Q: What do you do in the Guild Wars community and where can everyone find you?
A: I am a content creator who is primarily focused around WvW and the Engineer profession. I run a YouTube channel and I have my own website where I frequently post WvW or Engineer related content. I absolutely love creating guides. For example, right now I am working on a ‘How to Fight’ series where I address the weaknesses of builds you’ll often meet in WvW (and to some extend PvP). You can find me over at my YouTube channel Wolfineer and my website Wolfineer.com.
Q: Did you hear of/play GW1 and what was your experiences/ you're impressions? What is your earliest memory if so?
A: I have played Guild Wars 1 for a few years but I was pretty young back then. I didn't play it as serious as I play Guild Wars 2. I thought it was an amazing game especially because of the fact you could explore so much! This is something I am really missing in Guild Wars 2. I liked exploring Tyria which I feel like we are very limited right now. I really wouldn't mind ArenaNet designing areas where there is nothing to do except explore. For example; who doesn't want to go to the Crystal Desert, check out Elona/Spamadan orCantha! Even if there isn't any actual missions over there, I would love to just explore the area and remember the time I spend in these areas back in Guild Wars 1.
The PvE was also far more difficult in Guild Wars 1 (and also more rewarding). I remember doing UW (The Underworld) solo with a ‘Terratank’ build. This was an Elementalist build that used abilities to be able to ‘tank’ monsters while taking them down with strong AoE. It was a very precise build. You had to time your abilities really well as if you failed to do so, it would result in you dying. That meant you had to start all over again (and it cost you 1 platinum every time you entered which was rather a lot from someone that only had around 10 platinum).
Q: Did you/are you playing other MMO's? What attracted you to them?
A: I have played a lot of MMOs. I enjoy multiplayer games as you can play with complete strangers and have a blast. If I play a RPG, it sometimes just feels a bit lonely. I'm not saying I dislike those games but if I had to choose, I would grab a MMORPG over a RPG any time.
Q: When did you start playing GW2 and what got you involved in the game itself?
A: I started playing Guild Wars 2 right from the first betas. As I enjoyed Guild Wars 1 a lot and the fact I enjoy MMORPGs, I just had to play this game. It also didn't have a subscription fee which is quite major factor for me. I am against paying monthly to play a video game. I would feel forced to play else you would waste your money. That’s silly in my opinion. The combat was really smooth and it felt like the next step for MMORPGs, I knew it was a game I would play for a very long time.
Q: What have you enjoyed about GW2 and what has kept you playing?
A: I enjoyed exploring the world but that only kept me busy for a few months. After that, I started playing WvW (roaming to be precise). This is what I have been playing for over two years now. I absolutely love it because it’s relaxing to me and it can get competitive if I wish. There is no pressure on me at all as if I die, I just way point and walk back. In a PvP match, dying could make the difference to a captured point and a neutralized point.
Q: What has been your favourite memory of GW2?
A: I don’t have a specific one, really. I would have said the betas here but that’s such a typical answer as everything was still new back then and of course it leaves a pretty good impression/memory. I can’t really tell you anything specific. I simply enjoy the game.
Q: What class do you main/ What is your least liked class and why?
A: For over two years now my main has been Engineer. I don’t play anything else but Engineer. The other professions simply don’t appeal to me. I don’t really have a least liked class, all professions have something interesting about them, I simply don’t like playing them. I am also not going to play the Reverent profession. I see no reason to play anything but my Engineer because I am still having a blast with it.
Q: What is your preferred game mode/Have you been drawn to any other modes?
A: WvW, to be more specific: Roaming. I enjoy fighting other opponents in small-scale combat. Anything above 5v5 is too much for me. With a 5v5+, the individual skill matters much less which is what I value quite a lot. I would therefore never join a raiding guild as I would feel like a sheep. I don’t like being a sheep. I acknowledge that large scale fights can be really challenging but it’s more about the group than the individual player. That’s just not my cup of tea.
I haven’t been drawn to the other modes. As I mentioned earlier, I like to explore the world. So far we haven’t seen that many new areas if you compare it to what you would have seen by now in other MMORPGs and even Guild Wars 1. When it comes to PvP, I don’t really like the Conquest mode. I am more of a Death match kind of guy.
Q: What do you think of the current meta (i.e. pirates hip meta)?
A: As I am mainly a Roamer, I can’t really answer for the raiding scene. For roaming right now, it’s often centred around condition builds. While this is fine to a certain extent, you see a lot of players playing condition builds simply because it’s easier (P/D Thieves and Condi PU Mesmers). This upsets those that play more challenging builds quite a bit. It’s not fun to fight against at all, especially since the players running such builds often have the upper-hand despite a much lower skill level. These kind of builds could be rather easily filtered out by balancing. The thing is, balancing is done from the view point of PvP, these builds are a non-issue in PvP and thus it’s not going to change.
I think the roaming ‘meta’ is fine with a few ‘rotten apples’ in between. It’s often said that WvW is just far too unbalanced which is true in a way. This could be solved by splitting up WvW/PvP/PvE balancing.
Q: What is your favourite WvW map and why?
A: I prefer the borderlands maps. I find that they offer a much more interesting playing field than the Eternal Battlegrounds do. Sadly, the borderlands maps are usually empty in the morning and in the afternoon so I am forced to play in the Eternal Battlegrounds instead. Luckily, in the evening a lot of players play on the borderlands maps so I can have a lot of fun out there.
Edge of the Mists is a map I don’t view as a WvW map. It still has so much potential to become a really fun and great map for roamers (as well as raiding guilds) but first they have to get rid of the Karma Training there. I had high hopes when it originally got released but I quickly came to the conclusion that this was an anti-roamer map.
Q: Do you duel [if you do so], what has drawn you to it, and why did you choose WvW duelling over a PvP Arena?
A: Duelling is something I really enjoy in Guild Wars 2. I enjoy competing with like minded and equally skilled opponents. This often leads to rather intense fights where a single mistake could already mean your death. Especially fun if both are running full glass builds!
The major difference for me between WvW duelling and a duelling arena in PvP is build diversity. In WvW I can be effective with a Static Discharge build while the build is much weaker in PvP to a point that it’s not viable at all. In PvP duelling arenas you also often have ‘queues’ as well. In WvW I can duel anyone by simply bowing them (if I am in the Obsidian Sanctum Arena that is), there is not really a waiting time.
It’s true that the balancing in WvW isn't as good as in PvP but in the end, the person who simply has a higher skill level wins despite starting with a disadvantage. Of course when you are fighting a ‘hard counter’ (i.e. condition necro vs condition engineer), you can’t really win that but nor can you in PvP.
Q: What build do you use and could you tell me why you enjoy it so much?
A: I am currently using a Condition Engineer build but I tend to swap around with this. My main builds are Celestial Engi, Condition Engi and Static Discharge Engi. I switch depending on the situation and what I feel like playing. I enjoy these builds because they offer a completely different play-style and still offer a good challenge.
Q: Do you do a lot of theory-crafting, if so, how has this affected the way you play?
A: Yes I do. I spend a good amount of time figuring out what is the best set-up for one of my builds. For example for my Static Discharge build I was comparing Effective Power from a Full Berserker Engineer and a Knight/Berserker Engineer. I came to the conclusion that with slight modifications to the trait set-up, I could end up with a higher Effective Power while not lowering my defence at all and even increase it in the process. This is something I would have never discovered if I didn't spend time theory crafting.
Q: What do you think to the up-coming changes to WvW with HoT and how will this impact the WvW community?
A: The changes I have seen so far are.. meh. Nothing special, really. It’s great that defenders now get properly rewarded but I find that more things need to be changed to have a strong positive impact on the WvW community (and thus make it grow).
I was surprised they decided to go for a new WvW map. I think most WvW’ers are fine with the current maps. It’s odd that they spend so much time in creating a new map. Time that could have been spend in improving the core mechanics of WvW. Oh and what about Edge of the Mists? Why create yet another map and let Edge of the Mists rot like that? I understand that the new map will replace the borderlands but I find that they could have cared just a little bit more about Edge of the Mists than put their time into yet another map.
Q: How did you get started with the community, what inspired you to get involved?
A: I started with a simple YouTube channel. I wanted to start a channel with only Engineer content and see if people were interested in that. Turned out to be quite a success as I had 200 subscribers within a week. I also worked on writing guides for the Engineer profession and it expanded from there.
Q: Why do you think GW2 has such a great community around it?
A: It’s more noob friendly and the fact you get credit in almost everything as long as you just participate (events). I don’t really have anything to compare it with so I don’t know how great it actually is. I think the fact that it’s a rather casual game also makes for a much friendlier community.
Q: Could ArenaNet do more to curate and develop its community?
A: I would say, don’t hold our hands so much. Look at that ‘new player experience’ stuff. I honestly can’t imagine people not understanding such simple basics of a MMORPG. Also, content tends to be far too easy, they should monitor events/dungeons and make it more difficult (plus increase the reward) if the community finds very easy routes to complete it. I like a challenge and PvE isn't that.
Q: Why did you choose your particular format [Youtube/Twitch/blogs ect] ?
A: I chose YouTube because it’s the best place to start in my opinion. I like to create videos whenever I feel like doing so. I don’t really enjoy Twitch because I am not someone who sits behind their PC for several hours and play actively. I gave it a shot but it’s just not something I enjoy.
Q: How much does the audience and community influence your production/creations?
A: A lot. I often base my content around what my audience wants which is often guides. I enjoy creating guides so I really don’t mind creating them and it is helping out my audience. That’s just perfect.
Q: Do you have any advice for people wanting to follow in your footsteps?
A: Maintain a professional attitude if your channel grows. The amount of times I could share a /whisper with another ‘YouTuber’ that completely rages at me is unreal. Also, understand it’s just a hobby. If you aim at collecting money from creating videos, it’s not worth your time spent.
Q: Do you play anything else which you make content for?
A: Not really, in the past I wanted to also create content for Smite (a MOBA) but I got bored of it. I am sticking to Guild Wars 2 for now.
Q: What type of games do you play for your own enjoyment?
A: Currently playing a lot of The Witcher 3! A pretty damn awesome game.
Q: Who else would you recommend in the GW2 community?
A: There are so many talents out there that have a very small YouTube channel (or don’t at all) but play so much better than most of the ‘big’ YouTubers and Streamers. People that just go unheard. It just hurts me when I see a reddit post about ‘Who is the best WvW Roamer?’ and see names of players that don’t even come close to the skill level of the many talents out there. For example, currently the best Static Discharge Engineer in the game is Silinsar or what about Luna Nightstalker who plays a challenging Warrior build that isn't the ‘typical’ Hammer/Greatsword setup.
Q: Who is your favourite Youtuber/streamer/content provider [non GW2]?
A: I am actually into travelling a lot. I am following the channel of ‘FunForLouis’ daily because the adventures that guy is making are absolutely incredible. Other than that I do like to understand the world better so I watch a lot from ‘Vsauce’ and similar channels. I am also quite interested in mountain biking (I do it around 3-4 times a week) so I like to watch Mountain bike channels that involve competitions and general guides to improve your riding skills. I tend to not watch a lot of gaming channels other than an occasional Twitch stream from League of Legends.
Q: And finally if you could ask another creator or a GW2 developer/community moderator a question, who would it be and what would you ask them?
A: I don’t have a specific name but I would ask a GW2 Developer or their community managers to let the community get involved with the profession balance. I would personally volunteer to help improve and nerf the Engineer profession so it becomes perfectly balanced again. If we have one (or one for each game mode) ‘community’ person for every single profession, it could be quite beneficial to the profession balance. Something similar like that did with WvW but this time do it right. OH AND…
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, SPLIT THE BALANCING BETWEEN PvE, PvP AND WvW!
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