Welcome to the Special edition of our weekly blog about DoF members.
We hope that these blogs will entertain you as well as help you in getting to know our members and DoF better.
For this Special edition of MMM blog we are taking you back into past.
This article was made by Tardet as the part of community project called Unsung Heroes.
Erminas got chance to talk about DoF in this interview. Enjoy reading it:
Unsung Heroes: Erminas, Defenders of Faith
1. First of all, could you please introduce yourself to those who still don’t know you? Hello everyone, my name is Erminas. For those that don't know me, I come from Serbia. I was born in my country's capital Belgrade (White City if translated to English) and I still live in this ancient metropolis.
2. Right, with that little introduction let's talk more about the Mount&Blade series and especially Warband because everyone is here to read about that. I bought Warband from TW's official site way back in May of 2010. A few days later I was already a member of the NC team that consisted of ex-YU players. That summer of 2010 and its Nations Cup was the first time I played in an organized multiplayer tournament in any game.
NC has always been on top of my priorities when it comes to Warband. And I am proud to say that I have played in it on more than 3 occasions (2012, 2013 and 2015). I would have played in the 2011 edition as well, but at that time I was living in Montenegro (without internet...).
As for 2014, that is a long story. Some NW boys wanted to try playing in the Native Nations Cup after some success they apparently had in the NW edition of NC.
They didn't see it fit to even contact me, so I decided to stay on the sideline and let them play. As allteamsregiments that venture into Native learn very fast, they were nowhere near ready or prepared for it. I think they left the competition after a few defeats...
Definitely the best moment I had in any NC was being captain of the Yugoslavia team back in 2012. We lost a lot of matches, but the camaraderie of all the members of that team was really touching and very positive. That's why we kept on going, even after losing, just to play with one another.
Another important date of 2010 was the 27th of May. That was the day I joined what would be my first and only clan in Warband: The Defenders of Faith.
God only knows what made me choose a clan that was mostly made of North American players. And what was even more important back then was that the clan only played in NA scrims (late at night in European time). But hey I am still here after all the obstacles and rough times we had during those five years, so I guess that choice was the correct one.
3. Being a very old player of the game, what would you say is characteristic of the Warband Community which still makes you play in it after all these years? Would you say that you play more for the competitive aspect of the scene or do you prefer gathering with friends and just enjoying the game? I guess that in my case these two aspects are intertwined. I enjoy the competitive scene and participating in tournaments, but I would never play in any competition if I wasn't enjoying playing Warband with friends. And I am lucky that I have been surrounded by friends that have a similar point of view to me. That is probably the main reason why I am still playing it.
The rush you feel after you win against great opponent.
The hype and positive atmosphere that’s present in TS during these moments is always good enough motivation to never stop playing this wonderful game.
I also like meeting and playing with new people; that is one of the main reasons why we have been hosting fun public events for years.
4. Speaking about DoF, you guys are like part of the furniture now, after 5 years on the game. How would you define your team and clanmates, and what are your plans for the next edition of the WNL? I would describe my clan as bunch of friends who enjoy spending free time with each other. DoF has this core of some 10 or so members that have been in clan for years and that will never ever leave us. That stability is something that separates us from other teams.
God knows we have gone through so many changes in the past. However, the clan never was in real danger of disbanding just due to the pure fact that these core members I am talking about have absolutely no intention of ending relationships we have made with each other. Looking back at our clan's history, we really went through some tough situations in the past. Coincidence or not, all the problems we had in the past happened in our NA division. Loyalty and honesty is something we value very highly and sadly that is not what some of our ex NA members could understand. It never was easy to recover from situations where we had over a dozen or so players leaving clan to make their own teams. But we always came out stronger.
Of course it was all very stressful on a personal level. When you lose someone whom you have been nothing but helpful and friendly to for a long time and they leave you for no apparent reason, then that makes you question whether or not you were doing something wrong.
Onto brighter themes: The WNL!
Oh, how I enjoy playing in EU. Organizing/participating in EU tournaments is never an issue for me because most of the time, everything is so well prepared.
After success in the ECS, we are really looking forward to this edition of the WNL. Our roster we had for the ECS will mostly remain the same and with a few additions, this team can achieve a lot. I am not going to hide our goal and that is to be in the top 8. I know that we can achieve this if we keep on bringing the best players to the matches. WNL V will be another interesting journey to take and I personally can't wait for it to start.
5. Many people don’t always realize what it takes to be a really dedicated admin on Warband. Could you please explain to us your personal experience with administrating important tournaments such as the Warband Weekend Cup or the Warband Master Tour?
Every beginning is hard. If you don't have confidence in yourself and the project you have to offer then it is bound to fail. Lack of one or both of these is sadly the reason we don't see more people taking initiative and hosting their own tournaments.
My personal experiences with being admin of the WWC are mixed. It’s highly positive in EU, where one small tournament became something important. With the help of community that backed it up and has been supporting it since the start, we became a Sponsored tournament that is approachable to all kind of clans, from the very best to brand new. Some teams flourished by playing in the WWC and when I feel like we have contributed to the making of even one single great team then it has been all worth it.
WWC is an amazing concept if I may say it myself. It's small and fun whilst at same time being competitive. That mix is the winning combination which seven seasons is a testimony to. Every story has its bad side as well and in this case it was the North American version of the Weekend Cups where, especially in the last 2 seasons, we didn't feel like our work was even slightly appreciated.
Warband Masters Tour:
After the 4th season of the EU 5 aside WWC I wanted to try something new and fresh, and that's how WMT was born.
It was another venture into the unknown but in my opinion WMT has been quite a success so far. We managed to get 15 teams and if you have in mind the time when the tournament started (Summer) it was quite an achievement.
We’ve had some amazing matches and moments in the WMT so far, but I feel like the best is yet to come with the "Masters" Single Elimination stage that has started this week.
To conclude the story about tournaments, I can tell you for sure that I plan on hosting both the WWC and the WMT in Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord.
6. It's also a fact that many players would like to see, with Bannerlod for instance, the community become closer to what the E-Sport Communities are like. What is your opinion on that matter? Are you for or against it and for what reasons? My opinion is that I would love to see that happen and the potential for it is present both within the community and the game itself.
However for that to happen we will need some changes; from the way the game is presented to having a wider audience, to the way members interact with each other within the community.
Trolls, dramas and conflicts are not going to attract sponsors to invest into one game. And without sponsors you can't really have an E-Sport type of game. So if we, as community, can improve in that aspect as well as with the full support of TaleWorlds, then I believe getting closer to an E-Sport is not as fictional as some think.
We have already seen some sponsors being interested in Warband, so when Bannerlord arrives it will be very important to just build upon this positive momentum.
7. To conclude on this interview, if there is anything left you would like to share with us, then now’s your special moment!
Big shout-out to all the members of the 2012 NC Yugoslavia Team.
Also a shout-out to all the DoFs and friendly folk I met during my Warband career and a huge thanks for inviting me to this interview and to everyone involved within this entertaining project.
Thanks for (re)reading this special edition of our blog. Next week, we will have one of our EU members Petee joining us for interview!
Thank you for reading this week's blog and we hope you enjoyed it!
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