One of the things that sometimes frustrate me about WoW is that in spite of how huge it is, I find it quite difficult nowadays to find like-minded people who enjoy the game in a similar way to me - not even necessarily because I need more people to play together, but just to chat and occasionally exchange some thoughts. There are tons of WoW content out there, but so much of it is just ruthlessly streamlined for clicks and monetisation: guides on how to play, what to do when the next patch drops, 10 reasons why whatever Blizzard is doing next is a terrible idea.
I'm not saying those things are bad or shouldn't exist (well - maybe that last category), but I yearn for more people to just share their love of this virtual world, bits of silliness, and just what they are getting up to in game. So I wanted to highlight three YouTube channels that do scratch that itch for me to some degree, in case there are others looking for the same.
Crendor is actually an old hand at WoW YouTube content as he became well-known for his goofy machinimas around Wrath of the Lich King and was one of the first WoW YouTubers that I'm aware of that managed to turn his hobby into a job. He branched out into other games, sold merch etc. but unlike many others, he never gave me the vibe of having fully "sold out". (Look, I don't think there's anything wrong with making a living off making YouTube videos or other content, but let's not pretend that depending on it for your livelihood doesn't change your incentives and behaviour to some degree.) There's a reason his avatar is a sloth, and his attitude has always remained that he wants to be chill and just do what's fun.
He's produced lots of different WoW content in that vein over the years, but the series that's my personal favourite and that still gets regular updates is "Pointless Top 10". In this, he picks a random thing in the world (of Warcraft), whether it's caves, mailboxes or rivers and creates a top ten list of his favourites. I always love these because they tend to highlight weird little details to me that I missed and teach me more about parts of Azeroth that I'm maybe less familiar with, all in a casual tone that includes all kinds of silly tangents as well.
Let me just start by saying that I immediately considered this guy's channel name a good sign as he clearly likes both WoW and Star Wars, like I do! I think the first video of his that I saw was probably "The Greatest Adventure in World of Warcraft" about a year ago, in which he talks about the storyline that winds its way through the first 25 levels or so of the human starting zone in WoW Classic.
I've since come to enjoy other lore videos of his, specifically for the way he talks about it. I feel like many more popular lore YouTubers are very focused on the grand design and the lives of major NPCs, but Jediwarlock talks about the quests we actually do as players, what we see in the zones, NPC dialogue and how it all ties together to create a certain experience for the player (in Classic).
Lani is a very new YouTuber, but by chance I ended up seeing her very first video about Azuremyst Isle when it had only about 100 views, and I just immediately loved it. Her goal seems to be to document levelling through WoW (the modern version that is, not Classic) and talking about everything she sees along the way. She talks about every zone in incredible detail, including things like the personalities of different NPCs, environmental storytelling, and just what kind of feelings the zone invokes in her. She does all this with an incredible fangirlish energy that I love and that feels like a friend just telling you about some new cool thing they saw and adored. Naturally she doesn't have that many videos up yet, but if what I just described sounds like your cup of tea at all, consider giving one of her videos a watch.
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