Interview with Weeble (Episode 3)

by Admin Mon Jun 30, 2014 9:07 am

Yet again... after a month's time.. I've finally released my 3rd episode of my interview series.

The main character this time was Weeble, also known as CruSHeR_X, who is arguably one of the greatest soccer players of all time. He has played for the longest out of all active players currently playing the game.
In this episode he talked about his background, the current European scene and how his point of view of the game looks like.

- Hello, Crusher_X! How are you doing today?

- I'm in a good mood today, thanks for asking

- Great, hehe! So to start things off.. How about you giving the readers a brief introduction of who you are and where you are from?

- Well, i'm Weeble, from England, and I have gone by many nicknames since I have been playing soccer for about a decade... Weeble in the past, CruSHeR_X currently and of course AnDy_PiPKiN once upon a time.

- How did you come up with your current nickname "CruSHeR_X" and why have you changed nicknames?

- Actually I was pretty young when I made that nickname, so I guess I just thought it sounded cool. I was playing on this account for BNeT games mainly so I made other accounts for custom games like soccer. But I went back to using the CruSHeR_X account a few years ago only after Weeble expired due to inactivity.

- From what I know, you are one of the few players, who started playing Warcraft Soccer in the early stages of the game, and still plays to this day. When exactly did you discover the game?

- Well, I found soccer like most players did years ago and that was by the old-fashioned way of searching for custom games. This was pretty soon after The Frozen Throne was released so I guess it was around 2005 when I joined a game called 'Worldcup of Warcraft'. Maybe the name just had a magnetic aura and I was destined to play it?!

- As the game has existed for almost a decade, I can imagine there was a big difference between games today and games back then. At what time did you start to realise that you wanted to play this game in a more organised environment and how did you organise games back then?

- The map looked a lot different that's for sure and there was a lot of bugs which have since been fixed and obviously the skill level wasn't as high, so we have come a long way since then To be honest i'm not sure how I got to play in an organised environment but since there was a bunch of players already playing I thought why not join them? Soon the first warcraft soccer clan was formed so I joined, and the rest is history.

- Since you started playing early, you must have been there when there were several clans throughout the history of the European Soccer scene. Could you name some of the clans that you have been in and tell us a bit about each clan's history?

- Well, my memory isn't the best but the first clan I can remember joining was Clan KICK, headed by our chief BuIIeR I believe. At this time there was a great sense of community, even if the map wasn't as improved as the current one, so it was fun times indeed. After that, I took some breaks from soccer and afterwards ended up joining Clan FOOT and started playing a bit more regularly thanks to someone called GaDo1.

- If we fast-forward to the present, there will be a big difference between the playerbase that the game used to have in the past. Many old players have left the scene and the scene isn't as active as in the past. Why do you think the scene is smaller and less active, from having a big playerbase and high activity?

- This is a very good question, sometimes I wonder why this game isn't as popular as DOTA yet I also wonder how we're still here Anyway, as you said we aren't as big as we used to be but I don't think this is really anybody's fault. Rather, a lot of people were active when The Frozen Throne was at it's most active. New players come and go so nothing can be done about that but only the ones that truly love to play soccer have stayed.

- Even though the playerbase isn't as big as it used to be right now, games are still played regurarly. What do you think about the skill level of the current players who are actively playing and how good do you think they would be in comparison to the best players from the old times?

- I think over the past decade the skill level overall has improved quite a bit, which is expected. It's hard to compare with the best players of old times but my opinion is if they started playing now I don't think they'd be as effective as they used to be. Having said that, there is a big difference in skill level between the current players. So, if we put current players' skill levels over time onto a graph I think it would be a steady upward slope, but I would put many players above/below this slope since the difference in skill right now is apparent.

- You say that the players from old times wouldn't be as effective as they were back then. Why do you think so? Is there a specific reason to why it would be that way?

- Simply, I think it would'nt be easy for them to adjust to the skill level rise. For example, dribbles they used 7 years ago would be countered very easily today. So they would either have to adapt by trying to improve their own skill level, which would probably take a bit of time to practice / commitment if they really wanted to, or else they would stay at the same level that they were, while the other players have improved themselves over the time the old players weren't playing soccer.

- Let's go more into the game itself. Which bracket of the game do you like the most.. 2v2/3v3/4v4/5v5? And which bracket do you not like at all?

- My favourite game bracket is definitely 4v4 because there's not too many people as is the case in 5v5, whilst 3v3 is just enough to have a fun game but I like 4v4 the most because for passers, like myself, it provides more options to pass and you can actually use different formations and get players to play in their prefered position (more similar to real life football matches) which isn't possible in the basic attacker-defender formation you see in 2v2.

- You mentioned that you are a passer.. What would the ideal team for you look like? Which positions would you want and what kind of formation would you like to use?

- Well, to use 4v4 as the example, I think the 1-1-2 formation would be the best (that is a sweeper as ultra defence, a midfielder who transitions from defence to attack, and 2 attackers). Why? Because when the sweeper has the ball the midfielder can go forward and that gives the option of 3 players to pass to. But the midfielder must carefully choose the best moments to attack because if he chooses to attack when the sweeper loses the ball, your team is in trouble. Then it would just be a matter of finding the ideal players to play the position that suits them best. Personally, I think I play best as a midfielder who can pass to the attackers but can also understand when or when not to attack.

- For my last question, I like to ask a hypothetical one, but differently depending on the person. So for you it's going to go like this..
Aliens come to Earth and kill off every active Warcraft Soccer player except for you. They realise their mistake, since they came to Earth to play a game of Warcraft Soccer against the best players to decide the fate of mankind. However, they give you a chance to save mankind by letting you create a team out of the players from the past, who aren't active anymore, and make you the captain for the team. The bracket is 4v4.
Who would you choose to form your all-star team of Earth out of the players from the past who aren't active anymore? Also, give a brief explanation for why you would choose those players.

- Hmm... I would include Brotkohl and Buller as attackers, WaterKnight as sweeper, and myself in midfield. Since I got along with them all we would also have some bonus team chemistry But luckily Warcraft Soccer will live on forever!

- Thank you for you time. Cheers!

- Thanks for the interview, the flight and the 5 star hotel. It was fun!