LR (Last Rites) Interview
I'm talking now with Sarge, head of clan LR (Last Rites). He has kindly agreed to answer a few of my questions, so here goes.
Can you start by sharing the history of LR with us?
LR|Sarge: I was originally in clan [dOh] but when that ended we wanted to take the most active players from there and create a new clan. Some people got bored very quickly though and left but we soon recruited more. Since then we've gone from strength to strength and we are still improving now.
How much experience do your members have?
LR|Sarge: Personally, I could still be called a newbeee seeing as I only started online CS in beta 6, but a lot of the members we have, started playing in beta 1 or 2 so I would say they are pretty experienced.
Where would you rate LR in the UK scene?
LR|Sarge: We went through a very bad patch about a month ago but since then we have improved vastly. We still make mistakes which cost us badly because we should win a game and we don't and in order to get to a higher level than where we are now we need to stop making those mistakes, but that only comes with time and practice so at the moment I would rate us in the top 5 in UK.
What is it, in your opinion, that sets you above other clans?
LR|Sarge: Establishing a 1st team helps a lot, but what puts us above other clans, maybe not in a CS way, is the fact that we are nice people. The UK clan scene is really bad, more idiots than I care to imagine, but as for CS it's a mix of good tactics and picking the right people to play the right position.
Who would you say were your biggest rivals and are there any clans you particularly enjoy beating?
LR|Sarge: Our biggest rivals at the moment are teams like 4K and UKLA they are both top teams and we narrowly missed out on beating UKLA on dust in a damn tense game. Clans we really enjoy beating are the clans that have idiots in, we enjoy beating the people that spoil the game.
Who would you say were the UK's number one clan and player at the moment?
LR|Sarge: Too close to tell at the moment, there are a group of clans that on any of their days could beat the next clan as proved by different clans winning the CPL qualifiers each time, as for the best player at the moment...I haven't met him but when I do ill let u know.
What are your clan's goals for the future?
LR|Sarge: My goal for this clan is to get us to #1 in the UK. I'm sure that's what any serious clan's goal is, I'd like to see us attend the CPL qualifiers and do well in them, maybe win them who knows.
Which of your previous matches stand out in your mind as being particularly memorable/exciting?
LR|Sarge: Our most recent game with UKLA on dust was a memorable game in every way. Bth teams showing great team play and skills, the score was unfortunate for us as we really did have them beat until we lost guns and had no money to defend and ended up with them getting 9 rounds, the same as we did. Really was a superb game as UKLA are a quality team and nice people to play against.
Would you say that LR are now better than dOh were at their peak?
LR|Sarge: Tough question to answer..and one which will no doubt get me slapped. [dOh] were class...best bunch of blokes I know and have played with. They had the potential to be #1 in UK but sadly it never happened..I see the same potential in us and we're going to carry it on, I cant say what dOh's peak was cause they never reached it.
Do you have any plans for LR to move into any other games in the future?
LR|Sarge: Well Counter-strike is only going to last until a better game comes along....which will hopefully be CS2. So until that game comes out we will stick to CS, but when CS dies off, clans will be forced to move to the more popular game so I guess we will too.
If the world's number 1 clan asked you to join, would you do so, or would you rather stick with LR?
LR|Sarge: That's an unlikely situation but nevertheless one which I would have to consider over time...I wouldn't just jump up and leave LR as it is my clan and its unfair on the rest of the team that have stuck by us through bad patches so no I wouldn't leave.
A rather topical issue at the moment is "what makes a better gamer, skill or team play?" What's your view on this?
LR|Sarge: My thoughts on what makes a good player...hmmmm ok - To be a good gamer you need to have skill and team play. In a game like CS you will no doubt develop your skills on a public server..which we all know has no team play involved what so ever...so skills are needed from the off. When you join a team that's when you need to increase your team play element. Its a bit of both, but seeing as team play is more to do with your whole team I'd say skills are a bit more important at the moment.
In
a recent article for UKT, Xceed concluded that "It's all about the ping". How far do you agree with this?
LR|Sarge: To some extent I agree. My connection has been poor lately but it is now back to its former glory. Anyone can learn to play with a ping of 150 but if you have loss and choke it is a different story. I went to my fellow clan members' pad for a quick go on his connection (ADSL), we had about 50 ping but no loss or choke which made a huge difference. The margin between 90 and 30 isn't that big providing your connection is stable with no loss or choke.
What are your views on the new features being included in CS 1.3?
LR|Sarge: Half life Multispec mode is going to 0wn hard. My only worry is that the delay time is not long enough from what actually happens to what the spectators see, but it's going to be a really nice addititon to CS. As for voice comms - good idea as long as you can turn it off on publics as I dont want some 12 year old screaming in my ear all the time. Both good ideas though, and de_torn looks l337.
Is there any final comment you'd like to make, or something that you'd like the world to know?
LR|Sarge: LR|DK is a spitting image for Adrian Edmonsson and I'm having Krondor's babies.
Thanks once again to Sarge for taking the time to answer my questions. LR's website (designed by UKT's webmaster appz) can be found here. The LR guys can be found on Quakenet IRC in #lr.
Comments
13:17 15/12/2001
16:31 15/1/2002
LR are one of the soundest clans around.
GL [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]