While several well established guilds from around the world will be vying for world rankings, Wowhead is once again partnered with Team Liquid to provide raid graphics and Dressing Room character models for participants and viewers alike! We're still rooting for everyone though, and are excited to track of all the community achievements during this epic race, so we've put together a list of the top guild and community hosted events, coverage, casters, charity fundraisers, and more.
Wowhead Coverage
As usual, we will be providing our own coverage of the race, with frequent articles highlighting first kills, group compositions, hotfixes, strategies, and any surprises along the way. As a part of our coverage, we'll also be consolidating information from across the web, including all the different streaming viewpoints, as well as compositional information from Raider.IO and WarcraftLogs, so be sure to check our recaps each day to see how the race progresses!
All of our Race to World First Coverage will be linked here, including each world first kill, major tuning pass, unexpected hotfixes, daily recaps, and more!
RFW Livestreams and Coverage
Midnight Season 2
Unlike Season 1, the second season of Midnight is back to a consolidated eight boss raid with just one Hall of Fame. While The Tidebound Grotto Lair also features a Mythic difficulty raid boss, it does not have a Hall of Fame achievement and does not formally fall within the Race to World First... though it is likely that the majority of guilds will clear it multiple times for extra loot.
For more information on the raid, check out our detailed guides:
The Venomous AbyssThe Venomous Abyss Rewards
North American Guilds
Continuing an unbroken streak of world firsts in The War Within and Midnight, Team Liquid continues to provide an expansive event, with the majority of the guild and eight community casters livestreaming together to provide laughs, commentary, Q&A sessions, player highlights, and more!
Team Liquid
Following up on a fifth place finish in Midnight Season 1, Instant Dollars is pushing to keep their long-running streak alive as one of the few remaining North American top 10 finishers.
Kads PoVMilli PoV
Reclaiming their spot at the top with a world 9th finish in Midnight Season 1, the world's foremost Oceanic guild continues to make the most of their relatively light 20 hour raid schedule. While not putting on any consolidated event, several raiders will be streaming their individual PoV from down under, as they try to hold position within the top 10.
Jordo Monk PoVEroka Warrior PoVWark Priest PoV
Ashflash Mage PoVNox Death Knight PoVZorthas Shaman PoV
Alezeta Mistweaver PoVFist Priest PoVChazzehh Hunter PoV
European Guilds
Continuing to finish second place throughout The War Within and Midnight Season 1, the European frontrunners still put on a first class show, with twelve raiders and seven casters livestreaming together in support of the Games for Love non-profit organization.
Echo Esports
Once again holding steady in third place, Method popularized livestreaming the Race to World First and shows no signs of ending more than two decades of raiding excellence. They'll have 12 community casters providing non-stop commentary in what promises to be another big show.
Method Team Channel
Taking world 6th in Midnight Season 1, FatSharkYes has historically avoided the pageantry of Race to World First events, preferring to simply do what they do best by focusing on their own gameplay and progression instead. This lack of official events doesn't mean you can't enjoy their point of view though, as some of their players will be streaming from their own Twitch channels, consolidated on their team stream.
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FatSharkYes Team Stream
Founded early in Shadowlands, Advance broke into the top 20 during The War Within, climbing to an impressive world 6th finish in Manaforge Omega. They've since extended their hours and increased to a seven day raid schedule, taking them to world 7th in Midnight Season 1, with only room to grow.
LoozyAndybrewSpeedLazelElbroViklundAdvance Team Stream
Falling to 11th place in Midnight Season 1, Synergy is looking to bounce back into the spotlight with a big lineup of players streaming their PoV.
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slaw4ikWarriorsarridapsi
vinadoronokenaplonki
Asian Guilds
Often forgotten by players in the west, Chinese guilds also compete in the Race to World First, starting another day later behind EU. Despite this handicap, Chinese guilds are highly competitive, routinely taking up 3-5 of the top 10 spots.
With the Chinese-exclusive official monetary prize still gone unclaimed, NetEase's Thunderfire Games announced that the ¥2.2 million RMB cash prize planned for the Patch 12.1 Race to World First will be reallocated to the wider player community. Despite no longer dreaming of usurping the top three, the region's top finishers are still being recognized with a Chinese-exclusive Hall of Fame, awarding physical trophies to the first 50 Chinese guilds to clear the raid on Mythic difficulty.
Formerly known as 火锅英雄 (Huoguo/Hotpot Hero), concerns over the outlook of the Chinese race pushed the World 4th finishers to secure a new sponsor, rebranding under a new team name featured in the Chinese web novel Infinite Terror. Though unconfirmed, rumor has it that their new sponsor is actually a private US-based backer, providing $100,000 USD in funding.
Priest healer Huangquan
Reformed from the ashes of Skyline, Identity made their debut with an 18th place finish in Manaforge Omega and followed up with world 10th in Midnight Season 1. Now, they plan to replicate the major race to world first events of their western counterparts with a structured livestreamed show, including community commentators on their official Douyin account.
Identity Team Stream
Breaking into the race to world first with a 9th place finish in Manaforge Omega and 8th place in Midnight Season 1, JSUUG is a relative newcomer compared to the more established Chinese guilds, but has shown to be very formidable.
Previously known as 佶天鸿 (JiTianHong / JTH), the guild claimed 5th, 7th, and 8th in the War Within, but since lost their sponsor, resulting in the guild to renaming after their raid leader, Zhou Zhiruo. Though they will still be raiding, the team will not be pushing heavy progression this season.
ZZR Raid Leader
Although they haven't announced any particular coverage for this coming tier, Dungeon Dojo frequently hosts its own Race to World First coverage, featuring a wide variety of casters and highlighting guilds such as Honolulu, Northern Sky, Undaunted, Nascent, Prydaz, and Laget. Stay tuned, because we suspect the multiplayer community will have some commentary this time around as well.
Dungeon Dojo on Twitch
Other Coverage
If you're looking for other coverage on the Race to World First, check out some other sites!
Raider.IO
As usual, Raider.IO will also be posting their own coverage of the Race to World First, with analytical articles, opinion pieces, lore summaries, and guild spotlights, as well as their handsome embeds helping keep track of each guild's ranking and progression!
Read on at Raider.IO
Warcraft Logs
World of Warcraft analytics website Warcraft Logs continues to offer players a deeper dive into the damage, healing, and death statistics to give readers greater insight into the race. Their Competition Mode progress board has also returned to show encounter progress, group compositions, pull counts, and latest victories; featuring helpful stream embeds and automatically updated every 30 seconds to save your F5 key.
Dive into Analytics on Warcraft Logs
Of course, several other guilds who have not announced official events will still be competing in the race to world first, and if there's anything we've learned in these events it's that you never know who might pull ahead or drop out unexpectedly. Be sure to check out our coverage over the coming week, as we watch to find out who will become the next world champions of Midnight!
