Danish World of Warcraft player Oscar “Whaazz” Wulff is arguably the world’s best Rogue in Arena right now.
As the captain for Method Black, the European PVP (player-vs-player) WoW team of UK-based esports organisation Method, he is putting the Outlaw Rogue well and truly on the map, with a 77% win-rate in a recent tournament as well as winning the likes of the Summer EU Cup and Summer finals.
Whaazz sits down with Esports News UK’s fellow Outlaw Rogue Dom Sacco to give him some tips on the DPS class and talk about competitive WoW going into the new expansion Battle for Azeroth (BfA).
Tell us about the competitive WoW scene and how you got into it.
It’s like any other esports game, it’s super competitive – maybe not as big as other games but it’s following through really good.
I got into WoW as I had a football injury, so that made me sit at home and I played every day. I learned that playing a lot made you do well and become super consistent. It soon became my goal to win tournaments.
I’ve been playing competitive WoW for about four years now.
Why did you decide to play Rogue and what tips would you give to fellow Rogues out there?
My class Rogue is basically the set-up class, you kind of have to do everything and your teammates are reliant around what you do.
The key to success is definitely playing a lot, staying consistent and having a great atmosphere in your team can make you do super well in general with your team.
As an individual, keeping healthy, working out and playing a lot is the way to success.
Tell us about Method Black and how that fits into Method and its separate raiding team.
In Method Black I’m from Denmark, we have two Swedish players – Chas and Raiku – and Swapxy from Germany.
We’re the main European Arena team, Method also have an American Arena team, then they have the PVE team as well.
What are your thoughts on the new Battle for Azeroth expansion? Will it change the PVP environment?
For sure. Going into a different expansion is always weird, you have to learn everything super quick. I already have a tournament coming up in a month and BfA just got released this week, so I have to do a lot of hard work.
There’s the levelling of course but that’s the easy part. Then you have to do all the theorycrafting and just playing together is super-important at the start of a new expansion, so you learn everything together and not just individually.
“Rogue is all about set-ups and being able to CC everyone. That’s why I personally like playing Rogue – I like setting up things for my team, I like being the one who does stuff and talking to my team.”
I guess you guys are rushing to level 120 right now, as BfA only launched yesterday (at the time of the interview). Where are you right now?
I’m only level 117 at the moment actually! (at the time of publishing Whaazz is now 120)
There’s a lot of people that have already dinged 120. As soon as I get home I’m going to level all my characters and start theorycrafting from the bottom.
It’s important everyone on the team theorycrafts at the same level and not just individually. They need to know everything that’s happening – and is able to happen – in the game.
What are your thoughts on the different Rogue specialisations?
I think Outlaw is super good at high-end PVP. Assassination is like the easy way to play on a decent level, then Subtlety is like the in-betweener where you can make a lot of plays. It’s maybe not as good right now as it’s taken some nerfs.
But I think Outlaw is the most stable one and the best in the competitive scene.
Do you think the Rogue is in a good place right now?
The Rogue class is super good. It’s like a Warrior in a sense, you have some sustained damage but you’re mainly about set-ups though and being able to CC (crowd control) everyone.
That’s why I personally like playing Rogue – I like setting up things for my team, I like being the one who does stuff and I’m really good at talking to my team.
That’s a big thing in PVP – communication, talking well and everyone knowing what’s going to happen.
Horde or Alliance?
(Smiles) I’m for the Alliance, for sure!
“I think BfA will make WoW grow extremely. The numbers were crazy on release, the Twitch section on WoW had around 600,000 views which is completely insane for WoW.”
What are your aims for this year in the competitive scene?
The main goal is obviously winning Blizzcon. That’s what we’re going to focus on.
I also just won the Summer Final LAN so I’m super happy about that and proud of my team.
Are there any other classes you like in the game at the moment, particularly for PVP?
Warrior is looking super strong in BfA right now, so I might have to pick up my warrior and play that for a bit.
That’s the whole thing about competing, you always have to be aware. If your class is bad, you need to switch class super fast so you don’t fall behind.
Facing people in tournaments on their mains is extremely hard when you have to learn this new class from the bottom.
So what we done in Legion is we tried to learn all the classes before going into BfA so we knew the concept of the classes. So we’re super prepared for BfA.
What are your thoughts on BfA and the storyline?
Personally I don’t follow the storyline, I only compete because I love it. But I think the storyline is good in BfA but I don’t follow it that much.
If you could give a few tips to help competitive players improve, what would you say?
Consistency is the key to doing well in anything you do. Whether it’s esports, sports, or anything you’re into.
Playing a lot made me good, playing a lot could make anyone good. Always looking to improve is one of the biggest issues for many people. If you don’t look to improve, you won’t improve, and if you think the game you’re playing is bad, then you’ll automatically have a bad mindset, which is a big thing in PVP.
So keep a good mindset, maybe do some workouts IRL to stay healthy.
“The key to success is definitely playing a lot, staying consistent and having a great atmosphere in your team.”
Do you think the buzz around BfA can help the competitive side of the game grow over the next few years?
I think BfA will make WoW grow extremely. The numbers were crazy on release, the Twitch section on WoW had around 600,000 views which is completely insane for WoW.
I know for sure the WoW section will grow and grow for now, so I’m super stoked about that. Hopefully we can get some more prize pools as well, there are some really good prize pools but hopefully they can go up a bit more.
Follow Whaazz and Method on Twitter here
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
