When the Rebel class launched, we had a competition on Thor and Chaos to see who would get to the top first. Paul WaIker (named after the late actor of the Fast and Furious franchise) lived up to the speed of his namesake and was one of the first to reach Top Rebel on a character created right after the launch of the update! Here's his interview, conducted on April 8th

Paul WaIker : hey buddy
iRO CM Oda : How's it going?
Paul WaIker : hows your day so far Oda
iRO CM Oda : very good!
Paul WaIker : Tgif eh?
iRO CM Oda : getting some screenshots to put up on the website
iRO CM Oda : Sorry it's been such a long time since the contest ended
Paul WaIker : lol its ok, sorry i've been a pain about it
iRO CM Oda : No worries
Paul WaIker : Originally i wanted this to be something like what Olga and Bato did
Paul WaIker : If you remember those names
iRO CM Oda : I'm literally looking at Heim's old interviews to see how to do this
Paul WaIker : demise, Old chaos
Paul WaIker : Bato proposed to olga after a woe
iRO CM Oda : Oh, neat.
iRO CM Oda : I was a Iris player myself
~*Miyu*~ : Its nice to meet you Oda~!
Paul WaIker : My how things have changed
iRO CM Oda : RO has changed, but not changed in many ways
iRO CM Oda : I'm very happy to see that there are still a lot of people who play
iRO CM Oda : who started a long time ago
Paul WaIker : i meant that in all states of being lol
iRO CM Oda : So, Mr. Paul Walker. Please introduce yourself for the interrogation
iRO CM Oda : er...interview
Paul WaIker : you got a nice promotion from a player thats for sure
Paul WaIker : ok serious time?
iRO CM Oda : We can still BS and such
Paul WaIker : I'm paul walker, and i died for your sins
Paul WaIker : But originally
iRO CM Oda : quite right
Paul WaIker : What i wanted to do was tell this story
Paul WaIker : that all started with the olga and bato reference
Paul WaIker : Anyway, so as you know, i've been playing this game for a bit,
Paul WaIker : And i've managed to make some great friends along the way
Paul WaIker : Shoutout to Viri (steve)
iRO CM Oda : I've met viri
iRO CM Oda : seems like ages ago
Paul WaIker : yeah he's a good guy. A bit androgynous but doing well for himself
Paul WaIker : have you met sharon?
Paul WaIker : one of the co-leaders of EA i believe i was
iRO CM Oda : About how far back did you get started in the game Paul?
Paul WaIker : I started since beta
Paul WaIker : but i couldn't pay for the beginning years
iRO CM Oda : Kind of wish I could have played back then
Paul WaIker : came back into it 2005-2006
iRO CM Oda : so many of our veterans started back then
Paul WaIker : anyway, viri, when there was a hangout dragged me out to meet
Paul WaIker : Heather (leader of windfall)
iRO CM Oda : maybe a dozen gms
Paul WaIker : Sharon, EA's leader,
Paul WaIker : Dani and a few others
iRO CM Oda : what happened after that, Paul?
Paul WaIker : Well, side, note, Viri married sharon
Paul WaIker : And its a bit relavant to the story
Paul WaIker : Yeah
Paul WaIker : they did
iRO CM Oda : Nice
iRO CM Oda : Lots of RO marriages, ha ha
Paul WaIker : And i didn't know Dani played, but i found out that she did,
iRO CM Oda : I think in part because there's a good balance of genders playing
Paul WaIker : I mean, 5 years later, we're now living together
Paul WaIker : And what the point of this story was.
Paul WaIker : We were both losing interest in the game
Paul WaIker : and this contest came out
iRO CM Oda : kinda brought you back in huh
Paul WaIker : i was dying to get her to play something with me multiplayer related
Paul WaIker : not much you can do with tales games
iRO CM Oda : That's pretty cool, paul
Paul WaIker : So yeah, due to the event, got her to play with me.
iRO CM Oda : Aw, that's super cool
Paul WaIker : but sadly she quit not too long after
Paul WaIker : Hahah
Paul WaIker : theres an additional note i want to tag to this
Paul WaIker : interview
Paul WaIker : 1. im throwing in the towel.
Paul WaIker : Its about that time to take the next step in the relationship,
Paul WaIker : originally i wanted it to be corny and be like
Paul WaIker : Ro brought us together, it'd be fitting to send us off
Paul WaIker : But she's at work and couldn't make the interview
Paul WaIker : A lot of friends helped along the way when i was leveling though
Paul WaIker : shoutout to Henry, Erin, Amanda, Thao, Jer
Paul WaIker : I know they should be included in this
iRO CM Oda : So do you have a message for your special lady?
iRO CM Oda : or are you waiting for her to be here
Paul WaIker : She won't be able to see it, she's at work
Paul WaIker : I'm just gonna do it the old fashioned way and do it in person
iRO CM Oda : nice!
Paul WaIker : And this is my quitting speach as well lol
iRO CM Oda : Good luck, Paul.
Paul WaIker : I promised this ranger that if he can level to 150 in 2 months
Paul WaIker : I'll buy him something nice
Paul WaIker : Nah, One of these days in the coming months
Paul WaIker : i'm going to make a lot of people very happy for a short period of tim
Paul WaIker : Time*
Paul WaIker : mostly close friends
iRO CM Oda : Very cool!
Paul WaIker : As a way of giving back

iRO CM Oda : What would you say was your favorite part of the game?
Paul WaIker : At the peak of my enjoyment?
iRO CM Oda : yeah
Paul WaIker : Duoing nameless 3 with a high wizard
Paul WaIker : I was the AB
Paul WaIker : er
Paul WaIker : High Prist
Paul WaIker : Priest*
iRO CM Oda : nice, gotta represent priests out there
Paul WaIker : The amount of work to make the gearset was difficult, but
Paul WaIker : I managed to make a +7 evil holy robe
Paul WaIker : before there was safe certs and the enriched
Paul WaIker : And slotting was like .... a low chance, and upgrading even riskier
Paul WaIker : Tanking for days with the teddy
iRO CM Oda : it was rare as heck back then
Paul WaIker : What always got me going was improving myself.
Paul WaIker : i was never satisfied with my gear
Paul WaIker : I probably paid for a month of bills for you guys when i tried to
Paul WaIker : upgrade my CEB lol
iRO CM Oda : ha ha
iRO CM Oda : many thanks.
Paul WaIker : Dedication
Paul WaIker : never really got to play that chaser much
Paul WaIker : I loved the sorcerer class
iRO CM Oda : Was that your favorite class to play?
iRO CM Oda : Where was your go-to place to level it?
Paul WaIker : i have 9 of them to say that it is
Paul WaIker : well now its just the TI
Paul WaIker : But when i was leveling WilIy Wonka
Paul WaIker : i utilized a marriage to a soul linker
Paul WaIker : To give myself buffs
Paul WaIker : And soloed al2
iRO CM Oda : Yeah, can you give people hints on how to quick level a character?
Paul WaIker : I mean, I'm an old head
Paul WaIker : What i have access to, after years of playing was the result of a lot
Paul WaIker : of hard work
Paul WaIker : there really isn't a get rich quick solution
Paul WaIker : you can stumble upon oppourtunities
Paul WaIker : such as the merger of the servers, and (as the result) of being in a
Paul WaIker : guild, Do (back in the day) bios stairs parties with the HWIZ
iRO CM Oda : That was a v. popular thing back in the day
Paul WaIker : you accumulated a lot of KK cards that (were) worth billions upon merg
Paul WaIker : merger*
Paul WaIker : You could upgrade, (which i was addicted to)
Paul WaIker : nothing quite like repeated motions to drive a man crazy
iRO CM Oda : yeah
Paul WaIker : lol
Paul WaIker : i loved to upgrade and enchant
Paul WaIker : no lie
iRO CM Oda : even one level of upgrade can make a big difference
Paul WaIker : Depends, usually has to do with card effects and also possible outcome
iRO CM Oda : well, compared to most games
Paul WaIker : Well if you use it in a woe setting, it might look nice,
Paul WaIker : but a thanatos will shred you
. HerSheYs. : hello?
. HerSheYs. : can i ask? :D
iRO CM Oda : Hey there HerSheY
Paul WaIker : You already did
. HerSheYs. : how can i go to bio 2? xD Paul WaIker : Buy a dungeon teleport scroll from the handy kafra shop button
Paul WaIker : Located at the top right of your screen
. HerSheYs. : i was planning to hunt rouge treasure
Paul WaIker : Eh eh oda? not a bad plug
iRO CM Oda : Pretty good!
iRO CM Oda : *hands you a bag of money*
Chuchie : lol
iRO CM Oda : *winks*
iRO CM Oda : Thank you for your time Paul! Is there any last thing you'd like to sa
iRO CM Oda : say?
Paul WaIker : Yeah, I hope that if (and when) i come back, you'll still be runnin th
iRO CM Oda : All of us on the team want to have RO stick around for a long time
Paul WaIker : the gig, and to all the people i've known through the years
Paul WaIker : thanks for the memories
Paul WaIker : And for everyone else
Paul WaIker : So long, and thanks for the fish
iRO CM Oda : Thank you again and congrats Paul.