In this week's Friday Feature we continue our series, "Meet The Senators." As we mentioned last time, it's 2010 and the first term for this year has started for our Galactic Senate. Over the next several weeks we will bring to you, our fans, a special look into the people we all know as our Senators.  This week we feature our Rebel Senator, "KrackenOne." Let's take a few minutes to get to know him!

Forum Handle: KrackenOne
Server: Chilastra
Character Name: Kracken One

1.  How long have you been a contributing member of the community that you represent?

One day as a Senator, six years as a rebel.  Before this I was the original Beast Master Senator for almost two years.  

Profession wise, I have 211 profession respecs and counting. As a Beast Master I like to switch up and try new pet/profession combinations.  I would say I'm usually a medic, as it is the best fit with a pet.  I'd rather Beast Master was its own profession.

As far as being a Rebel, I've been one since I could figure out how to get off my home planet (Talus) and get to Anchorhead.  I never even entertained the idea of being an Imperial.  I'm excited about the new GCW content, I hope it stacks up to the non-Restuss PvP heyday of defending/attacking player-placed SF factional bases in player cities.

2.  What type of game play style do you enjoy the most that is NOT specific to your Senatorial seat?

Crafting and Beast Master.  If it were not for crafting I think I would have cancelled when Publish 25 hit live, as pets were removed from the game. Pets were brought back to SWG and I've managed to obtain all pets but four (Jundank, Spined Rancor, Horned Dewback and the Varactysquil).  The crafting and creation side has also kept me busy, but that was a windfall for me as I crafted mainly in the absence of pets. 

Crafting it is light-years ahead of any other MMO I've looked into.  I've now crafted everything you can in the game outside of a few collections (Nightsister necklace).  I'd say outside of crafting, pet related items weapon smith is my favorite.

3.  What is the first thing that you do when you log on/What is a typical game play session?

That depends on where I am in the world and the quality of my connection.  If I have a good connection, I look for PvP.  If not, I craft or head into space to grind for my Gunship.

4.  What is your favorite part of the game?  What do you enjoy the most?

As I stated, I change between PvP, Pets, Space and Crafting.  I think if I could only do one of those I would probably not be playing SWG and doing more work; both at work and around the house /yuck.  What I enjoy most is a challenge, and those are getting increasingly rare.  I was very happy with the difficulty level of the Zombieland update (Death Tropers).  I thought about supplying links to my stockpile of Deathblows of Chilastra's Imps, but I like to save them and brush them off every once in awhile, makes for great forum PvP.../hides from 006.

5.  How long have you been playing?

1287 days is the age of my oldest account.

6.  When not in game, what are some of the things that you enjoy doing as a hobby?

This is my primary hobby.  When I'm not playing I like to read a lot.  I am currently reading The Inferno by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournell, a satire of Dante's Inferno where a science fiction writer is taking the trip through the levels of Hell.  Up next is the Douglas Adams collection; last week I read Memnoch the Devil, The Mote in Gods Eye and its sequel, The Gripping Hand.

7.  If you could change one thing about the forums, what would it be and why?

That the forums were easier to get to in-game and that there was a tutorial on how to get the forums in game using the in-game browser.  There is a plethora of content out there that the majority of players know nothing about.

8.  If you could change one thing about the game, what would it be and why?

I should say "moar pvp pl0x" or more GCW content but it is Beast Master that needs attention.  It has been neglected since it went live.  Its issues are well known and the number of active BMs is vastly misleading.  Most medics and many Light Side Jedi have "dummy pets," they get high end pet and level it up.  They then put one point in Beast Master expertise and drag it around dead, not using it, but benefiting from the defensive cunning buff it still provides while dead to the owner.  Beasts do 400 dps less than they are designed to do, they do not use action properly, there are expertise boxes that do nothing but are still mandatory and it is the only expertise where you have to spend 25 points to get rid of a debuff.

9.  What is your favorite emote and are there any stories surrounding that emote?

/flail and :P are tied for first.  No real stories behind them, they are just immensely amusing to me.

10. Who has been your favorite or the most interesting Senator that you have worked with and why?

RedDwarf would be the best Senator I've worked with, hands down.  The most interesting though would have to be Boscohark and Eveas .   Both were highly helpful when GU5 was introduced and it was a tremendous let down for Beast Masters, the community I used to represent.  They sent encouraging PMs and we chatted on IRC.  Additionally, they can be side-bustlingly funny.  Others like MasterCosmo, Vincent76, Tux, Lasod, NielM, ArkonPhoenix and Onyx are up there too.

11. Describe what it is like to work with the other Senators.

From my previous stint, it was really cool.  I know that sounds corny but it was.  I was representing a new aspect, well returning aspect to the game and it was all about the testing.  I used to start wondering sometimes about the age, gender and even sometimes whether that player might be having some adult beverages at their keyboard!  Some were into role playing and others not so much. I look forward to this go-around as the Rebel Senator working with the new and old friends in the Senate now.

12. Who was/is your mentor in the game?  If you had to thank ONE and only person in the game, who would it be and why?

Dasoneth.  I was so immersed in Ranger and Creature Handler that I rarely grouped with other players or went into cities; I only went when I had to.  I was trying to find someone to make me some good kinetic bone armor and was hanging out in the city trying to find the armor smith that had the vendors.  I was such a noob that I did not think about sending an email to him.  I was met by another player and we started chatting and he asked me to join PLD, the guild he was in.   I agreed since it cost nothing to do so.

Dasoneth was in PLD and he really showed me around, told be about how to stack my combat actions and use foods that granted a mind boost, gave me my first starship, and would always come to clear aggro when I was begging for help way out in the middle of nowhere. "I found a rare baby and need help getting its parents out of the way to tame it." He also taught me that YOU COULD WEAR A BACKPACK AND SAVE INVENTORY SPACE!!!!  The biggest thing he did was point me to the forums.

13.  What do you do for a living?

I work for a Business Provider Organization (BPO) company. I have a hugely embarrassing important sounding title that I'll never hear the end of, so I'm not sharing it. I use both my Education (teaching) and Asian History degrees in my job.  We do work for many of the tech, wireless, health care, and banking companies you know of; we also do work for many of the world's governments.  We manage payroll, communication systems, networks, document destruction as well as offer customer service, technical support and back office work for these entities and their customers.  I go wherever one of our clients is not happy, and fix it.

The real problem with my job is time away from home, and satellite ISPs.

14. What in game item do you wish you had a RL version of and why?

A pet Wampa. Do you really need to ask why?

Thank you, KrackenOne, for sharing some of your insights from the view of a Rebel Senator!