Interview With PVP Exhibition Winners- Hello First Time

31 Oct 2016
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hellofirsttime

At this years’ Fan Fest, Square Enix held a PVP Exhibition, allowing teams to compete against each other in the Feast for a chance to go up against the Development Team in Las Vegas! One team ended up on top, defeating all the other player teams and then going on to defeat the Developers themselves. We had a chance to talk with the members of Hello First Time about their team and the PVP Exhibition!

Gamer Escape: To start off, tell us a little about yourselves.

Atreus: I’m Atreus Auditore, currently on Balmung, Paladin main, and member of RareX. I’ve been playing FFXIV’s PvP since it came out with the original Wolves’ Den. I stayed with it, made a lot of friends along the way, and put myself out there as someone who wanted to be better. Towards the end of 2.0, I finally got a dedicated team for going into Feast that I continue to run with to this day, Stefan Delumiere being a fellow member of that team. With him I was able to reach top 10 in the light party bracket for seasons 1 and 2.

Plus One: My character name is Plus One on Balmung. I’m a music producer and you can check out some of my music at PlusTheONE.com. I started playing FFXIV during Heavensward. Machinist is my PVP main and was my first level 60. I also play Astrologian and Black Mage. Achieved top 10 in light party and top 100 in solo queue for Season 1 and 2.

Slib Falu: Hello, Slib Falu from Balmung here.  I am a Front/Back End Developer and a proud father of 4 kitties.  I main all healer jobs and have been around since launch of FFXIV, A Realm Reborn.  I came from World of Warcraft which I was very heavy into PvP.  Due to life changing drastically for me in a good way, I haven’t been able to put as much time into PvP as I had hoped in FFXIV, but I still stick around to do as much as I can.

King Stefan/Stefan Delumiere: I’m King Stefan and my alt is Stefan Delumiere. I like video games. I used to be a degenerate RPer in FFXIV but I have since climbed the ladder in both PVE and PVP to be at the top. However, I am more accomplished in PVP for sure. I achieved rank 1 last season (season 1) and would have been in top 10 this season (season 2) if not for a certain unfortunate event. Also (obviously) I was the healer for the Champion Fan Fest Team. I care a lot about the PVP scene in this game and want it to grow, so I try my best to help out by streaming, creating guides, and giving feedback on the game systems.

 

Gamer Escape: How did you all meet?

Atreus: I met Stefan back in early 3.0 as he got his start in PvP as healer. Slib Falu I’ve known since early Wolves’ Den from solo queuing. We were looking for a strong melee who was going to Fan Fest and he eagerly aimed for the spot! Plus One got his start at the beginning of Feast initially as part of a “rival” group, but through it we became friends and teammates for the tournament… and he makes damn good music.

Plus One: Earlier this year I was invited by Tea Pan to join the currently on hiatus Rum Raisin Fan Club of Gilgamesh where Nex Cross, Last Boss, Iced Tea and I formed the light party team that would become the main competitor to Atreus and Stefan’s team. Eventually transferred to Balmung over the summer and the rest is history.

Stefan: As Atreus said, him and I met around this time last year (Fall 2015) when I was doing solo Q wolves den for the “Friday Night Fights” weekly event. Him and some others apparently saw some potential in me for whatever reason and we formed a team on Balmung which would go to compete against the teams of Rum Raisin Fan Club on Gilgamesh. Plus One was the MCH on the team of theirs that gave us the most trouble, and so a natural rivalry, and later friendship was formed. Slib I did not know that well until Fan Fest actually happened, but he is a pretty renowned healer in the PVP scene so we took a chance on him playing DRG for us at the exhibition and he did not disappoint! Overall great guys. If I had to go back and decide again on a team I’d pick the same people, no contest.

Slib Falu: I met Atreus back in 2.x when doing the Wolves Den.  He was on the opposing teams at the time and made my life as a healer very stressful and hard, but eventually we became friends!  As for King Stefan, I’ve seen him in matches before, but we never really got to talk much until Fanfest.  Plus One I met for the first time at Fanfest.

 

Gamer Escape: How did you come up with your team name?

Atreus: We wanted something light-hearted, ironic, and non-provocative.

Stefan: I wanted it to be #FreeKingStefan but they wouldn’t let me.

Plus One: Knowing these two, the name could have been so much more provocative (laughs)

 

Gamer Escape: How did you decide on your party composition?

Atreus: I wanted to stick with what Stefan and I were accustomed to as far as a primary strategy, which only really involved being consistent with our ranged (Plus One’s MCH). We generally run with a MNK, but Slib Falu’s a proven DRG who filled in extremely nicely and synergized with Plus One well for how shortly they’ve played together. Coordinated burst without sacrificing the various different kinds of CC was the name of the game, thus why long ago we encouraged Stefan to keep with WHM.

Stefan: Atreus touched on how we chose our offensive composition in DRG and MCH, but didn’t say anything about our defense! We believe that PLD and WHM is the absolute best defensive composition (tank and healer) for a few reasons. PLD has unparalleled CC ability which can be used both offensively and defensively. They also bring invaluable skills like Testudo, Cover, Divine Veil, and Clemency to the table that can really help out your healer. A short note: it is extremely important to help the healer where you can because The Feast, in particular, caters to DPS with the adrenaline kits and offense boxes, Heavy Medal and Culling time. The game WANTS you to die, so any help preventing that is highly valued. WHM is our healer of choice because it comes packed with the most potent healing CDs in the whole game. Tetragrammaton, Benediction, Sacred Prism, Divine Seal, and Presence of Mind are extremely good in the feast, and can be cycled with PLD’s CDs to have an ongoing stream of defensive options. Their CC is also leagues above other healers, with their Repose and Fluid Aura.

 

Gamer Escape: What was the experience like, being up on stage, being streamed to thousands of players and then taking on the Dev team?

Atreus: It was insane! I think the most nerve-wracking part was walking up the stage, but once we sat down, the crowd in front of us was dark. Once the headsets went on, we could barely hear even the commentators! Once the game started, we forgot about it all and focused on the game. Taking on the Dev team was an honor. Hell, being in the same instance with them was an honor.

Plus One: It was a truly surreal experience. Since PVP is still a growing section of this game, I wasn’t expecting anywhere close to the several thousand people spectating. It was incredible to hear how excited and vocal the crowd was throughout all the fights. Trust me when I say the live stream did not capture even a fraction of what was experienced in person! The craziest part was going on stage for game 1 and having all of my hot bars and keybinds completely messed up. I had a long discussion with the community managers and we eventually were able to figure out a solution in time for the final matches. Shout out to Ben and Tony!

Stefan: Amazing. I was extremely nervous during the first match, especially since our headsets were not working and they had messed up Plus’ keybinds, but I eventually pulled through and got myself together. After I heard the cheers of the crowd and some people even shouting out my name (about 20 of my friends had gotten the front and center seats to cheer us on!) I was totally hyped up. There is really no other feeling like it in the world to stand up on a stage and have people root for you, it was an incredible experience that I hope to have again someday, and would advise others to seek out.

Slib Falu: The experience was AMAZING!  I was very nervous at first going up there on the stage and would tell myself, maybe there wouldn’t be much of an audience.  But once I sat down, I was ready to do some FEAST!  I was very focused and couldn’t let my fears of being on stage in front of everyone cause me to lose my concentration.  As for the Dev Team, it was such an honor to be able to go up against them…especially Yoshida!

 

Gamer Escape: What was your strategy going into the final match against Yoshida and his team? You seemed to go after him pretty aggressively!

Atreus: Unfortunately, Yoshida chose a high-risk job that we tend to target first, we promise there was nothing BM about it! Looking back though, I really wish we could have just targeted all of the others first and then /groveled in front of Yoshida. It is the only proper way we could have paid homage to our god.

 

Gamer Escape: Lot’s of people want to know what was going through your minds during your final match when you all started to pose?

Atreus: We realized it was going quickly and wanted to do something fun that the crowd would have liked and remembered about the match, more so than just “well that was disappointing.” We didn’t mean it as BM, just light-hearted humor.

Stefan: We were all posing in the starting area before the match even began, but they never put the camera on us at that time. The second time, they couldn’t help but see it!

Slib Falu: When we entered the last match against the Dev Team, I was fixing some of my abilities and all I heard was guys set up RP mode and we’re doing the Power Ranger Pose!  I’m thinking, “What was the command!  I can’t find it anywhere…what do I do!”, and a few seconds before the match started, I had finally found it.  Once we set it up mid match, it made me wonder what was going through the Dev Teams minds as they ran towards the middle and we were posing.

 

Gamer Escape: Are there any changes you would like to see made to PvP?

Atreus: I could write essays about that question! I’d love to see them continue to balance jobs around the 4v4 model. I’d like for them to remove GC restrictions from Frontline and focus more on 2-team content rather than 3-way. I’m holding hope for better servers one day for more responsive action. Adjustments to the matchmaking of the Feast as well as a rating decline would be smart for the longevity of the content as well.

Plus One: I would actually like to see a rebirth of max level Wolves Den. I think Feast may be too complex for newer players to get into based on all the additional mechanics such as heavy medal, culling time and adrenaline boxes. Wolves Den was a simple last man standing mode that everyone could jump right into. In regards to Feast improvements, like Atreus mentioned, it definitely needs matchmaking adjustments as well as a rating decay system to ensure people continue to play throughout the season.

Slib Falu: I want to see them increase the level caps of the older PvP maps, and the current ones to the new level 70 cap come the new expansion.  I would also like them to remove rewards for losing matches, as I feel this encourages most people to not try hard.

Stefan: In addition to all of the above, I would like to see a reimagination of the rewards system for casual PVP. With the current system, you can play for X amount of games, get all the rewards, and then never stop it again. I would like players to have a reason (outside of fun and tomes) to continue queueing. There are also many intricacies to the systems that need to be adjusted, but it’s too much to type here. I will, however, shamelessly plug myself: Go read my posts on the PVP OFC for my thoughts and feedback on a variety of PVP topics.

 

Gamer Escape: What do you like to do in-game outside of PvP?

Atreus: I currently raid with a semi-casual group that is, ironically, filled with mostly PvP’ers.

Plus One: I’m currently in aforementioned semi-casual raid group of washed up PvP’ers.

Slib Falu: I like to work on Achievements, Palace of the Dead speed runs and occasionally some raiding in the Party Finder / Raid Finder to keep my mind fresh with the newest content incase I decide to raid again.

Stefan: I also raid at a high level on Balmung (As a main tank), and even got the server 1st kill of A8S.


If you want some PvP advice from King Stefan, make sure to head over to our wiki where we’ve just published a new PvP guide written by him!