GG: Welcome John to The Galaxy Gathering studio. Can I offer
you a drink from the wet bar before we get started?
John: Jack and Coke... in memory of a friend of a friend who
passed away recently... One of our team
was away at a funeral for part of this war...
GG: *Mixes a few stiff drinks and passes one to John*
GG: My condolences for your loss. Salute.
GG: For the record what is your name, player ID, clan you
fought with this last CW and what medal did you win?
John: Name, John Wesley, player ID # 220298, Clan is ~Heroes
Support~ of which I am the Clan leader,
and we came home with a silver in the latest war.
GG: Did your team perform like you expected this war?
John: Oh yeah. We had
some shuffles in personnel right before the war as we had a few players decide
to move on to "greener pastures” but the good thing about the ~Heroes~
group is that with the players we have in the upper ranks, they've followed our
system and can shift right into place.
GG: Teamwork makes the dream work. It is nice when you have
a group of players you can count on to step up.
GG: Was there anything you found to be a surprise this war?
John: The folks leaving was a bit of a surprise; I thought
that getting silver pretty consistently every war would keep folks satisfied,
but I guess the lure of gold with some of the wallet teams was just too
tempting. We also pulled out a
surprising win in round 2 against one of the AFF squads. We were trailing late, but a couple of us
thought we had a shot at making a late run. So Skywise, myself and Skoobie put
in a concerted late zerg-rush and with help from Eric Finley and Kevin Kyrouac
we managed to squeak out a last second win.
It was a real team effort.
GG: Nicely done.
GG: Was there anything you found to be a disappointment this
war?
John: I was a little disappointed in myself for not doing as
much pre-planning as I should with the team. We found a weak spot a little too
late to address it, but fortunately it didn't end up costing us. That was my fault as team leader for not
doing all the ground work and testing I should have.
GG: This war every clan needed a SRB specialist to get in
the game. We have had a required spec now for the last two wars. Do you feel
this requirement improves or takes away from Clan Wars?
John: I like the required spec constraint for the wars. We as a group were "early adopters"
if you will, on having and being prepared for specs, so we feel having the
required specs or more spec slots works as an advantage for us.
John: Not only are we prepared to run the sepcs, we are
prepared to fight them as well. I know
at least one of the folks in the ~Heroes~ family who has filled up all his
available slots for spec formations in his hangar.
GG: As a fellow pilot, I know how much work goes into
building and maintaining all of those formations. Much respect for the effort.
GG: The pilots who ran the required SRB spec this war earned
(2) 2X upgrade kits. Does this extra prizing improve Clan Wars and should be
continued?
John: It's a nice bonus.
I'm not going to complain about myself or my teammates getting extra
help in improving their units. We'll
take anything we can get!
GG: How hard was the Raid for your team?
John: We are finishing it now, about 2% to go so it will be
done within the next little bit. We're
actually finishing this one faster than usual.
The raid usually depends on player availability, and everyone was more
available this time.
GG: Are the Raid Prizes this war useful for your team or do
you just sell most of it for needed Niodes?
John: Depends on the teammate. Usually any of the niode equipment we get we
can easily find a slot for, and extra niode weapons are always useful. If we get 'mechs, that usually depends on the
individual player. I've got enough of a
backlog of projects right now that I will usually scrap a raid 'Mech to use the
niodes to work on other projects. As far
as the crystal stuff, usually the weapons are lower level that what we are armed with already so those are scrapped for
resources.
GG: What is your favorite mech that you own and why?
John: oooh, tough question.
So many favorites... Honestly it used to be the Frigis, but these days
it's the Dilophos. It can be most easily built into something that is far more
lethal than its size would indicate.
GG: What is your favorite thing about Clan Wars?
John: The striving for the medals. Seeing if we can reach our goal of at least a
silver across all of our clan family, and celebrating the rare gold medal.
GG: In your opinion, what needs to be fixed to make Clan
Wars better?
John: That's a tough one.
I’d like to see some way to push clans upward with success. a weighting
of the level average for medals earned.
I know that would affect us too but right now there are some groups who
will just win their divisions every time. There are some divisions like ours
that are simply not competitive at the top.
GG: That has been up for conversation more than a few times
lately.
GG: Before we wrap this up is there anything you would like
to add?
John: Yeah, I'll add this.
If there are pilots out there dissatisfied with their current clan, if they
are a strong competitor but the rest of their clan doesn't share their
enthusiasm, and if they are willing to work with a team and a system that
doesn't put massive pressure on them to
spend, come knock on our door.
John: I'm not going to promise you a win every time, but our
medals cabinet speaks for itself.
GG: Ok John. Thanks so much for taking the time to talk with
me today. It has been a pleasure. My best to you and your crew.
John: Thanks JR. See
you next time...