WoW TESPA Collegiate Dungeon Race

This past weekend, Blizzard hosted and streamed the World of Warcraft (WoW) TESPA Collegiate Dungeon Race, in which four college teams competed to see who was the best, using the mythic +10 dungeon model. The teams who participated were UC Irvine, Carleton University, Colorado School of Mines and UNC Greensboro. The teams competed for the best of three dungeons, with the first one being chosen for them (Darkheart Thicket for the semi-finals, and Eye of Azshara for the finals). The Sauramar dungeons Arcway and Court of Stars were disqualified from the contest, with the variables involved that would potentially create different experiences for the teams and not make an even playing field. As with all mythic dungeons, 5 seconds was added to the time for every death, and 3 buffs per dungeon, some of which included combinations not found in the game currently.

The first round of the semi-finals was between UC Irvine and UNC, with a close race for all three dungeons. Irvine swept UNC in the first dungeon, while their second dungeon was difficult, after changing their composition to the 4 dps and 1 tank UC Irvine fell in Halls of Valor, with a total of 7 deaths adding an extra 35 seconds to their time. The third dungeon choice was Maw of Souls, one of the shortest dungeons and easiest to finish in Legion at the moment. Their composition worked in their favor for that dungeon, and they took the series 2-1.

The second round of semi-finals was Colorado versus Carleton, with a very quick 2 dungeons as Carleton quickly overtook Colorado. While neither team seemed to play up to their potential and made a few mistakes, Colorado was almost disqualified for skipping some mobs on their way to a boss in Darkheart Thicket, but it was allowed. The second dungeon was Eye of Azshara, complete with seagull pulls and snails. While both teams made valiant efforts, Carleton came out the victor in spite of their less than neat playing style and mechanics issues with some bosses.

The finals themselves showed that Carleton – while an excellent team – still needs to work on being neater with their flow on how they go through their boss fights. Once again, Eye of Azshara was one of the dungeons chosen, with Irvine taking a very early lead, and keeping it during the entire dungeon. The second dungeon chosen was Halls of Valor, where both teams took early stumbles, Irvine surged ahead while Carleton had some difficulties with mechanics specifically on the boss Harja with wipes and moving the boss from the center of the room, before finally downing her and moving on to fight Fenrir and Skovald. This cost them quite a bit of time, and they didn’t finish the dungeon, conceding to UC Irvine.

Overall, it was great to see Blizzard and specifically WoW streaming dungeon races again, with excellent commentary provided this time by Devolore and Slootbag. Their combined knowledge and witty commentary during the stream made it easy to follow, and brought knowledge and excitement to the stream, making for an overall great experience.