Latest / Azeroth With Attitude / Ep. 16 - Special Guest Stef Sanjati Joins Us

Transcript

Ep. 16 - Special Guest Stef Sanjati Joins Us · Azeroth With Attitude

• 0:00
  Speaker A: Foreign.
• 0:04
  Speaker B: With attitudes. Welcome everyone to the next episode of Azeroth With Attitude. My name is 8bit Dylan.
• 0:16
  Speaker A: Oh, and my name is Steph Sonyatti. Hi. I'm here today.
• 0:19
  Speaker B: Yes, we have a special guest. Art, sadly, could not make it today. So we do have a special guest. And Stephen, Steph was like, literally at the top of both of our lists. We, like, we need Steph on the pod. So we are so excited to have you here.
• 0:36
  Speaker A: Well, I'm very pleased to be here.
• 0:39
  Speaker B: Yes.
• 0:39
  Speaker A: Thank you for having me.
• 0:40
  Speaker B: Of course, for those that don't know, Steph is a content creator cosplayer all around bad bitch in the World of Warcraft scene. So, like, truly, it is an honor and I can't wait to ask you so many questions about your thoughts on World of Warcraft.
• 0:58
  Speaker A: I have a lot of those and I can't wait. So many. I have so many. I can't wait either.
• 1:04
  Speaker B: So let's maybe start off with a hot topic because I know people will want to know. Like, we're obviously going to get into, like the midnight of it all. We're going to talk about, you know, mythic and all that jazz. But I need to know the most important question. Who is the most mother of all mothers to you in World of Warcraft?
• 1:26
  Speaker A: This is hard. Okay, you know what? Oh,
• 1:34
  Speaker B: it's tough. There's a lot of them.
• 1:36
  Speaker A: There's so many and they're so wonderful. Like, all of them have. I can't. Okay, you know what? I'm gonna have to pick one. The one that's coming to mind for me so much right now, I just gotta lean in is Tiranda. Actually, I love. Oh, I love her. I feel like she's got a bit of softness. She's got the glamour, she's got anger. She's got some, you know, viciousness she can bring out. I've loved her since Warcraft 3. I like. I like her and Malfurion. They're adorable. I think Tyranda is mother right now for me, even though she hasn't been doing anything for like two expansions.
• 2:04
  Speaker B: No, I live for that. Yeah, she. She ranked pretty high on our Mother Olympics that we did previous in the season. So I'm glad to hear that, though. Tiranda. We need more Toronto. One thing that Art and I love about Tiranda is she actually represents what I would think the elves should actually be like, like that. Because elves, in my mind, they're like these. They're thousands and thousands of years old. So they should be like, be Very resentful and angry, and they're, like, stewing in their emotions for years. And Toronto's very.
• 2:37
  Speaker A: That she's like, I love that.
• 2:38
  Speaker B: She's like, no, I hate all of you and I'm gonna yell at you from my porch.
• 2:42
  Speaker A: Like, I like that she's not, like, perfect in terms of, like, her emotional control. And, like, she's got. I feel like she's got a lot of range as a character. Yeah. And I feel like that's been represented well, too, across the years, because, as well, you know, when night elves were introduced, they were very matriarchal, and I feel like they've kind of maintained that. And I just hope that when we do get more night elves back in the story that Tyrande is still. Because Chandras has kind of taken over a little bit. And I like Chandras. Nothing against Chandras, but Sharonda just has. She's been marinating a long time. She's got a lot of flavor. You know what I mean? I like her.
• 3:15
  Speaker B: Speaking of Warcraft 3, I finally have bit the bullet and have started doing some Warcraft 3.
• 3:23
  Speaker A: I am so glad to hear that.
• 3:24
  Speaker B: I've never played it.
• 3:26
  Speaker A: Oh, my gosh.
• 3:27
  Speaker B: It's been so much fun.
• 3:29
  Speaker A: You are in for a treat. It is a great game.
• 3:32
  Speaker B: It is. I was shocked. I was streaming it last week or maybe two weeks ago, and I only have access to, like, obviously the remastered version, but they allow you to bump the. The graphics back to the original. So I was like, let's do that. I played the prologue with the remaster, but I was like, I want to see what this game was like. Like, back in the day. It's so fierce.
• 4:00
  Speaker A: I know.
• 4:01
  Speaker B: It's so good. I'm at the part where Arthas has gone truly batshit crazy in Northrend and is forcing every. He just. I. I just did the mission where you burned all the ships.
• 4:17
  Speaker A: Ah, that's a turning point. As. As my boyfriend calls it. That's when he goes, bad Arth. Yeah, Bad Arth.
• 4:23
  Speaker B: Yeah, Bad Arth.
• 4:25
  Speaker A: I. You're still so early in the campaigns, though. Like, there. It's one of eight campaigns or nine. I think there might be a bonus. They're so good. They set up World of Warcraft so well. Have you played any classic wow. Like, I don't actually know your wow history specifically.
• 4:38
  Speaker B: Yeah, we'll give a little debrief. So I started playing wow around Legion. That's like. I did play, like, back in the day when I was, like, a kid, but we couldn't afford a subscription. So it was mostly, like, me running around Teldrassil, like, for, like, the one month that we could subscribe.
• 4:59
  Speaker A: Right.
• 5:00
  Speaker B: And that was pretty much it. And I think that was during, like, cataclysm. And then I never played again up until Legion when I started making content online. And Legion was just like. It gripped me. And I have just been playing WoW ever since. Incredible is. Correct me if I'm wrong, is Warlords of Drainer before Legion or after Legion?
• 5:22
  Speaker A: It's just before Legion.
• 5:24
  Speaker B: Okay. So, yeah, I remember hearing about Warlords of Draenor and people complaining about it. And then Legion started up and I was like, I kind of want to see what this is all about. And been playing it ever since and love it. Love the story, love the lore. Like, I already know what happens in, like, Warcraft 3, but I was like, I want to experience this myself and, like, see all the little nuances. And I've since gone back and have tried classic and. And tried hardcore. It's not my tea.
• 5:57
  Speaker A: I get is fun. Not for everyone.
• 6:00
  Speaker B: Yeah, it is fun. And it was more fun when I joined a guild. So I was part of this guild that was kind of taking me under their wing and teaching me all the bells and whistles about it. And I do like classic, especially, like, the quests in Classic because they just like, we've talked about this on the pod a bit, but people think wow takes itself so seriously when it really doesn't. And there are so many, like, funny, silly, campy quests in Classic. Wow. There are some that are very serious and dark and like, like, depressing. But for the most part, it's like, very silly, campy. And I enjoyed that. And I. It was cool to see, like, the evolution from classic to, like, what we have now. How about you? What's your wow journey like?
• 6:49
  Speaker A: Ooh, my wow journey is extensive and a lot I've been playing since it released. I've been playing Warcraft. Like, I played Warcraft 2 when I was. I don't even know, like, four. I don't know. I wasn't really playing. I watched my brother play it and I was terrified of the orcs who have since become my. My favorite race to play. So that's been an exciting journey over 30 years.
• 7:10
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 7:11
  Speaker A: But I started WOW in 2004 when it launched. I played on my brother's account and it. What happened was he would get home from school before me because he was older, and then I'd log into the account and kick him off and he'd have to wait in the queue, which if anybody was playing back then, you know, that was like two hours. Sometimes you were waiting to get into the servers. It was a pain in the butt. So finally my parents got me my own account. So I've been playing since original classic, like vanilla. And it's been, I don't even. What is how many years? 22 years, I guess it's 20, 26. Right. So 22 years. And I will play until the service close, which hopefully is never, if I'm being honest. I love it so much. It's been with me my entire life. I like Warcraft IP and the art style and the lore and everything I feel is so like intertwined with me. Even when I wasn't doing gaming content creation, it was still a really big focus of mine personally. So it's always been very core for me for sure.
• 8:08
  Speaker B: Hell yeah. So I love that you have this journey with like orcs and you like went from like not liking them to like all of a sudden liking them. Can I ask, what was the tipping point? Like, what about Oryx, where you were like, oh, that's the one.
• 8:28
  Speaker A: So I think originally for me it was the lore, right? Because my first exposure to them was Warcraft 2. I was really little. I had no media litters. Of course I didn't, I was like five. And so I didn't really know how to interpret. Like this invading force is actually under the control of the burning leech. Like, I didn't get it, obviously. I just saw a big scary green monster with scary voice. But when I was a bit older and I played through Warcraft 3, like, I'm talking maybe nine, eight, nine years old, and I played through like Thrall's campaign and then the founding of Durotar, which I won't spoil for you, even though you probably already know what happens.
• 8:58
  Speaker B: I'm excited.
• 8:58
  Speaker A: It's just the gentleness of like, Thrall as a character and just the sincerity of like, they were striving for something and the survival of it really. Like, I don't know, it was compelling to me as a kid. It still is. And then what really sold me on the Horde? This is more of like an in hindsight, psychological analysis of myself as a kid. But when I was young, you know, I grew up queer and like very isolated in a small town. And the Horde being a group of exiles that really banded together like a found family narrative, honestly, just resonated with me a lot. I was used to being treated poorly by people, people Just based on judgment and assumption. So playing a Forsaken or an Orc resonated with me a lot more than like a human.
• 9:42
  Speaker B: Yeah, makes sense.
• 9:43
  Speaker A: So that's, that's where it really, like, locked in for me. And I've been Horde. Like, I've played Alliance characters, but I am 100 horde at heart. I've got a Horde tattoo. That was my first tattoo, actually. No, I'm a horn girly. Yes. It's on the back of my neck. You can't ever see it unless my hair's up, but that's there.
• 9:59
  Speaker B: Sick. I agree. I have. I've always been like a horror player. I'm right there with you. For me it was the Forsaken. I was just like, oh. I just love like a damaged, like traumatic, like, character to play. And so for me, when I. My first character that I really made, her name is Necrophilis. All my characters have like terrible, ugly, nasty, foul names.
• 10:26
  Speaker A: You know, it's a, it's. I, I admire it. Go for it.
• 10:31
  Speaker B: Necrophilis. And in my head she was like this old woman that's undead. That's why her name's Phyllis. And yeah, it's. Ever since then I've just been loving the undead and I like their trajectory and their story and I hope we get more of like what they're up to since the Desolate Council.
• 10:50
  Speaker A: But I agree.
• 10:52
  Speaker B: I am so excited playing Warcraft 3 though, seeing that prologue where you play as. I think it's thrall that you're playing as in that and seeing like these orcs help these trolls and you can start seeing like how these like little alliances are going to start forming between like all the different races of the Horde.
• 11:11
  Speaker A: I'm like, ah, yeah.
• 11:13
  Speaker B: I'm like fangirling over here. It's like their digital character still. And get a grip.
• 11:18
  Speaker A: No, don't get a grip. Let it go. Let it go. I listen. Oh, man. The thing I loved about Warcraft, I think was, you know, like I grew up watching Lord of the Rings and stuff too. Like, traditional fantasy was always there, but something I learned really early on because I would hyper fixate and rewatch the World of Warcraft Collector's Edition DVD behind the scenes stuff nonstop on repeat.
• 11:38
  Speaker B: Oh.
• 11:39
  Speaker A: Was like the philosophy with Warcraft races was inverting the stereotype in traditional fantasy or D and D. So like the dark elves would be the night elves and they're these very like stoic, honorable, like traditionalist people instead of maybe what they usually were, so. Orcs of course, followed suit with that. You got like the super racist humans in Warcraft 3. I don't know if you've got there yet. Sorry. Yeah, but there's a lot of those like inversions of fantasy tropes and I think that's what makes it feel so exciting and compelling. Even like 20 years later on Warcraft 3 is it still feels different even from what we have now in modern. Wow. I don't know. It's just great. It's a great game.
• 12:16
  Speaker B: Yeah, I know, it really is. And I know that a lot of like incels will say that, like, where's my war in Warcraft? And yeah, I get it. Yeah, whatever. But it's. War can mean so many different things and. No, I'm just so excited to see like, especially like this is the first time to my knowledge, that any MMORPG has ever tried to do a trilogy in their expansions. Maybe Final Fantasy 14 and Guild Wars 2 in the sense they have like this ever arching narrative with the same characters. But this is like a contained three expansion arc story. So I'm very excited to see what we get in like part three of this in the Last Titan. And correct me if I'm wrong, because you have more knowledge with. Wow. Are the cycles for these expansions shorter?
• 13:06
  Speaker A: Because they are.
• 13:08
  Speaker B: It feels like we're getting them quickly. Like.
• 13:10
  Speaker A: Yes.
• 13:11
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 13:12
  Speaker A: I remember when they, when it was announced, they specifically said that they were going to be delivered faster than before. And so we've had what I think a new patch, like whether it was a 05, a 0.7 or a 0.12, whatever, every like eight weeks, which is very fast because when you consider, I think, Warlords of Draynor, the end or even, yeah, it was Warlords of Drain or the. I think the last patch lasted almost. It was like 18 months of no new content, which was part of why people were complaining back then. But I think what they've figured out is I, I like the, the speed of what they're bringing out. I feel like there's always something to look forward to.
• 13:48
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 13:48
  Speaker A: And the pace of the story, I think for myself I found satisfying. I think the Midnight campaign. I really liked it. I really liked it.
• 14:01
  Speaker B: Okay.
• 14:02
  Speaker A: Okay. I think, I think I've seen, I've seen some like, different takes on the Internet and I feel like when we are 21, 22 year lore fanatics, we have to remember that not all of the storytelling and writing and questing is designed for us. It's also designed for people that don't know it already. So I. I think it's been. I think. I think it's been great. I've really liked it.
• 14:24
  Speaker B: No, I'm right there with you because I'm like, okay, all of you nasty little piggies that have a lot to say about the World of Warcraft story. Okay, listen here, because this is the thing about storytelling is you can't answer every question, otherwise there's, like, nothing to look forward to. So everyone's constantly like, what? Where's the Horde? Where is the Alliance? Like, where is. And mind you, this story is taking place in, like, the span of a week. And sure, yes, we do have portals that allow people to teleport wherever really quickly, but I don't think we have portals that let you transport entire armies in the span of like, an hour. Maybe we do.
• 15:09
  Speaker A: I don't know. No, I don't know. I like. Not like. The thing is, I think what people. What folks should try to remember is that if we answer every single storytelling question with the most convenient and logical response, it's going to be boring. If we just teleport the entire army of the Horde in the alliance to every problem immediately, it's going to be solved. There's never going to be any tension. If we all just get along because we understand that the greater good is at stake and that we have to work together and there's no point fighting, then there's not going to be any story. And the thing is, too, like, we have to look at reality. We don't do that on Earth. We aren't that smart. Like, as a species, we're not as collaborative as we should be, and neither would that be happening in. In fiction. So I think. I think that there's a lot that folks can say when they're consuming a story, but when you're writing one, it's a lot more complicated and the goals are different. And until you've been on the other side of that seat, I feel like there's only so much that you can perceive about why the stories are written the way they are.
• 16:08
  Speaker B: No, that. That makes a lot of sense. Speaking of, like, the. Because you've been with WOW for so long, and I know that you play a holy priest at a very high level. Have you. Have you always played a holy priest?
• 16:22
  Speaker A: No, actually I only swapped to Holy Priest second season of the War Within.
• 16:28
  Speaker B: Oh, wow. Okay.
• 16:30
  Speaker A: Prior to that, I was a rogue main from Burning Crusade all the way to the War within season one. An outlaw rogue or combat rogue prior to Outlaw Being a thing. I was. Yeah. I. She's the oldest character in my account. I made her when I was 11. I'm 30. So she's been. She's here. She's been, you know, she's got an id, she can vote, she can do whatever. Yeah, yeah. So the thing was, like, I wasn't engaging in competitive content at all. Yeah. Until my first Mythic plus dungeons that I actually learned to do were Dragonflight season three.
• 17:07
  Speaker B: Okay.
• 17:07
  Speaker A: Prior to that, I considered myself a hardcore player, but I never did anything competitive. I didn't think I was good enough, quote unquote, for, like, Mythic plus or even Heroic Raid or let alone anything beyond that. And so I would play for, like, a lot of hours, but I was mostly collecting and questing and achievement hunting. And that was really. That was. That was cool. Like, I enjoyed that.
• 17:27
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 17:27
  Speaker A: But it was actually. I've been an avid gamer my entire life, but when I met my boyfriend, he had a different background for me. So he had more background in, like, sports and, like, just a different perspective on the world, of course, because he's got. And he showed me, I guess he kind of encouraged me towards that more challenging stuff. And he's like, you've been playing this game so long, you can do this. And over, I think, three or four seasons now, we went from, like, I didn't. I wouldn't touch it to like, read leading, heroic and high keys for me. You know, I'm not. I. I'm not 0.1%.
• 18:01
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 18:01
  Speaker A: But I've been 1% and, like, that makes me happy. I just like competing with myself every season to try to be better than I was the previous. And Holy Priest since I started playing, it just kind of like it sits right in my brain. There's something about it that's just like, yeah, this feels very natural to me. So it's been like three season. Seasons of Holy Priest.
• 18:19
  Speaker B: Yeah. And you. You kill it. You are fun to watch on stream. You're like, yeah. You're like, you do a very good job. And any viewers, if you want to go check out stuff, please go check out their Twitch channel. But Stefan does a very good job of, like, kind of explaining what you're doing while you're doing it or answering questions. Like, you'll be doing this, like, high stress, high anxiety, like, key. And you'll just be like. Like, I'm. Like, you are so chill and I'm over here, like.
• 18:51
  Speaker A: Like, I'm really glad you perceive me that way because I do freak out. Like, I think. I think I've been working on it, right, Because I think the thing that's most important in higher keys, and I think it's like, if you maintain composure and you stay calm, you know what your tools do, and you know how to react to things, then you can. You can get. You get a lot more done than if you panic. Right? But that's true of, like, any kind of challenging thing in life at all is, yeah, if you can remain composed and, like, that will help, but that takes practice. Like, my first season of Mythic Plus, I was struggling in what are now the equivalent of, like, tens, and I was, like, freaking out, and I was definitely, at the time, I don't know if I'd say, being carried, but I was being guided through it by players that were more knowledgeable than me, and I learned from them. And I think that's really fun, too, is, like, if you're struggling in keys number one, try to take deep breaths and stay calm through it. You get to learn the damage profiles. Now, this is. As a healer. You get to learn the damage profiles of each dungeon, and then you kind of know what to expect. You get into, like, a flow state with it. It's really nice. Yeah. But also play with people that are better than you and learn from them and accept that you might not know. Like, there's so much that I don't know, and I'm always looking to people that are performing, you know, at higher levels than myself to learn more and improve and then feel more confident going into those higher levels of gameplay rather than what I used to do as a. A less competitive player was I would get really anxious about being compared to them or being in their presence. Like, I'm not worthy to play with these people. Right. And it would kind of just. I. You can't learn if you're kind of putting yourself in that box. Right? So I love keys. I could talk about keys all day. Yeah, you could do it on stream. I don't know.
• 20:32
  Speaker B: Yeah, I. Listen, I tried keys. They were cute. I did my. I did my plus 10. Okay, listen, this was crazy. This is crazy. I've never done a key. Literally never done a key a day in my life. And one of my viewers was like, hey, we should probably do a plus 10 so you can get your Mythic vault slot. And I was like, okay, but I've never done a key before. So we did a plus two. Was pretty good. Wasn't bad at all. Immediately jumped to a plus 10, which was at the Academy Dragonflight Academy.
• 21:09
  Speaker A: That dungeon is the girl. What. What's your role?
• 21:15
  Speaker B: I was a frost mage.
• 21:16
  Speaker A: Okay. Okay.
• 21:18
  Speaker B: I sat there and I felt like I was just bent over and, um, I was just. They just had their way with me because I had no idea what I was doing. And listen, listen, listen. It got better. We did it. We did a. Another plus 10. We did the. My Sarah Caverns.
• 21:38
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 21:38
  Speaker B: And I was able to complete that not on time, but I did got my vault slot. But I was like, okay, this was cute. I would do keys again in the future. But it's. I'm learning for me, it's not like my end goal with wow.
• 21:53
  Speaker A: So, yes, totally cool.
• 21:55
  Speaker B: I. I enjoy it and I think it. It is fun to like, learn the nuances of all these different dungeons and get better at it. But I, I am learning very quickly about myself that I would much rather grind out for like, cosmetics and decor and like, other things and less about, like the gameplay aspect of it. I'm calling myself a homosexual when I play.
• 22:25
  Speaker A: Listen. No, I love all of those things. Like, the housing system is crazy.
• 22:29
  Speaker B: It is.
• 22:29
  Speaker A: First of all, did you. Okay. I don't, I don't. I feel so awkward bringing this up. Did you watch the Azeroth interiors competition?
• 22:38
  Speaker B: Yes. Yeah.
• 22:39
  Speaker A: Okay. Did you know that? Did you know that I won that?
• 22:42
  Speaker B: Yes.
• 22:43
  Speaker A: Okay. Sick. I loved it. It was so cool. It was so cool. And it was awesome too. Getting to collaborate with, like, soul. So breezy. I've watched him my entire frickin life. I don't know how long he's been making content, but as long as he's been making.
• 22:54
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 22:54
  Speaker A: And that, like, I. When housing was announced, I was like, I'm so freaking in on this. Like, get me in there.
• 22:59
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 23:00
  Speaker A: And then, like, it's just been so much better than I could have imagined.
• 23:04
  Speaker B: Yeah, it's.
• 23:05
  Speaker A: It just keeps on delivering. So, like, when it comes to collecting and housing and stuff, what is your. Like, do you have like a favorite way to build and stuff? Or what's your. What's your vibe with housing?
• 23:12
  Speaker B: So when I build. So right now I haven't touched my house since midnight because I'm trying to gather up. Because for me, I know I'm going to reposition and redecorate when I get all these new midnight items. And I was like, I would rather have a bulk of new items that I can like do a full reorganization of. But I like to tell a story with my house. So my mindset going into a build is I want someone to stumble upon My house and just walk through it, and it tells its own story based off what you're seeing. So for mine, my main house that I'm building is. It looks like an abandoned mage's house, and it's like, no one lives there anymore. So it's full of, like, cobwebs. It's, like, kind of falling apart. And when you walk through it, the first weird thing that you see are these, like, coffins that are outside. Maybe there's a story there, maybe there's not. One of them has no flowers that are left outside of it, but two of them do. You walk inside, it's very leaky. There's, like, holes in the ceiling. And you start noticing there's, like, plants weaving throughout the house. So when you go upstairs, you find a magical artifact next to a potted plant that has caused the plant to grow huge. And I have a huge, like, plant head, like a Venus fly trap head.
• 24:36
  Speaker A: That is so cool. Okay.
• 24:38
  Speaker B: And then there's vines running throughout the whole house. So you'll see, like, a hole in the wall with, like, vines just coming through. And it's like this plan has just destroyed everything.
• 24:49
  Speaker A: Incredible.
• 24:50
  Speaker B: And then in the kitchen, there is a secret bookshelf that you can open up, and you learn that this mage was toiling with some fel magic, and he had been sacrificing people to a fel portal. And there's a demon that is coming out of the fel portal, and it's the diablo rug, and it's. I gave it glowing eyes, and it's like the little wolf.
• 25:14
  Speaker A: I don't think I have that one. That's sick. Okay. Yeah, that's a smart use of that.
• 25:19
  Speaker B: Yeah. So I was like, all right, this is. It's like, a fun little thing, and I'll, like, get inspired. I'm like, oh, I can add this to add more story to the house. And then I'll probably, like, focus on that for a solid, like, hour to two hours building it.
• 25:33
  Speaker A: Oh, it just pulls you in.
• 25:34
  Speaker B: How about you?
• 25:35
  Speaker A: Okay. Well, first of all, I love the story. The environmental storytelling of it all was everything. I love that. I. I also like to take that approach where it's like. Because, you know, again, I grew up with Warcraft 3, that world editor. I spent unfathomable hours building worlds in the world editor for Warcraft 3, let alone other games. So I love getting my hands on a system like this. And my house is my Orc priest's house. Dogara. It's her home.
• 26:00
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 26:00
  Speaker A: And I built it in the alliance neighborhood. Because my guild, we. I. I let the community vote on hoarder alliance neighborhood. And I, you know, I wanted my horde neighborhood, but we got the alliance one. I accept that. What I do not accept is living in a human house. Okay, so first of all, the exterior. I took a razor. Razor windshores gazebo, like, that big orc gazebo, scaled it up huge, and then filled it with, like, rocks to make, like a. Like a. Like a boulder orc house exterior.
• 26:27
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 26:28
  Speaker A: And then the interior is, like, it's built into the inside of a cave and kind of into the cliffs side. So all of the walls and ceilings are, like, rock. I don't know how many rocks I have in there. Like, probably 500 rocks scaled and twisted and shaped in different ways. And it's just kind of like it's her. Like, it's her little sanctuary. It's her lady orc house. I like making it. I think there's a lot of rhetoric sometimes from people about orc aesthetics that it's very, like, mud hut, zug, zug. And like, okay, zug, zug, sure. But listen, don't come for my orcs. Okay. I love my orcs. So it's very orcish. But I also, you know, it's like, how would I actually live if this was, like, my culture and my architecture? And so I've got, like, a bathroom with, like, a fountain and there's flowers and, like, bottles, and it's just really sweet. The bedroom is like, you've got, like, a treasure hoard and books and, like, I just take that orcish aesthetic, and I want to make it homey and inviting and, like, as luxurious as it can be without looking like a blood elf house.
• 27:28
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 27:29
  Speaker A: Like, what. What does, like, a successful, wealthy orcish woman have in her home? Is kind of my thoughts. And then there's these sections of it that turn into, like, cave rooms that aren't necessarily built out where there's crystals and plant life all over. And I've got it built in such a way where I still need to finish this. But there's, like, passages that go off of different rooms where you can kind of go up and over the house through, like, a cave system.
• 27:58
  Speaker B: Oh, that's.
• 27:58
  Speaker A: And then back down. It's. I just love playing with that, like, level design stuff. Right. So, okay, lush, like whaling. Think whaling caverns, but with orc house in it is my vibe.
• 28:09
  Speaker B: Okay. I like this.
• 28:10
  Speaker A: If you know whaling caverns.
• 28:11
  Speaker B: Yes, yes, yes. No, that. That is a really cool Idea. I like that. I like, I like when people think of their character as like, what does. How does my character exist in this world? My husband and I did this. I think I talked about this on the pod before, but we played World of Warcraft previously together and my husband is like, not the biggest, like MMORPG person, but when we were playing, he wanted to play as an undead with this storyline that we didn't want to be undead. So we were leveling up and we were gonna, once we hit max level, do a race change and have a narrative reason of we, like found a potion and we.
• 29:01
  Speaker A: That's cool.
• 29:02
  Speaker B: You know, transitioned away from being an undead into something else and we became Zandalari Trolls.
• 29:08
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 29:09
  Speaker B: And then we promptly never played those characters again. I was like, wow, babe. So I paid for this race change for nothing.
• 29:14
  Speaker A: Oh, man. Listen, I love, like the narrative is adorable. I love that.
• 29:18
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 29:18
  Speaker A: But like, in my experience with race changes, it never, I never stay with the character after.
• 29:24
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 29:24
  Speaker A: I don't know what that is. Everybody that I know that has done a race change, unless they're like a mythic plus player that is swapped to like dwarf or night elf for the racial, the character just gets dusty. I don't know.
• 29:34
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 29:34
  Speaker A: I don't know what it is, but I love the narrative. That's great.
• 29:37
  Speaker B: Yeah. It's just so silly. Yeah. I, I. Regardless though, this, this housing system has been so sickening and I cannot wait to see what they do. I always reference. Have you ever played Wizard 101?
• 29:54
  Speaker A: No, but I remember, like as a kid, everybody talked about it.
• 29:57
  Speaker B: Yeah. So the housing system in WOW is actually very similar to the housing System in Wizard 101. There's not like a neighborhood aesthetic to it, but you do earn these items through gameplay. And then you can furnish whatever house you have with.
• 30:14
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 30:14
  Speaker B: With whatever you get. And in that, you can put your pets and your mounts as things that exist and they'll walk around your house. So I'm like, wow, I know you got to be working on this, but give me that. Because I want to put my little pets in my house and like have them do little cute things.
• 30:34
  Speaker A: So I'm 99. Sure they have confirmed that pets are happening, like for non combat, like not hunter pets, but the little collectible ones.
• 30:42
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 30:42
  Speaker A: But I would love. Yeah, I'd love to be able to like stable my wolf outside and stuff. That'd be awesome.
• 30:46
  Speaker B: That'd be so cute. Fingers are crossed. I want to transition into talking a little bit about with the entirety of Midnight you were talking about, like, you really liked the story. You really liked the aesthetic. What would you say, though, is your favorite expansion that you have played in the entirety of World of Warcraft? Because for me and our. I think one of our highest rated ones is bfa. But I'm curious what yours is.
• 31:23
  Speaker A: Okay, so first of all, I love bfa. I enjoyed every moment of it. I think BFA slander is unwarranted. Here's the thing. I think every expansion slander is unwarranted to a certain degree.
• 31:33
  Speaker B: Agreed.
• 31:33
  Speaker A: I think we always turn around later and we're like, that was actually really cool. Or, you know, when you take the time getting out of it, that was actually really great. So, first of all, I don't have a hated expansion period. I like all of them in some way, shape or form a favorite. Gosh. Okay, I'll talk about only one, but I'm gonna name like three.
• 31:53
  Speaker B: Okay, go for it.
• 31:55
  Speaker A: So Mists of Pandaria, BFA and Legion are probably my top three. Yeah, I will talk about Miss of Pandaria because. So prior to being a competitive player and when I was more of like a casual, like a collector and like all of that other stuff, I was also a role player. That was my origin with Warcraft. World of Warcraft was. I was on roleplay realms and I role played. I had the add ons. I did the whole thing. I sat in Silver Moon for, like, ever, just playing a character. I love that. So lore. Lore is really important to me. And what Mists of Pandaria did that I really liked was it. The storytelling pace was so smooth and like, it drew it out in the right ways, I feel. And then you had these moments of levity, like the font harm in the Valley of the Four Winds, I believe it was called. But then you also had this, like, very dark psychological historical, like, war story with the Shah and like Yeshiraj and like, the thing that I like the most about myths, I think in hindsight is how extremely it was misunderstood. Like when people call it Kung Fu Panda, I'm like, you didn't actually play it. You did not pay attention for a second. If you're telling me that you thought that was a joke expansion, that was probably one of the darkest stories that this game's ever done. Oh. And they managed to contrast it with so much levity and lightheartedness that you had both at the same time. And, like, that's really hard to do. So I loved Myst because I feel like the environment was gorgeous. Like, they really went to a different place with the Warcraft aesthetic. They did it really well. The Pandaren were handled with a lot of, like, I feel like, nuance and, like, introducing the monk class in a way that fit the history of the world. And, like, everything. You got more Titan lore started there with the Mogu and, like, just everything went off. The Zandalari were introduced properly. They kind of were introducing Cataclysm, but not. Not the way that they are.
• 33:53
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 33:53
  Speaker A: So it was just like. I feel like myths was like a feast. It was like. I feel like it was perfect.
• 33:59
  Speaker B: I agree.
• 33:59
  Speaker A: Except, you know, Siege of Orgrimmar lasted a long time, but that's content cadence. That's not quality. Okay. I. I wasn't a raider back then, so I didn't really care. I just had a blast playing the game. It didn't matter how long a patch lasted for me back then. I didn' just loved the world that was built by Mists so much.
• 34:18
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 34:19
  Speaker A: I miss is my top.
• 34:20
  Speaker B: I agree with you. I think miss a Pandaria, or Pandaria, however you want to say it. It was so well done in the sense that, like, and I do miss this a little bit, and I do wish we would get back to this, where there was a slight difference in the story whether you were alliance or Horde.
• 34:41
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 34:42
  Speaker B: And Pandaria did that really well, where it started off on two different trajectories, but then it did kind of meet back up to where it made sense narratively. We also got that in bfa. BFA was like, a full different storyline. But I do like where it's. It's kind of acknowledging who your character is. There's that moment at the beginning of Mists of Pandaria where your character goes on this, like, spirit journey to see your ancestors.
• 35:14
  Speaker A: I know this quest.
• 35:15
  Speaker B: Yes. And I was like, this is so fascinating based off of the race that you're playing. And, you know, when Pandaria Remix came out, I was running every single race. I was like, okay, let me see. And they didn't add anything for those other races, but it was still fun to, like, see and learn just, like, all the little details that they had added into this game. I. Yeah, I. I love Mizzen Pandaria. I. I didn't play any of the classic when it was out. I wish I would have. I heard that the classes in that game were some of the best. Like, that's.
• 35:54
  Speaker A: I've heard that as well.
• 35:56
  Speaker B: Like, a lot of people, like, love, like, how mages were in Pandaria and Hunters and, like, some of the other like classes.
• 36:04
  Speaker A: I've heard that, but I didn't play at that. At like an awareness of that degree at the time. And I didn't play classic either. So I can't say, but I definitely heard that a lot. So I, you know, maybe I'll do some research. We'll see.
• 36:17
  Speaker B: One more fun fact I have about Mists of Pandaria is, I believe, the lead artist for that game. I won't name him because I don't want to dox him, but I knew him and I knew, I knew of him because he was the owner of a Minecraft server that has since no longer attached to Harry Potter. But it used to be a Harry Potter like role play server that had like spells and stuff like that. They've since like, because of J.K. rowling, they're like, absolutely not. They've like pulled out the ip. But I was like, this is so fascinating. And I'd known this guy for so long on that server only to learn he was like the main character artist for Missa Pandaria.
• 37:04
  Speaker A: And that's incredible.
• 37:05
  Speaker B: Yeah, it was like so cool. I was like, what a small world. Anyway, that was a little factoid.
• 37:09
  Speaker A: I love that.
• 37:11
  Speaker B: I do want to ask you though, being an icon in the space, I think it's like so amazing to me personally to like see someone who is openly trans making content online in World of Warcraft in an MMRPG space which tends to lean very like just like a toxic male. Like just cesspool. So I'm curious, how has that been? How has that journey been for you and how do you deal day to day in this space?
• 37:51
  Speaker A: So what I'll say up front, I guess is like, in terms of how I deal day to day, I'll be honest with you, I have a great time and I don't encounter very much. But here's the thing is like my background as a creator, I've been content creating since I was 13. I'm 30. It's been 17 years. I started like before Facebook was a thing. I was on MySpace. Like I was doing YouTube before it was owned by Google. Like it was a whole. It's been a whole thing. I've been across the entire thing. And I can say that there is always going to be toxicity no matter what environment you're in. Because at the height of my popularity, I was doing trans education content on YouTube. I was documenting my surgeries. I was talking about like hormone replacement therapy. I was going very into detail about all that stuff. And I had a community of a lot of, like, queer folks. And there was a lot of positivity there, but there was also a lot of toxicity in a different way. There was a lot of, like, moralizing of my actions anytime I did anything that wasn't, like, the most perfect holy action. It could even be about, like, what food I ate if it wasn't vegan or whatever. Like, it was just everything was analyzed and torn apart by the people that were supposed to be kind. Right. And, like, you know, this isn't to say that the whole thing was bad. Like I said, there was a. An enormous amount of positivity. Like, for the most part, it was very, very good. But I think I learned, for me at that time, gaming was something that was very personal and very special. And so, ironically, while I was sharing these really, like, personally invasive things, to be honest, I was specifically hiding gaming from people because I didn't want it to get harmed by any kind of, like, criticism or opinions or whatever. And then Covid happened, and I went from fashion darling makeup diva to. I threw all my makeup away. I, like, I. I had a bit of a. Many folks did. I have a little bit of, like, a transformation moment at the beginning of COVID Yeah. And I, like, it wasn't super great for me, but we kind of come full circle at this point. But I, through that experience, I swapped into gaming full time as a creator. Cool. I expected a lot of toxicity, I expected a lot of rejection. And what I ended up finding was at the worst. Yeah. Like, once in a while, I'll get a person coming in trying to, like, be transphobic. Right?
• 40:13
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 40:14
  Speaker A: It's an easy ban. It's gone. Not a big deal. But what I found over the six years I've been in the gaming space, and I think I've been full time in Warcraft for, like, two years now, maybe almost.
• 40:25
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 40:26
  Speaker A: Is what I've become really passionate about as a trans advocate. Isn't necessarily what I used to do, which was more like front lines. I'm talking about being trans all the time. Here's a list of resources and education. Like, I'll talk about it if people ask.
• 40:39
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 40:40
  Speaker A: But what I find is very effective for me is bridging worlds.
• 40:46
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 40:46
  Speaker A: And so I'll always say, like, I bridge the worlds of beauty and gaming, and I work with, like, ELF cosmetics all the time. And we do, like, it gets fun. But I also see that bridging element as bridging, say, LGBTQ people with, like, the wider gaming community.
• 41:02
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 41:02
  Speaker A: And I have found that, like, I've made so many friends in the gaming space that are not even part of the community. They're like cisgender heterosexual white men or men of whatever background. And I expected to have to deal with a lot of shit. There's been none. None from those people whatsoever. So when you ask me how I deal, you know, like, I think the thing that I. I see the most, that's not good. Is, say, in trade chat in World of Warcraft itself.
• 41:31
  Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
• 41:31
  Speaker A: Not always great, but trade chat's a mess, girl. Like, we don't go to trade chat unless we're looking for a craft.
• 41:36
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 41:36
  Speaker A: And then we leave. It's. You know. But I think I try to remember and keep in focus that things are actually better than they seem, which is not how folks always feel.
• 41:51
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 41:52
  Speaker A: But I think when we put focus and emphasis on the negative things that happen or on blowback or rejection, we see more of it. And that's not to say that it's, like, our fault for having it happen. Absolutely not. But I think it's important to develop a sense of momentum in the direction you want to go.
• 42:11
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 42:12
  Speaker A: And so I've learned across my life as a trans person, as a trans woman, that if I linger in the fight, I'm gonna stay in the fight. Like, I'm gonna be fighting all the time. I'm gonna feel rejected, I'm gonna feel angry.
• 42:26
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 42:26
  Speaker A: And if I move towards bridging and just, like, relating with people and making friends, that is what will happen. And that was hard to learn. It took years to learn to do that without getting sucked back into that, like, dark, angry place.
• 42:45
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 42:46
  Speaker A: But it's possible, and I'm very passionate about it. And it's part of what led me to, like, doing Mythic plus, which is now my primary thing I do on stream with WOW is like, I thought I would be rejected out of that space because I'm a woman, but also because I'm a trans woman. And it's been really fulfilling being a trans woman in that space and just being visible and not really making a point of it, but it's just happening. And to me, I feel like that kind of representation is what I'm wanting to do right now, both in the gaming space, in the beauty space, in Warcraft specifically. Like, I just want to be here doing my thing. And I'm hoping that that can have an effect. And if people want me to talk about it directly, I will. But it's not the first thing I talk about when I walk in the room Because I feel like that that kind of creates like a. It creates a attention that isn't always the best introduction to, like a bridge, if that makes sense.
• 43:39
  Speaker B: Yeah, no, it absolutely does. I. I get what you mean. It absolutely, like, it starts the conversation down that road when that's not the conversation you essentially want to have right at the, right out the gate. Like, it. I totally understand this because especially, like, back in my past, I used to go by Ape at Homo Online and I switched over to 8 bit Dylan just because while I am like, obviously visibly and audibly very queer, I did not want to lose out on opportunities because someone was already making a preconceived notion of me based off of who I was and before they got to know me. And I think similarly, I think what's iconic about you.
• 44:29
  Speaker A: Oh.
• 44:30
  Speaker B: Is you do so well in all these different spaces that you're a part of. Like, you are killing it when it comes to, like, content creation. You're killing it in the beauty space. You're like, killing it in all these different vectors. And so when someone learns you're trans, it's just like, wow, this is such a win for the community. And, and it's like, it's so awesome to see. Especially like, for me when I, I come from, like a gaming background, it's so hard to find that type of visibility in the gaming space. And I think what's also really cool is Blizzard recognizes it. And so like, you've worked with Blizzard, you're working with elf, you're working with like, all these, like, different companies and it's, it's just like sickening to see, like, especially in a, in an era right now where it feels like it's like visibility is like getting kind of squashed down. I feel like you and wow. And Blizzard and like all of the rest, like the rest of gaming is not following the trend that, like, our side of the gaming pond is, like, following. Which I, I very much appreciate.
• 45:46
  Speaker A: I get that. Yeah.
• 45:47
  Speaker B: If that makes any sense.
• 45:48
  Speaker A: I don't know. Well, no, it does. Well, first of all, thank you. That was very nice of you to say all that stuff. I. I think I'm really grateful to get to work with companies like Blizzard. Like, I'll be honest again, I've been a content creator for a long. God, it's been almost 20 years.
• 46:01
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 46:01
  Speaker A: And if there was one company that I always wanted to work with, the dream was Blizzard and specifically Warcraft. And like, that dream was fulfilled to me less than a month ago. Like, I'm so over the moon about what's happened this year so far. Like, I cannot under. I cannot overstate my gratitude for getting to collaborate with World of Warcraft, but even Diablo, like, I've gotten to do stuff with them for Diablo. I. I'm really hoping I can come to Blizzcon this year.
• 46:27
  Speaker B: We'll see. Please, Please do. Please. Of course. Yeah.
• 46:31
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 46:32
  Speaker B: Art and I will be there. Yeah, Art.
• 46:34
  Speaker A: Okay, great. Listen, if. If it happens, we must have a group photograph. Absolutely. But I think, you know, in the vein of, like, representation and working with these companies and stuff, I think one complicated element that I see come up sometimes is the discussion of, like, how do I describe this? I guess I'll just describe my. My experience and perspective. I appreciate working with brands or companies like Blizzard, for example, because, you know, there's a lot of talk sometimes from the trans community or other marginalized communities of, like, they should support the community, like, tangibly. Right. And in my opinion, if they are willing to support and spotlight or platform a creator of trans experience or whatever background.
• 47:29
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 47:30
  Speaker A: That is them doing that in action. They are actively reaching out to that community. They are supporting it. They are welcoming that person in, like. And I feel like being able to show up in those spaces. My goal is that that creates a ripple effect.
• 47:47
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 47:49
  Speaker A: That shows people that, you know, we are welcome here. We do belong here. You know, I hope that when other trans women see me doing Mythic plus, if they haven't already started doing it, they can say, like, oh, okay, I guess I can just, like, learn that. What is. What do I have to do? I. I guess, like, there's a lot, I think, to be gained from. How do I describe this? I kind of, like, alluded to the idea that I used to be very, like, rah, rah with my.
• 48:19
  Speaker B: Totally. Yeah.
• 48:20
  Speaker A: And I think that that has a time and place and it can have an effect, but I think that it can't be the only method. And I think it is equally as important to have a more slow burn, maybe more like, calm approach to some of these things as well. And I hope that I can do that with these collaborations and with just showing up in these spaces. And I. That's, like, at front of mind for me all the time.
• 48:49
  Speaker B: Yeah, I. That makes a lot of sense. I think, like, a lot of people confuse a content creator with an advocate. Like, you can do both, but there's a reason why they're two different things. Like advocacy and content creation do live in the same sphere, but that can't be the only thing that you bring when it comes to entertainment value. Because then you're not a content creator, you're an advocate, which is like, completely fine. But I will say it's been so refreshing to see so many LGBTQI plus streamers that I know that have never streamed wow. That have now started streaming wow. More regularly. It's been fascinating. Like trans creators that I know, gay creators that I know, bi creators that I know. And I was like, this is so awesome to see. I was like, is there something in the water? That world of work, maybe we're just like, we're showing up and showing out more. And I. I love this. But to your point, I agree with you. Where it's just like, we can exist in these spaces and represent a just cause, but we don't have to make that just cause be the literal only thing that we talk about all the time. Especially because a lot of our audience that we are preaching to are people that already get it. Like.
• 50:20
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 50:22
  Speaker B: Which tends to happen a lot. Where it's just like the people that need to hear this are sometimes the people that aren't listening, and the people that do hear us are the people that already agree with us.
• 50:35
  Speaker A: Yes. Or. Or there are even some people that might benefit from hearing it that don't know the language. Right. So if we. If I go into a stream and I'm talking about social justice and like trans rights and liberation and all this stuff, you know, I can talk about that. But if I'm speaking a language that an individual, you know, let's just say like a cisgender, heterosexual, white male gamer that maybe has good intentions and a good heart, but just like, they encounter that language and they're kind of like, I don't speak this language. Like, I'm gonna go find a mythic plus stream.
• 51:05
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 51:06
  Speaker A: Then we're not reaching those people, you know, And I think that there is a lot to be gained from just bridging those gaps with a mutual interest, because ultimately that's the goal anyway, is just peaceful coexistence and understanding. So. So let's just start there. Is my thought, like, again, that can't be the only thing, but it certainly should be one of them. Let's start there. What is our mutual interest? Let's talk about it. It's Warcraft. Great. Let's run some keys. Great. No slurs anywhere. Nobody feels condescended to, nobody feels ostracized. Which is the goal.
• 51:41
  Speaker B: Which is the goal.
• 51:41
  Speaker A: And that's what I love about gaming as a Whole, but especially Warcraft, because it's such a social game, is that we can just. It's all the systems are there to bridge us together and then it becomes not about advocacy for me. It just becomes about having a good time. And that's so relieving after. After the early career that I had.
• 52:01
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 52:01
  Speaker A: So I don't know. I'm just having a great time with. Wow. And it's. It's been. It's been awesome.
• 52:07
  Speaker B: I have a very important question to ask you though.
• 52:09
  Speaker A: Yes.
• 52:11
  Speaker B: Who is the hottest, sexiest daddy? And wow. Because we got to end on like a nasty, dirty, disgusting, foul note.
• 52:21
  Speaker A: Okay. Okay. This is interesting. I don't normally talk about this kind of thing. Let me think for a moment.
• 52:25
  Speaker B: Sorry.
• 52:26
  Speaker A: I will try to. No, it's okay. It's okay. Let me see if I can present this in a wholesome manner. My version of making it cute. Let me see.
• 52:33
  Speaker B: Okay. Okay.
• 52:40
  Speaker A: You know who is a male character that I appreciate in World of Warcraft? Who is Anduin Wrynn. I think Anduin Wrynn has had a great character arc across the many iterations that he's existed. I've liked seeing him grow alongside me as a player because he's been roughly the same age as me this whole time.
• 52:57
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 52:57
  Speaker A: And I think the way he was introduced in the World Soul saga was very cool.
• 53:05
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 53:05
  Speaker A: And very cinematic. And I'm excited to see more of that character developed, hopefully in the Last Titan. That's what I'll say. Yeah.
• 53:14
  Speaker B: Yeah. I love that you're like. I really like Anduin for his personality and I really like Anduin for his just aptitude for being a very strong and broad shouldered presence in the World of Warcraft scene.
• 53:33
  Speaker A: I appreciate your interpretation and I appreciate the way that the writers explore Anduin's inner war, his war within, if you
• 53:45
  Speaker B: will, his war with him through.
• 53:47
  Speaker A: Through. Honestly, I really do like the character, but I think, you know, this is the answer to your question.
• 53:53
  Speaker B: And now I love it. I love it. Well, thank you so much, Steph, for joining us today. Seriously, I was top of our list for someone to join on the pod. Where can they find you? Where can people find you?
• 54:09
  Speaker A: Oh, my days. Well, you can find at stephsanyati on all platforms. Instagram is where I post most of my beauty and gaming hybrid stuff. I'm live on Twitch on Monday and Tuesday and Saturday, Friday and Saturday, usually with World of Warcraft. I also host for Elf Cosmetics, the makeup brand on Mondays and Tuesdays as well. That's a big part of what I do. And I'm also on Twitter and Blue sky and all those places. Yeah, but come through, come through. Let's play some wow. Let's talk lore. Let's talk Mythic. Plus, let's talk Tiranda or whatever you want.
• 54:41
  Speaker B: Yeah. For anyone that submitted listener questions, we will try to get to them next week once Art is back. But thank you all so much for tuning in. We will be back next week with yet another episode of Azeroth with Attitude. And until then, bye.