Latest / For Azeroth!: A World of Warcraft Podcast / Eve Ascension: Interview with Olimoley

Transcript

Eve Ascension: Interview with Olimoley · For Azeroth!: A World of Warcraft Podcast

• 0:00
  Hi, thanks for tuning into this very special episode of Four
• 0:03
  Azeroth. I'm Sean, and I'm here today
• 0:05
  with Olivia Wong from Team Liquid.
• 0:08
  And we're going to talk about the EVE Ascension Tournament.
• 0:11
  Olivia, thanks for joining us today.
• 0:13
  Thank you for having me. So let's jump right into it, the
• 0:16
  EVE Ascension tournament. Can you talk about what it is
• 0:19
  and how it was initially founded?
• 0:21
  Yeah. So EVE Ascension is Team
• 0:24
  Liquid's game agnostic tournament series, which we have
• 0:29
  for marginalized genders. So basically what that means is
• 0:33
  that we make these events exclusively for anybody of a
• 0:37
  marginalized gender to participate in and basically
• 0:42
  earn some prize pool money and have that safe space elevate
• 0:47
  their skills. Excellent.
• 0:49
  I love that. It's, I think it's something
• 0:51
  that that that the community desperately needed.
• 0:53
  How have you noticed? How has the community response
• 0:56
  been to the event? It, it typically ranges.
• 1:00
  So because we jumped from game to game.
• 1:05
  So obviously Eve Ascension started with a Valorant
• 1:08
  tournament and then we moved on to Wow and this year we are also
• 1:11
  doing well again. It, it can really range because
• 1:15
  obviously when we first hosted our events in Wow, we had a, a
• 1:23
  natural tweak go out from Wowhead announcing the event,
• 1:27
  discussing what it is. And the response from that tweet
• 1:32
  was a little bit visceral, if if putting it lightly.
• 1:37
  And then we also saw amazingly is that there was a lot of folks
• 1:43
  coming to defend the event saying this is what we needed,
• 1:47
  this is what the community needs.
• 1:48
  And this is a, a great thing for Wow in general.
• 1:52
  And So what we're seeing is that, you know, as much as
• 1:56
  people want to tear it down, we're we also are seeing a lot
• 2:00
  of support for IT and people saying that this is something
• 2:02
  that can really help out the scene.
• 2:06
  Yeah, it's, it's good to see those loud voices that come to
• 2:10
  the defense of the initiative, I think because it is needed.
• 2:14
  And even if, even if you're somebody who's watching this and
• 2:16
  you don't realize that it's needed, if you think to
• 2:18
  yourself, I've never experienced this, then you're not the target
• 2:22
  audience. It's not necessarily for you,
• 2:25
  it's for the people that do experience this kind of stuff on
• 2:27
  a regular daily basis. So massive shadow to Team Liquid
• 2:31
  for putting it together over the over the three years that it's
• 2:35
  been running. How has it evolved starting with
• 2:37
  Valorant and then rolling into Warcraft?
• 2:39
  Yeah. So I think that as it's evolved
• 2:43
  like over the years, we've also just learned a lot from running
• 2:46
  the event. We're also getting a better
• 2:50
  understanding of what the marginalized gender community
• 2:53
  wants and needs from the E sports base.
• 2:56
  So for example, when we first started out, we were focusing on
• 3:00
  a charity aspect of it and less so on the E sports and
• 3:05
  competitive side. And what we were learning and
• 3:08
  seeing as we went on is that while the charity aspect is
• 3:12
  great, what we what the space needs is actual high level
• 3:16
  competition where people can learn, practice, get that
• 3:20
  experience so they can actually move on to, you know, bigger
• 3:24
  tournaments, bigger audiences and basically go into bigger
• 3:26
  lands. So we realized, OK, what we need
• 3:30
  to change the tournament to is something where people can learn
• 3:34
  to basically use it as a stepping stone onto elevated
• 3:37
  things. For example, Game Changer in
• 3:40
  Valorant shouldn't be the final step.
• 3:44
  It should be moving on from game changers to development
• 3:48
  tournament circuit. So that's what we would like to
• 3:52
  do with the ascension, basically be that stepping stone so folks
• 3:56
  can actually move on to the next step, not be the last step.
• 4:01
  I love that this question isn't on our list, but it just came to
• 4:04
  me as you were giving that extremely well thought I would
• 4:07
  answer. Have you seen anybody who got
• 4:10
  their start or got their first like real shot on the EVE
• 4:13
  Ascension tournament? Make that next step?
• 4:15
  Do you have any? Like I don't want to use the
• 4:17
  term success stories but I guess that's the only thing I could
• 4:19
  think of. Well, I've, I've seen a lot
• 4:22
  where I've seen in the past Eve ascensions where we've had our,
• 4:28
  because not only do we hope to employ like a stepping stone for
• 4:34
  the players, we also like to do it for the talent, for the
• 4:38
  behind the scenes staff. When we try to make sure that
• 4:39
  80% of the behind the scenes staff is a marginalized gender
• 4:42
  so they can gain that experience as well.
• 4:44
  So what we've, what I've seen is that people that have worked an
• 4:49
  EVE ascension in the past, whether they be talent OR behind
• 4:52
  the scene, have moved on to other jobs that, that are in the
• 4:56
  larger scene. So they've gone to higher, not
• 5:00
  higher, but I would say like bigger tournaments, they've like
• 5:04
  casted those or they've gone into different, different jobs
• 5:09
  within the E sports space. So like, I'm, I'm glad that we
• 5:11
  are able to basically be a part of their resume, be a part of
• 5:15
  their like experiences. So they learned, growed and
• 5:18
  moved on to greater things. And I also think that what we
• 5:22
  saw from Eva Sentient last year with the Wow Mythic plus Dunges
• 5:26
  is that people were seeing, Hey, I can do this.
• 5:29
  I can actually push really big keys.
• 5:32
  And we're, we're seeing that like, hey, maybe they're gaining
• 5:35
  that confidence to actually qualify for MDI.
• 5:40
  Yeah, that's excellent. And, and it is to when you watch
• 5:43
  the tournament, it's it's wild. I mean, they're all far more
• 5:46
  skilled than I ever will be at Warcraft, but it's, it's great.
• 5:50
  Me too, don't worry. Me too.
• 5:52
  Well, we'll be a team together then.
• 5:55
  Right, exactly. I one more question before we go
• 5:59
  back to the the list of ones. If somebody wants to get
• 6:02
  involved with Eve Ascension either behind the scenes or you
• 6:05
  know, as an adjacent or volunteer or something, is there
• 6:08
  a way that they can do that? How would they reach out?
• 6:10
  That's a great question because I am actually planning, I don't
• 6:14
  know if depending on when this broadcast airs, I'm actually
• 6:17
  planning to release like, you know, like a, a Google form
• 6:21
  that's basically like, hey, if you're interested in in like
• 6:24
  working the Eve ascension events, here's how you can get
• 6:27
  involved and things like that. I think it really kind of
• 6:30
  depends on the game that we do for the the year.
• 6:35
  I don't want to like say give a, a definite answer of how that
• 6:38
  will be because we might change games and we might go to
• 6:41
  different areas. So like, it's really hard to
• 6:44
  say, hey, this is the one exact way, but I'll always try to make
• 6:48
  sure that we moving forward, always have a, an open call for
• 6:52
  anybody that wants to get involved even behind the scenes.
• 6:56
  OK, cool. I like that.
• 6:57
  And we're all about synergy, so we'll let you you let me know
• 7:00
  when you need this to air and I'll make sure it airs so it
• 7:03
  syncs up with that form for you. OK.
• 7:05
  Thank you. Yeah, no problem.
• 7:08
  So all right, we're going to switch skiers here a little bit.
• 7:10
  We're going to talk about this year's EVE Ascension tournament,
• 7:13
  which is happening, as you mentioned, in World of Warcraft
• 7:15
  in a Mythic plus great push style event where four teams
• 7:20
  that are selected from the qualifiers will compete in a one
• 7:24
  day event and see how high they can push their four different
• 7:28
  keys in. Yes, six hours to push 4
• 7:31
  dungeons, so about an hour and a half per with a 15 minute break.
• 7:34
  This is the same format that you used last year.
• 7:37
  Do you know what was the highest key level completed in the
• 7:40
  history of the event? Yes, for last year we had a + 29
• 7:47
  on under wrap with the affixes of fortified, volcanic and
• 7:50
  spiteful. So plus 29.
• 7:53
  That's crazy. And we've qualifiers are are
• 7:57
  already underway right now and we're we're seeing keys that are
• 8:01
  getting timed right now in the plus 18 range.
• 8:05
  So that's that's pretty exciting stuff.
• 8:08
  And the registration for qualify for.
• 8:11
  The registration ends on June 12th.
• 8:15
  Yeah, it ends right when the qualifiers end.
• 8:17
  So like if anybody's interested in in getting involved and they,
• 8:21
  they are worried that hey, maybe the qualifiers are happening
• 8:24
  right now, can I not participate?
• 8:26
  You still can you, you just need to do a bit of a catch up to get
• 8:29
  more keys in. But you're you're always welcome
• 8:32
  to participate while the qualifiers are going on.
• 8:35
  Perfect. And how do we register for this
• 8:37
  year's Eve Ascension Tournament? Yeah.
• 8:39
  So all the registration, all the rules and all the information is
• 8:43
  available on Raider IO, which is our partner for this event.
• 8:47
  Perfect perfect. We are big Raider IO fans around
• 8:50
  here. Absolutely.
• 8:51
  Me too. Yeah, they're they're great.
• 8:54
  We we stand them. OK, so IA little personal
• 8:57
  question here. My favorite part of the
• 8:59
  tournament is the bounties where it's like fun little mini
• 9:03
  challenges within the game. I have to ask who gets to decide
• 9:07
  what the bounties are going to be and is it the most fun job in
• 9:11
  the Eve Ascension tournament? Oh, it, it obviously has to
• 9:14
  because like you, you look at what's fun things you can come
• 9:19
  up with with the bounties and what, what kind of crazy things
• 9:22
  can you make the, the participants do?
• 9:25
  So like how we did it last year and the, the behind the scenes
• 9:32
  staff, the admin team basically looked at what kind of mixture
• 9:37
  would we want? And so they were thinking, oh,
• 9:40
  we wanted a mixture of things that they could do and
• 9:43
  accomplish while they're just naturally running the dungeon.
• 9:46
  And then we wanted things where they would have to go out of
• 9:49
  their way to get the bounty completed.
• 9:51
  So like, for example, fish face was one of our bounties, you
• 9:56
  know, kill fish face. And so that's, that's not a,
• 10:00
  that's not a boss that you naturally go to within that
• 10:03
  dungeon. You know, you would go have to
• 10:04
  clearly go out of your way and consider, you know, that this is
• 10:07
  a a great push style where you're obviously timed.
• 10:11
  You would have to consider, OK, where do we add that into our
• 10:14
  our strategy? Or should we just like complete
• 10:16
  all the nudges first really fast and then go back and try to do
• 10:18
  this bounty. So we were looking at like fun
• 10:21
  ways we could do the do that. Yeah, I love it.
• 10:25
  It's it really adds a nice it gives the casters something fun
• 10:29
  to talk about and I would just love to be in the room as the
• 10:31
  teams are like disgusting, like OK, do we go get fish face?
• 10:34
  Do we do we make that move? We go.
• 10:36
  Yeah, it adds a whole element of strategy to their plans.
• 10:40
  And plus, you know, because they don't get the keys until 30
• 10:43
  minutes before the event starts, they really have to like, think
• 10:47
  on their toes and what they want to do.
• 10:49
  Yeah, it's perfect. It's great.
• 10:51
  I love it. Please, more bounties.
• 10:52
  We love them of. Course.
• 10:55
  Excellent Olivia Eva Sentient has achieved a lot in the very
• 11:00
  short time that it's been around.
• 11:01
  What more would you like to achieve with the program?
• 11:06
  So I think that with Eva sentient, excuse me, I would
• 11:12
  really just like it for to continue.
• 11:15
  I would also love for people to not treat it as, to be frank,
• 11:21
  like, oh, this is just a charity thing that we have to do.
• 11:25
  This is something that we're obligated to do or something
• 11:28
  that we, you know, it's just to like as a, as a pity thing.
• 11:35
  I would say like this is none of that.
• 11:37
  What we really want to do is just give people the confidence
• 11:40
  to say, hey, you can compete at an E sports level, you can
• 11:44
  compete at a high level and you have that in you.
• 11:47
  You don't need anybody else, anybody else to tell you that
• 11:50
  you can't do it. You just have to go and do it.
• 11:53
  And we want to provide that space for you to do that.
• 11:56
  Love that. That is a great answer.
• 11:57
  That's the best answer I think I could have hoped to have for
• 12:00
  that question. Thank you so much for that.
• 12:02
  That is incredible. Olivia the On the day of the
• 12:08
  tournament, is there anything you're especially excited to
• 12:10
  see? I'm just really excited to see
• 12:13
  that the game, the tournament continue.
• 12:16
  I'm really interested in seeing what people will do with the
• 12:19
  bounties that we come up with, and I'm really excited to see
• 12:23
  who we get to qualify and what kind of funny team names that
• 12:27
  they're gonna come up with. It's gonna be great.
• 12:30
  It's gonna be great. I'm very excited.
• 12:32
  What day is the final tournament going to happen and where can we
• 12:37
  watch it? Yeah, so Eve Ascension will
• 12:39
  happen on June 29th. It'll start at 9:00 AM Pacific
• 12:45
  and you can watch it on Twitch TV slash Team Liquid.
• 12:49
  Excellent, Olivia, sincerely, from the bottom of my heart,
• 12:52
  thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to to have
• 12:55
  this talk with us and to talk with Eve Ascension and for
• 12:57
  everything you do at Team Liquid and within the program.
• 13:00
  Oh, no problem. Thank you so much.
• 13:02
  Is there anybody you would like to give a shout out to?
• 13:04
  Yeah, first firmwares. I want to thank the community
• 13:08
  for just allowing us to be here to actually participate and for
• 13:13
  watching the events. I also want to thank Alienware
• 13:17
  for being the presenting sponsor, the ones that are
• 13:19
  driving this initiative and are looking to make a better change
• 13:22
  within the E sports space. So thank you Alienware, and
• 13:26
  thank you for Raider IO for really being really great
• 13:30
  partners and assisting with the event itself.
• 13:33
  Excellent. And for all of our listeners and
• 13:34
  viewers, thank you for hanging out with us in this for Azeroth
• 13:38
  exclusive interview with Olivia Wong from Team Liquid.
• 13:42
  And special thanks to everybody at Raider IO and Team Liquid for
• 13:45
  the EVE Ascension Tournament. And we'll see all of you in
• 13:48
  Twitch chat.