While the rest of us were clearing Deadmines and leveling through the early starting zones of World of Warcraft: Classic, a guild called APES  playing on the EU server Gehennas were traversing through Molten Core.

Their mission was simple -- become the first guild to Kill Ragnaros.

The community at large first became aware of their lethal intentions through a Reddit thread that called to attention to fact that 40 players were currently in Molten Core, the games very last raid.  Apparently, the guild had been quite secretive about their quest to kill Ragnaros, with limited streams and no public declarations about their 40-man assassination mission.

Just 6 days after the August 26th release of Classic, they achieved their goal and defeated the games current most difficult and final boss encounter.

It wasn't the cleanest kill and, as you can see from the Twitch clip above, many of the raid members were dead or near death. However, it is still an insane accomplishment that underscores one of the most popular criticisms regarding World of Warcraft: Classic. Namely, that the game was only considered difficult due to the player bases lack of MMORPG experiences, game mechanics mastery, and in some cases, youth.

A seasoned guild

Hardcore players familiar with private vanilla servers may recognize APES as a high performing guild that specializes in Classic content. They have been preparing and practicing this kill years before the release (or even announcement) of official WoW: Classic servers and their dedication towards mastering the game shows.

The overwhelming majority of World of Warcraft: Classic players aren't anywhere near this stage of the game especially considering the oppressive server queues and normal work / life schedule of your average player. The only players capable of killing Ragnaros so quickly are, essentially, professionals doing what they do best.

A kill like this takes routing, organization, and a guild filled with members who are each committed to playing essentially every hour since the game had been released.  The discussion regarding how fast Ragnaros would be killed was a popular one among WoW: Classic players -- some thought it would take at least a couple weeks while others were confident in a first-week kill.

Now we know who won that debate.

Plenty of Firelord's left to kill.

APES is in the very top percent of World of Warcraft: Classic players and there are still many, many servers that will not have a Ragnaros kill for a long time. However, it does put to rest the debate surrounding the difficult of WoW: Classic. The World of Warcraft community has leveled up significantly in their ability to defeat content and the hardcore guilds of today have entire encyclopedias of game knowledge, guides and optimized strategies at their disposable. 

WoW: Classic is a "solved" game for those who are ready to grind and organize to the extent APES has. For the rest of us, however, Classic is a game best enjoyed at a more leisurely pace.