[Twitch - Live Stream]
Swanning
Dawn of Warcraft
(The first view of the live stream is an extremely close-up view of Swanning, her peachy skin bleached by the light of the web-cam as she continues to fiddle with the angle. Every single one of her freckles is visible, their smattering heavy over the bridge of her nose and dusted over the top of her cheeks. Her brow is furrowed, a lightly inquisitive bend as she leans back just enough to confirm the angle. There is barking in the background.
"Sorry, sorry," she's muttering. "My brother got a dog and I just noticed the camera was - ah, there we go. Sorry, again. Things have been a little hectic here at home..."
Swanning leans back from the camera, settling into her seat. She waves at the camera in that same awkward way as always, introducing herself and her channel. She says a few casual hellos to her most frequent viewers who are greeting her via chat, seeming to ease into her usual persona - polite, sweetly ribbing, just shy enough to be charming despite her casual confidence.
"So, I was reading my mentions on Twitter," she begins, switching the screen view so her face is in the corner and her desktop is at the forefront. She double-clicks on the Dawn of Warcraft icon, pulling up her account quickly. "And I noticed that some of you wanted me to double my stream. And I thought, well, why not? It's summer break - yes, I am happy to be home, thank you for asking - and as of right now I have the time to spare. But," she warns playfully. "This is a one-time gig, okay? Probably."
/KLR/ girl you know we'll take anything you give us
/deardirt/ I'm with klr on this one
/deardirt/ do whatever and keep making a good name for us gamer girls
/vern/ long live the sisterhood, I guess
/q_ed/ don't be a dick dude
Swanning wrinkles her nose at the live chat, but doesn't comment on it. Instead, she does a quick walk-through of how to equip a Dawn of Warcraft character in preparation for a dungeon.
"It's always helpful to know what you're up against," she says, helpfully spinning through her inventory for her avatar. "The first dungeon we're doing today is going to be one of the side quests near the Dell that players get caught up on. It's about mid-level difficulty, so if your account is at least 50 you should be able to access this quest."
On the screen, Swanning's Dawn of Warcraft avatar melts in from the shadows. Swanning is a Warlock class Void Elf, with pallid grey skin and black eyes, black veins crawling along her skin like a mask; the avatar is appropriately decked out in black armor accented with blood-red ruby stones and fabric, with a whip at one hip and a long staff across her back. Swanning melts from shadow to shadow, and explains how the quest is meant to work. The reward at the end of the quest is a general skill book and, if you're lucky, a casket of yin iron.
/pedro/ I love yin iron its so useful
/q_ed/ but common, so is it really useful?
/pedro/ is air useful to you q, or is it too common? Geez man
Swanning snorts, a wry smile dancing on her lips. "Pedro is right, Q," she says. "Yin iron is really common, but you can smith a lot of things with it - weapons and armor, even tools that are helpful to have, like buckets. But yin iron is also highly reactive to magic. If your alchemy skill is high enough, you can use blacksmithing to create a yin iron weapon, and then imbue it with all sorts of things." Swanning scans her eyes over the comments, then hums thoughtfully. "Have I done it? Well, I'm working on it on my master account. But I know of a few high ranking characters who have used alchemy to transform a yin iron base into ultra rare materials, so it is possible…Oh, who? Like specifically? Well, anyone high on the equipment ranking has probably done it, like Master Culler on my server…"
/KLR/ oooh ive heard of him
/ultrontron/ great great great player
Swanning beams at the camera. "He is, isn't he? Nobody can play like him. It's really amazing to watch, if you ever get the chance."
/ratherbealone/ he's alright
/deardirt/ nobody can play like swanning!
/KLR/ I agree!
/KLR/ culler might be good, but swanning is great too!
/ratherbealone/ he's overrated
/ratherbealone/ swanning is much better, right maestro?
/vern/ why are we talking about some rando
/vern/ do the dungeon already
/pedro/ here we go again, stop being a dick man
Swanning isn't paying attention to the chat anymore. Instead, her focus is directed at the game, where she is now walking her avatar into a cave. "Alright, so you shouldn't have to worry too much about visibility here - there are plenty of torches, see, and the cave doesn't have a lot of bends, so there aren't any surprises. What you should be looking at is top of the cave," she explains briskly. "The thing about this quest that trips players up is how misleading it is. You go into a cave and you're expecting the beast at the back, but that's not the case. The cave is home to this huge bat creature thing, okay, and it totally comes out of nowhere when you reach the back of the cave. See, look."
Swanning walks through the cave, right under a big space set high between stalagmites that seems to stretch into utter blackness - except for a blink-and-miss-it flicker of yellow eyes.
"The quest is structured so that you have to reach the back of the cave before the bat comes out," Swanning explains. "I could stand here for hours and that bat would still be there, so you don't have to worry about it now. The key to this quest is being prepared for the bat when it comes - and it will come. You don't want to be taken by surprise."
/q_ed/ what are you planning
/ultrontron/ how do you get the jump on something programmed to jump
/pedro/ yeah I don't get it either
/deardirt/ duh
/deardirt/ if you know its coming you can ambush it back
Swanning nods, her headset bobbing precariously. "That's exactly right, deardirt. The only way to beat this dungeon is to ambush the ambush. It's all about timing, so it might take a few tries," she says, and walks her avatar through the empty cave, which grows more narrow at the end. A few paces from the back wall, she stops. "Before you get to the very end, stop and make sure your inventory is prepared. It's helpful to have an antidote on hand - the bat is poisonous, so if it bites you, your HP just slowly trickles away into nothing….Ah, you'll also want to be prepared to move fast, and keep in mind that the bat's wings, while barbed, are going to prevent it from getting into tight spaces so - yep, that's right, try to focus on long-range attacks. Nice insight, killer."
/KLR/ do you see that
/KLR/ I have nice insight
/deardirt/ teachers pet
/KLR/ :p
/pedro/ annoying
/KLR/ bite me
Swanning demonstrates exactly what she had been talking about. She touches the back wall of the cave, then sprints backward, hugging the cave wall and finding an advantageous position stuck between two stalagmites. From there, she uses her whip on the gargantuan bat any time it tries to come near, zapping the bat with shadow magic and eating away its blood points in small chunks. She says that this method is not sustainable, but that it will buy time between greater attacks, and then goes on to demonstrate that, as well - Swanning leaps out, uses a banishment spell along with hits of her staff, and then tucks back in with her whip while her spell recharges. She explains that classes with long-range magic can also use spells to eat at the bat, and shows the best way to set spell arrays on the cave floors and walls to keep the bat trapped, immobilized for the final blows. When the bat disintegrates into a golden skill book, Swanning grins at the screen.
/q_ed/ there she goes again making it look easy
/pedro/ but what a strategy
/ultrontron/ great great show
/deardirt/ yeah but I can see how this might take a few tries
/KLR/ right?
/KLR/ too bad it's a solo quest, it would be easier with a group
/q_ed/ unless your swanning that is
/deardirt/ our queen don't need no man, thanks
Swanning, seeming to ignore the live chat for the time being, takes a long moment to walk through every inch of the cave to show other good hiding places. She talks about how different classes and abilities might have an advantage here or there that her own avatar would not, all with great knowledge. And then, with a cheeky smile, she reminds viewers to go back to the end of the cave, just in case a second prize is spit out.
"Never forget to double-check," she says sagely, and reaches the back of the cave where a cask of yin iron has tumbled out from a cluster of rocks from the cracked cave wall. She accepts the yin iron into her inventory, then opens the game map. "Alright, that was the first dungeon. Let's go to the second."
Moments later, after Swanning has melted into shadows, the screen shifts from black to open to an expansive, foggy, dead space of grey land. "This is the Boneyard," Swanning says, and then makes a point of zooming her view out to have a further glimpse of the area. There are several collections of bones from the remains of huge creatures, many skulls and ribs that are large enough to easily walk under. "The Boneyard is part of a scrapping quest. Essentially, it's you against these demonic vultures who want to add you to their collection. The goal of the quest is to find the beast core of one of the mammoths, so it's basically you and dozens of vultures on a treasure hunt. But I picked this quest because I thought it would be a good way to demonstrate mobility in dense terrain…"
/KLR/ does this mean what I think it means
/deardirt/ yes
/deardirt/ it sounds like we might finally learn the secret sauce of swannings playing
/pedro/ wait really?
/vern/ no way that's true
/KLR/ swanning is it true?
Swanning, who has been reading the chat this time, answers with a small smile. "Well, I wouldn't say I'm revealing a secret, really, but basically yeah. You guys have been asking for a better explanation for my maneuvering, so I figured this was the best place to show you…"
/pedro/ wow we're learning an actual trade secret
/ratherbealone/ now its going to get interesting right maestro
/vern/ the fuck is maestro
/ratherbealone/ your mom
/vern/ fuck off
/ratherbealone/ you first mate
Swanning chides, "Be nice," and the chat goes civil again.
She then starts explaining the importance of having an organized inventory, how essential it is to have things in easy reach to save time. She also talks about the best way to arrange skills on the dash, which can make or break any kind of duel. "Obviously, DOW demands a lot of coordination from players - the mouse is both a tool to control the camera and the more complex skills, and the keyboard is for maneuvering the avatar, as well as quick-skills that recharge faster…Ah, for my quick-skills, I usually like to set up short cuts with the middle keys on a QWERTY, so usually the F, R, E, G, H, V, B, T, and Y keys, because obviously you're A, S, D, and W keys are already spoken for…"
/deardirt/ aren't those a little close together?
/q_ed/ yeah seems a little risky
/KLR/ but it makes sense
/KLR/ not wasting extra time on the other side of the key board
"It does take practice," Swanning admits. "But here, look at the walk-on-air function - if my thumb is constantly holding down the space bar and I need to keep my nav keys moving, then I can only use my index finger to strike. See?" Swanning demonstrates, holding the avatar aloft while running through her quick-skills in the air. "It gets easier with time. This is the best way to boost your actions-per-minute..."
/deardirt/ I guess but it seems like a lot
/q_ed/ that's swanning for you I guess
/ultrontron/ so cool
/KLR/ wait so you hold down the space instead of tap?
/KLR/ damn why didn't I think of that?
/ratherbealone/ I'm impressed, aren't you impressed maestro?
Swanning, too busy explaining to KLR and deardirt why holding the space bar down is better, if not a little trickier, doesn't see the rest of the chat zooming by. But other viewers and people on the live chat can, so they see the reply to ratherbealone as clear as day.
/maestro/ she always impresses me
The stream after that is a master class in how to maneuver an avatar in the air against air opponents, as well as how to take advantage of the terrain of a dungeon. Swanning proves herself to be cunning, leading vultures on a chase and intro traps, while at the same time reaching the bone core hidden in a giant skeleton. And at the end, after she answers countless questions and continues to demonstrate how to organize quick-skills on the keyboard, as well as how to use them in mid-maneuver, she gifts the viewers with another brilliant smile and a promise to another stream next weekend.
"Until next time, this is Swanning signing off!"
The live stream ends.)
A/N: I think you guys know the important handles to pay attention to, right? ;) Someone is watching~~
Anyway! The next update will probably be next weekend! Until then, stay safe, wash your hands, and be smart!
As always, be brutally honest. I can take it.
~Rae