MMORPG: First of all: grats to you and the rest of Team Sleepy on the win in our first MMORPG Invitational!
Hans “SupCutie” Onsum: Thanks!
MMORPG: How many "official" tournaments have you guys participated in now?
SupCutie: Just the MMORPG Invitational so far.
MMORPG: Were you an original Guild Wars player, or is GW2 your first taste of Tyria?
SupCutie: Yeah I played Guild Wars 1 for sure.
MMORPG: What do you think are the strengths of GW2's PVP when compared to GW1? Its weaknesses?
SupCutie: I think GW2 is much more fluid - casting while moving, dodge rolling, JUMPING! GW2 Also has less skills to balance than GW1. I think GW2's weakness compared to GW1 is that PVP is not balanced separately from PVE. Now this doesn't necessarily mean balance will intrinsically be worse, just that it will be harder relative to GW1.
MMORPG: Why do you think that the sPVP has surged all of the sudden and begun this sort of fledgling eSports scene?
SupCutie: Custom Arenas and Spectator Mode are the exact reasons!
MMORPG: The action's really hard to follow in an MMO though, when compared to something like SC2, Dota, or even Counter-Strike... do you think this could hold back MMOs and GW2 from being something big in eSports?
SupCutie: I think that casters just need to find the perfect balance of what to say to convey the combat and strategy successfully without being confusing and talking too fast. I think this is completely possible but will take time. Almost like a caster meta.
MMORPG: Let's talk about the tournament itself. Specifically, let's talk about the crazy move during the MiM vs ZZZ match. Paint us a picture of what you did and how you did in your own words.
SupCutie: This is how it would go down:
Lily: "Yo guys I'm low I think I'm going down in mid"
Me: "Don't worry dude I got you *Illusion of life* I'll put a portal on the point for you in 8 seconds."
On Nifhel for example I would put a portal behind keep and then Illusion of life and portal them back there. The only downside is that the point will get neutralized while Lily is under the effects of Illusion of life. What's important though is that he lives to fight again.
Using Illusion of Life and then portalling my allies to a safe area is something I do for my team pretty often. If we know that we aren't going to be able to get a hard resurrect, this is the best option for us. Especially if Folly is in the team fight he can stand on the point and tank while I resurrect Lily for example.
MMORPG: Is this something you try to pull off often? On just one map, or all of them?
SupCutie: It's easiest to do this on Niflhel because through my pull and my push I can usually make sure there are no enemies behind keep. Only classes that have a blink mechanic can make it back there from on the point. Second easiest would be Kyhlo, because once again if there are no blink classes, they will have to manually run and jump all the way up to my rafter. Legacy is harder and I usually don't do it as often. We like to save portal for pushing other points and having an out, but this is an excellent choice that I have found for it as well.
MMORPG: So then, would you say the Mesmer's overpowered? (Just trolling, but go ahead and answer!
SupCutie: I think Mesmer is really strong, but I don't think they're blatantly overpowered. I would place them near rangers and elementalists in the higher tier.
MMORPG: What do you think are some needed changes, on a more serious note, to make sPVP shine? Both in terms of professions, and the gameplay mechanics itself. Even the spectator mode, too.
SupCutie: In terms of professions: Warriors need to be brought up to speed! More survivability. I'm hesitant to say, but I think necros might need more mobility - they seem to get trained on quite hard and require relatively more peels that what they're worth.
In terms of mechanics: Bug fixes! I think the mechanical infrastructure of the game is quite awesome. What mainly detracts from the experience for me are bugs... For example: If you stun break a blowout too quickly, you will stand up and remain stunned. This punishes quick reaction time and shouldn't be in the game. Also water combat needs to be balanced so that we can have water maps in these tournaments.
Spectator mode is pretty good so far. Some things that come to mind:
- I think it would be cool to be able to target people while you're spectating someone else.
- Maybe make it so there is vertical movement of the camera while an eye is selected for viewing.
- Replays! Or rewinding mid game.
- Make it so that the minimap by default zooms to a distance where the whole map can be seen, but also the profession symbols. That way people can see splits while the main map isn't pulled up.
MMORPG: So, one final easy question: why do you play?
SupCutie: I always go for games that are faster paced, have higher skill caps in terms of technical play, and a strong pvp scene.
I have found in general that the harder and faster a game is, the less casual players play the game. This is important because casual players are the backbone for a lot of viewership and profits. I don't play League of Legends because it's not fulfilling to me and in the same vein I didn't play Bloodline Champions because the casual player base fell apart since the game was too hard for most people. I have found a pretty good balance in Guild Wars 2, I think.
MMORPG: Thanks so much for your time, Hans. Good luck in the next tournament!
SupCutie: Thanks again! ESPORTS!!!!!
