Now that it's been a while: Was Rich Campbell's UCOB clear different from usual?

[SeiyaSoiya]

To recap, early september last year Rich Campbell, along with a group of 7 other world first raiders cleared ucob after less than 24 real hours of prog.

Unsurprisingly many players in the community reacted negatively to this, claiming it was not a legitimate clear, or was not representative of what it takes to clear an ultimate.

Streamers like Xenosys Vex were quick to throw their own audience under the bus, claiming that:
1. They were just salty that they were not as good at the game as rich
2. rich "still had to do the mechanics"
3. rich "was a mythic raider" who parsed purple or above, so this was easy for him
4. ultimates are easy content now with all the gear level creep and potency creep

Now that the dust has settled and almost a year has passed and we can actually have a conversation about this, I pose to you a few questions:
1. Was rich's clear representative of the average player's experience trying to clear an ultimate, or did he get massive help from having 7 world first raiders?
2. Could someone, any average player, have done the same if they were put alone into the same group of 7 other players?
3. Streamers like Pint who are progging uwu fresh with a group of 8 people who haven't cleared are taking much longer than 24h of prog to clear, is that normal?
4. Rich "still had to do the mechanics" and indeed, he was sandbagging, but was it such a big deal?
5. Are ultimates easy now?

[LisSquid]

1. We are all capable of making friends with people who are very good at the game, or creating a team for a clear. Most people will join learning parties, and not run with people who have already cleared. It was easier for him, a streamer, to put that together, but "clear for one" parties happen all of the time.

2. It depends. Did you join a learning party or did you wrangle a bunch of players who already cleared?

3. It is normal for people who have not cleared a fight to take longer to clear a fight, yes.

4. He didn't wipe the party. That's all that really matters in the end.

5. Older Ultimates are indeed easier now than they were at release.

[Saraide]

I see we are still on this topic.

[ThaCa]

It was probably way faster due lack of random wipes from other players and only him having to learn the fight. Not to mention a solid crew like that will have no issue with dps checks or anything.

Does it matter though? There's so many people running around with bought clears that when you see a Legend you can't know how good they are until you see them in action.

[Wolwosh]

I see we are still on this topic.

Just a few people that can't let things go..
Like really who cares about that guy and what he does.

[SeiyaSoiya]

It was probably way faster due lack of random wipes from other players and only him having to learn the fight. Not to mention a solid crew like that will have no issue with dps checks or anything.

Does it matter though? There's so many people running around with bought clears that when you see a Legend you can't know how good they are until you see them in action.

why are you mentioning bought clears? was rich's clear in any way comparable to a bought clear?

[Ranaku]

They made specific callouts of mechanics for rich and he had some of the literally best ultimate raiders so dps wise he had no need to pull his weight at all.

So yeah he got carried but it's different from buying it in my opinion, people who buy it give their account to the sellers usually so they can do it for them. Rich actually got into there and well followed the guidance of his teammates.

In my opinion it takes away from the personal achievement that comes with suffering through much hardship to get this weapon but streamers do what they do more for the show not for themselves. So i think for streamers who do it mostly for the show and to please their audience (Rich especially cause i noticed his eyes are glued to the chat often even if important stuff in the game is going on) it is more than alright to get carried through stuff, they don't want the personal achievement in some cases and just do it for the viewers.

[ServerCollaps]

since they have way more max hp and dealt more dmg, lots of stuff became obsolete in the battle. They survived things that they usually would have died to when the content was relevant. That way their progtime only was a quarter or third of what it used to be. Also the others (mostly) knowing their stuff helped a lot too

[Curisu]

Progging Ucob right now and it is easy.
The DPS checks are not existing and you have many points were you can rest people without a problem, even hard Rezz.

But, there are also difficult mechanics that had to be played right, otherwise you will be send back to the start.

Did Rich got carried?
No, he had to prog, learn and play all mechanics.

See it like this:
It took a group with 1 player without a clear 24hours to get it done.
If all 8 had to learn it then it would be 24x8= 192 hour's.
And that is about the time that a new MC static would need to clear Ucob.

[Reap00]

To recap, early september last year Rich Campbell, along with a group of 7 other world first raiders cleared ucob after less than 24 real hours of prog.

Unsurprisingly many players in the community reacted negatively to this, claiming it was not a legitimate clear, or was not representative of what it takes to clear an ultimate.

Streamers like Xenosys Vex were quick to throw their own audience under the bus, claiming that:
1. They were just salty that they were not as good at the game as rich
2. rich "still had to do the mechanics"
3. rich "was a mythic raider" who parsed purple or above, so this was easy for him
4. ultimates are easy content now with all the gear level creep and potency creep

Now that the dust has settled and almost a year has passed and we can actually have a conversation about this, I pose to you a few questions:
1. Was rich's clear representative of the average player's experience trying to clear an ultimate, or did he get massive help from having 7 world first raiders?
2. Could someone, any average player, have done the same if they were put alone into the same group of 7 other players?
3. Streamers like Pint who are progging uwu fresh with a group of 8 people who haven't cleared are taking much longer than 24h of prog to clear, is that normal?
4. Rich "still had to do the mechanics" and indeed, he was sandbagging, but was it such a big deal?
5. Are ultimates easy now?

Comparing a blind clear vs. a clear with world first raiders? Is there anything to discuss? Of course he was carried.