4/20/2012 - Official Announcement

Community Spotlight - Alexastor
4/20/2012
Hello and welcome to the inaugural edition of the Community Spotlight. I know what you’re asking yourself – what in the world is that?
Every so often, we the Community Team will pluck a random member of the community who we feel would be interesting to learn more about. This is the nice way of saying interrogated… err, interviewed. You all have an amazing story, and we’d love to be able to spotlight that.
We will dive in to your psyche, finding out what makes you tick. Picking your brain for all the goodies that we’d normally never think to ask about.
Never fear, it’s not like we are going to snatch you while you’re walking down the street, covering your eyes so you can’t see the unmarked van you’re being loaded in to. Then said van takes us to an undisclosed location where you awake in the middle of a mirrored room with only a table, chair, and the glow of halogen lighting blinding your eyes.
No, we aren’t looking to interrogate you, but that would be fun…
This Community Spotlight is about you. It is for you. We want to give everyone a chance to shine. So be on the lookout, and we may just feature you next.
So pull up a chair, take a load off, and read all about our first interviewee, Alexastor.
First and foremost, tell us a little about yourself – Who are you, where are you from, what do you do as an occupation?
My name is Alex (hence my nickname), I’m currently 21 years old and from Germany. I’m studying at the University of Halle-Wittenberg to become a history and mathematics teacher later down the road.
How long have you been an Age of Empires (Online) player?
My AoEO beta invitation mail dates back to August 28th 2010 3am. So it’s been a loooong time. I think I started playing AoE when I was eight years old and found the demo on my father’s Windows 98 installation disc. Good old childhood memories.
What’s your main focus, PvP or PvE and why?
I actually don’t have a main focus. I played all the quests in AoEO and I’m always looking forward to new PvE content. On the other hand, I prefer PvP over Skirmish, so I switch to PvP pretty fast after I have finished new PvE content.
Now that you’ve had a chance to play post Spring Patch, which civ is your favorite and why?
Celts! Not only because they’re new, fresh and have the best campaign so far, I’m also more of a defensive and “macro-intensive” player. Sacred Deer, Gold Mines and cheaper Town Centers fit my play style quite a bit.
We understand that you are quite the AoEO fan. How else do you contribute to the Age Community?
Together with Maffia I’m running a website called Age of Empires Online Heaven where we’re writing articles, strategy guides, post quest walkthroughs on YouTube and answer everyone’s questions – both on our site and AgeOfEmpiresOnline.com.
How did you first get involved with Heaven?
I think I already frequently visited the site back in Age of Mythology’s days, but I became really active after Age of Empires III’s release when I started modding. Since those days I’m with HeavenGames.
Let’s pretend you’re not playing AoEO (I know, crazy). What types of things could you find yourself doing?
I like bicycling a lot in the summer and I’m also often reading books (mostly historical novels) and playing board games with friends.If I’m not occupied with studying and not in the mood to play games, I usually work on some modding or game design side-projects.
I’ve heard that you have an interest for working in the gaming industry (or kind of already are). Tell us a little more about that.
Back in the day I worked on pretty big and popular modification for AoE3 called Napoleonic Era. I kind of got an invitation to work on the indie project Dawn of Fantasy. After I finished school, however, I took the opportunity to work as game design trainee on ANNO 2070. But I decided to keep the game industry as a second pillar and study a “regular” university course instead.
Alright, last question before we go. If you could pick any one single unit from AoEO to have in real life, and use at your unlimited disposal, what would it be and why?
Priest, of course! I’d convert (and heal) everyone and the world would be a happier place J
Thank you Alexastor for taking the time to answer our questions! For those of you reading if you have not yet visited Age of Empires Online Heaven, you really should.
Join the conversation! Discuss this blog post in the forums here:http://forums.ageofempiresonline.com/forums/198669/ShowThread.aspx#198669