We put Feanor in-the-scope to discuss the purpose of Horizon Teams, Vanguard and to get a glimpse of what to expect in 2012. Read the questions below.
1. For the readers, can you please state your name, rank and current position within TAW.
Feanor, Major General, Vanguard Commander2. Do you remember who did your bootcamp? What was it like?
SGT TeranSpecialist and SSG Todbot, it was pretty grueling, they made me read over TAW policy and quized me on it! We all had a good laugh about it later.3. Why did you join TAW? What made you decide that TAW was where you wanted to be?
I had been playing on the TAW server for several weeks and Teranspecialist and Todbot both asked me why I hadn’t joined up already.4. Vanguard has a lot of games. Which game(s) do you spend the most time on? Either playing or help command. Have any favorites?
Nuclear Dawn is an amazing game. It has many features similar to Quake Wars, which I still consider to the highest quality team based FPS ever created. I spend a lot of time with Battlefield because of how large it is and how much help it needs. I also liked Red Orchestra a lot as well because like Battlefield it supported 64 players but unlike BF3 it had user end dedicated servers, custom maps and mods made by the community and VOIP. And then of course there is Star Wars which isn’t out yet but I get a thrill thinking about how evil I could be as a Sith Lord running around force-choking everyone who makes me mad.5. What do you do outside of TAW?
I work at as a game tester at a very large company. It’s definitely not as glamorous as you might think. I’m educated in politics and economics and I used to work for the US congress. I love to ski, hike and enjoy the great outdoors. I’m a big fan of the pacific northwest and Alaska. I have lived all over North America and prefer those regions the most.6. Has your experience with TAW helped you accomplish anything in the real world?
Leadership in TAW carries over into real life more than you might think. On a practical level being in TAW has helped me network and achieve opportunities that I might not have otherwise, and I feel like being in TAW gives me a creative outlet, especially for my work in Vanguard. I was a big fan of legos when I was a kid, and I played Sim City a lot, I am a builder and I like to create things. Helping to create divisions in TAW is a great chance to do that, it’s a lot of fun.7. What is the difference between a Vanguard team and a Horizon team? Why does TAW need both?
Horizon Teams are early recruitment teams that occur before a game is actually released. They are open to new recruits for membership, though existing members of other divisions are always welcome to participate Horizon team meetings as guest members. Horizon teams are usually reserves for very large, “blockbuster” games where the efforts of early recruitment through forums and online media pay off by helping to get TAW’s ‘virtual foot in the door’ early. Horizon teams meet twice a week and have discussions about the upcoming game.
Full Vanguard teams for upcoming games are allowed to open typically a few days before a new game is available as open to the public, either as a released game or as an open Beta. Vanguard teams form when there is sufficient interest in TAW from existing members to justify opening a new team, as well as sufficient leadership and a game that can succeed in TAW and meet our requirements.
8. Is there anything you’d like to tell a member or potential recruit about the current games in Vanguard?
Many people see TAW as a “first person shooter” gaming community. However, this is not true. TAW embraces all genres of games including: First Person Shooters (Battlefield, Quake Wars, etc.), Real Time Strategies (Starcraft, Company of Heroes), Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (Age of Conan, Star Wars The Old Republic), and our newest genre: Multi-Online Battle Arenas (League of Legends, World of Tanks).TAW is a diverse organization in terms of games that we play and members that we have from all across the planet.9. What can you tell us about the games coming to TAW in 2012?
Blacklight Retribution: free to play FPSCounterstrike Global Offensive: FPSDiablo 3: MOBADOTA 2: MOBAFar Cry 3: FPSFirefall: MMOFPSGhost Recon Online: free to play FPSGuild Wars 2: MMORPGPlanetside 2: MMOFPSTera Online: MMORPGTribes Ascend: free to play FPS
Wow, that's a lot of games coming out next year. Looks like the VG staff will have their hands full. Awesome!
Counterstrike GO can be huge in TAW. It will probably have a large user base from the beginning, so it's good to have the Feonator in Vanguard putting the ducks in row :)