Always a bridesmaid, never a bride: Datto and the elusive World’s First title
Throughout Destiny’s lifespan, the race to complete the new raids first has been the pinnacle PvE achievement that all high-end players strive for. In the over 4 years since Destiny’s release on September 9th, 2014 there have been 16 World’s First races, 9 full raids, and 7 hard or prestige mode raid versions. Some of these come with more weight than others, due to difficulty or lack of hype/excitement. Usually the normal release of a raid is considered more difficult as a fireteam has to go in blind and figure out all the mechanics, while a hard mode or prestige mode only has slight changes, or in the case of the Prestige Eater of World’s and Spire of Stars, no mechanical changes at all. From the very beginning, community figure Datto has been at the forefront of these World’s First races. And yet, after so many attempts and so many close finishes, he remains title-less as the one crowning achievement that has escaped him thus far. No single figure has consistently been in the top placings of Destiny’s World’s First races more than Datto.
At the very start with the release of Destiny’s first raid, Vault of Glass, Datto finished the grueling race second, placing behind his own clan mates in PrimeGuard who defeated Atheon after a 14-hour battle and emerged from the Vault victorious. Then just a week later Datto was second fiddle once again, this time to InvigorateGaming who claimed the World’s First title for the Hard Mode of Vault of Glass. Back to back second place finishes is nothing to scoff at but Datto put it best when he said, “I have plenty of goals and all of those goals can be practiced; only 1 world first.” There is only 1 World first, one team that can achieve greatness for that particular raid, and although high placings are impressive, we remember the victors and not those who came up short.
History would seem to repeat itself once again as Datto placed third in the race for Destiny’s 3rd title in Crota’s End on January 21st, 2015, with InvigorateGaming becoming the first team to get consecutive titles and the only to hold 2 World’s First titles until Prestige Leviathan in Destiny 2. 3 raids, 3 top 3 finishes, and still no crown to claim for Datto. His consistency was unrivaled at the time and wouldn’t go anywhere anytime soon…
For the next race he would have to wait, a full 9 months, when on September 18th, 2015 King’s Fall was released as part of The Taken King expansion. Datto was unable to keep up his prefect record of very top placings but did still manage a 19th place finish after a exhausting 11 hour fight to complete the raid. KingGothalion, and his fireteam consisting of many other top Destiny streamers, emerged from the darkness as the first team to conquer this new raid, while Datto once again had to settle for something other than a title. In the follow up hard mode release of King’s Fall, Datto once again slipped slightly further down the rankings, completing the race in 26th place. While a large fall from his past performances, Datto was still maintaining top 30 finishes despite his struggles, and staying competitive in nearly every race until the end.
There would be a large gap between raid releases as no new expansions were released until Rise of Iron and its raid, Wrath of the Machine on September 23rd, 2016. Datto would slightly bounce back as he claimed 14th place as Clan Redeem would grab their first World’s First title, with now familiar names such as ModernTryhard, Fleshcrunch, and Ehroar, as well as speedrunner turned Fortnite pro Tfue. 3 weeks later in the hard mode release Datto fell down to 29th place in one of the fastest races to date with only a 20 minute gap between 6th and 32nd place. For the first time an unknown team called Clan Die Busfahrer or, The Bus Drivers, crossed the finish line first to earn their title.
Once again raiders would have to wait to test their strength as there wouldn’t be another raid until the launch of the second iteration in the Destiny franchise with Destiny 2 and the raid that came with it, The Leviathan on September 13, 2017. A new game meant a new start for all players who had hopes of ascending to the throne of first in the world to conquer a new activity but it was a familiar face to the Destiny community that would be the first to grow fat from strength and defeat Calus on the Leviathan. After 5 and a half hours hardcore PvE streamer sc_Slayerage and his team, The Legend Himself achieved greatness and got their first WF title under their belts. Datto ended up in 9th place, once again breaking the top 10 barrier and establishing that even in a new version of the game, he was not going anywhere in these races. In the drama-filled Prestige mode, Destiny 2's version of hard mode raids, Datto placed a respectable 14th in a race that is still a subject of contention. The Leviathan was an opportunity for Datto to shred his past of coming up short in all previous World First races, however he once again showed his consistency and ability to keep up with the very best in the world while still just shy of beating them.
Bungie took a different direction with Destiny 2 and instead of releasing full length raids in the first year of its release, they decided to release one raid and 2 raid lairs, or just smaller and shorter versions than a full sized raid would entail. The first of these was called Eater of Worlds and was released December 8, 2017 and once again Datto would have a respectable yet disappointing finish: Placing 18th behind a surprising LFG team taking first. Once again a top 20 ranking is nothing to be scoffed at but it seemed to be that Datto was cursed, forever destined to be within striking distance of the pinnacle PvE achievement but always coming up just shy.
The next raid lair, Spire of Stars released in May 11, 2018, didn’t bode much better for Datto and Co. as he once again had to settle for a top placing behind Clan Redeem as he came in at 11th. Now, in July 2018 Bungie released the Prestige versions of both raid lairs but importantly there were no mechanical differences, and as such I have decided not to include those races in my judgement of Datto and his placements as I as well as others do not believe these races had the same weight as the others before it. The next true raid race would have to wait until September 2018, when the race of a lifetime would take place.
In Fall 2018 Bungie released the Forsaken expansion for Destiny 2 and with it, Last Wish, Destiny’s newest and biggest raid to date. It was announced that the winners of this raid race would receive real life championship belts commemorating their victory as well as any team to finish the raid within 24 hours would be rewarded with an in-game emblem otherwise unobtainable. Remember that second part carefully. To say that this race had people excited is an understatement; thus far in Destiny’s history no other race except perhaps the original Vault of Glass could compare to the hype and excitement Bungie had built around Last Wish. Everyone was praying that the raid itself would live up to expectations put around it…and what a race it was.
After almost 19 debilitating hours of fighting a team emerged from the Dreaming City as champions, but it wasn’t Datto and the rest of his Math Class ensemble. Instead Destiny saw Clan Redeem claim yet another title after the longest race Destiny has, and possibly ever will, see to claim World’s First. But Datto was still in the raid hoping to conquer this new raid before his 24 hours were up. At 22 hours a second team finished, Gigz and the rest of Tier1 claimed their emblems with not much time to spare. And in the final hour Datto seemed like it was meant to be; his team was clicking and it looked like there was time left to still finish this raid within a day. And as they finally crossed the finish line and checked their clocks, their hearts sank. Datto and Math Class had completed the new raid in a very impressive and intensive 3rd place, but more importantly and disappointing, in 24 hours and 2 minutes. Not only did Datto once again secure a top placing but fail to take that sought after trophy, he was painfully close to being 1 of 3 fireteams to even complete said raid in under 1 day. The 24:02 memes still persist to this day and it seems that coming so close after such a hard fought competition against the darkness will haunt those players until the end of time. Another race, another close call, another heartbreak as the pattern continued for Datto.
That brings us to the most recent Destiny raid at the time of writing, Scourge of the Past, released December 7th 2018 as part of the Black Armory content drop. In one of the shortest normal mode races, Insurrection Prime was bested in under 2 hours by Gigz and Tier1, finally defeating their own curse of always coming close to the championship without being able to close. Datto would stumble in this short race as he finished in just over 3 hours in 20th place.
Throughout all these races the worst placement Datto has ever achieved was 29th while having 4 Top 3’s and a multitude of Top 10’s, a testament to his consistency not just in ranking but also in his presence throughout Destiny’s life. Very few players can say they have raided on Day 1 for every raid, less can say they finished, and even fewer can say they were in the running for being the first to finish. Datto can say all that and more and it would still be an understatement. No one, from streaming champion KingGothalion, to multiple title holder Clan Redeem, to any other raider in Destiny’s history can match Datto’s constant performance. Even comparing who he has raided with over the years, from that very first 2nd place finish in Vault of Glass almost 5 years ago to now, almost none of the names have persisted throughout Destiny’s history. Not only has Datto stayed around he has been a threat in nearly every race he’s participated in. Many top streamers and raiders even have said that if their own fireteam was unable to claim victory for themselves, they want to see Datto finally claim the title that has eluded him thus far.
So where does that leave us today? It is near the end of May 2019 and the next raid, Crown of Sorrow, is set to be launched on June 4th. Bungie has recently announced that for this raid race there will be a new mode called Contest in play. While Contest is active, a period of the first 24 hours after the raid goes live, player Power level will be capped to even the playing field among players. This will be Datto’s 10th normal mode World First race, a feat on its own, and only time will tell if the curse will be continue or if Datto will break free of what has haunted him throughout Destiny’s history and be the first to complete this new challenge brought forth and claim his first title.
No matter what unfolds on June 4th Datto has something to be proud of; a legacy of incredible performances throughout all of Destiny’s raids and top placements unrivaled by anyone else in the community. All that remains is for a championship belt to sit atop his mantle, a sign that he finally accomplished what he set out to do long ago in 2014: Become legend and achieve World First status.
Written by Josh Goodman
Thank you to /u/dweezil22 of DestinyChecklist.net for helping me recover WF raid rankings I previously had thought were lost in the past
Disclaimer: For transparency with regards to their mention in this article, I am affiliated with Clan Redeem.
