Hi guys :) After first interview was so nicely received I made more ambitious one and collected here as many Quake players as I could for you to tell you about Quake and a new patch :) Have fun reading!

Q. How did your adventure with Quake start?

Well first person shooters began for me properly with Duke Nukem back in 1991, I would play on LAN with my father, brother and their friends. Then I played Doom, Doom II and then everything changed when Quake was released. I played Quake 1 on LAN mainly, as I didn't have internet access back then. My first time playing Quake online properly was when Quake II was released and I would play on UK servers with 250ms, so that was around 1997/1998 for me.
Back in 1998 I excitedly told the locker room before football practice that I finally had cable internet. A teammate of mine said he had a few games I should try now that I had proper internet and the next practice he brought two cd-roms with him. One with Quakeworld on it and one with Quake 2 on it. I spend the first few months playing a lot of QWTF with my friends before we made the switch to Quake 2. I remember a lot of nights connecting to a friends local server and playing just standart DM on Q2DM1. This eventually escalated into me connecting to a Quake 2 Lithium server and finding my big love. A Quake 2 mod with an offhand grappling hook and 100% aircontrol. It was so fast and the players that I encountered on the servers were so freaking good. It motivated me to the point where I wanted to become as good as the best players on those server. Hence the 8+ hours a day Quake playing Xhep was born.
My adventure started in 1998 when my brother introduced me to NetQuake aka Quake 1. I started playing with just a keyboard and instantly fell in love with it. Never looked back ever since.
In general nothing extraordinary. One day I opened a portal with F2P games. A thread from Quake Live appeared in front of my eyes. It was probably 2010. I installed, played and since then I am with Quake (with shorter or longer breaks) till today.
Quite a long time ago! I was maybe five when I saw my uncle play Quake 3 Arena (CPM mainly), at that time, he was preparing for a Polish tournament, Slizg 2 where he would face against players like Matr0x, king, goyer, krogoth etc. and being a kid, you are quite prone to do what your family/siblings are doing. He decided to let me play CTF with bots and that’s how I fell in love with the game
I was playing counter-strike most of my life. Once when I was bored I decided to try some 1v1 FPS game and it was QuakeLive, I think it was like 2011. Since then I am playing Quake.
I started back in late 2002 sneaking onto my brother’s(Beeni,Bensen) PC, since he’s 3 years older he had his first gaming pc earlier than I did. So I just sneaked onto his PC to play some matches vs. Bots and 1 year later I had my own PC to play Quake 3 with our friends and that’s where it all begun…
A couple of German LAN Events later I wanted to test myself vs the best German Quake players(d1ablo, dragon) and I lost badly like 40:-3. But this actually been the moment for me where I wanted to be the best.

I could tell an endless story here started with the local LAN Events in Germany, ESL just being more of a fun Ladder, my first international tournament 2004(ESWC). eoe/d1ablo being my mentor and helping me to be one of the best. And I do still have to remember some of his words at certain moments when I’m playing in Tournaments.
I began playing Quake when my dad introduced me to the game at the age of 4. I had played on and off for many years when QC was announced. I decided to train for competition and it has worked out alright this far.
Started playing at 2009, played mostly clan arena and once i achieved decent level and aim, i decided to move to duels to improve individually even more, now the adventure continues in QC.
I started playing QUAKE in 2008, before I was playing cs 1.6 - the team broke up and chose quake because everything there is from the player, then I played a lot of DUEL. At the very beginning I was beaten by everyone. Then I got to know the player Mixez(mxz), in the course of half a year I usually played with him, it was a big boost in my game at the very beginning. When he started to win, mxz began to play against the cooler. My understanding of the game became much better. After a year of playing the game I already reached a good level and could compete in tournaments with strong players. Since 2009 he began to travel to lan tournaments like asus cup and play all tournaments online. Lan tournaments gave me a lot of experience and made me more self-confident.

Q. Why have you chosen this game over other FPP games?

It's Quake, I'll always choose Quake over any other game, ever since I was 11 years old it's been about Quake. I like to be competitive and with Quake Champions its allowing me to do that again.
Back then you basically had Half life and its mod Counter Strike, Unreal Tournament and Quake. I've tried all titles but always came back to Quake because to me it felt by far the best. I liked the speed and movement mechanics of the game. I loved to jump around on The Edge and try out all these trick jumps that I found in these special demo's people compiled together. I could spend hours just jumping around maps trying trick jumps. Something I would never do in either CS or UT.
I actually dabbled in Counter-Strike 1.3 - 1.6 and also some CS:GO a year ago. The reason why I keep coming back to Quake is because of the competition, nothing matches the Quake 1on1 competition. It is such a fast paced game, you can enjoy it 1on1, 2on2, and 4on4. You need to think fast and react fast. The games speed is unmatched and also the history of the game really gets me going.
As soon as I heard about Quake Champions I knew that regardless of everything I will play it and in time I will try to "attack" the pro stage, especially that in my spare time I further improved my game in Quake Live, and as you know a lot of skills from previous versions of the game are useful in the newest release. No other FPP game kept me interested for more than several dozen hours of play.
It’s hard to answer that question because as I kid, I was only exposed to Quake. This was the only game I knew about as I was not interested in computers or consoles back then. But if I would answer that question from my current perspective, it would be to do with Quake being challenging. I generally appreciate all sorts of game genres as it is fun to play different games with your friends/kill some time off but Quake has always had that sharp edge over the other games, the unique movement, weapons that you have to collect whilst exploring the map, controlling certain areas/items on the map, all of those combined make Quake very special and unique hence why my dedication towards it.
Until quake champions I was playing different games like cs, h1z1, overwatch, quakelive etc. When Quake Champions got announced I decided to play it seriously and on competitive level because competing in quakelive was fun for me. Game became different but its still quake and most important it had teammode tournaments announced, so it was fun process to team up with clawz and other 2z members and play. For me most important in quake is fun teammode.
I do really like to play different games too, but somehow i got stuck with Quake 3 especially Duel and Clanarena mode in Quake. Also the Speed of Quake itself, once you get used to it, even racing games seem to be slow, but also there has never been a game that runs as smooth as Quake 3/Live.
The skill cap is higher. The 1v1 nature is also very attractive. 1v1 is a distinct characteristic of arena FPS games. I have started branching into the team side with 2v2 and enjoy it as well.
My uncle was playing quake long time ago, once i noticed him playing game i asked to let me play also and i liked it a lot.
I like that everything depends only on you in DUEL

Q. Based on your experience in previous Quakes - is there something you miss about previous parts?

No, because each Quake had its moment to shine and it worked for the time, you tend to also look back on previous Quake's with rose-tinted glasses, so I think it's best to leave certain things in the past, where they belong, as fond memories. Also, you just have to adapt and move with what is current now and that is Quake Champions. But I dare say and to contradict myself, if Quake Champions didn't have crouchsliding I would have said that, mainly because that movement style was a great addition to Quake's already popular movement.
Even though matchmaking is a must nowadays in pvp games, I miss the sense of community old quake servers had with server browsers. You always had this 'main server' you were playing on and you would meet people there that always played on the same server as well. This system kind of got rid of rotten apples because they would simply be shunned or banned from the server if they were being an asshole. This was all even before IRC. I remember having a bind in Quake 2 with my ICQ number so people could add me and we could arrange clan wars against each other. By adding matchmaking it obviously made it more convenient and easier to find games, but this sense of community and always running into the same people and making friends that way is something that I miss from the old days.
The only thing I would say I miss is the 4on4 TDM feeling in QuakeWorld. It was the most balanced and most team orientated game I have ever played. If there is someway to replicate the feeling of 4on4 TDM in QuakeWorld to Quake Champions, I would just die :).
I have almost nothing missing. Everything that kept me playing Quake Live was virtually unchanged at Quake Champions. Starting from mechanics and ending with available game modes. Compared to more experienced players, I've almost never had the pleasure of playing older versions of Quake, so Quake Champions introduces many new aspects to me, like other types of movement types, which makes the game even more interesting to me!
Not necessarily, Quake Champions’ principles are still very similar to the ones of Quake 3/Quake Live/Quake 4. Of course, there is additional content like Champions which do change the game quite a lot, whether it’s because of the hitboxes, abilities, and stacks but at its core, this still feels like the other Quake games. Surprisingly enough, Quake Champions team has managed to bring all kinds of different movements from different Quakes. Not only It is very interesting from the perspective of having or wanting to pick up a champion depending on the map but it also works very well with the game.
Not really. New game is new game and I don't like to compare it to old versions.
We are in an early version of Quake Champions still – so for sure there are some more changes to happen.
We do have the Quake fight feeling, the movement, control of items also matter a little more again after the last changes, of course it does feels a little different especially because of the system with the Champions we have, but I also think it’s a good thing to have it different as before. The only thing I do really miss is the flawless Quake feeling that makes you feel you wanna play this game and nothing else and maybe still some small visuals on the MAP and Champions. I often feel like some Textures could differ a little bit more from others.
No. I think Quake Champions is the most fun Quake in existence. Especially from a spectator perspective. The abilities really allow for a diverse range of playstyles.
I miss that in QC, currently, destroying players requires different playstyle and personally for me it's pretty uncomfortable.
I started playing vq3.

Q. Let's talk specific - Duel mode - what would you change, what you do not like and what is well thought through?

I previously welcomed the change to the duel mode, but being an old school Quaker, I think I'll always say I prefer how it was in the past (I know, you shouldn't live in the past) but why fix something that isn't broke? But I'd be happy if they kept it as it is or even adjusted it slightly, I'd continue to try my best and adapt. I don't think I'm in a position to tell them what it should be or to come up with an entirely new format that would suit everyone, those tricky decisions I'll leave up to Bethesda and id Software.
I like that id is trying to change things up, I think this is needed if we want Quake to succeed in this new era. I applaud their willingness to think outside of the box and come up with something new like the current duel format we have. This new duel format has its up and downsides. No longer do you join a server just to play a 15 min duel against someone that is way better than you to end up with a score of -2 - 34. If the person is way better than you, the match is probably only gonna last a couple of minutes. The downside in my opinion is that, I feel like one of Quake's stronger sides is the amount of frags and the potential of mindblowing awesome frags that would end up in a fragmovie. Because you have a limited amount of life's it kind of promotes +backward slow gameplay. It comes down to personal preference I guess. Whereas I enjoy being super fast, aggressive and have a high-risk high-reward style of gaming I feel like this playstyle can't really thrive in this gamemode.
I would personally love to try a 10 minute duel mode where players choose 3 champions and once their 3 champions are dead they just keep rotating until the 10 minute duel is over. That would be more of a classic feel that people are looking for and it will still include the 3 champion picks including their abilities etc. I think that would be a good median. For me everything is fine, but the round system :).
Personally, I do not like the current duel format. The idea of rounds is the best match for champions, however, I think it is too harsh. One accidental situation may turn the tide which makes the game in many cases not very dynamic and boring to watch and play. Instead, I would like to try a solution with a time limit (10 minutes for example) and a triple rotation of three champions, so at the beginning of the game, we choose three characters. After losing all three (one rotation), we have access to them again and so up to three turns (or more, to be determined). I would add bans of characters to it, thanks to which it would be possible to eliminate the characters that are currently OP (probably we will never avoid it) or they are strong because they are the rival’s favorite, which will force everyone to use the full pool of heroes instead of limiting themselves only to a few.
Duel mode at its current state is something that a lot of players are debating at the very moment. As much as I personally enjoy the round system, it can be quite unforgiving at times which can be also tied to different assets of the game. Now, I cannot tell you for sure whether the ten-minute time limit format would work in Quake Champions because there are a lot more factors that influence the gameplay like champions, their stack, mobility, as well as their abilities. Long story short, unless there would be some kind of ruleset tests rolled out for us, players, I do not feel like I have the platform to say what would work or not, I can only speculate.
I think most important is that you can always come back from any situation because of round system and its very good for viewers, also its putting a lot of pressure on players which is making lan tournaments really fun to spectate and play. I think duel shouldn't be changed much and we should give it a try on latest patch.
I wouldn’t change to much – the way Quake Champions is build, the way the Duel mode works fits. Some players do not like the Champion mode, but it’s a different way to Quake now and everything has it’s positives and negatives in the end. For me it’s really hard to deal with the word “meta“ in Quake, but at the same time I’m not sure if it would be better to completely move away of it again.
I wouldn’t change much. I would try a lot of things. I would like to see how timed duels play out (10 minutes instead of rounds). I would also like to try having 2 lives with 3 champs per rounds. I don’t think the current format is bad, I am just curious to see what other configurations would yield in terms of gameplay.
I would like to see it without champion limit. Not many frags, not many beautiful moves.
I'd like to see some changes like shaft dealing 6 dmg, mega 35 armor of 25+

Q. Sacrifice - what about this mode? How would you compare it to well known CTF mode?

In previous Quake's I rarely played team modes, I was mainly a dueller. I did some TDM back in Quake 2, but that's nearly 20 years ago. My first real attempt at playing team modes was in Quake Champions and I quite liked sacrifice. I can't really compare it to CTF personally as I didn't play much CTF in my time, I'll be able to have an opinion on that once CTF is released for Quake Champions and I've played it.
I like the idea behind sacrifice a lot. I personally think Sacrifice is more fun than CTF. I like the fact that there is only one objective and the mechanical possibilities with being able to throw the soul are pretty much endless. The only problem Sacrifice obviously has is the fact that it gets really chaotic when you try to spectate it. This is a problem CTF would have as well, if not more. Instead of 1 objective, there are two now and on top of that the map is symmetrical, so as a spectator you're constantly wondering on which side of the base you are in between all the POV changes. Regardless of Sacrifice vs CTF, I think some other form of team based gameplay will be more suitable to bring to the E-sports stage.
I personally enjoyed playing Sacrifice especially in a tournament setting. Some of the games my team and I had were nail biters for sure. You really need coordination and synchronized attacks etc. I know Quake Champions is going towards CTF soon and I believe that will be a good route for the viewing pleasures. It is very difficult to understand what is happening in Sacrifice and the viewers who know nothing about the game are completely lost. I believe when CTF comes into play it will be a much slower pace and good for the viewers. It will still be fun and competitive for the players and fun to watch for the viewers. Win win.
I can count the Sacrifice games in Quake Champions I played on one hand. The same applies to CTF games in previous versions of the game. I'm not a fan of team modes. If there was no duel in Quake, I probably would have given up the game a long time ago. "You can count, count on yourself". I do not like to rely on the skills of others. Recently I gave the chance to 2v2 mode but I still treat it as an addition to the game. Duel is and will be my much higher priority and I will focus my attention on it.
One way I could describe Sacrifice is that it's like a breath of fresh air. It is a great team mode, where champion picks are very important depending on the map but then there are also few issues. The slight issue I was having was with the maps. Essentially, sacrifice maps were TDM maps with the addition of a base. This would result in certain imbalances, sometimes it even felt very chaotic because of that as those maps were not fundamentally designed for a mod like Sacrifice. The second issue was spectating those games from a newcomer perspective. There was a lot of new players that had a slight idea what was going on because there was no indication of the objective, kills were not quite clear, often caused by camera switching constantly every time someone would get a kill etc.
Sacrifice is very fun mode to play and definitely my favorite. I'm not CTF player so I really can't compare these modes. I think sacrifice is really great mode which require fast decision-making, communication, ability management and teamplay, but obviously most important issue is that it's hard to spectate. I don't really know how CTF gonna fix this issue.
Sacrifice is really fun to play – it just needs 1 more option to make a team able win/turn a match and slow it down somehow for spectators especially. It would add some more depth into it. CTF for me feels like the easier version of Sacrifice.
Sacrifice vs CTF is not a great comparison. I would say Sacrifice is demolition derby while CTF is like American Football. There is strategy involved in Sacrifice, however it seems very random and there are a lot of factors that just aren’t under anybody’s control at any given time. CTF is more centered around organized plays/strategies. Whether it be offensively or defensively. There are more controlled variables in CTF than Sacrifice. Sacrifice is incredibly fun, but I prefer CTF’s pace. It’s going to come down to a matter of preference of each player. Both are pretty good modes.
Sacrifice is great, but imo the most fun is to play with your own mates, it mostly requires good communication. CTF would be even more fun, with good mirrored maps, and for pub games i guess it is also should be better, cause it doesn't require that much of teamplay.
I'm only interested in a duel

Q. How would you comment the new patch that came out in January 25th?

I'd say it was a great step in the right direction, it's slowly getting there, it's hard to try and balance everything without upsetting someone, but I'm sure the majority could agree this is their best patch yet. The game overall is a lot smoother, hitboxes have significantly improved, so for me it's a thumbs up. We know there are still a lot of things to be worked on, but we're all fortunate enough to be able to play during this process and see the game develop before us.
I understand that Anarki has been on the strong side for a long time and he became a too dominant presence in all game modes. In a game where you have a certain amount of champions with different healthstacks, hitboxes and abilities you don't want a certain champion to be a 'guaranteed' pick in duel for instance. I also feel like it was too easy to be good with Anarki. As a player without any CPMA experience you could pick up the champion and instantly get the movement down and start owning with him. I think the update with hitboxes made it clear that the current NG, the starter as well as the heavy variant, need some rework. You can literally get pinned by Nailgun now, unable to move just getting bumped into the next nail. id has stated they did not add the grenade launcher in fear of this game becoming too spam and random. I feel like this current meta is more spam and random then any other iteration of Quake Champions we have played before. FFA on Blood Covenant for instance is an absolute hell now. Nailgun galore is not my idea of fun gameplay.
I really like the patch, the game feels great, the hitboxes feel great, and the changes to characters are MOSTLY great. My main gripe at the moment is Clutch as a character. The speed that he can reach is pretty insane and I believe he needs a bit of a nerf. He can collect all the hour glasses in a map within 10 seconds and get his shield back up in no time, and good luck running away from the guy if you get caught. FIX THE CLUTCH :), but everything else is amazing so far.
Every new patch is of course some kind of progress. I waited impatiently for the well-deserved nerve of Anarki, and after a year of waiting, I finally got to see it. Unfortunately, other smaller or larger problems, such as Clutch, took its place. I believe, however, that the next patches will continue to improve the current situation! It's definitely better as it was. However, it can be much better.
I was very excited to see what the developers have prepared for us. The first thing that you noticed was definitely the new hitboxes. For example, at the moment, you can safely say that if you missed a shot, it’s not because of the hitboxes being too small or having mini holes inside of it but rather your crosshair not being on the character.
On the other hand, the more I played, the more I realized how easy it is for anyone to get high percentages on accuracy. Personally, I would happily want developers to consider a very small decrease in those hitboxes for all characters so that players with good aim can be rewarded more to those who may not aim as well and get away with hitting very similar percentages.
Now about the characters changes, Galena has become very strong if not overpowered character; short ability cooldown, being able to heal, do a “free” hundred damage to the enemy and also being able to see through the walls when the totem explodes. It is a bit too much. Likewise, with Sorlag, the character that was already strong, became even stronger, bigger stack, more tick damage on the spit, insane crouch movement. All of that combined is crazy.
We still have to remember that Quake Champions is in early access though so I cannot and should not really be criticizing as the developers are working hard to bring back our beloved title. Having said that, I am satisfied with certain changes and not happy with some other ones.
I think patch is good. I am not really sure if buffing weaker abilities is the right choice instead of buffing champions itself, its leading to bigger ability influence which I really don't mind, but it can be tough for some players. I only dislike nailgun, it's my favorite weapon but right now its really way too strong. Still waiting for teammode ranked.
It starts to get balanced more and more. The last changes opened a little more variety in your champion picks, of course there are still "strong" and "weak" ones, but it also comes down to way you are playing a specific Champion.
Not much to say, seems hitboxes are better. I don’t focus too much on individual patches. I think that the developers have done a good job in recent months at putting out at least monthly patches. I think the progress is good.
I don't like the fact that abilities are becoming more and more op. Hitbox changes are pretty good, weapons are kinda balanced, except that nailgun.
It's all the same, except that it's no longer only being killed by anarki.

Q. Why do you think new players are becoming interested in Quake Champions? On the other hand, why will some of them never decide to install it?

I'll answer the second part of the question, I think some new players will be put off by Quake Champions by how big of a skill gap there is, especially from the lower tier to the highest tier. I mean a lot of people enjoy Battle Royale games these days mainly because they feel like they stand a chance of winning, you only die once, then you get to drop back in and feel like you can achieve something, up until the point you die, you're pretty much winning, to a certain extent. In Quake it's a faster pace, you're getting killed constantly, you may not even be able to get a kill yourself and then you lose heavily in FFA, TDM or Duel, this will only frustrate some players and be really off putting to others. But Quake is a game that requires time and patience, you develop your skills over a course of time, something you need to master to be good at, not something you can just turn on and expect to be great, it takes time. So for that reason it deters some people. For others they may see it as a challenge, their competitive side comes out, they've played Doom or Quake in the past and they like the look of Quake Champions, especially with their added abilities, loot crates and skins, so you may see new people trying for that reason, we just need more fun modes to keep the casual gamers interested.
I think the popularity of Overwatch shows that there is still a lot of interest out there for an Arena FPS. It's just a matter of getting these people interested in Quake. I really think mechanically and 'feel'wise Quake is so much further than any other AFPS out there. Quake has always attracted a certain kind of player. A player that doesn’t get disheartened by getting their ass absolutely whooped into oblivion the first games they play. This asswhooping motivates a true Quake player to keep playing and improving themselves up to the point where they can be the ones dealing out the asswhooping. I know that in this day and age of gaming the games have been catering to the people that want to have their hand held throughout their gaming experience, enabling them to be able to win matches and be good right from the get go. But I still think these people that got interested in Quake back in the late 90's, early 2000's are among the shitton of casuals that play games like Overwatch. Once they will see what Quake is about, they will fall in love with it, just like I did.
I think new players are getting interested in Quake because it is a fun game and it looks exciting. There are casual players that will love this game once Instagib or Clan Arena comes out, and then there are new players like me back in 2003, that want to grow as a player and become one of the best that ever did it. Those players love the competition and love that tournaments are being announced, so they have something to work for. The feeling of getting better in Quake is unmatched and everyone should stick through it and feel that feeling for themselves. On the other hand, the game of Quake is so hard that some people these days would rather not install a difficult game and go play something easy like PUBG with their friends etc, these type of people fall more into the casual gamer category.
There is no other game like that on the market. A combination of classics with modern, popular elements that will retain old players and can encourage new ones to play. However, the current battle royale fashion can never give Quake a chance to re-live.
I think players in general always seek to try new games just to see if they fit in right within that specific game genre. It is that thrill of learning and experiencing something new. New players would be drawn to the game because of various different reasons. Some may like the crazy and detailed Gothic art style, some might have heard of AFP before and now have the chance to give it a go, for some, it can be a new challenge. Although some may not even install it because it looks too hard which leaves them with the impression that it is very challenging. Another reason why people might not try it is because of the reviews, people always try to find flaws with the games without even acknowledging the positives.
I think new players will be interested more in quake champions if it will have fun team mode where you can just fool around and shoot with your friends, for example clan arena. Developers should fix all the bugs and finish their product and after that I hope they gonna start promoting it to masses. I think if someone is new to games he will look into most popular options and he will never find out about Quake for now, it really needs big promotions and advertisements.
We really need a system that allows even lower tier Players to achieve something – so you get rewarded for the same achievement but just not on the Highest Tier Level. The Casual Player doesn‘t really care to much about in what Tier they are playing, but they do also want to achieve something somehow even they’re not interested in playing competitively.
As soon as Quake is free to play – I think more people will get attracted automatically. I think quite some are waiting for the next BIG Game and I really hope it’s gonna be Quake!
I think a lot of people will install the game. There needs to be a few more game modes that are different from any other game, and that are fun for longer than 3 or 4 games. Be it with a rotation of team-based modes such at Clan Arena, CTF, TDM, Freeze Tag, and Instagib or with more objective based modes like in other team-based FPS games. Getting people to install won’t be as difficult as getting them to stay. Personally, I think Clan Arena, Freeze Tag, and Instagib would do well to keep people playing. Especially with abilities. They are just wildly different than anything else on the market right now.
The game just needs to be fun, so it needs a good team mode, and i think it should be round based, and not that simple as clan arena.
The game is very difficult for mere mortals (timings, shooting, map control). New players will find quake too hard.

Q. What do you think will be the greatest obstacle for new players to continue playing?

I think I answered this partially in the previous question.
If you really want to become good at Quake there are a lot of things that you need to learn. The learning curve will be daunting at the start. The realization after encountering a Quake veteran that you are gonna need to spend a shitton of time on this game before you can even be remotely good will cause for a lot of people to not even try. But to be honest, the one thing Quake players always had in common is this willingness to self improve at the game and to not give up easily. So Quake will probably never be as big as League of Legends or Counter Strike, but the community will always consist of like-minded people with the same attitude when it comes to games.
The greatest obstacle will be the updates that come in the near future. If the updates go as planned and we get new modes such as Instagib, Clan Arena, CTF, new champions, and new maps then the playerbase will grow and sky rocket if tournaments are announced on the regular. The greatest obstacle is for players to have fun and have something to look forward to. I believe a road map of the goals and upcoming updates will definitely help the community and help keep and bring new players to the table.
Quake is a quite specific game. Victories do not come immediately. To start winning you have to lose dozens if not hundreds of games. I know it from my own experience. Nobody likes to lose, but after all this I do not have to explain how well the victories, which you worked so hard for, taste like.
At the very moment, probably the players base. As the game is still in early access and a lot of players would rather wait for its official release, there is obviously a smaller player base that consists of mainly semi-good players, pros and not too many new players but I believe that on the release day of Quake Champions or its F2P model, people will have a better time playing because they will be matched against people their own skill.
I think it should be all of this combined: Fun team mode, ability to play with friends, smooth game, tracking your own progress, good ranked system, improving rewards system.
Like a decent Achievement System would help a little with that. Maybe some sort of ingame System to hold small public Tournaments so whoever is interested in playing a little bit more serious they’re able to join a lobby with 6-8-12 players and you get rewarded in the end by earning some specific points you only get there and it increases your rank points just by a little bit, so once you win too many of these you automatically get ranked up. Ranked Matches doesn’t really do the job here since it can always happen you get matched up with a way higher skilled guy since the system is build that you don't wait forever for a match to happen. And a Mode where you don’t have to think too much - like basic Quake 3 Clanarena.
Movement is probably where most players get lost as strafe jumping is pretty much exclusive to Quake.
A lot of things in game has to be finished and improved to attract bigger playerbase.
Very different level of players to attract new players. You need to do tournaments and leagues for 1500-1800 ELO players. We have ranked, but what does it give? Let’s take for example top10 - at the end of the month you are given a T-shirt or sweatshirt from Quake Champions. So this table top10 rating is useless. For example, in the cs-go E-Sports Entertainment Association League top10 won some money.

Q. What is your advice to new players?

My advice would be to continue playing, it's better to play now while it's still going through its development stage, so you can develop as the game develops, by becoming accustomed to the changes and adapting. And sure, you will lose heavily, you'll struggle to get kills sometimes, but its about perseverance. I always looked at it as you can't get any worse, you can only get better and to get better you have to play more, practice and patience are key.
Back when I started playing Quake we did not have youtube or twitch. It took me a few years before I even learned about 'demos' and where to get them and how to watch them. Nowadays you have sites like twitch and youtube directly bringing you into contact with all these quake veterans motivated to learn new players how to play the game. So, go on youtube, find strafe jumping tutorials. Find a Quake Champions Twitch streamer that you like, ask him or her questions and watch closely at their gameplay. Try to emulate what you see ingame and try to ask yourself constantly 'what made this player make this decision. Why did he choose that weapon and went to that position'.
My advice to new players is to keep playing even if it seems like you have no hope of getting better, it is not true. I started competitive Quake around 2003ish, which was within QuakeWorld, and I played many games vs the top players at the time and got my ass handed to me. I mean the scores were 40 - -3... I studied the best players, I learned from my mistakes, and I did not give up. Eventually I started beating these players (obviously it was hard) but from where I began to where I ended up is an amazing feeling. One day it will all click for you, just keep playing, find some friends to practice with and enjoy the game while getting better. You will love Quake once you start having the improvements to your game.
Never give up. Learn from your mistakes. Watch better players and draw conclusions from their game.
Very generic advice but do not give up. Once you learn the core of the game and its gameplay, it becomes very rewarding. The first thing they should consider learning is the movement as this is the main skill that they will have to use in the combat.
Play for fun and don't really get upset if something isn't going your way.
Hmm. If they wanna get better, they gotta keep playing even if it hurts sometimes. Try to stay positive progress always takes some time especially as better you get. Of course it does help to watch your own games analyze some mistakes or good plays even. Also watch some Top Tier Players how they’re playing.
There is too much to list. I would say to play because you enjoy them game before you try to become competitive.
Enjoy first of all, thats the reason why we all still playing quake, we love it.
There is no money in this game, better start playing another game.

Q. What is your advice to Bethesda?

I don't think Bethesda needs my advice, they're doing a fine job. They're aware of what needs to be changed and what needs to be improved on, if they didn't then they wouldn't continue to patch or update their game if they felt like it was perfect.
Be real with yourself. Don't try to hide your incompetence, accept that it is there, surround yourself with better people and let's all work together to make this common dream of us come true. Bring Quake back into mainstream gaming, because it deserves to be there. We have a rich history and are the original source of a lot of stuff happening nowadays in gaming. We know what we have to offer, enable us to show the rest of the world how great this game is.
My advice to Bethesda is to give their community a road map of the upcoming goals, updates, and tournaments. Keep us all in the loop and make the best Quake game ever.
Listen to the players. You are doing this game for us, not for yourself.
Tweak with champion balances each week or every two weeks, let professional players and casual players give you the feedback and act upon it. It is very important to allow the player base help you shape the game as you are doing the game for them, not yourselves.
Create new game modes for casual players so that they are not thrown into the deep waters where they have to not only be able to move well, aim well but also have the knowledge of all the items and using them in order to survive. It is very important to have modes like Instagib, Freeztag, Clan Arena etc. so that the new players can have fun with their friends and not have to care too much about having to focus on multiple aspects of the game. Allow for gradual understanding of the game instead of expecting players to know everything the first time they play TDM/FFA/SAC/DUEL.
Focus only on casual playerbase and try to make quake for masses. I think making a quality product which can bring interest for new players is the most important thing. From a huge casual playerbase everything else will happen itself. It will create competition, new pro players and more tournaments.
Shout-out to tokyopunchout!
Quicker fixes/small balance changes! Waaaaay Quicker. It’s really difficult for us Players too, to deal with some stuff happening with the Patches. Mistakes can always happen no one will judge about that – but if it happens they really need to react immediately to that. For example Clutch right now. Things like that are changing the whole game experience. I’d really like to know why it takes so long to fix a single Champion over and over again. So maybe a little more transparency at this end.
Anyways, the Game itself improved a lot since the beginning i clearly can see a light but they gotta keep going and respond/react to the community more often. Even Balance wise we made some steps. Keep going and make Quake great again! :D
I think they know how to do their jobs. I would just say continue to get feedback from both casual and pro players. Also, little adjustments can make a big difference in balance and that they should take advantage of this. It will be critical very soon as the balance of the game is rapidly approaching “good”. If they want to improve the balance past this point they will have to make slight nudges rather than big changes.
Make game casual friendly so the amount of ppl who are having fun will be much more bigger.
It is useless to advise them anything.

Players' social media links:

Author's social media links: