Honored Roman of the Month for March – Torgonius

The Gods & Heroes Dev Team is excited to recognize another outstanding member of our community. We will be looking for people who are involved in the forums, testers who are solid and spot on with their participation and the fans who get involved with our Social Media sites. While G&H is in beta testing, we will be recognizing the people each month who we feel have enriched our Beta Community!

For March 2011, we are spotlighting Torgonius! This gentleman has been a great help to new players and his knowledge of Roman history & mythology is outstanding! We’re very happy that Torgonius has joined our ranks of Honored Romans. And now, our interview!

Q: Where are you located?

A:Northern New Jersey, about half an hour west of New York City



Q: How long have you played & supported MMORPGs?

A: I started early on with Everquest. Before that, I played tabletop D&D and the Star Trek RPG. I also played Star Wars Galaxies (Pre CU), Matrix Online, and Roma Victor. I’m also involved in testing on the SWGemu project, which is working to restore the greatest MMO ever (before G&H, of course!).

Q: What are your favorite non-video games?

A: Tabletop war games from SSI. I’ve got a whole collection of games. Monopoly used to be my favorite, but no one will play with me anymore because I crush it like Donald Trump! And can you really count the old Infocomm text adventures as ‘video’ games? I still like to break out Leather Goddesses of Phobos and Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy from time to time.

Q: What other hobbies or activities do you enjoy outside of gaming?

A: I’m a practitioner of the reconstructed Religio Romano, with Mercury as my patron god. I’m an avid student of ancient history (mostly Rome and those she conquered). I play poker (online and in the casino) semi-professionally. I don’t want to go full pro because I don’t want it to be work. I want to keep it fun but still keep making the extra money. I also play ice hockey and bowl, and serve on the Education committee for our regional observatory.

Q: What are your favorite pizza toppings?

A: Bacon, Ground Beef, Cheddar Cheese & more Bacon! & even more bacon.

Q: How did you find out about Gods & Heroes?

A: I was a tester back in the Perpetual days. I was crushed when they canceled the game. I saw an article online when Heatwave picked up the property. I went right to their site and fired off an email letting them know I’d jump right back into testing if they’d have me. I can’t describe how excited I was when the beta invite showed up in my mailbox a couple months later.

Q: What excites you the most about Gods & Heroes?

A: The minion system means never having to wait for a group. If I only have a hour to play, I can get in and play for an hour, not just hang out waiting for the right combination of other people. I also love the historical setting. There is so much room for expansion as time progresses and the republic grows. The team has done a really good job of balancing history with fun.

I also really like that the devs make themselves available to us.
Sure, they can’t always gives us the answer we want to hear, but at least we hear from them. I’ve been involved with games where the dev team would be silent for months on end, to the point that we were wondering if they might be in jail or dead or just working extra hours at Taco Bell to supplement their income.

Q: Tell everyone about your contributions to the G&H community!

A: I enjoy being able to help out new testers. There is a lot of information out there that the previous waves have accumulated. Not all the new testers have the experience to know how to easily find it. Also, we know what still needs to be fixed and can help the new testers with the workarounds we’ve found.

I also enjoy trying to find out how systems work and how to break them. I’ve sent in a bunch of bug reports for the devs, and done a lot of lab work to determine if feats and abilities, especially for the gladiator class, are working or not, and how they can be improved. Once the game is established, I look forward to leading accurate religious ceremonies for those who may want to see how it happened.

Q: What recommendations can you make for people who want to get involved with game communities but don’t know where to start?

A: If you don’t know something, don’t be afraid to ask about it. We were all noobs once, and know how overwhelming anything you’re new to can be. Also, don’t be a whiner. Anyone can complain that they don’t like something. If something is not to your liking, constructively offer up alternatives that you do like.

Lastly, remember that this is still closed beta. This is not the finished game and you aren’t paying to play. If you see something broken, check to see if someone else has already reported it, and if they haven’t, report it! Even if you think something might be broken, ask about it in the forum.

Q: Cake vs Pie. GO!

A: Oatmeal Peanut Butter Cookies! But if I can’t have my cookies, give me a huge slab of coconut creme pie. Better yet, just give me the whole pie, and no one loses their hands.

Grats again to Torgonius, for being our Honored Roman of the Month for March!