- Implementing all future Legendaries in similar way Atiesh worked (get lots of semi-common drops and start a quest), instead of very low % chance to drop.
- Stop trash from respawning during the raid, even if it means making it harder. Make it respawn only after soft reset (like Twin Emperors trash in AQ40) or not respawn at all (like C’Thun trash).
Favourite boss?
Hard to name just one. I would say C’Thun, with Vael and Kael’thas as runner-ups.
Favourite instance?
Dire Maul before TBC.
Favourite class?
Warrior obviously.
Least favourite class?
Played most classes in the game to at least level 60, so none really.
Jenna Jameson or Briana Banks?
Both?
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