Community Spotlight

Ikenna "Enshadowed" and I sat down to chat today with the notable World of Warcraft (WoW) gamer, Thomas "Flyn" Kogler. Flyn goes by the alias "Saori" on Anook and is a native of Austria. Flyn is widely known throughout the WoW competitive PvP scene for his success at various tournaments and his 10,000 gold duel challenges!

@Nikeagogo: Hey there Flyn! Ike and I would like to thank you for having a chat with us today here on Anook. First and foremost, can you tell the Anook community a little about yourself as a gamer?

@saori: Hey, glad to be here. Well, firstly I've been playing games for a long time now, starting when I was roughly 8 years old with the old Sega mega drive system. I would often play with my brothers; we'd play Mario Kart a lot and I'd always try to beat them. My first real PC game was Starcraft and since then it is the only platform I'm really interested in. I've been a pretty hardcore gamer; I was a "professional" player for about a year with WoW, traveling to a few different countries such as the US where I met a lot of different people due to that.

@Enshadowed: Most in the gaming world, specifically WoW, recognize you as Flyn; however on Anook you go by the alias Saori. Any reason in particular you changed it?

@saori: I was actually originally Saori, but on WoW I originally played Alliance on Stormscale. This was back when you could only have characters of 1 faction on 1 realm, so I got a new account and changed to Horde. I couldn't take my own name because my Rogue was still on the realm, but i was probably going to use a new name for that character anyway because it was a male character and Saori was a name for my female Rogue. I never really intended to get "well known" as Flyn, it just happened that way.

Interesting, nobody has ever pronounced it correctly, it's been wrongly pronounced since the beginning but it's just kinda stuck now.

@Nikeagogo: What would you say was the most exciting period of your WoW career?

@saori: The most exciting time was at the start. I had always been confident that I would be able to play Mage pretty well even though I had never really played it before (I had played a few different classes and managed to play them to a good level (Gladiator level)). I was bored of my Rogue and my Warrior from The Burning Crusade (TBC) and I rolled a Mage at the start of Wrath of the Lich King (WotLK). I only really played 2v2 with a German guy "naviz" since I didn't know many people on Horde side that well and I wasn't that confident in my English back then. The Tournament Realm came up and I played around on it mostly for fun, then I kinda just randomly met people (Stgeorge and Raeli) and we decided to run Rogue-Mage-Priest (RMP) together and we did really well getting into the top 8 and qualifying for the Blizzard Regionals. All of us except Raeli were new to the classes we were playing so it was a surprise that we did as well as we did initially. After that we got invited to an online tournament by Electronic Sports League (ESL) and we managed to knock out one of the favourites in the opening week; ironically that team also contained my 2 future teammates, and everything kicked on from there.

Ultimately it was a pretty fast and sudden "rise to fame", so to speak.

@Enshadowed: How about the most stressful?

@saori: Well, the most stressful was definitely the time I went to Major League Gaming (MLG) Raleigh in the US. Due to the way that MLG decided what teams were going to be invited to the event I never really expected to go. The week that we were going to MLG I had 3 tests for school so I was in the middle of studying a lot, which meant the time that I could have spent practicing wasn't really as much as we'd of liked before a major tournament but there was nothing I could really do about that. As the week went on and I had finally finished the tests in about 1 days time it was decided that I would fly to London and Ryan (Hydra) and I would stay at Chris' (Kalimist) house to practice. I literally went to my parents and said "Mom, Dad...I'm flying to London tomorrow to practice before flying to the US." Needless to say they were somewhat surprised considering there had been no discussion about this and suddenly in 1 day it was decided.

So I'd say that was the most stressful. I went from doing 3 exams, studying hard for that, flying to the UK for the first time, flying to the US for the first time and meeting tons of people I'd never really met/spoken to before. But I did enjoy the time there and I liked a lot of the people I met.

Also, during the first Blizzard Regionals, our team got through to the Upper Bracket finals, (there was 5-6 RMPs at the Tournament) and we were pretty confident that we could beat them all in a mirror (and we ended up winning 2 mirror matches to get to the finals, in the Upper Bracket Finals, we played against a WLD (Ocelote (now a LoL professional), Inflame and Kae)) and to be honest, we didn't play our best. Although we had never lost to them in a series before, we ended up losing, I put it down to nerves mostly. Anyway, we got knocked down into the Lower Bracket final where we had to come up against x6stences' PHD (Paladin, Hunter, Death Knight), which was very strong in that season and pretty difficult for RMP to beat. So anyway, I don't know why it was the case but when we went to play the game between them, for some reason we were given the computers to use that x6 had used last and I don't know what the exact issue was, but our Priest (Stgeorge's) keyboard was stuck on a different language setting (Spanish) and because of that (and because we weren't given the time to change things, because of time constraints, the event was already behind schedule) we were basically playing the first 2 games with a Healer who was basically using his spell book...so needlessly to say we had no chance at all, especially since he was the main target, he couldn't really run away and use spells at the same time.

So after the first 2 games, because it was 2-0, we were allowed to make some changes, which included fixing our keyboard, but because we were 2-0 down, we weren't really too confident in going 3-0 with a Priest so we made a mistake and tried to change to a different healing class (Paladin) which our Healer had never played before bar about 20-30 mins, it was stronger against that comp, but due to no practice, we ended up losing. All in all I was pretty disappointed in Blizzard because we were never really given a proper opportunity to get to Blizzcon because of that.

I'm not saying we would have won, x6 were a very good team and their comp was very strong against ours, but we had beaten them before - I just felt like having spent all that time qualifying for the event, getting to the finals that we should have been given a proper chance to show whether we were good enough to be there.

@Nikeagogo: On your Anook profile I can see that you currently have a few level 90s. Do you still play actively?

@saori: I started playing again at the beginning of Mists of Pandaria (MoP), although I had switched my main from Mage to Paladin (which was one of my mains during Vanilla and I played it a bit in TBC). I generally get bored of playing the same class after awhile. I also leveled up a Shaman (pretty much completely switched to a healing role in MoP), saying that I have gone ahead and leveled my Mage to 90 now for next season, although I can't say I enjoy the play style of the class at the moment. I thought I'd give it a try anyway since some old friends asked me to play with them.

My Shaman and Mage are a bit too far behind in gear for me to do much on them this season (since unfortunately gear has become too important in the game (in my opinion)). My Paladin is my "main" right now, but I plan on playing all 3 next season. I am also somewhat considering playing a Boomkin as well but I haven't even gotten around to leveling that yet.

@Enshadowed: What is your opinion on Mists of Pandaria?

@saori: Well, firstly I think Cataclysm was 2 steps backwards from WotLK - it had a few good changes in it and some good implemented features, but ultimately I think it wasn't a successful expansion, at least not in PvP. I think MoP is a step forward from Cataclysm, but we're still not at WotLK's level yet. I think there are some major issues with the game that the developers seem to want to continue pushing onto the community in hopes that they'll change their minds. I don't like the fact that Casters and Healers barely cast at all anymore (this was what I meant by not enjoying Mage play style right now), DPS classes can do ridiculous amount of healing, healers can sometimes do ridiculous amounts of damage (use as Paladins before the nerf to Denounce and Druids when they use Heart of the Wild).

It seems that they've gone away from balancing the game around 3v3, which is generally considered the "competitive bracket", so every class needs a big heal, every class needs to be able to do damage, every class needs instant CC or big instant damage. Everything is instant, I feel this is a big mistake. I think that since the end of WotLK the "skill floor" (which my definition is "the lowest skill level a player needs to be successful") has gotten a lot lower. I don't think players need to be as good as before in order to do well.

Not to say WotLK was the holy grail, it too had it's problems, it too had forgiving classes (in certain seasons) and forgiving comps, but these were isolated cases, whereas it seems to be the design goal in MoP.

I also want to point out that I think the community is much worse now than previously, I think there is less emphasis now on being competitive for fun/competition. Nowadays it seems people are more interested in getting titles and things like that because they are under the assumption that this proves they are a good player, I don't really understand this attitude. People pay money to transfer to dead/meaningless battle groups in order to obtain titles which have no real value whatsoever, rather than playing in the most competitive environment and testing themselves against better teams, I don't really understand this attitude, it makes no sense to me.

@Nikeagogo: What games do you play the most; which are you most passionate about these days?

@saori: I'm mostly passionate about MMOs. I generally will try out most MMOs when they come out in the hopes of finding a good new one to consume my free time with; from Aion Beta, SWTOR Beta, TERA Beta to eagarly waiting some other future releases (the new reboot of the Final Fantasy 14 MMO, Elder Scrolls Online, Blade and Soul etc). Other than MMOs I do play some other games a bit, I played Starcraft 2 for awhile; played Masters League for a few seasons but I really don't enjoy playing a game for huge amounts of time (the amount of time you need to play to get good/continue being good at SC2). I played some Diablo 3 but like many others I found it wasn't anywhere near as good as Diablo 2. I recently started playing some Assassin's Creed 3, Path of the Exile, Far Cry 3 and some CS:GO. I'll also play a few games of Battlefield 3 every now and then.

@Enshadowed: Do you still game with anyone that you used to play WoW competitively with (Notably: Hydra, Kalimist, etc.)?

@saori: I had played with a few of them, but mostly on AT (www.Arena-Tournament.com), but other than that, not really since I wasn't really playing WoW much since the end of WotLK up until the start of MoP.

However, the reason I started leveling my Mage again a few weeks ago has a lot to do with playing with some former teammates, so I'll be playing with them a lot more next season.

@Nikeagogo: Lastly, you recently joined the Anook community (and we are very happy to have you); any thoughts on it so far?

@saori: It seems like an interesting idea, hence why I originally decided to join. I really like the design of the site, I think it's been well designed from the beginning which is surprising since most sites usually are poorly designed from the beginning and generally that's a large reason they don't become popular. I think website design is more important than the actual content of the site, even YouTube and Facebook wouldn't of been popular had they had bad designs.

I think the site definitely has potential, although it might be very difficult to "make it big", I think it's something that was worth trying, and I hope it does become really successful.

@Enshadowed: Shoutouts?

@saori: I'd just like to shout-out to my old teammates and my old Sponsor "Team Dignitas", since it was because of their help and support that I was able to experience a lot of things that I probably wouldn't of been able at this stage in my life.

Also shoutout to all my friends Homerzy, Karll, Onur, Soramak, Ryan, Chris etc.

Especially big thanks to Nicole who has been helping me an unreasonable amount throughout my WoW Career.

Thanks to Flyn for the interview! Follow him on Anook at the link below!

www.Anook.com/Saori

I had the great opportunity to have a conversation with Rowan “DRTsorak” of the group Viva La Dirt League (VLDL). Rowan is the lead singer for Viva La Dirt League, a New Zealand based Starcraft 2 themed boyband that creates epic music / music videos and other entertaining and often hilarious gaming related content. DRTsorak also has a solo project titled “Rhythmic Gamer” where he currently creates Minecraft themed music / music videos.

From L to R: James aka @DRTkoopzilla, Alan aka @DRTfootman, Barnaby aka @DRTpain, Stephen aka @nOOber, Rowen aka @DRTsorak

@Nikeagogo: Thanks for chatting with us today Rowan!
Let’s start by learning about you. Can you tell the Anook community a little about yourself as a musician and a gamer?

@DRTsorak: Fo show
Okay well first and foremost I'm an actor. I've done a total of four years studying performing arts.1 year at the Hagley theatre company and 3 years at Toi Whakaari New Zealand Drama School.

I've always sung and performed since I was at high school, and in recent years I started singing a lot of parody songs just for fun.

Gaming is part of my DNA. I have always been FASCINATED by games since I was about 10, and now 19 years later it's pretty much my main pleasure in life.

@Nikeagogo: Excellent! What are your all time favorite games?

@DRTsorak: Okay this is a tough question. I'll list a few that stand out:
* Starcraft obviously. I used to play Starcraft 1 with DRTnOOber (@nOOber) when I was in high school (we've been friends since we were 7).
And Starcraft 2 is simply the most elegant RTS that has ever been made. It's so well balanced yet so diverse.
* Star Wars Jedi Academy. That game used to thrill me to the core. Not sure why, just did.
* Star Wars Republic Commando. A really new mechanic where you worked as a team with 3 other AI. You could be the last one left standing with enemies pouring in and then JUST manage to revive a teammate before you then fell. And then he would revive you and...it was living life on the edge.
* Prototype. Just amazing. Flying round being a bauss.
* Crysis. that games graphics still stand up.
* Oh yeah and DEAD SPACE!
That would be some highlights

@Nikeagogo: Tell us about Viva La Dirt League. How did you get started, who is involved, and how much fun is it (because you guys make it look like it is super fun)?

@DRTsorak: Viva La Dirt League originally started as a facebook group that @DRTkoopzilla started (I think). It was basically just a page where us mates could get together to talk about Starcraft and organize games, etc.

I had been making a lot of parody songs about lots of random shit with Byron. I wrote and recorded 'Eight Pool' just for shits and giggles. And the guys really liked it, so we discussed actually making a music video.

It was really only for fun at that stage. So I organized some locations at my girlfriend's father's sound studio and storage shed. Alan and Hamish flew up to Auckland. Alan brought his Film Camera (Alan aka @DRTfootman studied at film school and is a director in real life) so it was perfect.

Shot it ,uploaded it and it proved to be really successful. The rest is kind of history I guess. Originally it was Alan, Stephen, Hamish, Barnaby, James and myself. We had Byron as part of the team for a while.

To be completely honest it used to be more fun before we got partnered and money entered the equation. Money makes things complicated.

It's still a lot of fun, but there are a lot more serious discussions these days. I guess we all realized that it could potentially become something we could make a living off. Dividing by 7 people makes that kind of impossible.

At one stage we had 7 members. We have a much smaller number now, and we seem to be a bit more cohesive.

@Nikeagogo: In the Viva La Dirt League music videos, you are also responsible for creating the game footage. What goes into creating the game footage, and how long does it take?

@DRTsorak: Getting game footage used to be fairly easy. If you look at out first few videos it is literally just playing the game so you get the action sequence you want, and then recording the replay accordingly. You can see the interface and everything.

The next stage of the game footage evolution was realizing that you could get rid of most of the interface in the replay.

Finally Barnaby learned some basic skills in the Map editor and taught me. The map editor is not very user friendly. But that's basically how we get 90% of the game footage now. You can create some really interesting stuff with the map editor.

The best thing is that you can make it look really cinematic with smooth camera movements that pan around and zoom in and out etc. But also fiddling with the game mechanics like getting marines to spew out barracks etc.
It's very time consuming though. You have to make sure everything is perfect and then play the map and manually control the camera to pre-sets while recording it with fraps.

@Nikeagogo: How about the game footage dance sequences...was that complicated to do?

@DRTsorak: Dance was originally done by typing in /dance in game and then watching the replay but now I can get it in the map editor. In the map editor you have to select a group and put them on a recurring dance command. The problem is that each unit dances one of it's set moves randomly and independently so it's a process of waiting for the perfect moment when all 5 units are dancing in unison while camera is moving how you want it to.

@Nikeagogo: What is your favorite music video you have done so far for VLDL and why?

@DRTsorak: Um I think my favourite music video would be Eight Pool. Both to shoot and to watch. The shoot was all about just having fun. And that shows in the video. We're just clowning around. I also really like how simple and effective the lyrics are. It's really clear EXACTLY what that song is about lol.

(It's about doing an 8 pool)

8 Pool music video on YouTube

@Nikeagogo: Heh....My favorite is care about bronze :)

@DRTsorak: Yeah CAB was the one that got us noticed.

Care about Bronze music video on YouTube

That's when Husky messaged us.

@Nikeagogo: What did the majestic Husky have to say to you guys?

@DRTsorak: To be honest when he contacted us it BLEW OUR MINDS.

He basically said that he really liked our videos and that he would like to join us up with TGS. I think he's a part owner/founder of TGS.

@Nikeagogo: So you joined up I assume? :)

@DRTsorak: But of course!

@Nikeagogo: Your YouTube channel for Viva La Dirt League now features multiple shows, included “Dirty Starcraft” that was formerly featured on your other channel, “VivaLaDERPLeague.” How would you describe “Dirty Starcraft” to new viewers?

@DRTsorak: Dirty Starcraft is dedicated to experimenting on Bronze League Lab Rats. So it's a series about trying A: Cheese tactics and B: Crazy weird tactics.

We've decided to start releasing a lot more of that kind of content on DIRT. Just because we were getting a little bit precious about ONLY having really high quality content on DIRT. And we were suffering on a lack of content.

There's bound to be some people who ONLY want us to release music videos, but I hope that the majority of people enjoy more content.

Dirty Starcraft video on YouTube

@Nikeagogo: You mentioned that you are releasing more content. What other shows are on the Viva La Dirt channel, or are soon to be that you are excited about?

@DRTsorak: So we have:
* Fern Terms (Fun Times)
* Dirty Starcraft
We're hoping to start doing:
* Some HoTS playt-hroughs
* Alan may be doing quest to Diamond league
* Plus we're gonna release more Bloopers and Behind the Scenes

Fern Terms video on YouTube

@Nikeagogo: Let’s talk about your YouTube channel, “RhythmicGamer.” You make these clever cover songs about Minecraft. Tell us about it!

@DRTsorak: Rhythmicgamer is my personal channel about Minecraft. It's basically a place where I can have full creative control over my own content and channel, etc.

I'm pretty happy with how it's going. I should actually start writing another song. I'm so busy recording songs for 3 other Minecraft channels that my own channel has fallen to the wayside.

@Nikeagogo: 3 other Minecraft channels? You are busy! Will you make an announcement video on RhythmicGamer so your fans can get linked to them?

@DRTsorak: Yeah Fo SHOW

@Nikeagogo: Do you see “RhythmicGamer” expanding to other games?

@DRTsorak: Originally that was the purpose. A place where I could make all sorts of music videos. But I realized that it might be advisable to build up a fan-base on one particular game first. So I think I'l probably just stick with Minecraft.

Use Some Bread Now music video on YouTube

@Nikeagogo: Let’s learn a few fun facts about you to close it off.

@DRTsorak: Sounds good

@Nikeagogo: Favorite TeamLiquid reads?

@DRTsorak: I actually don't visit TL that much. I do remember one about someone bitching about how awesome Brood War was compared to SC2. They had some interesting points but they were still just bitching.

@Nikeagogo: Team EvilGeniuses or Team Liquid?

@DRTsorak: Evil

@Nikeagogo: Favorite subreddit?

@DRTsorak: R/aww

@Nikeagogo: Is Day[9] a sexy beast?

@DRTsorak: I actually feel like a genuinely love him a little bit.

@Nikeagogo: We all do....we all do :)

@DRTsorak: Like I feel like he's the Delhi Lama of gaming.

@Nikeagogo: What slang word would you like to bring back into popular culture (or invent and see used)?

@DRTsorak: Kawabunga

@Nikeagogo: Are you a zealot (heh) for any particular SC2 streamer?

@DRTsorak: I used to be for Day[9]. But these days I'm actually a bit out of touch with streams. Got any favs?

@Nikeagogo: I actually love watching LeiYa (formerly ROOT Puck). Her Colossus/Warp Prism micro is un.real.

Besides that I watch EGIdra and Destiny the most!

@DRTsorak: Okay I'll have a gander

@Nikeagogo: Lastly, and most importantly, if you were on a deserted island with VLDL who would you:
(1) conspire with, (2) conspire against, (3) be afraid of?

@DRTsorak: Woah

I would conspire with DRTkoopzilla against DRTfootman BECAUSE I'm afraid of him.

@Nikeagogo: HAHA Beautiful....what would Barnaby (aka @DRTpain) be doing?

@DRTsorak: Trying to catch fish

@Nikeagogo: Shoutouts?

@DRTsorak: BIIIIG shoutout to the other Viva boys! All our fans! Barcraft NZ! Chris from Razer and PJ from Blizzard!

Thanks to DRTsorak for the interview! See the links below to check out all the VLDL and RhythmicGamer content!!

VIVA LA DIRT LEAGUE YouTube Channel: VIVA LA DIRT LEAGUE YouTube Channel
RhythmicGamer YouTube Channel: RhythmicGamer YouTube Channel
VIVA LA DIRT LEAGUE Bandcamp (DOWNLOAD SONGS!): BandCamp for VLDL
Facebook: Facebook Group
Anook: Anook nook

For more interview goodness with some of the Viva La Dirt crew: Viva La Dirt League interview with Bestof7 (Nikeary)

@GosuNudge: Hello Jascha. Thank you for doing this interview. Could you introduce yourself to the Anook community a little bit?
@SupportNoVa: Hey there, I am Jascha 'NoVa' Markuse, I play Heroes of Newerth, a game of the so called MOBA genre.

@GosuNudge: I want to start of with a few questions I call hot questions. I will tell you two choices and you have to pick one of the two immediately without thinking about it.. Are you ready?
@SupportNoVa: Yeah

@GosuNudge: LoL or Dota 2
@SupportNoVa: Dota 2

@GosuNudge: Coffee or Energy drink
@SupportNoVa: Energy Drink

@GosuNudge: Hellbourne or Legion
@SupportNoVa: Hellbourne

@GosuNudge: Ganker or Hard carry
@SupportNoVa: Hard carry

@GosuNudge: EU scene or NA scene
@SupportNoVa: EU scene

@GosuNudge: Portal Key or Tablet
@SupportNoVa: Portal Key

@GosuNudge: How did you get interested in gaming and how did you get into HoN?
@SupportNoVa: Gaming became interesting for me once I started reading a lot of Sci-Fi and Fantasy literature I believe. Therefore I always enjoyed RPG games such as Baldur's Gate or Knights of the old Republic. I started of with DotA like most LoL or HoN players and got introduced to the game by my brother.

@GosuNudge: Also out of personal interest. What kind of literature inspired you that much? Can you name any of the writers or names of the books that inspired you?
@SupportNoVa: Wheel of Time, Lord of the Rings of course. Legends of Dune, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Enwor saga, A Song of Ice and Fire before it was cool and roughly a couple hundred other books I can't recall atm.

@GosuNudge: How would you describe your gaming career so far?
@SupportNoVa: Spectacular, amazing, eye-opening, instructional, boring at times and tiresome, but compensating.

@GosuNudge: What is the most memorable achievement?
@SupportNoVa: Winning the semifinals of Dreamhack Winter 2011.

@GosuNudge: How do you feel about the current state of the competitive HoN scene?
@SupportNoVa: I probably have a pretty unique view on the scene as I've been part of Fnatic for almost two years and never had to form and reform my team every couple weeks. But to say something positive the scene is at its highest point right now and I believe it will only go one way: upwards.
New players, new teams, stability being promoted by S2's new tournament system - the next months will be great for the competitive HoN scene.

@GosuNudge: With which 5 words would you use to sell HoN to any none HoN players to convince them?
@SupportNoVa: Try HoN. I play it.

@GosuNudge: What is your cooling down -or- warming up game? Do you play any other games besides HoN? (not in a professional way)
@SupportNoVa: Unfortunately I don't have time to play other games anymore. When the match is important I warm up by talking a quick walk and listening to certain tracks, which change from one event to another.

@GosuNudge: What is the track you listen to a lot at this moment?
@SupportNoVa: Chaos Legion - choir of curse Boss BGM - type 1
youtube.com/watch/?v=h8NMrpfH-CU
This one I use for warm up atm shortly before drafting for example.

@GosuNudge: In the HoN community you are considered as one of the best supports in the world. This is quite of a title which gives a lot of fame and fans with it. How do you -cope- with the attention? Do you feel like a “celebrity”?
@SupportNoVa: At start, at the first Dreamhacks I didn't quite notice it. Then I learned more about eSports and I realized what kind of picture people started to get of me. There is not much to manage or cope with - it is nice but I don't feel like a celebrity. At the end of the day I am just another dedicated and enthusiastic gamer I hope.

@GosuNudge: When you left fnatic they wrote on their website “Nova is 100% the most iconic HoN player out there thanks to his unique style”. How would you describe your own playing style?
@SupportNoVa: To be honest they probably referred to another form of style, not necessarily a unique style ingame. But to give you an answer - I don't think my playing is very steady. Whenever I learn something I try to integrate it right away. There were times though when I didn't learn much and during the longest period I probably played very safe and centered around warding. At least that's what I've been told.

@GosuNudge: In what way did your playing style changed over the years that you’ve played?
@SupportNoVa: I played almost exclusively solo mid in DotA for years, then hard carry for a while and eventually support. My current style hopefully reflects that.

@GosuNudge: Looking back at your time at fnatic, which are the moments you would love to relive again? Which moments are you glad to be done with?
@SupportNoVa: Basically I would like to relive every single LAN event. I think, as a team, we specialized in those.
It might sound silly but there are only very few moments I regret having experienced. The two worst are probably parting ways with Trixi and Freshpro as we were one unit back then pretty much.

@GosuNudge: You started your own project called Q SQuad. What is the main goal of your project?
@SupportNoVa: There are two main goals. The first is creating my own team which is almost done. The second one is creating a community, a 'forge' for highskilled players within the Heroes of Newerth scene that look for a team.
As with all teamgames it is extremely hard to enter the professional scene for any 'random' or 'pub' as they are called. I want to make it easier for them.

@GosuNudge: How does S2 gaming, the makers of HoN support the competitive scene of HoN?
@SupportNoVa: Now more than ever. Besides having direct contact with competitors and asking them for their opinions about anything ranging from balance to tournament systems they actively promote the building of new teams with their tournament systems I feel. There is only a single 'invite only' tournament I know of, most are created to give teams a possibility to make themselves a name by going through Best of 1 rounds up to the later stages.

Amateur tournaments are hosted frequently, sponsored by S2 with gold coins. There are more plans for the future as well.

I honestly think with the employment of Phil 'The_Thrill' things are still far from perfect but heading into the right direction. Much more than before.

@GosuNudge: If you had to advice S2 gaming about HoN to give it a rebirth, what would you give as advice?
@SupportNoVa: Define rebirth please.

@GosuNudge: Mmm.. say they want to change some things in HoN to make it more attractive to people. What would you advice them?
@SupportNoVa: There are many things they could change in order to make it more attractive and many reasons why it appears difficult to do so. If it was one advice I would tell them to be less afraid to copy things from already existing models that run smoothly and convincingly.

@GosuNudge: What are your personal plans for the future? (As in education etc)
@SupportNoVa: It is very likely for me to finish my degree in German philology and Philosophy. Currently I am thinking about working in either business, on a theatre stage or in an eSports section.

@GosuNudge: Do you have a lot of time beside your gaming career to actually finish this?
@SupportNoVa: Not really, no - as you saw when we tried to schedule this interview.. there are a lot of other obligations and responsibilities and sometimes it takes its toll. But education is really important and not to be underestimated, something many people (also in eSports) will easily sign.

@GosuNudge: Last but not least. Any shout-outs you would like to do?
@SupportNoVa: I would like to shout-out to my spons- oh, wait.
Shout-out to people inspiring me. To my girlfriend for dealing with my schedule. To my new team for showing me already now that it is indeed possible to create something unique if you just work hard enough for it. To Danijel 'StreeT' for being the man he is - and to my brother. Maybe, one day, we will enter two different flights just to meet again at Joenkoping, Sweden.

@GosuNudge: Thank you very much for this interview Jascha, and we certainly hope to see a lot of you in the near future.

You can follow NoVa on:

anook.com/NoVa
twitter.com/QsQNoVa
facebook.com/fnaticnova

and watch his stream on twitch.tv/nova

@SupportNoVa interviewed by @GosuNudge

Hi there and welcome! First off, tell us a bit about yourself. What kind of gaming background do you have?

Hey, thanks for this opportunity. I'm 26 and I live in Panama City Beach, Florida. I started gaming at a very young age, I think duck hunter was the first video game I ever played. I mainly play first person shooters but I recently pick up Diablo III and I love it!

I have been watching your stream for a while, and I see that you are fond of flying, do you have a secret pilot inside waiting to come out?

It's classified. I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you. Yes my name is i Be LucKyyy and I like to fly jets, lol! I feel the need.....the need for speed!

[Filling the skies with his need for speed]

Tell us about your stream. Do you feel Anook has helped in attracting new viewers for you?

Yes, my channel and other channels I like. I stream Battlefield 3, Diablo III, and Ghost Recon: Future Soldier.

What's your advice for any new, would-be streamers?

Enjoy the game you stream and get to know the people that watch your stream.

[His stream]

You just recently began to play battlefield 3 on PC, I could imagine that you would had to get use to mouse and keyboard.

Yes, It took me about a week. I use a CM Storm Inferno mouse which has about 9 programmable buttons. I changed my bindings around a little and i have a 2.147 KD on PC :-)

How do you look on the up coming DLC packs from EA?

I hope they will be great.

Do you think that they will renew the game?

Yes, but they need to patch suppression...

How big are the differences between xbox and pc version of battlefield 3?

The difference between Battlefield 3 on Xbox and PC is huge. All i have to say is 64 man metro lol. I'm a fan of Xbox and PC gaming but Battlefield 3 should be played on PC :-)

How did you find out about Anook?

Well i was looking for website that could help my Channel grow a little. Exelor had watched my stream a few times and is the one that showed me anook and all it's greatness :-P

As you know, Anook is only in beta, but is there already something you really like or dislike about it?

Watching someone streaming from anook is what got me hooked, i love it!

Anything else you would like to add?

On the 25th of this month, Yeousch will be holding a Battlefield 3 only marathon stream for cancer research on this channel X6737Xtwitch.tv/yeousch_liveX_6738XX_6739X

You can follow iBeLucKyyy on:

http://www.anook.com/user/ibeluckyyyX_6742X 
https://www.twitter.com/iBeLuCkyyX_6745XX_6746X
http://www.youtube.com/user/iBeLuCkyyX_6748X 

and watch his stream on http://www.twitch.tv/ibeluckyyyX_6755X

Maverick: Tower, this is Ghost Rider requesting a flyby.
Air Boss Johnson: Negative, Ghost Rider, the pattern is full.

@iBeLucKyyy interviewed by @exelor and @Sweppz

Welcome to Anook’s first ever Community Spotlight! This new section will highlight, or "Spotlight", one of the many famous members of our community.
This week, we bring to you kur1: Peruser of Akihabara, streamer extraordinaire, and all round good guy. You might have seen a few of his streams on Twitch or videos on YouTube, but here he is in real (text) life! He also offers some great tips for new streamers, so keep reading.

1) Hi there and welcome! First off, tell us a bit about yourself. What kind of gaming background do you have?

Hey! I’m kur1 (pronounced ‘curry’), a Rogue who plays way too much World of Warcraft. In real life, I’m Chris. Life’s led me to Japan, where I work all day and play games all night from the comfort of my 2nd-floor apartment. My PC is built completely from parts bought in Akihabara. My Chrome theme is Hatsune Miku.

[I can see why]

My gaming history goes back as far as I can remember. I stuck exclusively to console gaming until the Dreamcast died, where I became bitter how they let such a magnificent platform fall to the wayside. That console got me entranced with online gaming. Since no other consoles would touch online play seriously for a few years, I opted to go PC. Around this time, a lot of my friends were PC builder enthusiasts and Steam was gaining traction, so it was an easy transition.

I got Unreal Tournament, Counter Strike, StarCraft: Brood War and a few other games that kept my interest for years. I had many unforgettable basement LAN parties where we’d have “eye bleach” contests, linking the most disturbing things 4chan could offer between FPS games.

[Ah, good ol’ nostalgia.]

What truly hooked me to games- specifically MMOs- was when I discovered my dad played Ultima Online. He lived away from me at the time, but every time I’d visit we’d do awesome stuff with his eclectic troupe of guildmates. This was before the era of quests, so you’d make your own adventures and epic tales.

I remember wandering into my first player-owned castle and “borrowing” things until I was overburdened, only to run into the guild that owned it at the front door as they returned from their PVP outing. Didn’t make it too far and started a short-lived guild war from the “unprovoked invasion”. Every trip to town turned into sudden battle royales with guards chasing down the instigators. I remember commandeering peoples’ ships as they docked at harbor and forgot to lock the plank. I remember getting led from city to city with a Mage back when I had no idea what I was doing and seeing players chatting, sparring, skilling up on dummies, and generally living out a medieval lifestyle. Adventures like these hooked me to MMOs.

[Good times.]

Since Ultima Online, I’ve hopped to tons of games and dabbled in pretty much every genre, but my “home sweet home” has been World of Warcraft.

2) How did you find out about Anook?

Anook reached out to me on Twitter one day after my stream. They said they liked my content and wanted me to join. I was suspicious (being a front-page streamer with your Twitter linked leads to a lot of spam), but I actually got a human response! I joined up and was immediately impressed with the quality and professionalism of the site, and especially the pervasive friendliness from everyone.

3) As you know, Anook is only in beta, but is there already something you really like or dislike about it?

I really, really like Anook’s speed. I have a very low tolerance for waiting on websites. Everything on Anook happens so quick it’s crazy, especially for how much media it’s loading.

The fact you can filter streams by game, class, gameplay type, etc. (if the streamer labels their stream) is awesome. It really helps you find the streams you want to watch.

The heart/skull buttons are great. The votes spotlight posts that are worth reading. Plus the community (especially the admins) are very active responding to stories and updates to keep things friendly and active. Too many networks are all posts, no replies- Anook is the opposite.

The only downside to Anook is how it’s too compartmentalized for its userbase. Games are divided into individual releases (i.e. Guild Wars 2 rather than Guild Wars as a franchise). If Nooks were filterable from a genre (for example, “MMORPGs > Guild Wars Series > Guild Wars 2”), I feel it’d liven up less frequented sections while combining MMO enthusiasts in one meta-Nook. But that’s a small quip, considering how nice everything looks and operates.

4) Tell us about your World of Warcraft guild, Crimson. Any plans to expand to Guild Wars 2?

Crimson’s a collection of Aussies, New Zealanders, and random other nationalities who were sick of Caelestrasz’s lack of organized skilled players. The raiding scene was either “be an elitist prick who raids 30 hours a week or GO CASUAL”. So Taita (our GM) and his Officers got together and found talent from across the region to tackle PVE progression. We even have some famous PVPers in our ranks.

[Crimson is recruiting!]

People come for the progression and skill, but stick around for the awesome atmosphere. Even though Ventrilo gets heated, it’s all rooted in our passion for success. And there’s just as many nerd screams and laughs as there are aggravated groans. Much like competitive stuff in real life. It’s a really great atmosphere that I can’t see myself leaving.

Shameless plug: We’re recruiting players who can raid Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday 7:30-10:30PM AEST (Australian Eastern Standard Time)! Yes, you read that right. We’re a 3-day-a-week raiding guild and still keeping pace with Oceanic’s top 25-mans (ranked #7 in 4.3!). We hold all of the server’s Cataclysm Realm Firsts for patch end-bosses. We’re always looking to take on more skilled players. Apply at http://www.wearecrimson.com.X_5664X

Guild Wars 2 is an un-touched topic in our guild. We’re definitely transitioning from Cataclysm to Mists of Pandaria, and quite a few of our players will be dabbling in Guild Wars 2, but nothing’s set in stone yet. Our primary focus will be progressing competitively throughout WoW: MoP unless Blizzard drops the ball. I’ll personally be romping through Guild Wars 2 in my free time, though! (DIGITAL DELUXE PRE-ORDER WHAT WHAT fistbump)

5) Tell us about your stream. Do you feel Anook has helped in attracting new viewers for you?

My stream’s at http://www.twitch.tv/kur1X_5670X (click the Follow button!), where I regularly stream Cataclysm, Mists of Pandaria, and the occasional League of Legends match to show how terrible I am at MOBA games. I put a heavy emphasis on chat interaction, something I feel is lacking from a lot of high-end streams. Yeah, you can watch someone click buttons perfectly in real time... but I prefer including the viewers to make them feel involved. It makes for a much more interesting atmosphere.

Anook opened up my stream to a bunch of new European viewers! A ton of people actually don’t go to Twitch directly, but instead view streams on proxy websites like Anook and SoloMid. It’s really beneficial to get your stream to these proxy sites to help people discover your channel, especially if the community is active when you’re usually streaming.

6) What's your advice for any new, would-be streamers?

There’s a checklist I have for new streamers I’ve posted on various forums, so I’ll just repeat it here:

• Unless you’re IdrA or dApollo, interact with your stream chat. Nobody likes watching Mediocre Mike run around WoW aimlessly, making rudimentary mistakes.
• Make yourself relatable and interesting- my niche is Rogue, and my grab is that I live in Japan and run a high-quality 1080p stream. What’s yours?
• If your stream stutters, looks like pixel art, or sounds like you’re talking into a tin can, you’ve got a problem. People will drop your stream quicker than an ugly baby. Sort that out.
• Stream consistently, and at consistent times. People won’t come back if they can never predict when you play. Return viewers are key to building a channel.
• Community & Entertainment > Gameplay, always. People cannot realistically stay interested watching games for hours on end. They’ll tune out. But if you’re interactive and funny, they’ll stay and bring their friends.
• Pick a big, popular game or a new release. Lots of eyes are already on that game, and you can exploit that attention to your benefit. Chances of getting big with a no-name JRPG released 4 months ago? Not too good.
• Stick with one game. Swapping from Battletoads to E.T. to World of Warcraft to Heroes of Newerth will just confuse and segment your viewers. You might not be used to playing one game for hours at a time, but it’s required to grow a channel. Streams do best when they’re centered around one game with the occasional random night, not the other way around.

7) Anything else you would like to add?

Hope you enjoyed a little backstory into my life, and I hope you check out my Twitch stream and YouTube channel! Gaming’s a passion of mine, and I love sharing it with others.

Thanks for the interview, and I hope to talk with you all around Anook!

http://www.anook.com/user/kur1X_5678X
http://www.twitch.tv/kur1X_5680X
http://www.youtube.com/user/kur1gamingX_5682X

Want to be featured on the Community Spotlight? Give a shout out to @valtronic and tell us about yourself!

@kur1 Interviewed by @Kappa