Community Project : Unsung Heroes

Maybe the guy who admins the ZHG server, or some other Server thats commonly used, mabbe for non-competetevie use too (Wolfpack?)

Nireco, for Nirecotive mod then.

Just realized that, hoster of battlegrounds.eu which served the countless clans as their teamspeak channel since the first very years of this games; Barny definitely deserves to be interviewed.

If you can't grab Nireco you could try ZHG_Vermin, although I don't think she's easy to contact

Great interview, might wanna update that OP though and Tardet next or riot!

Barny, hoster of Hungary servers and the battlegrounds teamspeak or sHocK the founder of the ENL mod as well as (don't quote me on this) main coder of WRP and Wolfpack TDM

You can lose at least WRP from that list. sHocK would be interesting though.

Fair enough, I just knew he was involved during the idea part and when Achilles was as well

Achilles (and sHocK) were making Sol-RP, WRP (aka SRP) was coded by Gulos.

Taking a look at all those suggestions and will keep that in my mind, thanks guys.

Some may have not believe this project would still live but I'm not done with you yet bladers! To explain a bit, I've got a few interviews I was planning to publish but I couldn't make people finish it in time, for many various reasons. It decreased a bit my motivation and I must admit I've let the project slept a bit until it was the time. With the NC coming back, it gives me another reason to start this once more. I've a few interviews made and planned so hopefully I should be able to conduct this for quite some times.

Consequently I'm extremly proud to present you our next guest, AE_Scar. This german has been a true figure for me on Warband, for many various reasons that you're gonna see in the following interview. Cause if Unsung doesn't fit him too much, Hero is a perfect word to describe the amazing personality that is working for each of you everyday.

Once again I would like to give a huge thanks to Viktor and Belendor which have both always stood behind me, encouraged me when I felt less motived and answered the call when I asked their help to start the project once more. You guys are part of the reasons why I'm working so much for this community and I couldn't be more glad having such personalities by my side.

And for those which wonder where Wolfpack_Greedalicious went, I would suggest them to check the next interview

But less talking and more ... talking actually !

Hey everyone, I'm Scar. I'm 20 years old and I'm currently studying law at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University right in the heart of Germany's third largest city, Munich. I found out about Warband in late October of 2010 through my school friends, who were playing the game over skype a couple of times. I decided to give the game a try myself, and even though my friends soon stopped playing it - for reasons we obviously wouldn't understand let alone accept, I stuck with it for a little more than 5 years now.

In regards to the second part of your questions, I think there are a couple of reasons. The obvious one being that Warband is an interesting, and even after 5 years, still challenging game. There are always aspects of the game you can improve upon, whether it has to do with your play style, consistency or awareness. I think this ongoing process of becoming good at something is extremely fun and rewarding once you notice you are making progress, just like in all other areas of life.

The big influence a player can have on the development of the scene is the second big reason for me. I think most people that create content for the community; whether it is a tournament, an interview or a video, see it as a platform for their ideas and creativity. Being able to have a major influence over the direction the scene heads towards with this work makes it only more encouraging, and I think the level of professionalism and quality in regards to the produced content in recent years is impressive.

Last but certainly not least the people you meet along your way play a big role. A game itself gets you interested, what ultimately makes you stay though are the people you enjoy spending your time with. None of us would still be playing if we all hadn't created a circle of people we enjoy talking to or playing with. Fortunately I had the luck of meeting such people in all three teams I've been a part of so far - ARMY, Deutschritter and Apis Europae.


Apis Europae is a very special team of extremely dedicated, talented people, and finding your place in such a group takes some time. Especially the difference in approach towards team organisation was a big change, coming from two teams that had player ranks and a teamcodex in place to a team where that sort of finds itself along the way. I always thought this way of doing it was more mature though, our system is definitely more comparable to the way how big eSports teams manage themselves.

In regards to my role, I've been on the core team as an infantry ever since WNL2, and whilst I never was the best player I've always had my part in our success. From time to time our commanders consult me when it comes to making strategies, and rarely even ask me to command when needed. I've helped with arranging matches, but you know, that's all just stuff most players end up doing for their teams at some point. There are definitely people that had more impact on the team compared to myself, Azan, Deacon and M just to name three.

Playing with a team that strives for excellence is of course challenging, and the expectations others and we have at ourselves creates pressure I didn't feel in my two previous teams. Just like everyone else we've had good and bad times, I think losing WNL3 was a pretty big blow to our confidence for example. But seeing we are still playing together after four years, or three in my case as I joined roughly one year after the teams creation, just goes to show how much we've grown and how durable we are as a team. In the end the game is about fun, and even though it might not look like it to an outsider, we did not forget that and make sure we still have ours whilst playing. You should be on Teamspeak for our role-playing events; you wouldn't believe most of us are in their mid-twenties now. 


It's time consuming and exhausting most of the time, but once you see the fruits of your labour it's obviously very rewarding as I described above. I've always been very invested in the way our tournaments are presented, simply because I think there is nothing worse than packing a lot of useful information, that you've most likely spent a lot of time on putting them together, in un-organized, uninviting threads. The way of how you present something plays a huge role in all areas of life - whether it is when you are at a job interview, or when Steve Jobs was presenting his new iPhone. I hope I've helped to improve the community on that front, and I'm always very pleased to see other tournament hosts using my thread codes.

Another aspect I spent a lot of time on, mostly last year, was trying to improve our rulesets in terms of clarity and comprehensibility. I guess my interest in that field stems from my studies, but after all rulesets are the basis for every tournament, and the quality of rulesets will determine how the tournament is going to go. Loopholes, oversights and other mistakes often lead to drama once they become visible, and avoiding big forum debates by thinking about and improving our rules is in everyone's interest. The admins usually get a lot of useful feedback from a few players that take their time reading through the rules carefully, so it's definitely a combined effort of a handful of people.

We need to keep in mind rulesets will also play a huge role when it comes to how eSports will develop in Bannerlord. North America and Europe need to make sure they agree on a unified ruleset to play under, making games comparable is the first step in the right direction as it will lead to more competition amongst the teams. We are already going in that direction though; the Warband Pro League for instance was a huge success on that front.


The Nations Cup is the longest running competitive format we have in Warband, so from an admin’s point of view I expect the team to run the tournament as smoothly as possible. As you said, I think we all have a lot of experience under our belt, and I'm sure we will all do our best to maintain the same level of quality as in previous years, if not further increase it. Most of us have specialised in different aspects of hosting and running tournaments, I think that will help us to improve on most fronts, hopefully resulting in a tournament of the quality you described in the question. I'm also very excited about Captain Lust's return to the administration business; after all he has done most of the groundwork for today’s tournaments with the European Native League.

From a player’s point of view I'm mainly going to look at three teams: First of them being Turkey, the home country of Warband. Always being regarded as one if not the only favourite to win the competition, they’ve finished in the top 3 in every edition since 2011, but never managed to grab first place. Their roster looks not as scary as in previous years, but they are all surely dedicated and playing enough to reach their goal. They need to make sure they don't burn out halfway through the tournament though, playing two matches a day does not only come with advantages.

The next team I’ve got my eyes on are last year’s winners Poland. Their roster is pretty much the same as last year, and as a team that historically came together early into the tournament I don't think it will be much of an issue for them to integrate their latest additions. They have a lot of team spirit and are gifted with great players in all three classes, giving them an edge over most other teams as they can play both map types to a very high standard. Also their ability to adapt in terms of tactics and willingness to try out new setups, like they have shown last year against Germany, will come in handy - they won last year, why shouldn't they be able to win again?

The United Kingdom is a team most players expect to do well this year. And quite frankly I don't really know what has held them back in previous years, considering their roster is not too different from previous ones. In my eyes they have underperformed every year except for 2014, at least from looking at the talent available to them. They arguably have the strongest infantry line-up with Anthony, BlackTide, Cleric, Deacon and M and tons of experienced cavalry. Even in the ranged department, supposedly their weakest trait, they looked pretty stacked this year. I think for them it will come down to how much time their players will put in, playing CS:GO all the time will not exactly increase your chances I guess.


Leading a team takes a lot of motivation, time and responsibility, especially when you want to win. Germany has one of the largest national communities within the game, and a lot of talented players that deserve to win the championship. I've more or less lead two German sides, in 2013 and 2015, and I still know how time consuming and exhausting it was for me, so in the light of upcoming exams relatively soon after the Nations Cup and a slight lack of motivation, I decided to leave leadership to someone else. After all, you are representing your country when playing in the Nations Cup, and personal aspirations should not get in the way.

Whether we are ready to win again after 2013 is something only time can show. I could make an assumption based on scrim results, but I think last year only showed us they hardly matter in the end. Skill wise we are again one of the top teams, but our roster underwent a couple of changes, so people still need to get to know each other. Dragz, Neathar and Boris are all doing a fine job though, and I trust them to lead the team to a better outcome than last year.


More eSports aspects? Definitely. An eSports scene as big as in League of Legends or Counter Strike? Most likely not. I think we should try to keep a realistic view on the whole thing. Medieval themed games are a niche in the gaming industry, and that brings inherent difficulties with itself. The game, no matter how well designed and developed it is, will not appeal to the gaming community in such a broad way like League of Legends for example. Riot Games' design director Greg Streets put it this way: "It’s really hard to convert an existing game into an eSports title without compromising it and potentially alienating players with the kinds of changes that would entail" - I think the term "game" can easily be exchanged by "theme" here, and the statement would still hold true.

Another issue I see that comes with medieval themed games is the lack of really flashy, outstanding plays that even new viewers will recognise as such. It is hard to make a spectator jump up from his or her seat when watching Warband at the moment, no matter how much skill actually went into a move. An infantry that is shielding against four opponents will most definitely not look as godlike as Faker pulling off an insane outplay in League of Legends, or GeT_RiGhT scoring an ace in Counter Strike.

From what I've heard about Bannerlord though, TaleWorlds are willing and trying to go in the right direction, they are looking at big eSports titles and what they are doing, so I definitely expect Bannerlord to be more orientated towards eSports than Warband. Getting Captain Lust on board was a good decision as he will provide them with the inside from a player that has played at the top for a couple of years himself. We should not forget it also comes down to the community though; some of the biggest eSports games today were not designed specifically with competition in mind. What we actually saw was their following and the intense competition that emerged amongst avid players, who clamoured for such a platform, driving that success.


Thank you very much for having me is all I want to say really. You're doing an awesome job with these interviews, as well the match previews, the community is lucky to have someone like you. Keep it up! 

+rep

good trader

fair player )))))

Great interview despite it's Scar being interviewed 

Just one little typo I assume: there are 16 nations participating in the NC, not 14.

Corrected, thanks Yona!

Good job Tardet and Scar, it was a very interesting interview. ARMY_Scar forevah!

Haha yeah good old times!

Just read it, you said UK underperformed in NC 2014 when they came 2nd place

Shemaforash said:

Just read it, you said UK underperformed in NC 2014 when they came 2nd place

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Scar said:

In my eyes they have underperformed every year except for 2014

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(I honestly didn't know which smiley to post so I guess party is gonna save my life once again!)