Forum Interviews: An Audience with @Guvnor šŸŒ³

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Welcome, welcome one and all!

How is everyone today?

Our latest interview comes from forum moderator @Guvnor

The newest member of the Mod Squad, Guv is proving extremely useful, tag-teaming event, hero and trial threads with @zephyr1 and covering timezones that had hitherto escaped moderation.

Heā€™s no slouch as a gamer either, and has a great knowledge of heroes and mechanics.

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

@DaveCozy - Here

@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

This 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 releasing them in alphabetical orderā€¦so up next is @littleKAFā€¦I think, Iā€™m losing track.

Also, @zephyr1 is getting rather tardy with his reply, so if everyone could tag him as a reminder, I think heā€™d really appreciate it.

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How long have you been playing? :hourglass_flowing_sand:

I have been playing since the 13th of June 2018

I have no idea why I started playing nor what prompted me to download the gameā€¦ I think I may have seen it as an add in another time-wasting game I was playing (since have stopped) & thought ā€œHey that looks kinda coolā€ā€¦ then after that I was hooked lol.

I only actually started using the forum itself maybe 8 odd months ago (September 2019)ā€¦ Before that I was really just playing the game & chilling in Line Chats

Unrelated Puzzle Combat Note

Like @DaveCozy, iā€™ve also started playing Puzzle Combat in the last 2 or so months (actually dropped an EP alt for it). There I am leader of The Pirate Horde, which is the Puzzle Combat spinoff alliance for the same name in Empires & Puzzles (ā˜  The Pirate Horde ā€“ a rich history, a glorious future. Rum! Join us! Yaarrr!)

Started the alliance with @SupremeAlienRaptor, @zephyr1 and LordStanlyā€¦ just waiting for @voidstrike to pull his finger out & join us :stuck_out_tongue:


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

I actually donā€™t really have an official role. I used to be the out and out leader in We Are Groot Volume 2 but I ended up suffering a fair bit of burn outā€¦ So I went for a walk & visited some friends & made some new ones. I am currently back in Volume 2 but just as a member :slight_smile:

My unofficial role in the Family is as a Recruiter; mainly from the forum here. I am also assisting the War Goddess in the running & strategising of Alliance Warsā€¦ But thats on the DL :wink:


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

I still level all my heroes on-colour. So I am actually working on 5 heroes currently;

I am sorta at the point in the game where I am levelling heroes for niche uses & for War Depthā€¦ Have my raiding & titan teams pretty well set in stone these days (havenā€™t changed my teams in 9+ monthsā€¦ not since miki :stuck_out_tongue:)ā€¦ So most/ all of these heroes are really for War Depth or Tournament Uses.

Plans for use:

  • Miki ā†’ Titans obviously. I had him at 3-70 for a lonnnnngggg time & just propped him up with a couple items; but I got sick of that.

  • Lady Locke ā†’ Green Cleanserā€¦ Particularly helpful with all the Ailments that are being cast by the current Meta.

  • Killhare ā†’ Mainly raiding & warsā€¦ maybe have some fun with her on defence as a flanker

  • Roostley ā†’ predominately wars & tournaments.

  • Grazul ā†’ Actually my second grazulā€¦ Plan on taking her to 3-70 & starting on a 3rd one to maxā€¦ obviously to combat Telluria in warsā€¦


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

I hate picking favouritesā€¦ So I am going to pick 2 heroes :stuck_out_tongue: My fave two are Black Knight & Costume Elena. The reason why:


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

Not really unfortunatelyā€¦ I havenā€™t been in any really close wars where it came down to the lineā€¦

Great victory I guess is the highest TP kill Iā€™ve made. Havenā€™t found a 4800+ one yet to beat up on so this will have to do.

No real Tragic Defeatsā€¦ Just the usual rage at the game when you go into a battle and just get no assistance from the boardā€¦

Moment of Madness: Probably when you forget to change your titan team from the previous one. Then it ends up being a Rare Titan fight & youā€™ve got a full squad of reflecting colourā€¦ Yeah that went REALLY wellā€¦


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

1000000% Rigard. Heā€™s just so versatile & useful. More so with his costume!
Rigard is one of just a handful of 4* heroes who have emblems & actually get used regularly by me anymore. My +15 Costume Rigard is actually a staple in my raiding teamsā€¦ I actually ditched Kunchen for Rigard soā€¦

In the 3* arena there are a couple who are really really good.
Hawkmoon (Costume specifically). Has a very similar special to costume rigard
Brienne (Costume & not). Both are handy verse titans. Mini Athena for the costume
Valen. Fast mana speed with decent damage. good as a titan support :slight_smile:


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

Not out my window RIGHT now but its just up the road so Iā€™m claiming it.

My actual window view:


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

Helping I guessā€¦? Itā€™s nice to be able to give back a bit to the community that helped me so much :slight_smile:

That and not having to wait for someone else to remove/ merge those pesky duplicate threads :rofl:


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

Rest as in I am not there?

@Rook would 100% be the lazeabout one (being a cat & all)
@DaveCozy would be working away on the shelter non-stop
@littleKAF would be trying to devise a way of communicating with the rest of the world
@JonahTheBard would obviously be in charge of boosting moral
@zephyr1, unfortunately that means you are the camp b**ch & gotta do all the other tasks :stuck_out_tongue: Shouldnā€™t be too hard for a highly efficient robot :smiley:

If I were there I would obviously be the commander-in-chief & likely be used for firewood cause I annoy the ā– ā– ā– ā–  outta someone :stuck_out_tongue:


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

To the forum hmmmā€¦

  1. I would remove the ā€œnew topicā€ button until you have successfully completed AT LEAST 3 searchesā€¦

  2. I would clone @zephyr1 bot & upgrade @discobot to help :stuck_out_tongue: But seriously would like to see DiscoBot actually be useful on the forumā€¦ currently itā€™s just a party trick where it could actually be really useful in terms of summoning information (heroes etcā€¦)ā€¦ There are templates for all the information already in both Line (Wise Goat by @Oggiez) and Discord (Jeeves by @Lumi)

As for which is realistic & which is less so I feel both are not going to happen :stuck_out_tongue: but I can hope right?


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

Books probablyā€¦ Shouldnā€™t really go buying anymore gems so probably booksā€¦

I love Sci-Fi, Fantasy & Historical Fiction novels. So some of my favourite authors are Conn Iggulden, Robin Hobb, Robert Jordan, Matthew Reilly etcā€¦

There are some books by these authors that I donā€™t own but would LOVE to get my hands on so yeahā€¦ I would also probably have to expand my library a bitā€¦ my current shelves are full to overflowing.


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:

I struggle with this sorta thingā€¦ Because I am not in leadership I havenā€™t really had a specific hand in this for the Groot Familyā€¦ But there really hasnā€™t been much of a change specifically because of Covid-19.
Because Groot is a Family of alliances, we have the different volumes, each one performing at different levels of seriousness & competitivenessā€¦ So there is a different home depending on what RL is demanding of you. Across the board, some of the requirements have been relaxed so people can deal with RL better, but we always had that flexibility & different home as neededā€¦
Also, cause itā€™s a family we treat each other as family. So the chat is always there & alliance leaders are always available if anyone ever wants a chat or just to say Hi.

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Hi! To find out what I can do, say @discobot display help.

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Thoroughly good. I read it while eating a bag of chips. I love books, and for once i know one of the Authors. Robbin Hobb. I was told to read one of his books once. It was good

I donā€™t mind tagging @zephyr1. Lol

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Loved reading it and seeing the ā€œPirate Hordeā€ shout out :smiley:

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Which one did you read if I may? Soo many good ones haha

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Wasnā€™t he excited about being last so he had extra time to procrastinate??

@zephyr1 donā€™t drop the ball!! Weā€™ll have to garnish your likes. (Had to fix that edit before @JonahTheBard saw it)

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Ahhh. This was an amazing read! Thanks @Guvnor for all you do both in game with your alliance and here on the forum.

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image

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Yes.

image

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I am waiting for the iOS releaseā€¦I ainā€™t about that bluestacks life.
Nice to see your scenery and book collections.

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The Assassinā€™s Apprentice

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For what itā€™s worth i have been a pretty avid locke user but now thinkin of replacing with an emblemed brynhild since average mana struggle hard after telluria firesā€¦damn was hopin i said this before you used tonics lol oh well i still like her, just seems like anything slower than fast is bein pushed out the doorā€¦

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Happy cake day to Discobot :rofl:

The fire is the most important job ā€“ it brings warmth and keeps everyone happy, but if itā€™s left unsupervised it can hurt everyone!

In a way, itā€™s a lot like moderating :grin:

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Another great interview. Thanks @Guvnor for providing some insight into your world.

Happens to me all the time.

Iā€™m going to have to check some of these out.

I also wanted to say thanks sneaky moderator I know what you did and I thank you kindly. :kissing_heart:

Now, should I or should I not post that Puzzle Combat Raid Revenge video I have saved? :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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Haha I didnā€™t max her purely for that; Iā€™m actually a massive fan of DoT :stuck_out_tongue:

In terms of the Average speed not firing quick enough, usually Iā€™m aiming to charge the turn after Telluria (or 2 at the worst) so itā€™s not the end of the world from my perspective

Currently I have an average cleanser on the amnti-Telly team (Costume Rigard) so Locke isnā€™t a step up or down there; more just sideways.

The team I use is:
Jabbeewock, Gravemaker, Grazul, Costume Elena, Costume Rigard

So yeah, Locke basically will give another option in colours so I can put in Lianna or Morgan with her to maintain a 3-2 stack :slight_smile:

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Dunno what youā€™re talking about :wink:

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For the record, this is exactly the gimmick that Discobot is vs. what it could beā€¦

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That is a good one! But you gotta finish the series haha!! There are two more books in that one :stuck_out_tongue:

Benefit of Robin Hobb is that itā€™s all trilogies so no massive commitments.

Itā€™s a rather eclectic taste of books hahaā€¦ Leaps from Epic Fantasy (Robert Jordan) to Thriller / action (Matthew Reilly) to historical stuff then back to fantasy :stuck_out_tongue:

Some of my other favourite authors include Raymond E Feist (epic fantasy ā†’ entire works) and Steven Erikson (Malazan Book of the Fallen)

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Good stuff, @Guvnor ! I always enjoy reading your thoughts on various heroes. I probably wonā€™t ever have most of them, but theyā€™re extremely educational for when I encounter them.

Also: Robert Jordan! What do you think of the Wheel of Time? It was such a long-runner and I lost myself in it many times though high school, college and during my first jobā€¦

And: you have a good dog! :heart_eyes:

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