R2Dew2. Count Dewku. Yodew. Lots of names for a guy who hasn't changed his avatar since this poster has been a Guardian. Considering that Drenarb seems to be everywhere, we figured that the X-Chef had some splainin' to dew.
So turn off your cell phones, dim the lights, grab a soda (any kind will dew, they're all the same), and ingest
An interview with: Drenarb.You're the leader of the SWTOR Republic division. SWTOR is obviously a current success, but what would you do differently if you had to do it over again? What would you change if you were in charge of BioWare? EA?
More cookies? In all seriousness, though, knowing what we know about the Legacy system now, I would have moved to have both divisions on the same server or argued harder for us to stick to one division at the onset. I know many people really wanted to play the Sith side of the game, probably most of us at some point or another, so we eventually would have gotten there. Many people would have been disappointed, but I think overall it may have been a smarter choice had we known about the ins and outs of the Legacy System.
If I had been in a decision making position at BioWare/EA I would at the very least have dropped hints about the Legacy System to at least let people know, “Hey, you’re going to want to have all your characters on one server! Trust us!” At one point, I think they may have said that, but decisions in the guild had already been made and the rest is history. Overall, though, I’m very pleased with how the division is doing. There’s room for growth, as with everything, and I look forward to what the coming months have in store for our Republic division of TOR.
It must be rough, all this fame and responsibility. I imagine that sometimes you just want to sit back and kick it with the little people, just another Guardian enjoying the plunder without the shackles of leadership. Pick a Guardian to trade places with, and why.
There’s fame and fortune with this job? When was I supposed to be informed of this?! I’ve yet to get my check!
Let’s see…. Who would I trade places with…. Hmmm…. That’s tough, because I kind of like being me. Oh, I would probably pick several people just because it’s too hard to pick just one. I’d be Duck for a day, because he’s really chill and easy going. I’d pick Barnaby for a day so I could claim to go AFK for five minutes, and then come back thirty minutes later. I’d be Mas and Eagle both for a day, so I could rock an awesome accent. There are many more, but we might be here for a while.
Care to explain "X-Chef"?
The “X-Chef” stems from Star Wars: Galaxies where I was the guild chef. My characters have always been some form of the name Drenarb Xchiline. Since I was a Master Chef in SWG and my chosen last name began with “X”, I slapped on the “X” to the “Chef” and became the “X-Chef”. It was kind of funny when I did that, because about half the guild thought I was doing away with the Chef profession entirely and I was the only Master Chef in The Guardians.
PvE, PvP, or a balance -- what's your preference? Which Guardian would you turn into a mob on farm status? Which Guardian do you wish had red over their head so you could lead the way to their medical center?
I really like playing both PvE and PvP. I’m not one to just go all in for one area of a game. I like to try out all aspects of something and it also helps break the monotony of playing one side of the game for me if I mix it up. I’d probably put Mysteeria on farm status for what she did to that poor “Wolf” mob on Hoth. As for a red = dead Guardian I’d choose Airic, just because hey, it’s Airic!
What other divisions of The Guardians have you been involved in? Which division would you label "the glory days" (so far)?
I’ve been involved with the Star Wars: Galaxies, Age of Conan, World of Warcraft, Lord of the Rings Online and now obviously The Old Republic. I served as a PvP officer in SWG and a crafting officer in Age of Conan.
I would definitely say that the glory days had to be those in SWG. Not knocking what we have now by any means, but during that time everything was still fresh, we hadn’t had any “turmoil” in our ranks: it was just us college guys and gals for the most part having fun. Now most of us that are still here from those days are grown up and have these gross things called “responsibilities”. We’ve definitely done a lot of growing over the past ten years; we’ve seen a lot of people come and go, but I’m excited to see what The Guardians will be doing ten years from now.
What's your favourite fictional character, and why? Are you the type to watch a movie or read a book multiple times, or once and done?
Favorite fictional character? I really enjoy this one dude named “Drenarb Xchiline” that cooks great meals… Oh, okay, in all seriousness one of my favorite fictional characters is Boba Fett. While my favoritism for him has waned a little the past couple of years, I remember reading a short story about him in the “Tales from the Empire” collection of stories and was enamored by how he took down his prey. Besides him, though, I really enjoy Han Solo, Coran Horn and Wedge Antilles from the Star Wars Universe and Indiana Jones. I actually used to carry a bull whip around the house when I was younger because I thought Indy was so cool.
I'm terribly sorry that I gave that boomer Duck a sooner opportunity to beak off about his state. The gauntlet has been thrown, so tear into Texas with everything you've got.
Well, I hate to do too much to the state of Texas after that oh-so-embarrassing sweep that the OKC Thunder gave the Mavericks a couple weeks ago, but I will say that the reason Oklahoma is so windy is that Texas both sucks AND blows.
Oh, and Oklahoma owns the Red River. Just saying. It’s a big deal.
But I know most people think that there isn’t much to do here in Oklahoma, but that simply isn’t true. I mean we have a whole lot of this and a whole lot of that to do.
What beverage container should be made into C3PO?
Oh, C-3PO should definitely be made into a 24 oz. golden special edition Mountain Dew container while his counterpart remain as the 12 oz. can of the blessed substance.
Tell us how you became a Guardian.
It was several months before SWG was to release. I was doing my normal internet searches for Star Wars related stuff and ran across this bit on the Star Wars forums about this new video game coming out. I HAD to check it out. So, I visited the Star Wars: Galaxies site and was immediately hooked. Knowing from my previous experience in Everquest that I would want someone to group with, I made a post on the SWG forums about being a smuggler looking to contract out to guilds to run guns and other goods in an RP fashion. I was almost immediately contacted by Niroe Stryker and he pointed me towards
www.guardianhq.com. I applied, they accepted and here I am today.
The Avengers have nothing on TG in the badassery department (but they probably have us on looks). Assign one of our own to Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk, Thor, Black Widow, and Hawkeye.
Let’s see, Iron Man would definitely be Torynn, and it may actually become a reality after the video he posted a few days ago. I’d pick Booms to be Captain America…. because he’s Canadian, and that’s just too funny. Madmartigan is totally the Hulk and Thor would have to be Mikhal because if you’ve received the Crimson Laurel in TG, then you’ve obviously achieved demi-god status. Black Widow is totally Martini; I mean is there really any other option here? Her special ability has nothing to do with guns, but just talking you to death. Hawkeye would be Rico, because I can really imagine Rico wishing he could take out some of his “clients” with a nice clean bow and arrow shot some days.
Write a haiku about Rico VanZant.
Rico:
Man with the plan
Guardian Man
Which Guardian do you think has the most ill-suited name? Suggest -- nay, demand -- a replacement. I already reported Madmartigan.
Definitely Hayt. I’ve had to reword sentences before so it wouldn’t sound like I was “hating” on anyone. His new name should be “Luvbunny”.
You can have one thing from the Star Wars universe with you at all times here on Earth. What would it be? Oh, and it's pink.
My own personal pink Jedi. Unless their Force powers didn’t work here, and then I would have a Wookiee. Yes. A pink Wookiee would be epic.
Battle station pics are getting too mainstream. Give us a screenshot of your Desktop as it is right now.
Thanks again Drenarb!