Interview with Alarcon
September 5th, 2007
HeavenGames: First, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
Alarcon: Hmm, I’m a college student working toward a job in the computer field. I deal with computers and I have always had access to video games, so I’m a pretty avid gamer. From all the major releases to now WiC. I am easily addicted to almost anything I find interesting and I am one of those players who try to complete anything and everything they can get their hands on.
HG: How did you find out about World in Conflict and what drew you to it?
Alarcon: well I had heard about World in Conflict before but I never really gave it a chance because there were so many RTS games coming out. There is Universe at War, Supreme Commander, The expansion coming out for that, and like three other games. So it’s easily able to get lost in the shuffle until you actually play it. I was reading on a gaming site that the Demo had come out and I wanted to try something new to pass the time and see how the game held up on my machine. And wow, I was almost instantly hooked.
The graphics are great and has a lot of detail. I was able to look into the different buildings and everything else. Since I had never played the beta, I was pretty bad. It took me until the 5th or 6th game until I started really tearing into people and finding what class I was great with. That is another great thing, the replayability of game by having different classes like Air, Ground, Support all at the touch of a few clicks. Really great.
HG: Ya, replayability helps a lot for any game. Do you feel it is because of not having to build up? Just getting straight into the action?
Alarcon: it’s a mixture of both, I personally love buying games that have lots of replayability. This is coming from someone who spent almost four years playing StarCraft, so I know a great RTS game when I play it. The resource management has always been a try dilemma for developers because you just can’t give tons of units right away and great games let players show their skill in their macros or how they out think their opponent. So by getting rid of resource gathering, it now becomes more of management. Right away in the game you have almost six units to play and you can have an impact. The next level is working together as a group. Not to mention the VOIP helps a lot. There’s little details that draw in the player and let it become addicting.
HG: Do you use the VOIP as often as possible? Do you think players are not using it enough?
Alarcon: It’s my main method of communicating with whatever teammates I am with. Typing gets in the way and just pushing one button and talking gets out a lot more information in thirty seconds than anyone could in two minutes by typing. There are times when I don’t feel like talking to my teammates so I just don’t use it, but the game becomes ten times better if everyone has a microphone. Makes the game much more of a team effort and more enjoyable. So on the question if players use it enough, you can never use it enough because it makes a world of difference in such a team based game.
HG: Now, speaking of team, you are by far a support fan. What drew you to that role above all others? Considering you are #2 in the world.
Alarcon: Because when I first started playing, I was getting hammered by helicopters from the other team. So I found anti air didn’t need that much micro-management in what special abilities to use like smokes. Then add the part where I play with people who play heavy ground or heavy helicopters, so we all compliment each other. A big shout out to [BFE]NightFox the #1 armor player in the world and [BFE]Impulse who I learned many tactics from and is a great person to play with. When we all get together, we usually beat maps in 5 minutes. I believe we hold the record for the fastest game, we beat a game in less than 2 minutes of the 20 minute game.
By playing with people and finding your own tastes, you slowly get into a role that maximizes your abilities and contribute to the team as much as possible because this game is not won by single players, but by a team. I would also like to point out that I would be #1 in support but this 1 map for beta is starting to bore me, so I will play tons more when game finally ships and then show I’m number 1 in ranking.
HG: Wow, that’s a quick game. Do you start off each game the same way, or is it situational?
Alarcon: it depends on the side, USSR has a great spawn to pick up a lot of control points of the map and then be able to hold them. In the particular case of the two minute game, we started on the USA side and it’s usually harder because units aren’t as quick to get control points.
There are three or four different tactics to take when trying to win fast or trying to win slow. Trying to get quick TA or going for the long haul. Most people have found the rhythm but we all try something new here and there to mix things up and see the results, that’s the only way to come up with new tactics. Right now, most everyone is bored of this map since we have found most of the good strategies but I’m sure there are many more depending on a really good clan can do. Can’t wait for new maps!
HG: Ya, that’s true. People know this one in and out. Do you have a favorite unit (support or other)? If so, why?
Alarcon: The medium anti air is something safe to play with, get three or four and they are just as good as one or two heavy anti-air. They can also attack ground units for a short period of time so it’s always awesome to sneak a few anti-air to the opposing side and kill off their heavy artillery by using a medium anti-air lol. Always find that quite amusing since they send choppers and I get one or two if I am lucky. Not to mention it also gives my teammates view of their spawn and they can call in artillery strikes on them just because one little medium anti-air got into their base. Heh.
HG: Nice choice. With those artillery strikes, do you like to use them as often as possible, or choose to save up and hit them with a nuke?
Alarcon: you can ask [BFE]NightFox, I am all about the nuke. I constantly and, certainly annoyingly, ask to round up everyones TA so we can hit them with the Three-Nuke Supreme Strike. After playing so many games, I love how the nuke looks and how it plays with the radiation. It’s awesome. [BFE]Nightfox is always quick to call in artillery strike, so we balance each other out. I go for the long haul and he spends them when he wants. We balance each other out well.
HG: Seems like a good team. Finally, do you have any suggestions for fellow support players or World in Conflict players in general?
Alarcon: I constantly and, certainly annoyingly, ask to round up everyones TA so we can hit them with the Three-Nuke Supreme Strike. For support players, you can’t support your team if you don’t know what they are doing or what their plan of attack is. A Support player is smart and knows the tactical advantage of where his units can play out the most. For everyone else, get a microphone get into the game and play. We are all having fun and I can’t wait for the game to come out so I can try out these 25 rumored maps that will ship with the game.
I’d like to thank you Stonewall for this interview, HeavenGames, big shout out again to [BFE]NightFox, [BFE]Impulse, XXX, and Monterey. I am still looking for a clan so hit me up with any requests. Top Teams Only. Thanks once more this interview and the great questions.
HG: Thanks for joining us Alarcon and hope to see you #1 when the game is released.
