An impromptu "interview" with LegendofTotalWar

[halogamb]

After seeing LegendofTotalWar post on these forums, seemingly out of nowhere (he made several posts in that thread), I decided to take him up on the offer he extended to another forum user who is a good friend of mine to reach out and talk to him about his opinions. Up until now, it is no secret to many here that I had a very negative opinion of Legend. However, the posts he made in this thread made me question if I truly had an understanding of the entire picture that is Legend, as a content creator and as a human being. I am unafraid, and also very glad, to say that I really did not. We spoke over discord[i.imgur.com]for an hour and going into it, I simply wanted to acquire that understanding. I did not expect it to turn into an almost interview that I would feel compelled to share publicly.

We discussed many topics, which I will summarize here.

Pre-Launch, Launch, and his Review

Legend said that he, and the rest of the content partners in the program got early access to the game in mid-January of 2022. This is essentially common knowledge now. From the get-go, Legend himself was critical of the RoC campaign and I confirmed this by seeing evidence of feedback he gave dated mid-January to CA voicing his unhappiness and dislike of the RoC campaign, specifically mentioning how it felt counter-intuitive to the empire building point of Total War in general. I am not here to grade Legend’s opinions, as he has acknowledged that his opinions are of course his own. I am stating this to speak to the review he left just after launch, which we spoke at great lengths about. He gave the game a score of 8.5, a score that in hindsight, he says was probably a mistake to give and explained to me why. Prior to the review, Legend spent hundreds of hours in the game, but very early on, immediately knew he was not a fan of the RoC campaign. He essentially developed a way for himself to enjoy the game, and that was to ignore the greater RoC campaign goals and functions. He overcame his own mental hurdle and taught himself how to enjoy the game. Having played the game for hundreds of hours in this way, this was what he ended up basing his review score on, his own developed perspective and playstyle rather than on the full picture of RoC.

To jump off, one of the main themes of our talk was accountability, and Legend says that he is able to admit when he’s wrong or has made a mistake. This speaks a lot to his character and continued to do so throughout the interview since this came up a few times. He said that his review score was a mistake, and he understands that how he presented the review could lead to confusion and questions about “flip-flopping” his opinion when viewed next to the emotional rants he put out in his livestreams following that review where he was calling on CA to be boycotted and voicing his frustrations with extreme emotional unrest. “I’m an emotional person, and I know my emotions can lead me to say things that I might not fully mean.”, he said. He said that he shouldn’t have said those things, but the emotion behind them was genuine, even if further misunderstood. Legend said he wishes no ill-will to CA, and does not think that boycotting CA is the way to go, his previous statement on the matter coming out in a fit of emotion that he immediately took accountability for and realized was an error. However, Legend feels that we should constantly hold CA to a higher standard overall, when it comes to themselves and their products. For him, he acknowledges that the launch of WH2 ME was a dumpster fire rife with nonstop issues, but this is not what he’s basing his opinion on. Instead, he looks at the connection between launch and the end of the previous game. For him, the WH2 and ME launch was an improvement on the end-state of WH1. In this light, the launch of WH3 was not an improvement on the end-state of WH2 for him. This is where he takes issue here. Whether one agrees with Legend’s opinion on the quality of CA and their product at various points over the past few years is for them to decide, but I have a better, clear understanding of Legend on this matter and with that, I can wholeheartedly respect his opinion and agree to some extent.

Content Partner

I was very surprised to learn that not long after the launch of IE, Legend and CA parted ways in terms of his status as a content partner. After IE launched, Legend said he had a very heated meeting with the CA team. The “heat” came from the fact that Legend felt he was wasting his time and being misled by them. Content Partners had early access to IE for a few months and Legend went into that experience with the understanding, and initial confirmation that his feedback would be heard and considered seriously. This, according to Legend, did not happen. He spent hundreds of hours on the game and submitting reports to CA, yet all of it fell on deaf ears and was barely acknowledged, according to Legend. He stated this was evidenced by the little communication he received from CA in response, and how similar the progressive builds of the IE early access were to him. He stated that when it boiled right down to it, it was less about the feedback and more about his time being wasted. He felt misled by CA given that they assured him that his feedback would at least be acknowledged in some regard, but it just wasn’t. He stated that if he hadn’t been led to believe this going into the IE early access, he would have had much different expectations and handled things differently.

At this meeting, Legend informed CA that he did not wish to be a part of the program anymore and CA said they felt he should take a break from the program. So, it seems mutual in some regards. Legend stated that he doesn’t see himself rejoining the program because he doesn’t see the point. He feels he and CA are not on the same page on the way the relationship should be in the sense of a two-way street. Something I found interesting was learning, and seeing evidence, that there were discussions between Legend and CA about him voicing some lines in Warhammer 3, as a way of leaving his mark on the Total War series. As the biggest Total War content creator, I could understand something like this happening. However, the promise of him getting to do this completely and oddly fell off. He stated that he despised feeling like he is being lied to, or being gaslit, so I could understand how this occurrence would leave a sour taste in his mouth. However, it is important to note that Legend bears no ill-will towards anyone at CA, and the parting, although partly contentious, was still on generally amicable terms.

Final Notes

On the exact topic of the thread in which he posted, Legend stated that he was not saying that the game was dead or was going to die, as the topic creator seemed to claim he was. He feels that given the news of the team changes, the wait for DLC would be longer than people expect. His speculation is that with this change, they are putting less experienced labor in charge of the DLC as a form of training. He says that this isn’t worrisome for him since DLC is significantly easier to produce than a full game, bordering more on an art project. He stated that as long as the art and concepts of design for the content (units, lords, etc.) are solidified and handled properly, the mechanics will probably follow and the DLC will sell fine, just will probably take longer to churn out.

Legend mentioned why things got so emotional for him over the months. He stated that he was banking on WH3 making this year a spectacular one for his work and for his life. He acknowledges that in hindsight, it was a mistake to hinge so much of his happiness and mental health on CA delivering the game he envisioned and wanted, and that his mental health and happiness are not CA’s responsibility. He based this on how fruitful the relationship between him and CA was during the WH2 early access, which, again, he admits he probably shouldn’t have done. He acknowledged again that none of this specifically is CA’s responsibility and that this has been misrepresented to the greater community. He stated that CA had a responsibility to deliver a quality a product and, in his opinion, they did not. He feels that this standpoint, and the effect it has had on him since he was planning to step away from content creation temporarily to handle personal things in his life towards the end of this year, has been conflated to people mistakenly thinking that he’s blaming CA for his struggle with mental health over the past months and this is why he was stepping away. He explicitly stated that this is not the case and I can understand the differentiation after having it explained now. Hopefully more people can too.

Legend is entirely aware that there are those on the discussion platforms that misrepresent his stances and weaponize them in misleading ways to support their own narratives, which in turn paints him in an unfair and negative light. There’s only so much he can do about this, as it really isn’t his responsibility to police every random forum user who tries to quote him. With the amount of negativity that gets perpetuated around him, I see how easy it is to forget the reality of the situation. Sometimes, people have a very hard time looking beyond the screen of someone who is a content creator and understand that there is a real person behind that screen. I know for a fact that I fell into this trap. I had a completely skewed and biased view of Legend based on bits and pieces I would absorb from the forums, then from my own confirmation bias instilled by that when I went to investigate further. The negativity surrounding him stems from a combination of two things. First, it comes from the mistakes he has made, and has admirably owned up to, both in this impromptu interview and in his livestreams. As I have noticed, his positive moments like this, or positive feedback he has had about WH3 in general, tend to get buried beneath people unfairly overblowing his negative criticisms. Upon review of his videos and VOD’s, I have noticed that there is definitely a good amount of positivity that gets overshadowed. I would suggest people to do the same. You do not have to agree with the guy’s opinions or enjoy his playstyle to simply understand where he is coming from, rather than hoping on the bandwagon of divisiveness like I did, and which Legend says breaks his heart the most; seeing fans fighting among themselves. Second, the negativity is perpetuated by those who don’t know him, or don’t have a full understanding of his, and yet try to put forth his views in a way that misrepresents them. This has happened MANY times on these forums alone and I’ll admit again that I allowed that to prejudice me against him. The sooner people stop putting forth his opinion as gospel, which he readily admitted is not the case, the sooner this can be helped.

In the end, I was entirely wrong about Legend. He’s a pleasant, passionate, and polite person….perhaps a bit too passionate at times but he stated that he’s always willing to talk to people about differences of opinions, or potential misunderstandings of his own opinions, and will always admit when he’s wrong. He exemplified this throughout the interview. I am glad that I got the chance to get a full understanding of him and why he feels the way he does on certain things, even if I do not fully agree with those views and opinions. But, we did not need to agree in that sense to view each other as potential friends with understanding and respect.

If anyone has any questions, because I'm sure I missed some points here, feel free to ask. I will probably be rereading and making edits for a bit.

[Puggly the Grey]

Ask him what his beef with Hotseat mode is, please, the people have a right to know!

[MrSoul]

So in news print, first off like just some writing tips k? Not trying be a ♥♥♥♥, I am a professional writer for PR and marketing.

Smaller paragraphs
Use proper citation for legends quotes(have them on discord all saved, this is hearsay way written it out which insults both your and his integrity, if okay with printing this, then just quote him)

Have more of a point per paragraph and try to cut out the bias. No offence but this reads like a defence present in court of law for character reference, not an interview.

[cb4n28]

Originally posted by Mr.Soul:

So in news print, first off like just some writing tips k? Not trying be a ♥♥♥♥, I am a professional writer for PR and marketing.

Smaller paragraphs
Use proper citation for legends quotes(have them on discord all saved, this is hearsay way written it out which insults both your and his integrity, if okay with printing this, then just quote him)

Have more of a point per paragraph and try to cut out the bias. No offence but this reads like a defence present in court of law for character reference, not an interview.

I think it's fine dude. OP isn't trying to get this published in the times, he's offering his opinions about their conversation

[halogamb]

Originally posted by cb4n28:

Originally posted by Mr.Soul:

So in news print, first off like just some writing tips k? Not trying be a ♥♥♥♥, I am a professional writer for PR and marketing.

Smaller paragraphs
Use proper citation for legends quotes(have them on discord all saved, this is hearsay way written it out which insults both your and his integrity, if okay with printing this, then just quote him)

Have more of a point per paragraph and try to cut out the bias. No offence but this reads like a defence present in court of law for character reference, not an interview.

I think it's fine dude. OP isn't trying to get this published in the times, he's offering his opinions about their conversation

It is what it is. It wasn't meant to be a writing masterpiece or really an interview initially. Legend said he'd come in after his current stream and chime in about it too. It is essentially my thoughts on how things went yes, and how I came to realize that my opinion about him was improperly formed. People can do with it what they want since it was meant to cut through the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ that people essentially spin around him and not be a formal interview. Hopefully it helps some people make the same progression as I did. Maybe i'll go back and break up paragraphs more at some point.

[Zeek]

Originally posted by halogamb:

I was very surprised to learn that not long after the launch of IE, Legend and CA parted ways in terms of his status as a content partner. After IE launched, Legend said he had a very heated meeting with the CA team. The “heat” came from the fact that Legend felt he was wasting his time and being misled by them. Content Partners had early access to IE for a few months and Legend went into that experience with the understanding, and initial confirmation that his feedback would be heard and considered seriously. This, according to Legend, did not happen. He spent hundreds of hours on the game and submitting reports to CA, yet all of it fell on deaf ears and was barely acknowledged, according to Legend. He stated this was evidenced by the little communication he received from CA in response, and how similar the progressive builds of the IE early access were to him. He stated that when it boiled right down to it, it was less about the feedback and more about his time being wasted. He felt misled by CA given that they assured him that his feedback would at least be acknowledged in some regard, but it just wasn’t. He stated that if he hadn’t been led to believe this going into the IE early access, he would have had much different expectations and handled things differently.

This is the crux of where it all comes from, I think.

Expectations between Legend and CA were not the same, as well as perhaps a clear lack in communication from both parties. Then it all went down hill from there.

Just like everywhere else in life, communication is key.

[Dwarf in Space]

I personally never understood why people hated him so much, out of everyone in this community he seemed to have the most common sense.

[Captain T1]

Originally posted by Dwarf in Space:

I personally never understood why people hated him so much, out of everyone in this community he seemed to have the most common sense.

It's all too easy to jump on the bandwagon and hate on something or someone.

[BigRockWall]

Originally posted by Captain T1:

Originally posted by Dwarf in Space:

I personally never understood why people hated him so much, out of everyone in this community he seemed to have the most common sense.

It's all too easy to jump on the bandwagon and hate on something or someone.

Think more of us are annoyed by his viewers than with him. "I haven't actually launched the game yet, but LTW says XYZ is broken so I'm gunna come here and scream about it". And no, he isn't responsible for policing his viewers on the forums or anywhere else.

[Dwarf in Space]

Originally posted by BigRockWall:

Originally posted by Captain T1:

It's all too easy to jump on the bandwagon and hate on something or someone.

Think more of us are annoyed by his viewers than with him. "I haven't actually launched the game yet, but LTW says XYZ is broken so I'm gunna come here and scream about it". And no, he isn't responsible for policing his viewers on the forums or anywhere else.

Yeah i am not a fan of his viewers either. One live stream they had a heated debate on Jerusalem for no reason. like not only is that a toxic subject it has nothing to do with warhammer 3. Just pure stupidity.

[RAmieL]

I have no issue with the guy, I don't really like his cheesy playstyle but he does know A LOT about the game and he is really passionate about it (perhaps too passionate sometimes) but I do appreciate that what he says is facts.

Some stuff he probably can't say due to the arrangement he had with CA but he is refreshingly honest and it's true that a lot of what he says is blown out of proportion.

He is right about CA and the mess they have created. I'm tired of people saying "give them time, they will fix the game". WH3 was a dream which was sold based on previous games success. CA shamelessly cashed in on the popularity of the whole series. We paid full price for maybe 60% complete game which very clearly, was developed by people who didn't fully understand the franchise.

CA abandoned 2 games ( Troy and 3Kingdoms) and screwed up the WH3, this is concerning. We, as customers should really stop buying hype and have higher standards.

[Aleera]

Originally posted by Dwarf in Space:

I personally never understood why people hated him so much, out of everyone in this community he seemed to have the most common sense.

Not hating Legend personally, other then his 180 degree's stance regarding Tww3.
I hate his playstyle, it's soul draining unfun and cheesing a faulty ai.

I hate his fans with a passion though. The ones who keep claiming that you play like him else you play the game wrong. Or that his way is the only way to succeed in higher difficulties.

[AverageToaster]

let it go..

[The Warmongering Khan]

Originally posted by BigRockWall:

Originally posted by Captain T1:

It's all too easy to jump on the bandwagon and hate on something or someone.

Think more of us are annoyed by his viewers than with him. "I haven't actually launched the game yet, but LTW says XYZ is broken so I'm gunna come here and scream about it". And no, he isn't responsible for policing his viewers on the forums or anywhere else.

I agree with this, though my issue with them is that they steer newer players towards cheese and make it out as the only way to win, which i feel does new players a disservice.

[GeoG85]

I learned about Legend myself from picking up Warhammer 3, and seeing his How To Videos on Youtube.

Now, wether they try that propaganda crap like they do on your average celebrities, papparazi, where you have to act like Jesus 24/7 or they shame you - I don't buy that Boomer mindset.

I just root for the guy to keep making good content.

[halogamb]

Originally posted by Captain T1:

Originally posted by Dwarf in Space:

I personally never understood why people hated him so much, out of everyone in this community he seemed to have the most common sense.

It's all too easy to jump on the bandwagon and hate on something or someone.

Indeed it really is.