The Interviews: Saurfang PVE with Lotion (Alliance)

The Interviews are a series of one-on-one conversations between myself and the GM's/Raid Leaders of the guilds of Saurfang that are likely to feature in the race for PVE supremacy. They are designed to provide an insight into the community before the release of the Mists of Pandaria expansion and to generate interest in what is likely to be a fascinating next few months.

The next in my series of interviews was with Jepsen, the Guild Master of the relatively young guild <Lotion> (Alliance). After a turbulent beginning, the guild has settled nicely and boasts a roster more than capable of challenging for the number one ranking on the server. They also hold strong PVP ambitions, which pleases this writer even more...

Nastre: Mists of Pandaria is mere sleeps away. What's the general feeling in the guild like heading into the fourth WoW expansion?

Jepsen: It's hard to express how excited people are, I'm not sure if it comes from boredom of Dragon Soul and Cata or the fact that MoP looks so promising, but people can't wait. One particular person has told me how "keen" he is literally over one hundred times.

If I was to suggest this person was a certain Paladin that cried tears of joy when he killed Heroic Lich King on 25 man difficulty, would I be correct?

Haha, yes.

As a guild what are your ambitions for MoP in terms of raiding accomplishments?

We have talked a lot about the potential to get realm firsts. Many of our members have achieved them before and know the feeling and we would love to relive that more than anything. Personally it is not so much about being the best, but the thrill of the achievement and knowing you just spammed the server. But we realise there is strong competition from other guilds and we won't be surprised if we aren't first, but it is a nice aim to have.

Nothing like server spam to get the juices flowing! Give an overall impression of the Saurfang PVE scene and who you consider your main rivals for server first kills.

I would say our biggest competition would come from Blizzard Mentor Horde, there team is looking very strong and we eagerly await a competitive battle. In Another Castle have been very silent from our perspective, we don't know much about them but from what we have heard they will be competitive. We just don't know HOW competitive.

Lastly, for Horde <Photonics> is a bit of dark horse with a number of ex S-Key members. They are working on a team with the potential to be amazing and smash everything, or fall apart soon after MoP releases. They are a big unknown. No way to tell yet, but definitely a group to keep an eye on.

As for Alliance <As Is Tradition> is a strong team but they have lost a few members and may be struggling. The 25 man guilds will have an awesome race but I'm not sure how they will fare against the 10 man guilds. Getting 25 players together is a mission, but I would not rule them out completely.

So in the race between Ajantis and Ominous for 25 man glory, who are you backing?

Well I love an underdog story so it would be awesome to see Ominous pull ahead but as of right now I think Ajantis has a better group and more synergy. I know Ominous take a lot of friends to their 25 mans.

Good points, I know that race in itself will prove a talking point in months to come. The 10 man vs 25 man debate. What are your thoughts on the merits and future of each format?

When I came back to Cata, I didn't even consider 10 man raiding to be worthwhile. I barely considerd it real raiding, but after doing DS I realise it has its own individual challenges. A 25 man is far harder to manage with the inflated roster but there are advantages in terms of cooldown usage and a wider buff pool. This makes some encounters easier (but some harder as well).

While a 10 man is far easier to manage, you can carry 1-2 people in a 25 man, which you just can't do in a 10 man. Losing a player after using the single Battle Resurrection available can often mean a wipe during progression. Whereas I know from Wrath we managed many kills with 23-24 people alive.

It seems many are framing it as a battle between the individual challenge and larger team environment with 10 vs 25 mans. Would you concur with that comment?

Yeah, I'd agree with that to some degree, but I wouldn't take away the  individual challenge from 25 mans as well.

Cast mentioned the idea of a 15 man raiding format. What do you think of the idea? 

Yeah, when I read that in his interview I thought that was a great idea. 15 mans would be an ideal combination of ease of management stacked with the epicness that 25 man raids bring. A setup of 2 tanks, 4 healers and 9 dps would be awesome.

Next question. You have to choose one player from Saurfang, past or present, Horde or Alliance, and who is not currently in your guild to take in your raid (any class). Who do you take and why?

You already know what my answer will be <3 I've never raided with someone who influences the likliehood of a boss going down more than yourself. You inspire a raid like no other. Failing that because of your schedule, Id go with Quann (Hunter from Ajantis). 

That means a lot coming from someone of your calibre mate, really does. I hope to see the "new blood" write their own stories in Mists, will be fascinating to watch from my perspective.

Last question. Describe your guild and what you hope to achieve in MoP in three words"

Wow, that's hard. We have PVP ambitions as well as PVE.

For PVE, "Oceanic Top 10". It would be great to see Saurfang back in that elite bracket. It's more of a realm goal than just a guild one however. As long as someone from Saurfang can do it.

For PVP, "Gladiator, HoTA, Tealc"

Perfect summary. Thanks Jepsen. Lotion is a guild of ambition and it's going to be one of the must-see in the weeks ahead. Best of luck for MoP and hopefully we can do another interview a few months down the track.