An interview with: Thirion aka Ellania/DragonHunter [ITG / SMA]

Thirion, also known as Ellania and DragonHunter, is one of Illyriad’s largest and most well known players.

He is the first player to reach 60 cities, has run some of the biggest accounts in the game, has led and supported major alliances including ITG and SMA. He has also been at the centre of some of Illyriad’s most important debates about warfare, tournaments, training and the future of the game.

We talked about the state of the game, building 48 cities in 34 days, why he abandoned Thirion, leadership, tournament players, PvP systems and warfare, and what still keeps him interested.

Let’s get going! Where in the world are you based, and how long have you played Illyriad?

I am from Germany, Bavaria to be more precise, and I have played Illyriad since summer 2017.

How did you first discover Illyriad, and what attracted you to it?

I discovered Illyriad through Steam. I enjoy strategy games and was looking for one. I used to play browser MMO strategy games a lot around 20 years ago, so it was a nice surprise and got me back into that kind of game.

I expected to play a few months at high intensity and then take a break. That is how I used to play those games. Illy was different, first because of its depth and different ways to play it, and second because it encourages you to spend time when you have it and then play less when you do not.

Were the Steam achievements a factor in trying the game?

They were not a factor at that time, but they are some of the content that I am playing around with sometimes now. I think in general Steam achievements are a good way to add content to a game you like and play anyway. I am not someone who grinds them a lot or has a heavy focus on them.

I understood you once quit and later returned. Is that right?

I never quit, and if I ever do then it is most likely for good. I abandoned my main account, Thirion, though.

Before the Iron / RE vs SMA war there was some tension between King Sigerius and me. I was quite frustrated and by abandoning Thirion I was hoping to peacefully solve the issue. My hope was that by giving him a small win he would back down. Unfortunately, the opposite happened.

I decided to make a new orc account, built up to 48 cities in 34 days, had 300%+ sovereignty in all cities after one and a half months, and razed the first enemy cities with millions of kobolds a few weeks later.

That is a crazy fast rebuild. What helped you do it so quickly?

I prepared for doing a max city push on my main Thirion at that time, and had a lot of prestige and resources, multiple billions, in my local hub.

The race change used that and captured all of Thirion’s cities in a tight cluster, which made it a lot easier. It was still a crazy amount of building I did every day. It was a fun experience and challenge, though.

I originally described you as Illyriad’s only 120-town player. You corrected me on that (clearly I cannot count!). But you're still the biggest player in Illyriad, right?

I never had 120 cities. I had 60 + 52 and now 60 + 48 cities, which makes me the biggest player in Illyriad for quite some time now.

I was the first player to reach 60 cities, while in a “race” with Quentin, who was the second player to reach 60 cities. That is probably what older players know me for.

Any desire to get to 120?

Yes, I plan to go to 120 at some point, but it is a crazy amount of work for little benefit, so I have been delaying the push for a long time now.

What do you think you are most known for amongst other players?

What I am most known for depends a lot on who you ask...

If you ask my alliance and my friends, then I hope I am known for putting in a lot of time to help players and make good content. If you ask warfare players, then I am probably most known for speaking out against aggressive warfare players attacking peaceful tournament players. If you ask GM Jejune, then probably long rants about issues and what is not working well in Illyriad.

What is the heart of your issue with warfare players attacking tournament players?

I am a fan of healthy and sustainable PvP or competitions in general, and in my opinion warfare players attacking peaceful tournament players does not lead to that.

In my opinion there are two major problems. First, warfare players attacking peaceful tournament players is in a lot of cases a more experienced and more powerful player attacking weaker targets that have little chance of fighting back. It often leads to one-sided fights. The stronger player has no challenge and might get bored and quit, while the weaker player has no chance of winning and might quit too.

Second, forcing players into something they do not want creates a lot of hostility and often leads to a toxic environment. That can be fun for some time, but long term it leads to a lot of frustration and usually players quitting.

In my opinion, the last 10 years in Illyriad have shown exactly those problems. Illyriad does not have any server resets or restarts. Otherwise the discussion would be quite different.

I am a big fan of competitions in general. I have been playing table tennis, board games and computer games competitively for 20+ years. I value good competition and fair play there. I think there are a lot of good systems to enable and support it, and I hope we get that in Illyriad too.

You have strong views on the current warfare system. What would you change?

I do not like systems that are not working well, and the warfare system in Illyriad is clearly not working well.

In MMOs I know, you either have resets or secure zones. You do not really have that in Illy. In addition to that, you have really slow build-up time and a lot of casual players.

In the current system you are encouraged to attack a lot weaker players, which really hurts the game. You do not have a system to encourage players or alliances of the same skill to fight each other, which is the core of almost all PvP games, such as matchmaking, ELO systems, or fighting over high-priority spots in MMOs.

My hope is that the devs add content that enables fun and balanced warfare content, but also lets more casual players play how they like and enjoy the game. There are quite a few good ideas out there and I hope the devs implement them.

How would you describe your playstyle, and what do you most enjoy doing when you log in?

My playstyle has changed over time. I like to figure out and learn new things, and there is a lot of that in Illyriad. In addition to that, I like to fill the role that is, in my opinion, the most needed at the moment, both in real life and in-game.

In the beginning my main focus was building up and trading to enable that. Then, in between my pushes, I was playing and running tournaments in addition to pushing the ranking.

Later, when I joined ITG / SMA, I focused more on crafting and hunting in addition to tournaments and training new players. Later, when I became ITG / SMA leader, my main goal was leading the alliances in addition to training in ITG and running tournaments in SMA.

Now that I have stepped down as leader in both alliances, my main focus is supporting the new leaders, helping players grow with prestige builds, crafting and trading.

Why did you decide to step down as ITG / SMA leader?

This is a bit of a longer story. I see myself as someone who fills the role that I think is most needed. That can be an alliance leader, a trainer, or something else.

A few years back we had three leaders in ITG / SMA. Eagle was taking care of SMA and has been doing an amazing job since then. Yuki / Hellie was willing to take over ITG from me.

At that time there was no GC moderation and, in my opinion, war-related talk in GC was a one-sided echo chamber. They stated their propaganda and nobody was speaking out against them, which is a bad game state, as in my opinion interaction and friction are an important part of PvP.

For me at that time Illy was a nice and friendly community, which it still is, and I was friendly with Grom, the TCol leader at that time, as we talked quite a bit in SkB AC and I also helped him with builds. Then the war alliances united and declared war on Ascn, a tournament alliance.

I was certain that the war was really bad for the game and decided to speak out against it. At that time I thought it would be a nice and friendly discussion, which would be fun and good content. I never expected it to be as toxic as it was in the end.

A few weeks later Yuki / Hellie asked me to come back to ITG and help with leading. So I returned, and after Yuki / Hellie left, I took over ITG again. Since then I have been in the awkward position of being leader in peaceful alliances while also standing up to certain more aggressive players.

In the end, I think someone stepping up and speaking out against the aggressive players was necessary and also good for the game, as it delivered a lot of content. Unfortunately, it made ITG / SMA a target because of me.

That brings me back to the initial question. First, to reduce burnout after years of doing it, I needed some time off from training and leadership. Second, I tried to do two things at the same time, which did not work out too well. So I need some time for myself to decide what to do, as there are a lot of good ideas. Unfortunately, that is not an easy decision, as faction AI might or might not arrive soon.

Do you have any ambition to lead an alliance again?

Ambition? No. I have enough of that in real life. But quite likely I am going to, because it is necessary.

Interesting, will you go somewhere existing, somewhere new, or somewhere secret..?

I do not know yet. I will go where I think I am needed most.

What is something people might be surprised to learn about you?

Illy-related: when I started to play Illyriad, I did not expect to play for more than a few months and I also never had the plan to be leader in an alliance. In the first two or three years I did not write in GC at all and focused mostly on building up and AC.

About me: honestly, I am not sure what to write here. I like to tease and banter in real life too, although I am not sure that is a surprise!

My goal in Illy was always to help people and provide good content. In the end, we all play to have fun.

Tell us something about Thirion outside Illyriad. How do you spend your time and energy?

I taught myself programming because of a German browser strategy MMO, Inselkampf, 25 years ago, and have loved writing code since then. I studied software engineering, but switched to maths later on and finished that.

I work as a hardware-oriented software developer, meaning I write software that is running on or communicating with hardware. We have projects that last a few months to a few years with a lot of the big German companies and different areas, which is a lot of fun for me. I was lucky enough to turn my biggest hobby into my job.

In addition to that, I like to learn and do a lot of different things, including cooking, renovating and sports. I also enjoy helping people. I co-founded two clubs and am, and have been, in multiple leadership positions helping out the community.

What stuck over the years has been competitive table tennis, board gaming, mostly for fun but we also compete at tournaments, and some political engagement.

As a gamer, what are two or three other games you would recommend to people who enjoy Illyriad?

There are two games that I have played consistently over the last 10 to 20 years.

Path of Exile: an action RPG like Diablo. It has a crazy amount of content and a lot of depth. It is a live service game with big updates every three to four months, for 12+ years now, and also has fair monetization through cosmetics.

Second-Home: a browser RTS like Illy, but with resets. It is an old game but has an active community and developers, with updates every few weeks. It has a really high focus on teamplay, with three different roles that depend on each other. Rounds last three to four months, with an incentive for the biggest alliances to fight each other to win the round.

What advice have you received in-game that really helped, or that you now pass on to others?

Instead of a single piece of advice I received, I would like to share two attitudes.

First: Illyriad is a small community and we all play to have fun and relax. Be respectful, friendly and help each other. That makes the game more enjoyable for all. And yes, conflict can be good content, but do it with players that enjoy it, not players that just want to be left alone and do their own thing.

Second: Illyriad is a sandbox MMO with a lot of different ways to play it. Find what you like and do it. For example, if you like to be efficient, that is fine. If you do not, that is fine too. Just do what you enjoy and what you like. That is the only thing that matters.

Is there a player or alliance you admire, and why?

The player I admire the most was Lupia, the ITG / SMA leader before I took over. She gave me a new home when I left SkB and is the best leader I ever had.

Her approach to the game was unique for me at that time: always be nice, positive and help players. Integrate players and make them feel valued. Be really good at de-escalating problems. So much positive energy.

There is not really an alliance I admire, but there is a group of people I really admire. In the Iron / RE vs SMA war, we had a handful of players in Aindara / Westmarch. They used all their troops in a tournament and then got attacked by Iron / RE, who were better prepared and a lot stronger. They were in a really bad spot, lost cities, and had to move a lot of cities because of it.

But they never panicked or gave up. They put up an amazing fight with the limited resources they had. They bought a lot of time for the bigger SMA players to move in and do their job, which in the end won us the war. It is easy to fight in a position of strength. It is a lot harder to fight when you have no chance of winning. But they did, and I have so much admiration for them because of this.

Do you have any views on the establishment of newer or breakaway alliances at the moment, for example BRUTE and RATS?

BRUTE is not really a breakaway alliance. It is more like a reformation of Stuk’s old Horde alliance. In my opinion, Stuk wanted TDF to be something it never was, and it did not work.

RATS I do not know enough about.

In general, I do not like alliances splitting, as that increases the possibility of both alliances dying because of inactivity. It always depends on the case, though, and sometimes it is necessary.

What is your current goal in-game?

I do not really have a goal at the moment. After the war, my goal was to finish moving cities to the Broken Lands, which is done by now. After that, it was building up my advanced resource and prestige pool again. War was really expensive and cost a lot of resources and prestige. That is mostly done too.

I have a lot of good ideas for content, but I am not sure yet what to do.

What message would you like to put out there to the Illyriad community?

I like to help so that alliances can put up good content. With ITG there is an alliance with a lot of good and active players that train people. With SMA there is a really good tournament alliance with a lot of players that know what they are doing. With CLAN there is a good and active alliance in between.

If you have any questions or ideas for content, or want advice, please let me know. If you need resources, please let me know. There is a lot of demand at the moment though, so I have to prioritize, and alliance and friends come first.

Reach out to me if there is anything. Illy is an MMO after all, and I enjoy helping.

How many prestige builds a day are you supporting at the moment?

It depends. Usually at least 2-3, sometimes 4-5.

No wonder you are so efficient at sending quickly..! Finally, who would you be interested in reading an interview with, and what would you ask them?

Eagle, the SMA leader, with no specific question. Just a really impactful leader over the years.

The FALLN / TCol vs Ascn article is really one-sided. Maybe madmano/Azuk, the Ascn leader when the war started or HotAttack, a long time Ascn leader, would share their view. And some general questions too.

Huge thanks to Thirion for taking part in Voices of Illyriad. You can find his Illyriad player profiles below:

Ellania: Ellania’s Illyriad profile.

DragonHunter: DragonHunter’s Illyriad profile.

Comments are enabled, please feel free to discuss this interview or ask any questions below.