Ayenara has recently qualified for the AoW3 finals, so I took the opportunity to conduct an interview with him, about the tournament and the state of the game as it is. This is it, totally unedited (unless you count highlighting with colours as editing...). I hope you enjoy:
13:17 - Ayenara: im home now
13:17 - Ayenara: let me know when you want to do the interview
13:18 - BBB: sure
13:27 - BBB: ok in 5 minutes?
13:27 - Ayenara: ok
13:31 - BBB: ready?
13:35 - Ayenara: yeah
13:35 - Ayenara: sorry
13:36 - Ayenara: i went to the toilet
13:36 - Ayenara: what do you want to to with the interview?
13:36 - Ayenara: put on the website blog?
13:38 - BBB: yep
13:38 - Ayenara: alright
13:39 - BBB: ok, it's all about teh tournament basically. You've secured your place in the Finals, whihc means you are guaranteed 2nd price at the minimum, which is bragging rights and the money you spent on the game so far
13:39 - Ayenara: you have some prepared questions?
13:40 - BBB: What was your plan coming into the tournament?
13:40 - Ayenara: yeah
13:40 - Ayenara: let's see
13:40 - Ayenara: when was it announced?
13:40 - Ayenara: july 3
13:41 - Ayenara: hmm i was quite of a noob early on in aow3
13:41 - Ayenara: i wasnt in the beta
13:41 - Ayenara: but i liked the previous games
13:41 - Ayenara: infact i recently bought them from gog for nostalgia reasons
13:41 - Ayenara: before i heard of 3
13:42 - BBB: Which is your favourite so far? (will be next question)
13:42 - Ayenara: anyway i quickly tried to find other people to play with
13:42 - Ayenara: i remember trying different weird stuff
13:42 - Ayenara: ah
13:42 - Ayenara: i only have experience with multiplayer with the 3rd
13:43 - Ayenara: so i'll have to say that
13:43 - Ayenara: but i imagine SM would be fun
13:44 - Ayenara: anyway coming back to the question i think by that time i had grown a bit tired of the long games of FFA, and also the lack of rules in many multiplayer games especially the 15 second rule, leading to fast clicking at the start of turns
13:44 - BBB: ahh yeah, 15 second rule. :).
13:44 - Ayenara: for some time i was only playing 1v1 games on small maps with people like faraner and others
13:44 - Ayenara: i played some vs you i remember
13:45 - Ayenara: anyway im a very competetive person and always want to win
13:45 - Ayenara: and joining the tourney i thought it could be fun
13:45 - Ayenara: and i could maybe meet some others that play like me
13:45 - BBB: and so far in the tournament you haven't lost once
13:45 - Ayenara: and maybe learn something
13:45 - BBB: indeed, I don't think you've even come close
13:46 - Ayenara: and i thought maybe i could even win it:)
13:46 - Ayenara: actuallyt i have been close to losing twice
13:46 - BBB: What is your thinking when you go into a game?
13:46 - BBB: oh, which times?
13:46 - BBB: I saw your last 2 replays...
13:46 - Ayenara: first vs fjordus and second vs ix329
13:46 - Ayenara: if ix329 didnt chase me i could have been in trouble
13:47 - Ayenara: he could easily accrued a bigger advantage with the 3 cities he had vs my 1
13:47 - BBB: This is a common theme in many games actually
13:47 - Ayenara: while i was maxxed out in income/upkeep
13:47 - BBB: that people are aggressive, and can be baited into unwise attacks
13:47 - Ayenara: yeah
13:48 - Ayenara: a couple of weeks back i was thinking about writing a strategy guide influence a bit on the art of war
13:48 - Ayenara: theres a lot of psychology in aow3
13:48 - Ayenara: appearing weak when you are strong
13:48 - Ayenara: and the other way around
13:48 - Ayenara: anyway i might do it after the tourney now
13:48 - BBB: I find this is an aspect that shows someone's skill level
13:48 - Ayenara: i realized i don't want to give away my secrets before it's done
13:48 - BBB: I believe Jomungur is contemplating writing a guide as well
13:49 - Ayenara: cool
13:49 - Ayenara: i'd read it if he does
13:49 - BBB: I have been reading alot of David Sirlin's articles lately.
13:49 - BBB: They are a bit dated but I think the core concepts are still relevant
13:49 - Ayenara: yeah he has some good points as well
13:49 - BBB: he talks alot about "yomi" or intuition. I assume you've read his work?
13:49 - Ayenara: when i first read about the scrub i learnt a lot about how i approach competitions
13:50 - BBB: I find myself falling into scrub mode sometimes
13:50 - BBB: Like when people split stack me lol. Is it "fair" as it is part of the game, or is it sucky? What should one do lol
13:50 - Ayenara: yeah
13:50 - Ayenara: different games require different rules
13:51 - BBB: regarding rules and structured games, how do yu feel the tournament rules have worked?
13:51 - Ayenara: for a long while there was a lot of extra rules in dota2 tourneys
13:51 - Ayenara: but now it's more like, "if it's in the game, it's allowed"
13:51 - Ayenara: the game has grown with patches
13:51 - Ayenara: in this tournament
13:51 - Ayenara: i feel the rules have been good
13:52 - Ayenara: they should promote the ability for fun play
13:52 - Ayenara: and too much rules can make things too technical
13:52 - BBB: In your last game, you were accused of split stacking and that the game was not fun or interesting. What are your thoughts on that?
13:53 - Ayenara: vs gab?
13:53 - BBB: yes
13:53 - Ayenara: he talks a lot
13:53 - Ayenara: i think he could benefit from reading a bit of sirlin
13:54 - BBB: lol. I think he was just a bit annoyed at going out quite so quickly. In his previous games he basically sailed through. I assume you watched the game of Gab versus Jockedemus? Gab turned that right around and won handily, and Jockedemus is a respected player.
13:54 - Ayenara: i thought it was a fun game until he went sour
13:55 - Ayenara: if two players approach the game with the same mindset and competetiveness these conflicts rarely happen
13:55 - Ayenara: but i've lots of experience from playing boardgames where people have different expectations and it can lead to some not fun times
13:55 - BBB: Well, talking about players in the tournament, who has surprised you so far, either by getting knocked out, or by surviving as long as they did?
13:55 - Ayenara: casual players and cutthroat competitiors
13:55 - BBB: hah, board games, you remind me of a game of monopoly I played once
13:56 - Ayenara: yeah maybe you're right about gab
13:56 - Ayenara: that could be the reason
13:56 - BBB: My brother was losing badly, and then he found out than in the official rules the free parking rule is not there
13:56 - BBB: so he quit the game! Anyway, enough about Monoploy, AoW!
13:56 - Ayenara: heh yeah so you know what im talking about
13:57 - Ayenara: the players in the tournament, hmm
13:57 - Ayenara: i think im mostly surprised by some of the players not playing the games
13:57 - Ayenara: and others joining after the groupstage
13:57 - Ayenara: it's been a weird tourney
13:59 - Ayenara: i could easily seen fenraellis, masterboja, garresh, techno, fen1kz, jockedamus, sentior being here in the semifinals
13:59 - Ayenara: and it's funny that exnihil managed to almost get here without a groupstage
13:59 - Ayenara: he could have won the whole thing!
13:59 - BBB: Well, imperfect solutions to absent players :S
13:59 - Ayenara: yeah
13:59 - Ayenara: i understand that
14:00 - Ayenara: there was one question you asked earlier that got buried
14:00 - Ayenara: 14:46 - BBB: What is your thinking when you go into a game?
14:00 - Ayenara: i do a lot of thinking before a game
14:00 - Ayenara: usually i look at past games and try to figure out what my opponent will play
14:00 - Ayenara: and practice something to beat that
14:01 - Ayenara: or if there are a couple of different options i could see them choose, i try to find something that fits
14:01 - Ayenara: then i try to prepare myself by not playing too tired or hungry etc
14:01 - Ayenara: and keep calm throughout the game, no matter how bad it looks
14:01 - Ayenara: always look for a way to win
14:02 - BBB: staying calm is quite hard to do
14:02 - Ayenara: yeah
14:02 - Ayenara: but having a plan helps
14:03 - BBB: I find it works best for me when I don't stare at teh screen too much. I just had a huge battle against LordTheron (testing some stuff for Golden realms) and he initiated it, and I thought I was a goner for sure, but I won. I think a key thing is that people fixate on their last mistake, or victory and often either get too cocky or too downbeat
14:04 - Ayenara: yeah
14:04 - Ayenara: i was playing a practice game with exnihil
14:04 - BBB: concentration, or multitasking, is a resource in this game imho, and if you can disrupt a player, you can win, even when you are "losing."
14:04 - Ayenara: and he took a watchtower from me before 15 s, after complaining about a move i made at the end of the turn before
14:05 - Ayenara: then right at 15s he catches my 2 secondary stacks with his 2 main
14:05 - Ayenara: he had 2 giants
14:05 - Ayenara: i thought i was done
14:05 - Ayenara: and mad about the argument
14:05 - BBB: Ahh ExNihil :). I met him in real life by the way. He's actually a pretty cool, nice guy.
14:05 - Ayenara: but then we decided that whatever let's play it out
14:05 - Ayenara: and i won
14:06 - BBB: bet he wasn't happy about it lol
14:06 - Ayenara: with a gold flyer with instant wrath and aborb pain from an orc martyr
14:06 - Ayenara: nah i think he enjoyed the game
14:06 - BBB: Fliers got buffed a bit btw ;) So you'll like them even more
14:06 - Ayenara: it was a good game
14:06 - Ayenara: and we're friend
14:06 - Ayenara: heh they didnt really need it:)
14:07 - BBB: not so much buffed, as retooled a bit
14:07 - Ayenara: you're 100% right about the concentration/multitasking thing
14:07 - Ayenara: if you have too many things to do, something will fall
14:07 - BBB: talking about Ex, no doubt you've seen the many threads he has posted.
14:07 - Ayenara: classic example is when you need to move fast at the start of a turn to avoid roaming independents
14:07 - BBB: Without going into too many details, overall, how is the balance in this game for you?
14:08 - Ayenara: i feel the balance is good
14:08 - BBB: roaming independents have lost me a few games!
14:08 - Ayenara: there are many options in how you want to play
14:08 - BBB: going back to Sirlin, he says that good game balance = viable options. Do you fel that this is the case in aow3?
14:09 - Ayenara: and while some things are easier or better than others, there isn't really one dominant strategy that everything else must react to
14:09 - Ayenara: yeah absolutely
14:09 - Ayenara: so while i might not want to pick goblins in a tourney game right now, there are still 5 other races
14:09 - Ayenara: and while dwarf is really good, i don't feel forced to play it
14:10 - BBB: regarding Goblins, is their weakness the way they autobattle?
14:10 - Ayenara: mostly it depends on my opponents preferences
14:10 - Ayenara: yeah, you have a slow start with goblins and not much to compensate for it
14:10 - Ayenara: their cavalry is alright
14:11 - Ayenara: and you could use their cost reduction for dreads or apprentices maybe
14:11 - BBB: It is interesting you say that, because one of the strats regarded as being on the stronger side is massed Gob musketeers
14:11 - Ayenara: i mean musketeers not dreads
14:11 - BBB: I find warg riders to be underrated
14:11 - BBB: I love them!
14:11 - Ayenara: who regards that strat to be on the stronger side?
14:12 - BBB: there's a big kerfuffle in teh balance forums about musketers being OP
14:12 - Ayenara: i mean if i would pick goblins, dreadnought would be one of the first classes for me to think about
14:12 - Ayenara: but dread has some trouble with taking control of the map in the midgame
14:12 - Ayenara: and with goblin you can't really rush
14:12 - Ayenara: which is an important option when playing dread
14:13 - BBB: Ihave been experiementing with Human Dread
14:13 - BBB: and using Cavalry and Musketeers
14:13 - BBB: not mixed stacks, but cavalry do very well in autocombat, when with other cav
14:13 - Ayenara: cavalry with pistols should be good
14:13 - Ayenara: i've never used it
14:13 - Ayenara: human dread should be alright
14:13 - BBB: Cavalry are udnerrated imho, because of the priests, which came about because mana got restricted and wisps/sorcs were powerful
14:14 - BBB: how do you feel about teh current meta?
14:14 - BBB: and the "problem" areas of early inns and dwellings?
14:14 - Ayenara: inns and dwellings are strong at the moment
14:15 - Ayenara: that's why the top players all use them to win
14:15 - Ayenara: you know if it's possible to buy support units from inns?
14:15 - Ayenara: i was thinking it could be nice to buy a human priest or forgepriest
14:16 - Ayenara: but at the moment one of the first things i look for in a game is if there is some inn or giant/dragon dwelling close to me
14:16 - Ayenara: but since both players can do it it's somewhat balanced i guess
14:16 - Ayenara: it's better for the healing classes
14:16 - Ayenara: since healing a big unit gives a better return on the heal
14:17 - Ayenara: i think it's one of the main reasons theocrat has been popular in the tourney
14:17 - Ayenara: but yeah cav is a bit underused in the tourney i think
14:17 - Ayenara: it's not that difficult to even rush t3 units
14:17 - Ayenara: if you have some economy going on
14:17 - BBB: Well I think it's an open secret that Priests have been pushed back to temples, so are more of an investment. Theocrat has been really reworked btw, much more interesting as a class now :). In inns, you don't get support units yet
14:18 - BBB: btw, Abed and Jom are playing in 10 minutes
14:18 - Ayenara: yeah hopefully abed will stream
14:18 - Ayenara: ill ask
14:18 - Ayenara: it will be interesting to see all the new changes
14:19 - Ayenara: im excited for some new stuff
14:19 - Ayenara: abed will stream
14:19 - BBB: yeah he'll stream
14:20 - BBB: I am going through the patch notes and putting the buffs in bold and the nerfs in italics#
14:20 - BBB: I don't know if you recall that formatting in the last patch, but that was me :).
14:21 - BBB: There are some huge changes coming in. Orcs and Goblins have been...buffed a bit :). Elemental are scary now, really scary :)
14:21 - BBB: anyway, enough about that
14:21 - BBB: how do you feel about proposals to limit the effectiveness of inns and dwellings? Needed?
14:21 - Ayenara: ah nice
14:22 - Ayenara: i think it could be nice
14:22 - Ayenara: i'm not entirely convinced
14:22 - Ayenara: the quests should be reworked
14:23 - Ayenara: since they are really good at the moment
14:23 - BBB: one suggestion was to disable all dwelling diplomacy for 10-15 turns
14:23 - BBB: and/or include some filler quests
14:23 - Ayenara: and with the randomness of the random map it can really change the game
14:24 - Ayenara: i think lowering the rewards should be enough
14:24 - Ayenara: but you have to compare it to other rewards
14:24 - Ayenara: from clearing a tomb or stuff like that
14:24 - BBB: and the proposal to stock inns slower? i.e. t1 upto turn 10, t2 upto turn 15/20 etc?
14:25 - Ayenara: but there really is no equivalent to getting 1 or 2 t4 units before turn 15
14:25 - Ayenara: since they will help you clear everything else as well
14:25 - BBB: as you showed in your last game
14:25 - Ayenara: yeah
14:25 - Ayenara: it could be exhibit A in a case:)
14:26 - Ayenara: the inns are not as bad since you're making more of an investment
14:26 - BBB: indeed. I know some playres asked for dwellings to be banned from the tournament
14:26 - Ayenara: and it opens up some new options for different army compositions
14:26 - Ayenara: as it is, you're still paying a huge sum of money for a t3 unit
14:26 - Ayenara: a sum that could give you a better ROI if used on something else
14:27 - Ayenara: but the way the game works at the moment the bottleneck at the start is usually not money
14:27 - Ayenara: but rather production
14:27 - BBB: totally. And depending on the t3, it might not even survive all that well!
14:27 - Ayenara: which makes the inns a good boost early on
14:27 - Ayenara: it should survive unless you're playing bad
14:28 - Ayenara: but yeah
14:28 - Ayenara: i also lose them sometimes
14:28 - Ayenara: and i always get mad at myself when i do
14:29 - BBB: me too!
14:29 - BBB: Lost 2 this morning
14:29 - Ayenara: heh:)
14:29 - Ayenara: but yeah, pacing the inns could help
14:29 - Ayenara: i still think that buying key units from them will be a viable strategy
14:29 - Ayenara: flamers
14:30 - BBB: I like the inns :)
14:30 - Ayenara: maybe supports if they get implemented
14:30 - Ayenara: yeah
14:30 - Ayenara: i don't think they are very unbalanced
14:30 - Ayenara: it's just another option of spending your money
14:30 - Ayenara: since you could also rush things, buy cities
14:30 - BBB: sometimes they can be a bit of a honey trap
14:31 - BBB: you can get them early, ut to maximise their use yu need to be fighting or rushing with them
14:31 - Ayenara: yeah i remember one game against fenraellis where he lost because he bought too many t3 units instead of producing assassins
14:31 - BBB: which puts them at risk. Theocrats and druids have it a bit easier as they can heal them better
14:31 - Ayenara: yeah
14:32 - BBB: anyway, let's wrap this up in time for Abed v Jomungur. Any last words of advice for people looking to improve themselves?
14:32 - Ayenara: theocrat and druid are both very safe choices at the moment
14:33 - Ayenara: there is no substitute for just practicing
14:33 - Ayenara: try to really learn
14:33 - Ayenara: reflect and experiment
14:34 - Ayenara: and figure out how/why stuff works
14:34 - Ayenara: yeah
14:34 - BBB: ok Cool. I'll put this in a document and put in n the website
14:34 - BBB: Thanks!