Interview With A Legend - Apollo

Apollo Is Here

Hello ladies and gentlebeans, and welcome back to another Interview with a legend. Following on from our previous chat with @Trekboy101 we now have the pleasure and insights of @Apollo aka TG Dom. Jumping straight in let's hear a little about you and your career within the community.

Hi, My name is Dom, and I have done two stints in TG. My first one was back in 2007 in the Gears of War Division. I was SS of Dragoons Squad, and I did some work in the TO . I rejoined the CoD Division for Modern Warfare, and I have been happily in Ranger Squad ever since where I now serve as Squad Leader.

TG SeanTuc1: And we are happy to have you in the division. I honestly had not realized how long people have been in TG until I managed to get them one on one like this so glad to have another TG veteran here. Now half of these interviews are meeting the members behind the squads, but the other half is hearing fellow gamers' thoughts and feeling on the current game, so let's pick your brain a little bit on Black Ops. What were your initial feelings after coming over from Modern Warfare and into Black Ops with the rest of us?

Apollo:  This version of CoD has definitely taken some time to adjust to, but I actually quite like it as a game overall. My favorite maps to play on are Raid, Moscow, and obviously Miami - I love how it plays and being good at maps that others don't enjoy so much, gives you a huge competitive advantage. I'm excited to see what Miami Strike will look like when it gets released soon. I'm enjoying the more restrictive competitive side of the game at the minute, mostly because public games are full of 1-tapping pistols, thermals and streetsweepers - and I can't stand these weapons. We were playing Control Crossroads the other night, and it was just impossible to work on anything productive because the enemy were just running streetsweepers. 

TG SeanTuc1: *hides the thermal Krieg under the notepad*

As well as the recent pain of the Glass Cannon LC10 I fully agree with you there. Other than the constant weapon and perk balances that always come with the franchise what else would you like to be changed in Black Ops?

Apollo:  I would like to see some improvement on the maps a little bit. I feel like there are a lot of maps that favor one objective over the other, and in Modern Warfare I feel like it was a little more balanced. There seemed to be more maps on MW where you could attack either bombsite for SnD, but for CW, if you attack the wrong bombsite you are at disadvantage straight away so it limits the gameplay a little bit, and obviously some of the weapons need re-balancing.

TG SeanTuc1: Could not agree with you more on the maps. It can feel at times that you can move 10 paces from the start and an entire bombsite is practically covered, forcing your hand the other way. So jumping away from the flaws in Call of Duty how are you feeling about TG in it's capacity as a platform for Cold War? I touched on recruitment and squad merging before; however, you have been at the front for a merged squad since the change, how have you and your squad adapted to the crossover?

Apollo:  I think TG is a great community and from it I have a great group of friends that I talk with almost daily, and a wider CoD community that I get on well with. I don't get involved in recruitment too much, and perhaps this is an area where I could support the community more. I have a few different ideas about the recruitment and IN process, but I also know this is a hotly debated topic and given the process has changed very little since 2007, I think the current structure is unlikely to change now.

The merge was a huge moment, and there were definitely some teething issues as you would expect. It was unfortunate that this was timed as the new game came out. There was a lot of change in a short space of time. I feel like it was a bit much for some people, and we lost some good members as a result of it. This is easily said in hindsight, and I'm not privy to all the info that BTN have in-front of them so I'm sure there were other factors... however things look like they are going quite well now. 

Papa has really championed Events, and no-one in 2nd battalion could say there isn't enough choice. This is the most I have seen that has been made available to people since I have been in this division and the variety is really good. What I also think is great, is that it isn't just the BTN Staff running everything. The TO are supporting with the companion app and SS are running tournaments and scrim events. This helps integrate the community a lot. Recently, I've been excited with the how active some of 1st BTN have been over UK hours; apparently they don't sleep! But this has opened up some new opportunities to integrate with our neighbors across the pond a little more. 

Ranger Squad has been crossplay since day one. We are fortunate enough that no-one in the squad knows any better. Game Chat/ Xbox Party are too unreliable. I'm now the only Xbox player left in Ranger, and the pressure to join the dark side from the others is heating up. I don't think it will be too long before I commit to PC. To be honest, as we start to take GBs more seriously, then being on the same platform / controller will help us too. 

TG SeanTuc1: The Battalion staff have handled the change very well with the different platforms coming together, and I wholeheartedly agree with you there that things are looking more solid now for the crossplay division.

....

DON'T YOU DARE!!!! It's hard enough keeping up to you on a good day let alone having your evil reaction times behind a decent gaming PC haha. Started getting flashbacks then so I best run away from that idea quickly. Now for those who are not in the Call of Duty Division, the Squad League was originally the Xbox squads battling Xbox squads, PlayStation vs PlayStation etc., with the merge of everyone it has added a new depth and dynamic to the Squad League which has been an interesting learning curve. Now you have recently just taken over the running of the Squad League, and as we get into the second one under your direction I would like to get your thoughts on the League as a whole.

Apollo:  The concept of Squad League is great. It offers such a great opportunity to play with other squads, but also helps provide focus for practices, showcase your squad on Twitch, and give you tangible evidence of improvement. Many of the practices I run are designed with Squad League in mind. It lets me plan stuff based on where we are weakest and what other teams might try to exploit to beat us. There are definitely other ways of achieving this, but the Squad League makes it easy. 

I don't think anyone can argue that Squad League has been a huge success overall, and has so far achieved what it was designed to achieve. However, I do think it went through a re-birth post merge. With so many other teams entering the League, the dynamic of it changed. I think this caught a lot of people by surprise. Naturally it takes some time to adjust. Trying to balance up the desire of being highly competitive and those looking for a more casual competitive experience is difficult. I think we are in a better space now, but the goal posts are constantly moving. 

Last season was my first season in management, and it was an interesting insight into how things work behind the scenes. I'm looking forward to having a bigger impact this season to drive it forward. I do think it is a great thing CoD has and has so many bi-products that improve the experience within the division that it is worth participating and contributing towards. 

TG SeanTuc1: May have to have a peak behind the curtain, and see what's behind those scenes sometime haha. Now I do always like to draw these to a close with a personal memory or especially prideful moment in your career within TG. Do you have you would like to share with us today?

Apollo:  Ummm... I don't think I can say I have any stand-out memories. Winning our first GB game as Ranger Squad was a highlight, this showed an accumulation of progress that started in MW.  Some of my favorite memories are playing with the guys outside of practice, either on CoD or other games. I have played a bit of Sea of Thieves and Among Us with the gang too. This has definitely helped us stay together for this long so far. 

TG SeanTuc1: I understand what you mean; most people's best memories within TG seem to be coming down to the general experience overall within there squad in and out of game, ours usually involves mini-golf, but that's for a different day. Praying we don't find you in GB's haha, but I would like to thank you for your time and your comments today. Ladies and gentlebeans that is it for today's Interview with a Legend.

We hope you enjoyed hearing from the Rangers very own Apollo today and keep tuned for the next unlucky member I grill for their own thoughts and feelings within the division.