Dorigon
Alpha and Omega
Last night, I was approached by a certain gentleman wishing to educate the 19s bracket on himself. Unwilling to pass up the opportunity, I quickly got out pen and paper and recorded the following interview with none other than Pizza. He took the time to give detailed answers to a variety of thought-provoking questions.
1. How did you get your start in twinking?
Going into high school, I played RuneScape. Shortly after I started high school, a friend of mine on RuneScape, who I had played with since I started playing RuneScape back in 6th grade, asked me if I wanted to play WoW with him. I wasn’t sure at first, but he convinced me to play WoW by telling me about twinks. He described them to me as characters similar to the ones we had on RuneScape (Pkers is what they were called on RuneScape) where you would stop at a certain level and max out your character in order to beat other players at that same level. My best friend in real life since kindergarten also played at the time so that really sealed the deal for me on switching from RuneScape to WoW. So I actually started playing Vanilla WoW with the intentions of twinking. My first WoW character ever was a 19 twink Sergeant Hunter. Some of you might know him as Justinbieber @ Bleeding Hollow - Community - World of Warcraft
2. Who were your influences as a young twinker? How did they influence you?
I had two major influences as a young twinker, Farmthis and Atax.
Farmthis was the GM of the first 19 guild I joined, Limbo. He was also my first role model in the 19 bracket. Queuing with his guild is where my love for this bracket originated. His guild also introduced me to premades. The premades I did with his guild were what led me to making Pizza Hut (Raw Talent’s original name).
Atax was the GM of the Alliance guild Crushridge Legends. I premaded against his guild while in Limbo and later with my own guild, Pizza Hut. Needless to say, we lost every game. At one point his guild Crushridge Legends was the top 19, 29, and 39 guild in Cyclone. As if that’s not impressive enough, he was a Merciless and Vengeful Gladiator on his main at the time. He was my idol back then and still is today. I admired how well he ran his guild and how dominant he was in WSG. Watching him play and lead his guild to victory time and time again is what gave me motivation to keep improving as a player and to continue working on my leadership skills as a GM.
3. You have led an active guild in the 19s bracket for over six years now. What have been the secrets to this continuity, when other guilds so often rise and fall in the blink of an eye?
If I had to credit one thing for my guild’s continued success it would have to be my love for the bracket. Most players who join my guild play the bracket much more often and for longer periods of time after they join my guild. If you’ve ever wondered how my guild can queue all day long with a premade group into pugs, it is my love for the bracket rubbing off onto my guildies.
Something important to think about, when looking at guilds that have risen and fallen, is whether their GM quit or not. Generally, when the GM of a guild quits, the guild will die shortly after. I have played this bracket without taking an extended break over the last six years. This has prevented my guild from running into this problem. Great guilds with strong leaders have died off over the years as their GMs moved on from the bracket itself or the game entirely.
4. Out of the entire 19s community, you are possibly the most polarizing figure. Why do you think you became so hated (and loved)? Do the haters ever get to you?
I’ll start with why I think I’m so hated. There are actually quite a few reasons. The top reasons I can think of are GY containment, AFKing, and the attention my guild and I receive. My guild has always been notorious for graveyard containment as one of our primary strategies. This is generally at the expense of the opposing team. It is understandable why players dislike me over this, but it’s more of a strategy than anything else. We don’t do it with the intentions of causing grief. You’ll never catch us holding the flag in the graveyard to prolong games. AFKing is a bad habit I developed back in BC before statistics were even around. I’m not sure why I started AFKing, but for whatever reason it has stuck with me to this date. I’ve been doing it for so long that stopping at this point wouldn’t change peoples’ opinions of me to a level where it is worth it. I think I’ll always receive hate for doing it whether I stop now or continue AFKing. Reading TwinkInfo, you can see how often my guild and I are mentioned in threads. As sad as this may sound, this has led players, who are jealous of the attention I receive from my own actions and those of my guild, to hate on me. Think of any celebrity in the real world off the top of your head. Even the nicest celebrities will have people that hate on them because they wish they were in their shoes.
Even though I am hated I also have a lot of fans. I’d like to believe I have more fans than haters, but that might not be true. I have primarily gained my fanbase through my success as a player and my guild’s success in this bracket over the years.
I tend to focus more on my fans than my haters. Generally I won’t respond to anyone who is negative towards me or my guild, whereas I will respond to anyone and everyone who is positive towards either of us.
5. How do you view yourself as a person and player in the 19s?
As a person, I view myself as one of the nicest and most mature in this bracket. I don’t hold grudges against anyone and treat everyone equally. I believe that if you don’t have something nice to say, then you shouldn’t say anything at all. The three reasons I listed above for why I am so hated has really tainted the view people have of me who have never talked to me before. Generally, once someone who dislikes me actually talks to me for the first time, they like me. A lot of my guildies were once haters before they had the chance to sit down and talk with me. I’m sure many of them wouldn’t hesitate for a second to admit that.
As a player, I view myself as the face of the 19 bracket. I’ve been around this bracket since day 1, and am the household name for 19 twinks. When it comes to my skill level at 19s, I think I can play at the highest level on whatever class I decide to play on. Not because I’m necessarily better at the game as a whole than other players, but because of my love for 19s. This gives me the motivation I need to continue to improve my gameplay on whatever class I am playing until it is at an equal or higher level than my competition.
6. Looking back through your years in the bracket, who do you view as your greatest competitors? This can be individuals, guilds, or both.
My greatest competitors, when it comes to players, would have to be Kathordine and Atax.
Kathordine was the GM of The Twinks Unite, which was an Alliance guild on the same server Pizza Hut originated. Since we were on the same server, we had to run into each other in BGs before cross realms, in the weekly fishing tournaments, the Gurubashi Arena, and even outside of our major cities! He also played a Hunter, and was one of the few Hunters I had to compete with back in the day for the ‘top spot’.
Atax was another one of my greatest competitors. Back in the day, he was widely known as the best 19 Hunter and the best GM. As both of those things were what I was striving towards, he was who I wanted to be. This made him my biggest threat.
My greatest competitors, when it comes to guilds, would have to be Crushridge Legends and tRain cOw.
Crushridge Legends is pretty self-explanatory. They were the top guild in Cyclone for a good 1-2 years running and I was looking to dethrone them and take over that top spot with my guild. Crushridge Legends was the first guild to beat mine in a 10v10.
My second greatest competitor was tRain cOw. I can’t say they were really viewed as that strong of a competitor against my guild while they played. I always thought we were much stronger than them in all aspects. I never viewed them for what they were truly worth until after we ended up losing to them in a premade at the end of Cataclysm.
7. How do you justify graveyard containment?
This article sums it up better than I ever could: Resurrection Vectors and Graveyard Control in Warsong Gulch | Cynwise's Warcraft Manual
8. Being a leader in the community, everything that you do is under a microscope. Do you fear that some of your behaviors, like graveyard containment and winlogging, may be taken up by those who idolize you? Do you think this may have a negative effect on the bracket?
Sadly, I do think some of my behaviors are taken up by those who idolize me, and do have a negative effect on the bracket. I don’t regret graveyard containment, as it is a WSG strategy used by high rated RBGers, but AFKing I could have done without. If I could go back and start over, I would never have started the whole AFKing trend. As I stated earlier, I’ve been AFKing for so long that stopping at this point wouldn’t do much. The damage has already been done, and is irreparable.
9. Could you tell us a little bit about what you do in real life, to give some additional perspective?
I am now preparing myself for going to graduate school to get an MBA. I just graduated from college two weeks ago with a major in accounting. After I get my MBA, I plan on working for an accounting firm somewhere in Phoenix, Arizona.
Some of my main hobbies outside of WoW include basketball , working out, watching movies/TV shows/YouTube, doing goofy things with my real life friends, and listening to music.
If anyone has any further questions for Pizza, please feel free to ask them here (serious inquiries only).
1. How did you get your start in twinking?
Going into high school, I played RuneScape. Shortly after I started high school, a friend of mine on RuneScape, who I had played with since I started playing RuneScape back in 6th grade, asked me if I wanted to play WoW with him. I wasn’t sure at first, but he convinced me to play WoW by telling me about twinks. He described them to me as characters similar to the ones we had on RuneScape (Pkers is what they were called on RuneScape) where you would stop at a certain level and max out your character in order to beat other players at that same level. My best friend in real life since kindergarten also played at the time so that really sealed the deal for me on switching from RuneScape to WoW. So I actually started playing Vanilla WoW with the intentions of twinking. My first WoW character ever was a 19 twink Sergeant Hunter. Some of you might know him as Justinbieber @ Bleeding Hollow - Community - World of Warcraft
2. Who were your influences as a young twinker? How did they influence you?
I had two major influences as a young twinker, Farmthis and Atax.
Farmthis was the GM of the first 19 guild I joined, Limbo. He was also my first role model in the 19 bracket. Queuing with his guild is where my love for this bracket originated. His guild also introduced me to premades. The premades I did with his guild were what led me to making Pizza Hut (Raw Talent’s original name).
Atax was the GM of the Alliance guild Crushridge Legends. I premaded against his guild while in Limbo and later with my own guild, Pizza Hut. Needless to say, we lost every game. At one point his guild Crushridge Legends was the top 19, 29, and 39 guild in Cyclone. As if that’s not impressive enough, he was a Merciless and Vengeful Gladiator on his main at the time. He was my idol back then and still is today. I admired how well he ran his guild and how dominant he was in WSG. Watching him play and lead his guild to victory time and time again is what gave me motivation to keep improving as a player and to continue working on my leadership skills as a GM.
3. You have led an active guild in the 19s bracket for over six years now. What have been the secrets to this continuity, when other guilds so often rise and fall in the blink of an eye?
If I had to credit one thing for my guild’s continued success it would have to be my love for the bracket. Most players who join my guild play the bracket much more often and for longer periods of time after they join my guild. If you’ve ever wondered how my guild can queue all day long with a premade group into pugs, it is my love for the bracket rubbing off onto my guildies.
Something important to think about, when looking at guilds that have risen and fallen, is whether their GM quit or not. Generally, when the GM of a guild quits, the guild will die shortly after. I have played this bracket without taking an extended break over the last six years. This has prevented my guild from running into this problem. Great guilds with strong leaders have died off over the years as their GMs moved on from the bracket itself or the game entirely.
4. Out of the entire 19s community, you are possibly the most polarizing figure. Why do you think you became so hated (and loved)? Do the haters ever get to you?
I’ll start with why I think I’m so hated. There are actually quite a few reasons. The top reasons I can think of are GY containment, AFKing, and the attention my guild and I receive. My guild has always been notorious for graveyard containment as one of our primary strategies. This is generally at the expense of the opposing team. It is understandable why players dislike me over this, but it’s more of a strategy than anything else. We don’t do it with the intentions of causing grief. You’ll never catch us holding the flag in the graveyard to prolong games. AFKing is a bad habit I developed back in BC before statistics were even around. I’m not sure why I started AFKing, but for whatever reason it has stuck with me to this date. I’ve been doing it for so long that stopping at this point wouldn’t change peoples’ opinions of me to a level where it is worth it. I think I’ll always receive hate for doing it whether I stop now or continue AFKing. Reading TwinkInfo, you can see how often my guild and I are mentioned in threads. As sad as this may sound, this has led players, who are jealous of the attention I receive from my own actions and those of my guild, to hate on me. Think of any celebrity in the real world off the top of your head. Even the nicest celebrities will have people that hate on them because they wish they were in their shoes.
Even though I am hated I also have a lot of fans. I’d like to believe I have more fans than haters, but that might not be true. I have primarily gained my fanbase through my success as a player and my guild’s success in this bracket over the years.
I tend to focus more on my fans than my haters. Generally I won’t respond to anyone who is negative towards me or my guild, whereas I will respond to anyone and everyone who is positive towards either of us.
5. How do you view yourself as a person and player in the 19s?
As a person, I view myself as one of the nicest and most mature in this bracket. I don’t hold grudges against anyone and treat everyone equally. I believe that if you don’t have something nice to say, then you shouldn’t say anything at all. The three reasons I listed above for why I am so hated has really tainted the view people have of me who have never talked to me before. Generally, once someone who dislikes me actually talks to me for the first time, they like me. A lot of my guildies were once haters before they had the chance to sit down and talk with me. I’m sure many of them wouldn’t hesitate for a second to admit that.
As a player, I view myself as the face of the 19 bracket. I’ve been around this bracket since day 1, and am the household name for 19 twinks. When it comes to my skill level at 19s, I think I can play at the highest level on whatever class I decide to play on. Not because I’m necessarily better at the game as a whole than other players, but because of my love for 19s. This gives me the motivation I need to continue to improve my gameplay on whatever class I am playing until it is at an equal or higher level than my competition.
6. Looking back through your years in the bracket, who do you view as your greatest competitors? This can be individuals, guilds, or both.
My greatest competitors, when it comes to players, would have to be Kathordine and Atax.
Kathordine was the GM of The Twinks Unite, which was an Alliance guild on the same server Pizza Hut originated. Since we were on the same server, we had to run into each other in BGs before cross realms, in the weekly fishing tournaments, the Gurubashi Arena, and even outside of our major cities! He also played a Hunter, and was one of the few Hunters I had to compete with back in the day for the ‘top spot’.
Atax was another one of my greatest competitors. Back in the day, he was widely known as the best 19 Hunter and the best GM. As both of those things were what I was striving towards, he was who I wanted to be. This made him my biggest threat.
My greatest competitors, when it comes to guilds, would have to be Crushridge Legends and tRain cOw.
Crushridge Legends is pretty self-explanatory. They were the top guild in Cyclone for a good 1-2 years running and I was looking to dethrone them and take over that top spot with my guild. Crushridge Legends was the first guild to beat mine in a 10v10.
My second greatest competitor was tRain cOw. I can’t say they were really viewed as that strong of a competitor against my guild while they played. I always thought we were much stronger than them in all aspects. I never viewed them for what they were truly worth until after we ended up losing to them in a premade at the end of Cataclysm.
7. How do you justify graveyard containment?
This article sums it up better than I ever could: Resurrection Vectors and Graveyard Control in Warsong Gulch | Cynwise's Warcraft Manual
8. Being a leader in the community, everything that you do is under a microscope. Do you fear that some of your behaviors, like graveyard containment and winlogging, may be taken up by those who idolize you? Do you think this may have a negative effect on the bracket?
Sadly, I do think some of my behaviors are taken up by those who idolize me, and do have a negative effect on the bracket. I don’t regret graveyard containment, as it is a WSG strategy used by high rated RBGers, but AFKing I could have done without. If I could go back and start over, I would never have started the whole AFKing trend. As I stated earlier, I’ve been AFKing for so long that stopping at this point wouldn’t do much. The damage has already been done, and is irreparable.
9. Could you tell us a little bit about what you do in real life, to give some additional perspective?
I am now preparing myself for going to graduate school to get an MBA. I just graduated from college two weeks ago with a major in accounting. After I get my MBA, I plan on working for an accounting firm somewhere in Phoenix, Arizona.
Some of my main hobbies outside of WoW include basketball , working out, watching movies/TV shows/YouTube, doing goofy things with my real life friends, and listening to music.
If anyone has any further questions for Pizza, please feel free to ask them here (serious inquiries only).
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but i honestly dont think its to to late to change what people think so stop afk out of GOOD games when its 5 seconds left ;D
