[Inside Lounge] N.E.W.T

This week on Inside Lounge, we are joined by Division 3 Team, N.E.W.T!

First of all, thank you all for your time in doing this interview, let's start off by having you guys introduce yourselves to our audience, and tell us a little bit about yourselves

Narsha: Hey hey heyyy, I'm your friendly neighbourhood latino Narsha! Been in the Lounge since the start, and will unfortunately be here for a while more.

Pittor: I'm Pittor, tall guy from Sweden, Big Spoon to Robb, team captain and also a moderator in Heroes Lounge. I've been playing since season 1 in different teams and loved every bit so far!

Qwallath: Qwallath is linguist person from Netherlands but living in Belgium. Been in Lounge since the end of season one, clowning in various divisions. Previously flex for the legendary Deported Support (never forget). No fix grammar plz.

Hazeti: Hello, I'm Hazeti, real life Game Dev. You may remember me from such games as; Miami Vice and; Bodycount. This is, amazingly, my 3rd season in Heroes Lounge. I like long strolls through warhead junction and being carried by my teammates. What do you mean you've never played Bodycount!?

Astraeus: Hey there, my name is Astraeus. I joined Heroes Lounge at the start of season 2, playing for Deported Support and I've been thoroughly enjoying my time here ever since! A while back I built the Heroes Lounge Discord chat bot for superior coin flips and memeing. These days I also help out as a moderator. Just between you and me, you never lose when you pick tails

Pittor: it might also be coded that it always lands on the side I pick  

Mienien: Beep Boop, I am Mienien aka raging bushwhacker....originally from South Africa now living in Sweden   the sole support survivor from deported support   not entirely sure why my team puts up with me, I constantly yell at them for standing in avoidable stuff and generally being morons but it is ok I guess, we are somehow still good friends    I like tea

Chowchilla: Ayup! Your friendly neighbourhood Chow here, hailing from the north of England. Been part of the Lounge since season two, originally with Deported Support (rip) and now with NEWT. Always been a tank main, mainly because it means I get all the heals or else I get to the flame the carry who stole them: win-win.

Most of you have been playing in Heroes Lounge since season 2 at least, with some of you even playing in Season 1. How would you say your Heroes Lounge experience has been, and what are some of the high points for you?

Pittor: In terms of placement it was pretty cool to end top 4 in first seasons playoffs, the joy of picking up Alarak and bodying people was so goooood. Otherwise the most fun I've had in this league is playing with this team, we may have had some struggles this season but now we're on a roll!

Narsha: To be honest, my high points for the Lounge haven't been ingame related. Sure, Agents007 never feeds so that was nice, but the best part of my Lounge experience are the people, the community, and a satisfying feeling I'm contributing to something I'm very enthusiastic about. Watch out world, we're coming for you.

Mienien: I love Heroes Lounge! I have met some amazing people through the seasons and have had a common place to keep in touch with some of my WoW friends. I think (salty few aside) HL is a truly wonderful place where you can better your play and enjoy your time in HotS.

Astraeus: My Heroes Lounge experience has been pretty amazing throughout. When I joined in season 2 the Heroes Lounge matchmaking system was far from how it was today, leading to some imbalanced matches. However with the later seasons this was all resolved and really helped create the amazing experience that I really enjoy. Highest point would definitely be all the people I've met through playing and theorycrafting with them over the seasons, you all are awesome!

Chowchilla:  I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that I probably would've stopped playing Heroes were it not for the Lounge. I first started playing the game with friends/family and after they drifted away having teammates here to play and discuss the game with kept me interested. Moreover, having others on hand to learn from in a competitive environment certainly makes you a better player at a quicker pace. 

Highlight for me would have to be this one game we had, as Deported Support, on Cursed Hollow. I don't remember the opponent (sorry!), but we were heading to contest the enemy boss late in the game as our keep was down in that lane and it was a case of do or die. We got there too late, the boss was theirs, so the equation became simpler: kill them all right now and end. Which we did. I remember landing an Arthas root on their Ragnaros, preventing him from escaping and then defending with Molten Core. It was nothing special but it was nice to do my job in such an intense game against tough opposition. I have to say that, whilst everyone played well, Astraeus was really on point that game with his shotcalling.

Hazeti: The best thing about Heroes Lounge has definitely got to be the community and playing with a group of people on an actual team. Even though I've not integrated myself into the wider community as much as some of my teammates just having a group of like minded people who love playing the game, discussing the game and which you regularly get to share match experiences with is massive. Without a shadow of a doubt Heroes Lounge has extended and massively amplified my enjoyment of HotS. I honestly can't imagine having as much fun as I do with HotS if it wasn't for Heroes Lounge and the people involved. Highlights have got to be the squeal of delight on comms every time I get a Li Ming snipe.  

Qwallath:  I'm with Chow here. When I joined Heroes Lounge it was with the idea in the back of my mind that either I was gonna dedicate myself to finding a nice regular group of people to play HotS with, or I would quit it altogether. The rest is history…

Deported Support...May you rest in piece

After a rocky start to the season N.E.W.T are currently sitting 19th out of 27 (at the time of this interview) in division 3. with 2 games left to play Would you say this season has matched expectations?

Narsha: I have 0% loss rate in Lounge so far this season.

Editors Note: Narsha has not played a single Lounge game this season.

Narsha:

Pittor: I think we had the goal to end up in the middle of the division. Since we had a few issues trying to practice as much as we wanted due to the disease called IRL I’m very happy with our results so far

Hazeti: Even though a lot of the members are from Deported Support we were still trying a lot of new things within the team. Who would shot call; who was in charge of drafting; we've had a couple of role swaps and then back again. We've also had a lot of IRL stuff happening. As a team we're using this season to settle ourselves personally and also as a team. I'm happy with where we are now and I'm looking forward to us practising more together and showing what we can do next season!

Astraeus: I think it's safe to say that if you had told me this was where we'd be at, I'd be somewhat disappointed. Taking all the events that have happened over the season into account, I'm satisfied with the results we've got. There's still a few rounds left to show some good play, so fingers crossed we can rise a little higher!

Chowchilla: I think minimum target was to not get relegated, but we are hoping to be somewhere in the middle of the pack come the end of the season. So thus far it's probably been a bit of a disappointment. But as Pittor said, it's definitely been a  case of lack of practice due to people (myself included) being here one week and gone another. I'm confident we'll end stronger than we started though.

Mienien: I think we have done pretty well considering the amount of chaos that has happened to us individually IRL. I couldn't be more happy with my team, we have managed to land mid(ish) for the season and still have a good attitude about it

Qwallath: I'm happy with where we are now considering the roster changes and different real life issues getting in the for many of us, often not at the same time, making practice scheduling difficult. 2018 will see us getting into gear!

Finally, what DOES N.E.W.T actually stand for?

Pittor: It's New Epic Winning Team

Hazeti: Wait; I thought it was No Expectations With Trolls?

Chowchilla: NEVER ENGAGE WITHOUT TANK

Mienien: Nerds Engage With Tact

Astraeus: No errors wins teamfights

Pittor: Hmm, wasn’t it Non Essex Winning Team?

Narsha: Okay sorry for the trolling, it's really Naval Expeditionary Warfare Training. Google it!

Hazeti: Guys! This is an interview! Be serious!  It's Not Even Worth Telling

Yes, that's quite enough of that. Thank you all for the interview, did you have any shootouts you'd like to give?

Astraeus: Shout out to you Robb, thanks for picking me up in season 2 to play for Deported Support, I doubt my Heroes Lounge experience would have been as awesome without the amazing team members I met then. Love playing with all of you! Also many thanks to Cosmic for creating this amazing community and may there be many more seasons to come!

Pittor: Shout outs to my team, you're amazing all of you, shout out to my little spoon.  , all the staff members and the community for making Heroes Lounge what it is today!

Chowchilla: Shout-out to everyone involved in making Heroes Lounge happen: mods, casters, players, bot creators and of course Lord Cosmic.

Hazeti:  As with the others, everyone involved in keeping Heroes Lounge going deserves a shout out. Shout out to noznaree from Facecheckers for being my first team captain. Shout out to all my current team mates and growing as a team with them!

Narsha: Big ups to Agents007, Don Our Fedoras, Team Solid and Need for Feed; don't let your memes be dreams. My favourite cocaster Dentro who are growing up into a maincaster, Heartless and the rest of the caster team, my Slothcast family (we'll be back!) and of course lots of hot latino hugs to staff and administration that makes the Lounge happen!

Mienien: Thanks for not depo'ing me team!! As for everyone involved in HL, you are a fabulous bunch of people and i am truly happy to be a part of all of it  plus that Tobb guy... ninja bodyslams! MY DISC PRIEST IS AWESOME MKAY!!

Qwallath: Shout out to you, Robbo for everything you've done for the Lounge. It was a good idea for us when we were both looking for a season two team to just band together  Also: NEWTers and Kinkies, and the rest of the Heroes Lounge staff.

This concludes our interview with N.E.W.T. Thanks to N.E.W.T.  for taking time to answer some questions, and to all of you readers supporting the Heroes Lounge blog. I hope to see you all again for our next Inside Lounge interview. Should you have any suggestions or criticism, you would like to share with us, you can always find us at the Heroes Lounge discord.