Interview #3

Greetings everyone, whether you are discontent because I missed yesterdays post or here to see my wonderful blog, I have now obtained the long awaited Heat n Serve interview you've all been eager to read (except one guy, he was all "Heat n Serve is overrated").

Heat n Serve is a well respected administrator at the Leaguecraft forums, which can be found here. He is known for his character and mathcrafting guides, which are popular due to his logical builds that are backed up with sound justification. Here is a list of all the guides he has published, incase you want to take a look:

How to Mathcraft: http://tinylc.com/g
Gangplank: http://tinylc.com/d
Mordekaiser 1: http://tinylc.com/e
Mordekaiser 2: http://tinylc.com/Gj
Galio: http://tinylc.com/f
Jungle Malphite: http://tinylc.com/h
Taric: http://tinylc.com/Tp

Before we continue onto the interview, I thought I'd mention this blog has now hit 10,000 views in just over a week! Woo go blog.

I will be using HnS as an abbreviation throughout the interview for Heat n Serve, if anyone has to read this to understand that, then I guess it was worth writing this bit after all.

Let's get onto the interview, shall we?
 
Me: So, how long have you been playing League of Legends?
HnS: I puchased the preorder in September 2009, which in turn got me an
invite to participate in the closed-beta. Prior to that, I had played
DoTA for about 3-4 years.

Me: What do you think of the game in general? Is Riot taking it in the
right direction?
HnS: I think they are doing a good job removing what they refer to as
"passive play" and other things that make the game less exciting. This
is good for me because I would categorize my play style as somewhat
reckless... lol. 

Me: Do you play with a clan? Or friends?
HnS: A couple college friends of mine play the game with me. I also play
with a handful of people I met through leaguecraft. I always wanted to
start/join a clan, but I really don't have a regular enough schedule to
commit to something like that right now. Fortunately, it doesn't seem
like I'm missing out on too many tournaments at the momemnt. :)

Me: There are a lot of complaints about the idiots and trolls in this
game, does this affect your gameplay too? What is your approach to the
common in-game flamer?
HnS: Absolutely. Instead of focusing on winning the game, I start to focus
on what the flamer will say next. I will act in ways to minimize the
chance I will have to listen to said flamer rage at me (even though
usually nothing will please them or make them shut up). Thus, I stop
making the best move, or hesitate enough that I miss my window of
opportunity.

I used to get baited into doing some flaming of my own, but more
recently I "/ignore"-ed someone who was flaming and it was a smart
decision. I regained my focus and played pretty well from there on out.
I highly recommend using the ignore feature; I know I will be using it
much more from now on.

Me: You are very popular on the Leaguecraft forums, a candidate for
member of the month. What would you attribute this to? Your winning
personality? Guides? Both?
HnS: More than anything, I try to be fair to everyone and be a just admin on
Leaguecraft. In my guides, people will argue against my builds and I
generally defend myself in a civil manner. I like to think people
appreciate the civil (if sometimes heated) discussion that takes place
after I publish a guide.

Not everyone likes my guides, but I at least give a good effort and give
logical arguments for readers. They can then at least walk away and
make an informed decision on how they want to play the champion in
question. I try to provide math when I can, because the math keeps
everyone honest. Sadly, not everyone sticks to the basic principles
which make guides helpful, informative and easy to read. Good grammar,
formatting and organization concepts are in all of my guides. I give
the reader quality so they are more receptive to the arguments I am making.

Me: Recently, Riot have been bought by one of the most influential internet
companies in the world, Tencent. For an astounding $400 million! Would you
say this is a good thing?
HnS: Certainly. Riot has a lot of ideas on the table and right now just
doesn't seem to have the human capital to accomplish all of their goals.
I'd imagine when they get more people, they will be able to give
better support to customers, fix bugs, develop maps, create a forum that
doesn't suck, etc.

Me: Which type of champion is your favorite to play?
HnS: Tanks and Casters are my "go to" champion classes. I play supports
every now and again. I probably play physical dps champions the least;
They lack the complexity and depth of play that I look for in selecting
a champion.

I also tend to play champs everyone thinks are bad. I'm not sure if I'm
out to prove people wrong, or if I just gravitate to making bad
decisions in champ select. :(

Me: If you had to share a house with ANY champion in game, who would you choose 
and why?
HnS: Gragas. I did a little beer brewing of my own with some friends in
college and I wouldn't mind returning to that hobby. I bet Gragas makes
some tasty brews.

Me: And finally, is there anything you want to add?
HnS: /joke

And there you have it! Some enlightening words from Heat n Serve himself! I hope y'all learnt something from this, but if not; then maybe my next interview will be more interesting. If you have any suggestions as to who you want me to harass for some questions to or anything you want me to discuss, let me know in a comment.

Have a good week, and get back here in the next couple of days if you want more content.

Interview #2

Hello everyone, it's been two days since my last post, because I've been playing the heroes of the week.  I prefer to test them out when they are released, so I can cut down on my feeding. The thing I hate most about the new heroes, is the abundance of people picking them in normal games and either:

1 - Saying they've never played the character before; and they have no idea how to play it.
2 - Or skipping the whole part where they mention they are a virgin to the champion they have picked entirely, only to feed relentlessly.

Still, it's a good oppurtunity for players to try out all the characters without spending Riot points or IP.

Anyway, today I have another interview for everyone. A forum troll on the official League forums came up with the initial idea to change my perspective from the famous top five ranked players, to the less popular top 15 underdogs. His reasoning was: "Everyone already knows the top five, teach us about the others". I think he was right to some extent, we all know Elementz and Reginald, who here can honestly say they know Samsterlicious?

Samster is currently in the top 20 players for solo ranked, which is quite an achievement. Especially when solo queue is more based on who has the most failers on their side. I managed to get a brief interview with Samster, take a look and see what you think:



1: So, how long have you been playing League of Legends?
Been playing since beta. So basically too long. I was playing Singed before the war
on terrorism.

2: What do you think of the game in general? Is Riot taking it in the
right direction?
The game is really great for a free game. It's fun and addictive. Riot
releasing champs every 2 weeks is a great step in the right direction. If
that direction was money over balance.

3: Do you play with a clan? Or friends? You are currently in the top 15
for solo queue, what's it like playing at such a high rating? Enjoyable?
I'm lonewolf all up in this game. I play with friends. Sadly Riot hasn't
implemented a clan system. Being high rating is cool, it allows people
to think I am better than I actually am. The respect is nice but the
long queue times are not.

4: There are a lot of complaints about the idiots and trolls in this
game, does this affect your gameplay too? What is your approach to the
common in-game flamer?
The idiots and trolls are all up in solo queue. I think solo queue has
turned into who has the least amount of trolls. It's the opposite of lord
of the rings. If someone is flaming a lot in game I usually flame back.

5: Who would you consider to be the best LoL players? Other than yourself
of course!
Bigfatlp and Chauster are the best players by far. Honorable mention goes
to Saintvicious when he isn't randoming in ranked.

6: Recently, Riot have been bought by one of the most influential
internet companies in the world, Tencent. For an astounding $400
million! Would you say this is a good thing?
More money more problems. The only good that can come from this is if they
use that money to hire more people for the alleged "replay team".

7: There are rumors that Riot will use their new money to create a new
game, probably an MMORPG. What do you think about this?
If it's a free MMO that would be a great idea, but I don't think Riot
could put out a good MMO. They can't even put out a good urgot skin.

8: If you had to share a house with ANY champion in game, who would you
choose and why?
I really have no clue. It would be cool to live with a robot so Blitzcrank
would be up there on my list.

9: And finally, is there anything you want to add?
Xpecial is not good at this game.

So there you have it. Beware of Xpecial, he is not good at this game. Anyway, I know the interview today was a short affair, I personally would prefer more information but it depends on how much the player wants to talk, and not on how much content I need.

I have another interview currently in progress with Heat n Serve from the Leaguecraft forums, which should be up very soon, and I know there's a few of you eager to see it. So check back in the next couple of days if you want to read it.