Sunday, October 28, 2012

HoN Insider Podcast: Why I Didn't Show Up

Edit included at the bottom of the article about how Raawrr feels like he's gotta lie to fly:

Been awhile since I'd written anything, mostly due to real life obligations but also because there hasn't really been anything worth having me write about. Sure there has been stuff going on in HoN like all of these prepubescent competitive players trying to stream snipe Swindlemelonzz, or S2's newest shitty hero, Pearl, who represents the pinnacle of poor hero design. But really, neither of those things got me fired up enough to write about them; although Pearl is getting close. I just watched a guy who has 100 games played with a 0.3 KDR go 12-1 with this hero because, even though her positioning and items were terrible, there was just no way to get to her because all of her skills are fucking retarded.

I've been watching a bit of the forums over the past 3 days, especially as I was getting ready to co-host the new Heroes of Newerth podcast "HoN Insider" with Raawr, FJ and megabever. In case you don't know, I post under the name DiscoInferno now, because I can no longer log in to the forums with The_Thrill for some unexplained reason. I was looking for topics to discuss that I knew the community was looking to hear my opinion on and also had received a good amount of questions via Skype. Along with questions on Skype I also got this message from Raawr in the group chat we were in:

[10/25/2012 12:40:00 PM] alex powell: ok guys
[10/25/2012 12:40:14 PM] alex powell: some news
[10/25/2012 12:40:29 PM] alex powell: The Show will be supported by S2games
[10/25/2012 12:41:20 PM] alex powell: this means that there are some rules
[10/25/2012 12:41:38 PM] alex powell: a) Any insult towards a Member of S2games is not acceptable.

Which I was fine with, I don't really have beef with anyone at S2 aside from one or two people but those people its because of personal issues that would probably destroy their public image, and I'm not really down with that. Apparently the "support" was going to be promotion via their "social media" which turned out to be a Honcast Facebook post (say "wooo" and twirl your finger in the air now for maximum effect) and not a post on the actual S2 Games/Heroes of Newerth Facebook. And don't give me that shit that the "Community Rundown" post was supposed to be the social media support either, because no one actually reads it. There was no in-game messaging (the most powerful of HoN's social media marketing tools) or any other official support from anyone outside of Honcast. Anyway, rewinding back to where I was reading Skype:

[10/25/2012 12:58:45 PM] alex powell: "Also the fact that they referred to the launch of HoN Tour and its failure as being a "Sneak Peek" is just outright laughable, almost to the point of being insulting to anyone who participated in it." - Quote from the post underneath this one.
[10/25/2012 12:58:58 PM] alex powell: that would be a little too much
[10/25/2012 12:59:15 PM] alex powell: i want to keep the show mannered

At this point, I'm starting to realize that Raawrr is talking to people at S2, and they are basically telling him what can and can't be said or they will drop their "support." I don't understand how that quote is bad mannered anyway. When I used to make "announcements of announcements" on the forums for things like DreamHoN Online Summer Championships people would get so made that I was just teasing them or not providing all the information all at once. This is an even worse travesty. Working on a project for nearly two years then when it launches and causes all kinds of system failures you just say "hey dudes, hope you liked this sneak peek!" people are going to get mad. I'm not even playing in HoN Tour and I'm insulted.

Either way, I just let that pass and figured I would just stick to what I do best, which is give an educated opinion using my usual Real Talk style of casting when I podcast. It's what I became known for when I was doing the Honcast Weekly Podcast and a lot of people tune in just to hear what I have to say. Not because I'm some professional player with high level insight, but because I'm an "every man's man" and I break it down Barney style for people to understand issues without the fluff. So Saturday morning comes around and its about an hour before the podcast. I'm in between awake and asleep but figure I'll go hop in the shower and fix my hair so I look somewhat presentable on webcam. Around 9:40AM I come back to the computer and see this on Skype:

[10/27/2012 9:12:24 AM] alex powell: hey, just wanted to let you know before the cast, that please dont talk number of S2's spendings, I dont want ayn trouble over something so irrelevant

To which I respond:

[10/27/2012 9:44:22 AM] Phil "The_Thrill" Haller: something they brought up to you?

And then:

[10/27/2012 9:44:28 AM] alex powell: yes
[10/27/2012 9:45:02 AM] alex powell: i want to have you on
[10/27/2012 9:45:16 AM] alex powell: cause you are probably the person with the most knowledge about comp hon
[10/27/2012 9:45:20 AM] Phil "The_Thrill" Haller: its okay
[10/27/2012 9:45:22 AM] alex powell: and s2 will also promote
[10/27/2012 9:45:24 AM] Phil "The_Thrill" Haller: I think i'll back out

So, what everyone came here to see and to debunk any misinformation:

S2 did NOT remove me from the show or require that someone else remove me from the show. I decided not to participate of my own volition. 

Now the question is: Why?

Basically it was three reasons:

1. I probably would not have said anything about specifics or numbers related to any expenditures anyway, but the fact that S2 is contacting this guy and trying to trade promotion for "control" over me is pretty insulting. It's not like I was getting paid for this podcast, and I'm pretty sure I could start a one man show on my stream and get more viewers than this podcast was going to get anyway (maxed out around 180 I heard? I didn't watch until near the end.)

2. I would have most likely said some things that S2 Games would not have liked. Not because I'd be breaking the NDA but because I know the people at the company. I know what their everyday work load entails and having that kind of information means I can accurately portray why things are the way they are in Heroes of Newerth with little to no research. Ultimately this would have probably ended up with S2 contacting Raawrr to have me removed from the podcast anyway, so I figured I'd save him a step.

3. I know that I'll never work for S2 again, so doing an official S2/Honcast supported project for free no longer appeals to me. And I realized, finally, that it's kind of absurd to promote the company that let me go, not because I did something wrong, but for a mysterious reason that really was never fully explained even when I asked them about it. We're going in a different direction is not an explanation.

So there you have it guys, the full reason as to why I wasn't on the podcast this past Saturday. Now that things are starting to happen with HoN Tour, I would expect to see more posts on this blog. So keep me bookmarked and I'll tell you the real reasons why things are the way they are in this game we all love to play.

¡Viva la RevoluciĆ³n!

 

Edit: I just read on Reddit this little gem from the forums:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Now, the removal of Phil was last minute, because he was not replying before. If any of you have read Phils blog before, you will notice that it has its spots where you could say it was unnecessary to say things like that.

I would have removed him earlier if would have replied to me earlier. For me this is not a big loss, yes Phil knows a lot when it comes to the competitive scene, but my show will not be a center of drama and flame."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I don't know why this guy feels the need to lie to people, especially when I can provide all Skype logs he's ever sent to me. He talks about how he would have "removed me" before hand when in fact up until I removed myself, he was still 100% ready to go with me on the show. If you watch FJ's stream from before the podcast started you can hear them talk about it and how worried he sounded about me not being on. Way to make yourself look like a complete toolbag Raawrr.

37 comments:

  1. And there i was, feeling happy for Raawr when his Q&A with Breaky took off... Nothing like an alternative view to put things in to perspective. The whole thing stinks, 'nuff said.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The simple fact of the matter is that if you want S2's "support" insofar as they don't trash your name to the community you are required to take several dicks in the mouth.

    S2 fucking sucks and I for one would be interested in what the work load you hinted at entails, Phil, which is something I've asked about many times on the forums and been banned for many times as well.

    -Grace

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  3. Raawr is such an awkward dude to speak with, He cant say anything beside questions and doesnt know a shit about Hon pro scene...

    Thx god Swindle is a social dude who got a lots to say even to stupid questions,
    I cant wait to see raawr interview Angrytestie...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. :D The last sentence made my day. Phil man, the blog is amazing! Dont let S2 into your head, I think that they are so nervous about this blog more than anything :D But the 1v1 show from you would be absolutely epic, and I think you would get much deeper in interviews than this Rawrr guy, who I feel pity for cause he seems like a big pussy.

      Delete
  4. I laugh at $2 as a whole, it's been the same thing over and over, promises promises promises, Failtour is the pinnacle of Hon.

    It's about time to find greener fields, I for one will go to Dota2, at least Valve I know for sure doesn't bullshit their customers.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. fuck off then don't need to yap about it unless you have something substantial to say

      Delete
    2. We may think S2 is shady, or that S2 does shitty stuff, and we will call them out, but their game is much better than Dota 2.

      Valve could send 90% of their earnings to save children in Africa and I still wouldn't play that underwater game.

      Delete
    3. Somebody didn't get a beta key.

      Delete
  5. Hi Phil, please do a podcast talking about S2, many people including me would tune in.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Please do! Doesn't even have to be only about s2, I think you'd do great in a podcast!

    ReplyDelete
  7. good game ran by terrible people

    sad

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  8. The whole point of shows like the one that Alex "RAAWRR" Powell hosts is that it's supposed to be NO FLUFF, so you're allowed to talk about the good and the bad, and how things can improve ect, having the whole show regulated by S2 is not the way, everything in the HoN scene is bought in some way by S2 games, the whole point of having a show limited to just talk about the "good" and nothing of the "bad" is just the same as having it hosted by Tralf and Breaky.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree to this... But I think Raawrr really wants to make a buisess out of this and/or his youtube channel. And if you get supported by S2 in cases like this (little, but again) you don't want to bash them because it will hurt your buisness in a long run.

      Even though you could make the point that the buisness would be good – if not even better if you allowed to bring opinions in like Phil's.


      It was dissapointing though.

      Delete

  9. Moderators of this Forum

    Leyst,
    Stewiecraft,
    The_Thrill

    This is awkward.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Too bad leyst is the biggest faggit on the forums. Too busy watching tentacle porn to do his job.

      Delete
  10. S2 seems so afraid to have anything bad being said about them while it constantly happens anyway. Because of this it gets a lot harder to get your critisism out in the open to actually start a decent discussion

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  11. never liked that piece of shit

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. LOL
      wtf?

      dude dont post under my name LOL

      Delete
  12. That Rawrr is so fkn boring as a host, he really fails I'd rather watch the interviewed guys talk on their own and reading the chat question by themselves. But the only shit this kid does is just read chat questions and voice them, then say 'Urrrrrr OK'. Seems like his social awkwardness won't allow him to keep a conversation going on.

    He is a fucking joke-

    Long live the thrill

    ReplyDelete
  13. Pretty much what alec said above me. Rawrr is a terrible host, and the only reason I tuned in for the first show was to hear Phil whip out the real-talk. After realizing Phil was not on the show and observing how things proceeded, I had to close the stream. Awkward, fluffy, BORING.

    While having Phil on a live show would be amazing, this blog is atleast something to look forward to. Viva La Revolution!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Phil you are still my no.1 hero of HoN. Keep it up and stream once in awhile!

    ReplyDelete
  15. NOBODY CARES PHIL TL;DR ...YOU'RE WASHED OUT QQ

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Seeing by the majority of the comments here, you are either brain dead or can't read. Smash that capslock more Mr. Neckbeard, troll harder.

      Delete
  16. Phil, got twitter? you should - it's easier to follow your updates via twi
    oh yeah and Swindle is moving to LoL

    ReplyDelete
  17. That euro kid sucks, and so does his show. "ehhmm uhhh errr OK."

    ReplyDelete
  18. You should get an alt nick and do some writing for DRD. Real talk.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Rawwrr the most awkward, boring idiot ive ever seen. The 1v1 is a fail(omg 50 viewers so impressive) and the podcast is even more of a fail(4+ people and barely 200 viewers). I give his show another 2 weeks tops. S2 always fucks shit up because they cant keep their hands out of anything.

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  20. Rawr seems like a nice kid who tries, but is a great example of trying too hard. He got too many views too early on into his streaming experience, and now he is making dumb decisions, choices, and the like. I think thousands are most qualified than he is, but hell, at least he ain't lazy. I wouldn't tune in to his stream though.

    As for Phil.. yeh, sorry to hear about your situation.

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  21. I feel sorry for Rawr. Taking a dick up the butt and having a sugar coated garbage podcast for... 180 viewers? BIG TIME.

    ReplyDelete
  22. First of all, please read my whole post.

    I'm gonna be completly honest, when I was still 1500 pubtrash APEM NO RETARDS and somehow found honcast, I DESPISED this guy called Phil. He was the most annoying person I could think of when it came to shoutcasting and I almost said a prayer anytime when someone said he wouldn't be on the upcoming cast. I'm not gonna lie though, Phil got better. Better at casting up until the point of where I enjoyed the cast, even though I could notice small mistakes (still not a big deal, as we're talking about a time roughly 2 years later and my personal skill level was also alot higher). Phil stepped to the side at some point, and eventually got picked up by S2. The only time he really made his appearence was on the weekly podcasts (VoD up on tuesdays, I think?) and that was the highlight of the day, listening to it just before I had to go to school. Aside from others, Phil said what he thought and didn't care if he hurt the feelings of some sad little rabbit cutting itself in a corner, just the way I liked it. Phil even did what I hoped he would, an awesome job as director of e-sports. We saw more and more tournaments being sponsored in different ways by S2, more and more announcements being made in the global chat and tournaments actually being on-time and smoothly administrated. Then came the bomb, Phil got fired completely out of the blue and to be honest it came as a punch to my face. I couldn't grasp it. But then again, it's S(hady)2 so I guess it wasn't all too surprising. But that Milkfat (LLOLOOLOL THE LEGEND XD) was announced as his replacement I literally laughed my ass off. It was bound to fail and frankly I don't even see why he ever was even considered a replacement for Phil. I mean, unless Phil literally stepped up on the coffee table and shat on Malikens doughnut theres no reason at all. My predictions were confirmed with THIS FUCKING SNEAK PEEK HOLY SHIT LOL IS THIS NOT A JOKE? Like seriously, Indian DDoSers pretty Stronk LuL.

    TL:DR; fuck you and read

    Actual TL:DR; Phil has improved alot and owns imo.

    Phil: I'm glad you didn't tag along on Rawwrrs shitcast, why any serious company would ever want to support him is beyond me as he simply isnt a good caster, and that crap rubbing off on you is the last thing I want. Cya at dreamhack and hope we can go for a beer or two.

    Oh, yes this post has it all! Typos, grammar fAiLz, and some decent hating and asskissing. Freedom of speech ftw yoloswag. (minus the last part).

    ReplyDelete
  23. phil #1, looking forward to podcasts. Also, ratio of 80% dancing to 20% content would suit my taste

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  24. washed up old man, phil
    Regards Tralf

    ReplyDelete