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Continuing our series of interviews with community streamers, we took some time to chat with Velyna, giving us some insight into what streaming life is like and other behind the scenes info!
Hi Velyna, thank you for taking part in the interview! Please introduce yourself.
Hey I'm Velyna or Vel, a big time gamer from Ontario Canada.When did you first get into Path of Exile?
It was 9 years ago now. I was looking for a new ARPG to play and it was either PoE's closed beta or continue with Diablo 3, I chose the former and have been firmly indoctrinated ever since.What one thing caught your attention in the beginning and what one thing kept you coming back?
The skill tree. I have never seen anything like it and it makes me feel like the build possibilities are endless.Are there any highlights from your time playing Path of Exile that stand out in your memory?
You know there are so many things that stick out in my mind, like I'll never forget the first thing I 6L'd. It was back when people used to do 6L lotteries in global chat. The old "5000 fusings currently used if your donated fusings 6L I'll give 30ex." I was just going for a 5L on a triple ele dmg thicket bow for elemental hit and I actually hit the 6. I couldn't believe my eyes. I still have the bow and wow it's stats are so bad but at the time it was amazing. Also this is going to sound wild but I always enjoyed the community around master rota's. You often saw the same people and they're working towards the same goals. Everyone knew the etiquette and there was a real sense of community there in global 820.Do you have a favourite build?
I know this sounds so generic but Cyclone. I've always been a huge fan of it even in the days before lockstep when you were doing /oos every 2 seconds. With the change to it in Legion it made it the most fluid skill to play in Path of Exile. Also with CoC and CwC cyclone can just become more of a support/move skill than the main skill making feel better than other CoC and CwC skills (plz don't use this as a reason to nerf cyclone). What can I say? I'm a Slayer main.Which expansion has been your favourite so far?
Somehow this is the hardest question to answer, my first thought was Breach because that was my first time experiencing major map density extravaganza which started the map density addiction but Delirium could really take it to another level even with the backtracking.What's one thing every Path of Exile player should hear?
Your builds might fail and that's ok, not all builds are meant to succeed. Like you can make them but they might just feel bad. Also don't be afraid to ask for some build advice or go to https://poe.ninja/ to see how other people are building a certain skill to give you good ideas. In Path of Exile, often 3+ brains looking at a build is better than just 1.When did you first start streaming? How did you get into it?
I started streaming almost 3 years ago this October. It's actually surprising how long I've been doing it for now. You know it was always a dream of mine to play video games as a career but other than being in the industry itself I never thought I'd have the opportunity to do it. I had always been interested in the idea of streaming but never really thought I had that thing that good streamers have that keeps you engaged and I always get very immersed in the game I'm playing, so when I started having health issues a few people close to me said I should give it a shot and eventually they convinced me with a, "What's the worst that can happen?"What can people expect from your stream and schedule?
They can expect to always have a good time, a lot of laughs, some quality game play and sometimes you learn some things too. I'm usually working on some build to see if it's not just good on paper since I like to create builds that feel good for people that are maybe new to the game, or haven't been able to progress much yet, so you will often find me working on that. I stream Monday to Friday from 11am to let's say 6pm EST.What were you doing before you started streaming?
Well I used to work at a bank just climbing my way up the corporate ladder and then I started to get a lot of health issues both with mental health and chronic pain so I had to leave my bank job and ended up a hermit who played games to pass the time.What hobbies or interests do you have outside of streaming?
Well I still love to game off-stream but I'm also a huge nerd for scifi and fantasy books and other media. I also love history, and trash tv shows (one uses my brain the other shuts it off lol).Animals are also a huge part of my life. You will often see my cats on stream and I more recently have been getting more into fitness and biking and my city has some really killer bike and hiking trails so I try to get out when I'm not working on stream stuff and while the weather is still good.
Recently, you did a charity stream for SickKids. Would you be able to tell us how the stream went and more about who SickKids are and why you chose them?
The stream went better than I could have even imagined, my community is the best and we ended up raising $1,640 for SickKids! They've been on my radar for a long time since my best friend who's like a sister to me has some serious health issues of her own and SickKids has been her primary care so I know the kind of work they do and I've always wanted to support them and now I had the opportunity and the platform to do so.SickKids is a pediatric hospital and one of the top 5 research hospitals in Canada. They use innovative medicines and techniques to treat children and help families. We had donation goals for face painting me as a Vaal Orb, breaking eggs on my head and deleting a ton of expensive legacy items which I think people really enjoyed and it was 100% worth it!
How has your life changed from before you were streaming until now? What role has streaming played in that transition?
My life is so immensely different from before. Before I went from just keeping to myself in my house, hermitting to sharing a part of my life and my gaming experiences with people. I've made friends from streaming, I was able to spotlight a charity that means a lot to me, to take care of my 13 yr old senior kitten who got old age diabetes and adopt a junkyard cat to be friends or frenemies with him and bring some joy to people's lives even if it's just a couple of laughs 5 days a week. It's been a lot of self-inflicted stress and has turned me from a lurking wallflower to someone who is more open to show who I am and live in the moment, however ridiculous sometimes.Is there anything you'd like to see more of in the streaming community?
I guess I would like to see less analytics, more fun. A lot of times people might choose a build based on a streamer saying it's 5% better than some other build but numbers aren't everything, like just have fun with it.Do you have any advice for people who are looking to make their own career out of streaming?
It is really difficult to get into streaming as a career, a lot of it is long hours, being able to criticize your own work and making sure you get your content out there. You have to know your audience or know what they're looking for, and trying to figure out what people are looking for is maddening. You can't half ass it, you have to give it your full ass and still there's an amount of luck involved.Are there any up and coming streamers that you'd like to shine a spotlight on?
I definitely want to shout out my boy Arkaynan and AphelionPOE.Do you have any projects on the horizon you'd like to talk about?
Next month, I'll be doing something special for my stream anniversary! I'm not sure what I'm doing yet. Last year we had a lot of fun doing twitch karaoke and it was utterly absurd and I definitely full assed it with my terrible voice. Who knows what this year might bring. Hope to see you there!Thank you so much for participating in the interview! If you'd like to follow Velyna, you can do so on Twitter, YouTube, and Twitch. Also, don't forget that you can support both Velyna and the development of Path of Exile by buying microtransactions from her Nexus page!