Friday, October 17, 2014

10 Questions- Jon "Zatarra" Landerfin

How long have you been playing?


Photo by Rob Luger
TOC 16 (or was it 15, it's really a blur) was my first event. I know at least 5 years because I don't qualify for the newbie tourneys anymore. 

How has the game changed since you've been playing? 
Every time I see this question the typical answer is combat, what with bamboo weapons and more focus in tourneys. However I prefer to stray away from combat so I'll say the questing has changed. I have seen more involvement of npcs on a larger scale. From more people volunteering so the numbers are greater, to the actual interaction and complexity of even random monsters. Even the generic garb they wear has become more than a blank tabard. 

Who have you learned the most from?
Too many people to mention here. Everyone you talk to in the game you can learn something from one way or another. Bones was pretty helpful in my beginning days. Partially the reason I joined Blackwood. Rillan has been pretty great trying to get me more into combat, as well as Shandar and Vuel. Sir Shean and Trent for lore and back in the day stories, kinda different between the two I'm sure. Trent always has the ones that makes me wish I was around back then. 
What was your best moment IC?
O boy. There's a few I probably shouldn't mention on fear of being scalped. I will say the Event Which Must Not Be Named 2 had a pretty epic moment. The questing party had to travel through the dark woods. Walking down dark paths which seemed like nothing was there, then suddenly red eyes were everywhere! Was pretty awesome and scary to happen suddenly. But the moment is when we made it through and met Aragog the giant spider. He was very grumpy and spitting at people because he would only talk to Hagrid. So Razmuth and I developed a plan to put me on his shoulders and try to pretend to be Hagrid, I mean I had the beard right. Needless to say it failed but the party got a good laugh. As I walked away, I'm sorry, as Razmuth walked away with me on his shoulders all I could say was "man really wish I took shape shifting". 

Photo by Jesse Gifford
What was your best moment as a NPC/EH/Player?
It was one of the first Blackwood events where i was the bid bad npc. I was given a megaphone, a magic item, some spells and told to riff. I was protected behind a barricade that the pcs had to break down before getting to me. I remember shouting at all the players and calling out some, when suddenly the wall fell and within an instant there is a Wrath standing in front of me. I figure I got this, I have spells....and then he says flat!

What would you like to see changed or developed more in game? 
The currency. There is little focus on it other than vendors and auctions. I feel this causes a lot of people to keep their coin in ooc areas until needed. Few times it's been applicable on quests and suddenly you see some people go running back to get their currency. I always carry more than enough on me (yea that's right realms thieves, what's up) and have handed it out for pretty random reasons. I like to give some out to newbies that really have no idea there is currency in our game. 

What advice would you give new players? 
Photo by Robyn Nielsen
Talk to everyone, kill some, bribe others. Don't be afraid to take anything that says "stealable", it says it for a reason! The fallout from taking it makes for some awesome stories, and you will usually find someone to call your soul. Get yourself out there and known. Stay away from petitioning immediately, even if it's the group of friends you've entered the game with. You never know if they'll be active years from now when you are still heavily attending events. 

What do you love most about the game? 
The people. The community we have is amazing. At first there was only a few I talked to and conversed with. Now there are more than a hundred on my Facebook and it feels my realms friends are really all who comment and like things. You have taken over. I don't even know who was on there before I joined the game anymore. 

Who would you like to see the next interview be with? 
Cody Garcia 

Anything else you'd like to take the opportunity to put into print?
Look down people! Not only does it save us small folk from being bumped and pushed around in line battles and conversation circles, but it may prevent you from losing your pouches and valuables as well. Just saying! ;)