Forum Interviews: An Audience with @DaveCozyšŸ’©

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Settle down, settle downā€¦ Itā€™s your own time youā€™re wastingā€¦

How is everyone?

Today is the first in our series of Moderator interviews and weā€™re kicking off with @DaveCozy.

@DaveCozy is a great source of team advice and, in his roles as both beta tester and forum moderator, he regularly advocates for improved player experience.

Dave has also been a leading figure in the Puzzle Combat scene and has won two tiers in the first few challenge events. Heā€™s very modest about it, though, and sometimes goes several hours without mentioning it.

Wash your hands :sweat_drops::palms_up_together:, wear a mask as appropriate :mask: and stay at home :house:.

Remember to #PlayApartTogether

If you missed them, you can find previous interviews below:

Interview Index

@Mr.Spock - Here

@Razor - Here

@ScottySG - Here

@NPNKY - Here

@NittanyLionRoar - Here

@Novo - Here

@MysterySpin - Here

@TheChef - Here

@Math4lyfe - Here

@Kikyo - Here

@BarryWuzHere -Here

@IvyTheTerrible - Here

@Pois1 - Here

@akionna - Here

The next fresh batch of interviews will pick the brains of the forum Moderator team - Catwoman, Hankie Pankie, Donā€™t Have a Cow, Groot of all Evil and Peter Pan.

Iā€™m hoping to release them in alphabetical orderā€¦so up next is @Guvnor

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How long have you been playing? :hourglass_flowing_sand:

Officially, February 2018. I was playing Mario Kart 7, doing a time trial for the Airship Fortress course. Then my DS died in the middle of a great run, and it wouldnā€™t charge after that! :frowning:

Since I was out of a portable system, I went looking through the play store for something to play. I found Empires & Puzzles, which gave me Puzzle Quest vibes, so I tried it and I loved it!

I was still very casual with the game at that time. I lurked the forums at the start without an account ā€“ I remember a lot of complaints about Guinevere (she had just launched then I believe) ā€“ but never really got into the game until April 2018.

Wanting to have some idea of what I was doing, I actually made an effort to look for information and strategies. I remember two key things that helped me the most; @NPNKYā€™s guide to point new players in the right direction, and @Almeidaā€™s breakdown of what Gacha is ā€“ these are two topics that I still think are the most important to read for any player.

Off-topic - MK7

I did order a new charger for my DS eventually, and still managed to get a great attempt recorded ā€“ 7 seconds behind the current WR (1:54) in that course!

Whatā€™s your current role in your alliance? :bar_chart:

I was a co-leader in a laid back semi-competitive alliance, The Twisted Hurricanes. I recommend anyone who is starting out or wants a chill group of people to check them out.

I was looking for a change of pace myself, so now Iā€™m in Misfit Toys as a member.

Also I play Puzzle Combat :gun: Itā€™s currently in soft-launch as of this post, but itā€™s another game by Small Giant, pretty much the same thing as E&P but with some differences that set it apart. In there I am one of the coleads for War Machine Destroyers.

Which hero are you currently levelling and how will you use them? :muscle:

Leonidas, Rigard#2 (costume included), Thorne, Boldtusk#2 and Skittleskull.

All of them except Skittles are for further war and raid depth.

Skittleskull is purely for the Trials of Mysticism. My depth for that class quest is awful; so bad that I had been relying on Gill-Ra+20 as my 5th hero. Now that Skittles is at 4th ascension, Iā€™ve officially stripped the emblems from Gill-Ra.

Which is your favourite hero in your roster, and why? :heart:

Mitsuko. The kimono. The fans. That snarky smile. I try to have staring contests with her, but lose every time (how does she never blink??)

Gameplay wise ā€“ she provokes some very threatening ice heroes like Alice, Finley, and Vela into self-destructing. Thatā€™s cool too. :snowflake:

Whatā€™s your favourite source for E&P play advice? :game_die:

When Iā€™m stumped for who to level next, I will ask on the forum Gameplay Help & Tactics category. Also on Discord for advice ā€“ 7DD server and the Heroes and Videos server are the ones I frequent.

The forumā€™s Player Guides section is where I go for my bookmarked resources most often. This is my most visited section ā€“ the infographics, the detailed breakdowns of game mechanics (damage, mana speed, etc.), the list of game levels, and so on. There are some real heroes on the forums :slight_smile:

Do you have a particular memory of a great victory, a tragic defeat or a moment of madness? :exploding_head:

From Puzzle Combat where I won 2 Rare challenge events so far :grin:

Okay, from Empiresā€¦ my moment of madness would be when I used a ton of food to re-roll. I did it while building the :bookmark_tabs: Status Effects (Buffs and Ailments) and Stacks guide, looking for all the heroes who had unique status effects and screenshot them.

It took me 2 hours to finally find someone crazy enough to have Margaret in their raid defense team, and then I had to play very carefully to not kill her so she could use her status effect :grin:

That topic has been the most fun for me to put together (and still continues to be).

Which Season 1 hero would you most recommend to a new player? :man_student:

Scarlett.

Unconventional, and while I love the healers, the ramming pulverizers and Wu Kong, Scarlett I feel deserves a lot of love that she often doesnā€™t get.

She is fast, hits three, has very high attack stat (even when you consider the red 5* heroes), and comes with a useful attack drop that somewhat off-sets her squishiness. I think sheā€™s awesome in her own way, and I still use her for her high match damage.

With 3*s, Valen. Easy to summon / train, with a fast defense drop that makes him invaluable early on for KOing tough enemies.

What can you see out of your window right now? :telescope:

There was a snow storm going on earlier this morning. Itā€™s started to settle but itā€™s still snowing (thatā€™s what those white spots in the picture are). The strong wind earlier beat up that poor garbage bin.

Looks like someone ran over it with their car! :oncoming_automobile:

That yellow patch in my front yard is thanks to my dogs :dog: Iā€™ve been bringing them out further in different spots now that Iā€™m at home most of the time, so the grass can heal.

Itā€™s still really chilly, even in late April. Welcome to Canada, eh?

Hereā€™s another picture, a few days later. I live in a townhouse so not much of a backyard.

The snow didnā€™t last but you never know if itā€™ll be back. Now we have freezing rain;

Whatā€™s something you enjoy about being a forum moderator? :policeman:

Being able to help support the conversations and game debates is my favorite part of moderating. I like these discussions because they help me think about my own knowledge of the game too.

I think that a big part of moderating is listening. I like having my viewpoints challenged (so long as itā€™s done in a civil manner :wink: ). There wouldnā€™t be much of a discussion if everyone agreed all the time, and a part of healthy debate involves disagreement and discussion. I like helping ensure that it can happen in a fruitful manner.

If the rest of the moderator team were stranded on a desert island for a week, what roles would they take on to survive?

@guvnor would be in charge of the fire

@Rook and @littleKAF would be in charge of the tent (those things are 2 people jobs)

@JonahTheBard would play his harp to give us a much needed energy boost

@zephyr1 would go hunting with his bow and arrow for food

If I was there too, Iā€™d be the guinea pig to test if berries are safe to eat :grin:

If you could make two changes to the forum, one realistic and one less so, what would they be? :crystal_ball:

Realistic ā€“ Custom Emojis! This is actually possible to do with Discourse. Iā€™d love to be able to use a Richard smiley or a Bane angry face :grin:

Less realistic ā€“ An upgrade to discobot with commands that can return useful game resources and topics. So okay, this is probably doable too, but it would take a considerably longer amount of time and planning.

If I gave you $1000 to spend frivolously , what would you buy? :moneybag:

If you asked me a year ago, my answer would have probably been more games to play.

Now I think Iā€™d spend it on a cleaning service. Iā€™m a new parent as of November, so I would love to get some more time to myself even if itā€™s just for a couple months that the $1000 would be able to afford.

Of course that time would be spent on clearing out my video game backlog :smile:

this is a really strange and challenging time for all of us across the whole player base and all our communities around the world. How has your alliance been supporting each other or those around them? :handshake:

Before when I was with Hurricanes, we didnā€™t have to do anything differently process wise. We were already pretty chill and lenient on missed titans and allowing opting out of wars.

However, I did emphasize when this all started that we could always talk. I dropped my Line and Discord contact information, and they know they can find me here even now. Theyā€™re great over there at supporting each other and talking through frustrations.

I think you or Rook can probably answer this question better than me when it comes to Misfits! :grin: Iā€™m very happy with the communication methods we have in place, you all are great too!

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Z-name procrastinators FTW.

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Yes, what a fortuitous ā€˜coincidenceā€™ :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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2 peopleā€¦1 cat and 1 cowā€¦tomato tomato amirite?

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I still donā€™t see a bard there. :face_with_raised_eyebrow: When we going to get to pick your brains?!

J is after G, so iā€™d get to thinking yours up. :wink:

Back to the Interview at hand. That was truly a great interview @DaveCozy. I am glad to hear your DS is back in working order

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I mean, basically yeah :stuck_out_tongue:

Source: Beep Beep Iā€™m a Sheep

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@DaveCozy, congratulations on your parenting! I have some friends who recently delivered and they said itā€™s actually been really great that both of them could be home without regard to their employerā€™s ma/paternal leave policies.

Whoā€™s your driver of choice for MarioKart?

Thank you for your ongoing work on the status effects threads. If you could give the mods one buff (doesnā€™t have to be an actual thing - I mean, all the status effects are made up), what would it be. Also, feel free to slap an ailment on the plebes, if thatā€™s more your speed.

I havenā€™t waded into the Puzzle Combat thread. Why do you play it? What do you like about it? I have limited gaming time - why should I make time for that?

@Saphirra, Jonah was already interviewed.

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ah! it was so close to the last title that i didnā€™t bother opening it. :joy: Thank you @IvyTheTerrible

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200

Itā€™s almost as bad baby shark

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Another great read. Itā€™s super cool to get a peek into the life of a mod. Thanks for all you do. I know some of us forum-folk can get a bit rowdy at times.

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Loved learning about you DC! Not having time to yourself is the reason you have a kid! Cheers and thanks for keeping the forum a great place to learn and discuss.

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For multiplayer, I like King Boo the most. He laughs maniacally while sticking his tongue out everytime he hits someone with a shell or whatnot ā€“ heā€™s got nothing to lose, heā€™s a ghost!

For time trials, it really depends. I usually pick the heavyweight Metal Mario for most courses since heavy drivers have the best top speed. However in the new modes theyā€™ve introduced in the newest game ā€“ particularly the out of control 200cc engine speed ā€“ you really need to pick a lighter driver for their better handling in several courses.

I donā€™t believe we need more buffs ā€“ weā€™re already kind-of OP here in the forums. For instance, we can cast a silence on anyone Silence :wink:

But on a serious note, those powers are last resorts and we check in with staff and the other mods when using them. With great power comes great responsibility.

I enjoy matching games, and itā€™s been fun to play another E&P like game but with a different kind of flavor. Different heroes with a different kind of meta.

The matching mechanics are a bit more complicated but they offer more options than Empires. For me, thatā€™s my favorite part of Puzzle Combat.

Click for specifics on matching mechanics in Puzzle Combat

For instance, the same match-4s that produce dragons in E&P instead produce bullets that clear either 5 in a row or 5 in a column ā€“ theyā€™re always opposite of the 4-match you did to produce them: so vertical 4-match = tile that clears 5-horizontal, and horizontal 4-match = tile that clears 5-vertical.

The other type of match is a 2x2 square, this one produces a fuses tile. This is more similar to a dragon in E&P, except instead of clearing 5 in a ā€œ+ā€ shape, it clears 5 in an ā€œxā€ shape.

You also still have your standard match-5 that produce diamonds ā€“ or in this game, theyā€™re grenades ā€“ that clear all of that color from the board. You have to make those in an L-shape, T-shape, or a straight line like in Empires.

Well thatā€™s really up to you :slight_smile: I like the game, but I also agree that time is limited. I donā€™t mind making the time for it but thatā€™s ultimately because I enjoy playing both games ā€“ I donā€™t mind flipping to farming Puzzle Combat when I run out of flags in Empires (those Season 3 avatar missions are draining my WE anyway :sweat_smile:)

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Great interview! Thanks for your hard work on the status ailment thread.

Including, and especially, the ā€œFINALLY finding a Margaret and not killing herā€ one, sounds like something demented Pokemon or a Japanese role playing game would come up with to get that super-special-secret weapon/character/item/whatever

Valen and especially Scarlett, interesting and great choices. Scarlett was my 3rd Red 4* but she still comes out a lot for Raids and especially for Titans, so I completely approve.

And congrats on becoming a new parent! Whohoo!

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@DaveCozy Such a great interview! Had so much fun reading it and getting to know you. :blush:

This definitely made me laugh . Especially after watching ā€œNaked and Afraidā€ show for hours last night. :see_no_evil: :rofl:

@JonahTheBard Thank you so much for all hard work on making and sharing all these interviews with us. Got to learn so much about all the amazing people that make the forum so great. :heart_eyes:

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lame, is that a scripted ad for puzzle combats, come on, we deserve better :fox_face:

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Great interview @JonahTheBard. Iā€™m really looking forward to reading the rest of the mod series.

@DaveCozy I just wanted to say thanks, for all you do as a forums moderator. I also appreciate all the info you share on PuzzleCombat here and on both Discord & LINE. Itā€™s been a joy having you in Misfits. And belated ā€œCongratsā€ on the new addition to your family, Iā€™d spend money on a cleaning service too. :laughing:

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Actually having summoned @DaveCozy bot multiple times to provide status ailment consultations, I can confirm he just enjoys the slight change of pace PC provides him from the EP grindā€¦

ā€¦robots deserve a forum tooā€¦

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No offense, just wrong expectations when high class moderator interviews high class player and all I get is talking about covid, puzzle combat and how youā€™re doing today stuff (except the question for favorite hero and why, thatā€™s a good one) Was expecting game play insights, tactic talk and alliance/game play experience, :slightly_smiling_face:

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Yeah except thatā€™s not the pattern of these forum interviewsā€¦theyā€™re more just something to pass the time and have some form of social interaction in the current quarantine climate.

I understand your disappointment, Daveā€™s a really insightful player whoā€™s gameplay nuggets of wisdom are quite entertaining to sift through.

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