What is the story behind your gamertag?
"I've always been into punk music, since I was younger, back in my highschool days. The name 'PunkRwkr' was actually taken so I just stuck my age at the time on the end of it."
What map led you to #1 for the week?
"Grissom, Shenandoah, and Le Ceito. Assault maps are what I'm best at it, and I had never raided Leceito before because I heard it was impossible to win, but I have yet to lose a match there so I quite enjoy that one."
All 3 of those maps are pretty solid guarantee wins for JSF. What is your favorite unit?
"I would have to say my tanks, especially on assault maps. I dont even bother using transports anymore on maps like Grissom and Maxwell Assault. 6 3 stars tanks with bloss cannons escorted by two gunships makes short work of any enemy gunship, especially when they are in a tight formation."
What unit annoys you the most to fight against?
"Russian artillery due to there heavy damage, and Euro transports because they always beat me my transports to the uplink."
Do you think someone will win the war or do you think that Ubi will call the war early like they did for the PS3? Either way, who do you think will win?
"Well, the JSF has failed to take two different capitals now, but I also believe we are the only faction to actually attack any enemy capital as well. I could be wrong though as I've missed a good 4-5 weeks of the second war. I'd guess that if Ubi decided to call it they would award JSF as the winner due to that fact. Now if they don't call it I see this war going well into 100+ turns."
Who do you think was the hardest opponent you fought?
"That week I would have to say alDalVl 8nt EZ. He managed to give me two of my losses after he finally figured me out. Its always a blood bath when we fight each other. I enjoy playing him though and I believe he feels the same. Over all though I would say RamSS. The other time I finished first for the week back in War 1 he handed mine to me atleast half a dozen times. He is probably the best opponent I have faced to date. I would like to face him again because I think I could squeeze atleast one win out of him."
After this war is over do you plan on switching factions or are you JSF forever?
"Well I probably won't be around to see this war end due to real life, I'll be "retiring" for 6 months come the 20th of this month. But you can count on me taking up the fight for the JSF when I get back. I will never switch factions."
If you had the option to change one single thing in TOW what would you change?
"The wait time for matches. I mostly play 1 vs 1 matches now and sometimes I sit there for a good 40 minutes to an hour waiting for a match. Other then that though I wouldn't change a thing. I love the game how it is."
I find that hard to believe with the huge number of wins you have secured. But, who am I? I can tell you that you wait that long because people don't like to play maps they lose by over 3000 matches. Do you have a single bit of tactics or advice for up and coming new players?
"Hit them fast and hit them hard. Don't let up on them even for a second. Every second you wait gives them chance to regroup, call in reinforcements, and move to a more tactical posistion. 16th armored all the way! You can't go wrong with them."
I have to wish you congratulations, you even look like you are going to win again next week.
"Good job on the push to Paris JSF. We may not have taken it but that's two capitals in one war. Keep defending the homeland and we will end up the victor!"
-Corporal Bruno
Drill Instructor
Tactical Gaming
http://tw.tghq.org /\/\ http://www.tacticalgaming.net
Join a community not a clan!
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
QuidProKuo EndWar's Community Developer
Sometimes we are happy with Ubisoft, sometimes we are upset with Ubisoft. That is how it goes with the relationship between gamer and developer. But, I must say we are all very happy with the hard work and dedication that Ubisoft Shanghai's Endwar Community Developer has put in to make our experience more enjoyable. We would all like to say thank you and keep up the great work!
I do apologize for the tardiness of this interview, we all know what I have been going through trying to give endwarboards.com a chance to host this content. All in all, I think this is a much better venue. I hope you all enjoy this interview and I hope to be able to interview other developers at Ubisoft in the future. For all of you that had questions and don't see them here, I apologize, but QPK could only answer certain questions.
A lot of players are concerned with how the Theater of War works and have many suggestions about how the Primary Front Rule operates. Can we expect any changes to the Primary Front Rule?
"It took a long time to get the TOW rules to where they are now, the last thing the team wants to do is to change a rule and break the entire system. However, we do know that the TOW rules are very complex and are keeping this in mind for future projects."
Where can we find a rule by rule explanation of the way Theater of War works? Can you explain the Primary Front rule in detail?
"There is already a TOW primer on the forums at Ubi.com"
What were some of the surprises and challenges the Theater of War gave the developers after the release?
"We didn’t expect the wars to last so long or for there to be so many deadlocks."
What goals, pre-launch, did the development team have to determine if the game was a success? Do they feel they met these goals?
"The goal was to make the first strategy game truly designed for consoles and revolutionize the way strategy game are played. In this respect, we’d like to think of EndWar as a success. We received a lot of positive feedback from the players and the press alike, as well as praise for trying something truly new and innovative."
We totally agree with this as a whole. We love how the controls work. We are really hoping that there will be a sequel, and we think that a better marketing campaign will bring more players to the game. Is it set in stone that EndWar will not have a successor? We really enjoyed the voice command RTS. We would like more of it. What does the future hold for EndWar?
"When we’re ready to comment there will be an official announcement."
Tom Clancy's EndWar certainly has revolutionized real time strategy game play on the console with the simple layout and voice command. What sparked these ideas and do you hope other developers will follow by Ubisoft Shanghai's example?
"We have a set of video developer diaries you can view to get your answers. You can find them on gametrailers.com. Here’s a link to the first episode (there are 10 in total). "
What are the Shanghai UbiSoft Developers working on now and next?
"Some are working on patches and post-launch support. Others have moved on to other projects."
Can we have a list of exactly what the patch will fix? We have seen many posts referring to leader board issues, units disappearing, etc., but no details.
"I was actually in the middle of compiling this list when I got this questionnaire:
Patch Notes for EndWar X360 Title Update 2 -
• Players disconnecting from a game in 1v1 Theater of War matches will no longer result in units becoming KIA (this includes the “disappearing units” issue).
• Fixed improper text translations.
• Fixes issue with Xbox Live Leader Boards inaccurately recording wins/losses.
• Fixed UI to properly display TOW victory conditions.
• “Dashboarding” players will now be credited with a loss every time they leave a game if they’re in it for more than 3 minutes.
PS3 Patch 1.03 details will come later."
We really appreciate game fixes and patches, so thank you so very much. Speaking of the players on the PS3. Does Ubisoft plan on giving PS3 players the 4v4 patch, and if so, what is the time frame?
"Yes, 4v4 will be part of the PS3 1.03 patch. I don’t have a date yet."
It seems that after you get 60 upgrades, the achievement on XBOX 360 doesn't unlock. Did you know about this?
"Yes, we know about this issue and our post-launch team is looking into it. "
That is great news, there are a lot of players out there that really strive to get every single achievement! Can we expect any new DLC regarding new units, upgrades, camo schemes or battalions in the future?
"Yes, there is more DLC planned."
How exciting! We really enjoy the option of replays. Does the development team plan on expanding the controls over the replays?
"No."
Fair enough. As you know this is a huge topic of discussion amongst the community. How did the development team miss that the ease of unit killing would push players away from this game in the incredibly huge numbers it did? Some people have recommended to increase the HP of a downed unit as to not make it SO easy to kill a legendary unit. Why have some other community games, like the Halo series, have nothing resembling perma-killing units, but we do? Could it be that is why they have hundreds of thousands, and even millions of player and we have less than 5,000 that play per week? Perma-killing is important as it refreshes the game, but it's too easy as compared to the time and psychic engery placed into the ranking-up.
"A lot of choices were made as a result of the private beta that we held. I can’t go into more details as this is more of a decision made by the lead designers and the Creative Director."
(I am going to look into an interview with the Creative Director.)
Why is Tom Clancy's EndWar only set in the Atlantic theater? Why doesn't it involve the whole world? I mean, we can only fight on half of real American territory, as well as only half of Russia. I can understand the game play issues involved in having the large amount of territories, but how about having the next war spread out over the Pacific, or maybe the whole northern hemisphere? Because as it is now, this "World War 3" seems a little contained, as you can't fight across the whole world, or at least all of America and Russia. Where is China in all of this?
"Really this is a question best-suited for someone like Michael de Plater, the Creative Designer on EndWar to answer. That said, I do know that the team wanted to focus on one specific part of World War 3 for EndWar and potentially explore other parts of WW3 in the future."
(I am also going to look into an interview with Michael de Plater.)
I hope that ends up turning out to come to fruition. If you could go back to the drawing board but only change one thing about Tom Clancy's EndWar, what would you change and why?
"Please keep in mind that I work on the community end and that this is my personal opinion: I’d have liked to have added a bit more depth, as a military enthusiast I’d have liked to have seen things be a bit more realistic, and a bit deeper as far as tactical options go."
As a Marine I would have to agree with you 100% on that. The game was released at the same time as Gears of War 2 and (I think it was) Left 4 Dead. There were two major releases at the same time, I know that. What impact did that have on the game sales?
"The real question is, 'How would EndWar have done if it was released on a different date?' The answer: I have no idea."
What is the forecasted impact of Halo Wars on the EW community?
"I really don’t know, only time will tell."
A lot of the dedicated EndWar players have played the demo for Halo Wars, and so far the results were: "It isn't EndWar." On a separate note, do the developers listen to the War Report? Do they read the forums? Do they read my interviews?
"Yes."
There you have it! QuidProKuo has spoken! We look forward to all the changes in the future, and we would like to say thank you one more time!
-Corporal Bruno
Grant Squad Member // Drill Instructor
Tactical Gaming
http://www.tacticalgaming.net
Join a community not a clan!
Who links to my website?
I do apologize for the tardiness of this interview, we all know what I have been going through trying to give endwarboards.com a chance to host this content. All in all, I think this is a much better venue. I hope you all enjoy this interview and I hope to be able to interview other developers at Ubisoft in the future. For all of you that had questions and don't see them here, I apologize, but QPK could only answer certain questions.
A lot of players are concerned with how the Theater of War works and have many suggestions about how the Primary Front Rule operates. Can we expect any changes to the Primary Front Rule?
"It took a long time to get the TOW rules to where they are now, the last thing the team wants to do is to change a rule and break the entire system. However, we do know that the TOW rules are very complex and are keeping this in mind for future projects."
Where can we find a rule by rule explanation of the way Theater of War works? Can you explain the Primary Front rule in detail?
"There is already a TOW primer on the forums at Ubi.com"
What were some of the surprises and challenges the Theater of War gave the developers after the release?
"We didn’t expect the wars to last so long or for there to be so many deadlocks."
What goals, pre-launch, did the development team have to determine if the game was a success? Do they feel they met these goals?
"The goal was to make the first strategy game truly designed for consoles and revolutionize the way strategy game are played. In this respect, we’d like to think of EndWar as a success. We received a lot of positive feedback from the players and the press alike, as well as praise for trying something truly new and innovative."
We totally agree with this as a whole. We love how the controls work. We are really hoping that there will be a sequel, and we think that a better marketing campaign will bring more players to the game. Is it set in stone that EndWar will not have a successor? We really enjoyed the voice command RTS. We would like more of it. What does the future hold for EndWar?
"When we’re ready to comment there will be an official announcement."
Tom Clancy's EndWar certainly has revolutionized real time strategy game play on the console with the simple layout and voice command. What sparked these ideas and do you hope other developers will follow by Ubisoft Shanghai's example?
"We have a set of video developer diaries you can view to get your answers. You can find them on gametrailers.com. Here’s a link to the first episode (there are 10 in total). "
What are the Shanghai UbiSoft Developers working on now and next?
"Some are working on patches and post-launch support. Others have moved on to other projects."
Can we have a list of exactly what the patch will fix? We have seen many posts referring to leader board issues, units disappearing, etc., but no details.
"I was actually in the middle of compiling this list when I got this questionnaire:
Patch Notes for EndWar X360 Title Update 2 -
• Players disconnecting from a game in 1v1 Theater of War matches will no longer result in units becoming KIA (this includes the “disappearing units” issue).
• Fixed improper text translations.
• Fixes issue with Xbox Live Leader Boards inaccurately recording wins/losses.
• Fixed UI to properly display TOW victory conditions.
• “Dashboarding” players will now be credited with a loss every time they leave a game if they’re in it for more than 3 minutes.
PS3 Patch 1.03 details will come later."
We really appreciate game fixes and patches, so thank you so very much. Speaking of the players on the PS3. Does Ubisoft plan on giving PS3 players the 4v4 patch, and if so, what is the time frame?
"Yes, 4v4 will be part of the PS3 1.03 patch. I don’t have a date yet."
It seems that after you get 60 upgrades, the achievement on XBOX 360 doesn't unlock. Did you know about this?
"Yes, we know about this issue and our post-launch team is looking into it. "
That is great news, there are a lot of players out there that really strive to get every single achievement! Can we expect any new DLC regarding new units, upgrades, camo schemes or battalions in the future?
"Yes, there is more DLC planned."
How exciting! We really enjoy the option of replays. Does the development team plan on expanding the controls over the replays?
"No."
Fair enough. As you know this is a huge topic of discussion amongst the community. How did the development team miss that the ease of unit killing would push players away from this game in the incredibly huge numbers it did? Some people have recommended to increase the HP of a downed unit as to not make it SO easy to kill a legendary unit. Why have some other community games, like the Halo series, have nothing resembling perma-killing units, but we do? Could it be that is why they have hundreds of thousands, and even millions of player and we have less than 5,000 that play per week? Perma-killing is important as it refreshes the game, but it's too easy as compared to the time and psychic engery placed into the ranking-up.
"A lot of choices were made as a result of the private beta that we held. I can’t go into more details as this is more of a decision made by the lead designers and the Creative Director."
(I am going to look into an interview with the Creative Director.)
Why is Tom Clancy's EndWar only set in the Atlantic theater? Why doesn't it involve the whole world? I mean, we can only fight on half of real American territory, as well as only half of Russia. I can understand the game play issues involved in having the large amount of territories, but how about having the next war spread out over the Pacific, or maybe the whole northern hemisphere? Because as it is now, this "World War 3" seems a little contained, as you can't fight across the whole world, or at least all of America and Russia. Where is China in all of this?
"Really this is a question best-suited for someone like Michael de Plater, the Creative Designer on EndWar to answer. That said, I do know that the team wanted to focus on one specific part of World War 3 for EndWar and potentially explore other parts of WW3 in the future."
(I am also going to look into an interview with Michael de Plater.)
I hope that ends up turning out to come to fruition. If you could go back to the drawing board but only change one thing about Tom Clancy's EndWar, what would you change and why?
"Please keep in mind that I work on the community end and that this is my personal opinion: I’d have liked to have added a bit more depth, as a military enthusiast I’d have liked to have seen things be a bit more realistic, and a bit deeper as far as tactical options go."
As a Marine I would have to agree with you 100% on that. The game was released at the same time as Gears of War 2 and (I think it was) Left 4 Dead. There were two major releases at the same time, I know that. What impact did that have on the game sales?
"The real question is, 'How would EndWar have done if it was released on a different date?' The answer: I have no idea."
What is the forecasted impact of Halo Wars on the EW community?
"I really don’t know, only time will tell."
A lot of the dedicated EndWar players have played the demo for Halo Wars, and so far the results were: "It isn't EndWar." On a separate note, do the developers listen to the War Report? Do they read the forums? Do they read my interviews?
"Yes."
There you have it! QuidProKuo has spoken! We look forward to all the changes in the future, and we would like to say thank you one more time!
-Corporal Bruno
Grant Squad Member // Drill Instructor
Tactical Gaming
http://www.tacticalgaming.net
Join a community not a clan!
Who links to my website?
Paradox0823 - Top player amongst EFEC on the XBOX360.
How did you come up with your gamertag?
Well I got my gamertag a long time ago when Halo 2 came out. In the opening movie of Halo 2, there is a person named "Paradox". So I decided to add on my birthday and make it my gamertag.
I see. What do you think led you to the number one spot on the leaderboards for EFEC?
I've been playing EFEC for a long time now and I figured out that it doesn't matter how beefy your units are if they're stuck racing a snail to the uplinks in the middle that I've already captured.
Interesting take on things, but it makes sense. What is your favorite unit?
Hands down it would be EFEC transports. They are great for keeping my tanks nice and shiny. They also get an amazing attack boost from the new elite battalion.
Yeah those transports are nasty. What unit annoys you the most to fight against?
I get annoyed by people who drag on a fight by hiding riflemen in the forest or a building off yonder and try to stay in the match for the next fifteen minutes in attempt to get a second WMD. This is the sole reason why I switched my main focus to securing all the uplinks and end the match as quick as possible.
Do you think someone will win this war or do you think that Ubisoft will call the war early like they did for the PS3? Who do you think will win?
Well I really believe that no one will be able to win a victory as long as the JSF keep Grissom. Other then that, I'm thinking that this war will be ended by the mods and the winner will be EFEC again for the most territories captured.
Who do you think was the hardest opponent you have ever fought?
I've had plenty of hard opponents. Some for skill and some for unit level. To name a few there is Kashern, RepperTheGreat, and I guess I'll give RamSS the benefit of the doubt .
After this war is over do you plan on switching factions or are you EFEC forever?
Well I am going to come out clean and say that my disc is broken and it may be some time before I can get another one. But if I do come back, I'm still going to roll with the EFEC.
If you had the option to change one single thing in Theater of War what would you change?
Hmm... You're feeding one person in a hungry crowd, Bob, but I feel the most important thing is my suggestion to have the experience curve for units steeper. Have recruit through veteran take half the amount of matches and veteran to legendary a little more then one and a half times longer to get promoted. Just think... No more "OMG! You killed my hardened!!!1!1!111", and more balanced matches since more players will have secondary attacks, and still have the satisfaction of killing those really highly ranked units . I believe that it would fix a lot of the problems about unit killing, but the rest is up to those bug fixes!
What games are coming out in the near future that you are considering picking up and why?
I've been waiting for one game in particular to come out for a good year. Stargate Worlds. Its a great looking MMO that I may have a lot of fun with.
I have seen some things about that game, it does look interesting. I have to say congratulations, you have worked hard and played great.
"If you guys want to hit me up, send me a message and I could be your friend for a day (for a low, low, low price of $500). Just don't send me friend requests out of the blue because my mom told me not to talk to strangers! "
There you have it commanders! Thanks for your interest, and I will see you again with my upcoming interview with QuidProKuo!
- Corporal Bruno
Grant Squad Member // Drill Instructor
http://tw.tghq.org
http://www.tacticalgaming.com
Join a community not a clan!
Well I got my gamertag a long time ago when Halo 2 came out. In the opening movie of Halo 2, there is a person named "Paradox". So I decided to add on my birthday and make it my gamertag.
I see. What do you think led you to the number one spot on the leaderboards for EFEC?
I've been playing EFEC for a long time now and I figured out that it doesn't matter how beefy your units are if they're stuck racing a snail to the uplinks in the middle that I've already captured.
Interesting take on things, but it makes sense. What is your favorite unit?
Hands down it would be EFEC transports. They are great for keeping my tanks nice and shiny. They also get an amazing attack boost from the new elite battalion.
Yeah those transports are nasty. What unit annoys you the most to fight against?
I get annoyed by people who drag on a fight by hiding riflemen in the forest or a building off yonder and try to stay in the match for the next fifteen minutes in attempt to get a second WMD. This is the sole reason why I switched my main focus to securing all the uplinks and end the match as quick as possible.
Do you think someone will win this war or do you think that Ubisoft will call the war early like they did for the PS3? Who do you think will win?
Well I really believe that no one will be able to win a victory as long as the JSF keep Grissom. Other then that, I'm thinking that this war will be ended by the mods and the winner will be EFEC again for the most territories captured.
Who do you think was the hardest opponent you have ever fought?
I've had plenty of hard opponents. Some for skill and some for unit level. To name a few there is Kashern, RepperTheGreat, and I guess I'll give RamSS the benefit of the doubt .
After this war is over do you plan on switching factions or are you EFEC forever?
Well I am going to come out clean and say that my disc is broken and it may be some time before I can get another one. But if I do come back, I'm still going to roll with the EFEC.
If you had the option to change one single thing in Theater of War what would you change?
Hmm... You're feeding one person in a hungry crowd, Bob, but I feel the most important thing is my suggestion to have the experience curve for units steeper. Have recruit through veteran take half the amount of matches and veteran to legendary a little more then one and a half times longer to get promoted. Just think... No more "OMG! You killed my hardened!!!1!1!111", and more balanced matches since more players will have secondary attacks, and still have the satisfaction of killing those really highly ranked units . I believe that it would fix a lot of the problems about unit killing, but the rest is up to those bug fixes!
What games are coming out in the near future that you are considering picking up and why?
I've been waiting for one game in particular to come out for a good year. Stargate Worlds. Its a great looking MMO that I may have a lot of fun with.
I have seen some things about that game, it does look interesting. I have to say congratulations, you have worked hard and played great.
"If you guys want to hit me up, send me a message and I could be your friend for a day (for a low, low, low price of $500). Just don't send me friend requests out of the blue because my mom told me not to talk to strangers! "
There you have it commanders! Thanks for your interest, and I will see you again with my upcoming interview with QuidProKuo!
- Corporal Bruno
Grant Squad Member // Drill Instructor
http://tw.tghq.org
http://www.tacticalgaming.com
Join a community not a clan!
I just had to...
After posting to the front page of Endwarboards.com for about 2 weeks, EJRaven decided to restrict my publishing abilities. Which in most cases would be fine but, he refused to post my articles unless I edited them to his liking. Well, that is his site, so he can keep it.
WELCOME! The EndWar community has spoken out to me in private and publicly, that they want their interviews and they want them now! So, here you go!
-Corporal Bruno
Grant Squad Member // Drill Instructor
http://tw.tghq.org
http://www.tacticalgaming.net
Join a community not a clan!
WELCOME! The EndWar community has spoken out to me in private and publicly, that they want their interviews and they want them now! So, here you go!
-Corporal Bruno
Grant Squad Member // Drill Instructor
http://tw.tghq.org
http://www.tacticalgaming.net
Join a community not a clan!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)