Sensei – August 6, 2007
Main Avatar:
Sensei
Race & Class:
Biomek Terminator
Clan:
TREG
First Name (RL):
William
Profession (RL):
8th Grade, causing mischief!
Location (RL):
Bellevue, WA
When and How did you start playing Auto Assault?
Well, I heard about it through industry mags (GameInformer, specifically) in a preview and went “Cars with guns? W00t!” Though I never saw an AD, NCS. Anyway, the game got poor reviews and I hesitated. After getting a free boxed copy with Guild Wars Factions, I beat GW PvE campaign with a sub-max sword and no elite skills, then subbed AA about two weeks before U2.
How did you choose you Avatar’s name?
In 6th grade, I started taking Nihongo (Japanese, to you monolinguals) and had a great teacher, Sensei Takahashi, whom I named a few characters after. I was going to call my Biomek ‘Terminator’ the name and joke were already taken with the class. About this time I deleted my Sensei Takahashi character in GW to use the same name for a different class, and in those three minutes someone, presumably a Narutard, took the name. I named by Biomek Sensei, and vowed to protect the name of ninjas from self insulting Narutards ever since.
Why did you choose your main Faction & Class?
I might have taken human. I feared however, that it was the ‘Default’ faction where all the n00bs would go, and I wanted to stand out. Oh yeah, at the time, I had read the still-in-beta manual and thought I could only choose one faction. After studying heavily, I eventually decided Biomeks were the coolest and F*** the lack of HP regen. I chose Terminator because I played warrior in other games.
Do you play solo? Why did you join a clan?
Unshockingly, I soloed to 80 for the most part. I would often help noobs with bosses (esp. Goliath) and then they would outlevel me and help me with bosses I was stuck on, and I got some friends that way. I made The Random Explosion Guild, shortened it to REG in acronyms (someone said TREG sounded cool and I used TREG since then, agreeing) and recruited said friends. My guild was one of the big things that kept me stuck with AA, I might otherwise have stopped playing during my mission sprawls (I missed loads of XP at low levels, missing most of malachite and cascading missing missions since there) and especially the L60 coliseum grind. Sadly, they all eventually left AA. I’d like to name FatArm, AlexRoe, d20, and, erm, others I forgot… to my list of core members. FatArm is in TSL now, I think. It’s where he went when he left my guild.
Do you prefer PvE or PvP?
Depends on my mood. When I feel like exploring (both in environments, and in loremongering) I PvE. PvP, I do when I can find a convoy. 😉
Do you craft? What is your favorite crafted item?
I do armor and advanced armor. I was intending to cover all armor types but, obviously, it never happened– I was getting going again, and then NC shot AA with a GM gun. My favorite crafted item is the contaminated chaingun FatArm gave me, I used it (and not out of nostalgia, either) for 35 levels.
What is your weapon of choice?
For damage, all my items suck. For nostalgia, I have a Bad-Day Laser, and a Samurai Cannon.
What is your favorite ride?
Raider. Smooth ride, good stats. I use Gothan for PvP, but for the three races I ever did, Raider was AWESOME. Not bad looking too, but I think I MIGHT like the human equivalent more for looks. Not sure.
Which junk item do you refuse to get rid of?
As I mentioned, Samurai Cannon and Bad-Day Laser. i got rid of it, but I’d like to give an honorable mention to a CAV-12 I put a +1 autorepair on. That little L13 I gave it to was showing off her ‘Uber Senei-Chassis’ to everyone. That made me realize why people bother crafting in this game, it felt good.
What is your favorite NPC & location in AA?
For location, either New Tocado (all who play AA remember why) or the T-Net zone in Cinderfall. The ice area in the second humie highway is cool too. For NPC, I’d say Phoebe in battle pitz. Is he a biomute? What is his business with obelisks, and possibly xenos? It SCREAMS with untold lore that is so tantalizing. There is of course, the blank mission guy that got deleted in U4, in first humie highway. I like him, because I love to be snarky about ‘Authorities’ -in this case devs- being wrong. Unlike my mom uncorrecting my math, however, they did not force their broken opinion on me, and all is well.
Who is your Arch-Nemesis in AA (Player or other)?
If you’re talking about that is here, the cliff above Chariot. I cannot scale it! For all-time, Unclecid. He was a great RP guy who stuck with the game longer than the other RPers. We were friends on the forum, but it became clear that our characters must be arch enemies. Thor carries on his tradition whenever he boasts about BRONZE beating me. Sadly, i didn’t get to fight Unclecid much because I left the game not too long after I hit 80, coming back about as commotion was starting for U4. We shall never see who is truly stronger, making him all the more legendary foe.
What is your favorite moment you’ve experienced in AA?
Get ready for a list! 1: My fears of AA not being good were proved unfounded. 2: walking into New Tocado. 3: walking into every other area int eh game for your first time. 4: Killing. 5: Missions, story wise, just dropping into mystery as I hit 80. Oh yeah, second biggest of all: 6: Finding out that I can run a powerful successful guild. Oh wait, 7: the 900MPH bug. 8: Punting. Sorry, am I rambling?
What song/genre you like to listen while playing AA?
The in-game music… my computer can’t handle anything other than AA running at once. Sometimes it can’t handle the ingame music. Anyway, I listen to string pieces. Badass string pieces, like Sprach Zarathustra and March of the Valkyries, and the James Bond theme (it’s really different when your school band has no guitar).
What current feature would you change in AA to make it better?
I’d change the feature where the game closes on September first, make it last another ten years or so. And fix the manual, which is still in beta.
Which new AA features would you like to see in the future?
More advanced clan features, and clan garages. More visual tweaks to chassis, possibly including clan flags (like capes from GW). Sadly they won’t be coming.
