Why are the well-known WoW PvPers well-known?

[Snuggli]

Whenever I discuss popular PvP figures in WoW with people who aren't really part of the PvP scene, the only names they can ever reel off are 'Swifty', 'Athene' and sometimes 'Mercader'.

We all know for a fact that Athene, Swifty and Mercader aren't well known in WoW PvP because of their ability to PvP in WoW. So what is it?

Is it their ability to make weekly / daily content on YouTube? I know atleast a handful of gladiator YouTubers who make more frequent videos to a higher standard and have 1/10,000th of the subscriber base.

Is it their entertaining, informative videos? I hardly find any of Athene's videos entertaining anymore. I feel like I watch them because I'm obliged too. Swifty's videos are usually flawed and sometimes just wrong, and Mercader releases "5v1 montages" where he 1v1's, 5 times, against 1300 players, and stops recording if he dies.

Athene is well over 650k subs, although I hardly consider him a WoW YouTuber anymore. Swifty is just under 350k and Mercader just tipped over 100k. And yet, Hydramist (arguably one of the most skilled partnerships in WoW) has only just hit 20k subs.

Other notable examples of skilled players with unbelievably low sub count (feel free to add more, I need more people to watch now I'm on break from studying):
Evolve Gaming (MANY rank 1/glad players) - 5,036 Subs (releases weekly vids)
Hotted (2x Glad, 1x R1) - 3,254 Subs (druid - releases daily vids)
Drainerx (1x Glad, 1x R1) - 2,953 Subs (shaman - releases weekly vids)
AyraSwag (1x Glad) - 2,840 Subs (warrior - releases weekly vids)
Vangaurds (2x Glad, 2x R1) - 2,616 Subs (paladin - releases weekly vids)

All of these people release videos frequently, some to a much higher standard than the bigger YouTubers... some even advertise every single video on MMO-Champs PvP forum and yet don't get a single comment between video releases on their thread. I guess it must be down to Swifty's charisma and confidence, Athene's ability to "troll" and Mercader's fake 5v1 videos which impress people who don't understand PvP.

[Deleted]

Same thing is about PvE. The most known guides are Tankspot guides. Are they the best guild? No. Are there better guides? Yes.
At the end of the day streaming/vlogging is about fun where the skill isn't transparent or that important.

[Snuggli]

Same thing is about PvE. The most known guides are Tankspot guides. Are they the best guild? No. Are there better guides? Yes.
At the end of the day streaming/vlogging is about fun where the skill isn't transparent or that important.

I'd be tempted to argue that Tankspot release guides to every encounter with a huge consistency between videos. Other channels might not do the same, or maybe not as well. In the PvP channel examples, the smaller PvPers are providing clearly better content - and yet have a fraction of the subscriber base. I don't know anyone who provides MUCH better encounter videos than Tankspot... there is usually only a handful of ways to do a boss and Tankspot normally provide the easiest / most succesful with a good explanation without drowning you information, no?

[Blueobelisk]

Well. Swiftly gives stuff away for free. Like Nagas, does he not?

I remember last year when I was new to PVP and still keyboard turned and got a naga, I looked up a bunch of videos on how to properly use it in WoW, and Swifty came up.

I never watched his warrior PVP videos, but I did watch his mouse movement video. It didnt help to be very honest, but I was drawn in by him giving away free stuff. But he wanted shit like highest attack Power and I was a Mage so I never went back, but I can see how some newer players get drawn in to him.

[gutnbrg]

they are well known bc people like you make threads about them asking why they are so well known...

[strangebreed]

entertainment value. you could be very good but not entertaining. and people tend to look up people they hear about. such as athene swifty etc. or who their friends like and then sub to them. i don't sub to pvp only channels so this is just a guess.

[Rorke]

Swifty, Athene and Mercader don't have to try as hard as the smaller guys because they've already built their base for years and started pretty early(Well not mercader but he got his base from swifty). People like Vanguards will have a harder/impossible time getting to their level because of how overly saturated and competitive Youtube gaming is now. So they have to sell bigger than others and strive for the extra subs unless they know someone as big as Swifty.

Plus, guys like Vanguards are seen like a dime a dozen now anyway. Do you know how many Youtubers/twitch broadcasters are multi glad 2700+ players? They all practically sound the same, listen to the same music and play female humans. They're practically competing with eachother, but at the same time play arena together. Then you have things like Skillcapped that ruin their chance of being big because Skillcapped is practically a monopoly on Youtube for "Skilled players". They all end up sharing subs because of Skillcapped. And if you aren't part of skill capped, you won't make it anywhere. That's why most good players who want to have some of the crumbs have to sell their soul to something like Skillcapped.

Its just the way things are now. Sure there are exceptions, but to make it big on youtube now is about more luck then it used to be.

[Dundebuns]

Some of them cause large amounts of drama also.

[namelessone]

Why is David Beckham one of the most famous soccer players? Why is Anna Kournikova famous tennis player? Because entertainment.

[Tradu]

I'd be tempted to argue that Tankspot release guides to every encounter with a huge consistency between videos. Other channels might not do the same, or maybe not as well. In the PvP channel examples, the smaller PvPers are providing clearly better content - and yet have a fraction of the subscriber base. I don't know anyone who provides MUCH better encounter videos than Tankspot... there is usually only a handful of ways to do a boss and Tankspot normally provide the easiest / most succesful with a good explanation without drowning you information, no?

TankSpot have been really slow during Cata(at least their video guides). Fatboss has really good 10man videoguides, and I'm pretty sure L2R does 25man videoguides that show how to handle stuff in a better way(imo) by actually showing the mechanic in question being dealt with while its being talked about, instead of just having the whole fight run in the background.

[rektbrah]

Why is David Beckham one of the most famous soccer players? Why is Anna Kournikova famous tennis player? Because entertainment.

David Beckham was the best in his time, Swifty etc never were.

[Gandrake]

david beckham can also play ode to joy with a bunch of drums and soccer balls

[iceberg265]

Couldn't tell you. I have heard those names before, but I know nothing about them and have never watched any of their stuff.

[Deleted]

lowest common denominator entertainment, and momentum. once people start watching, publicity etc ramps up.

[Venziir]

1: Record self
2: Post on youtube
3: ???
4: Profit

[Mizzow]

Simply beucase they record vids and stream, people are becoming fans and believe that they are amazing,

Any one person can be good at PvP, its the team aspect that makes or breaks a match

[Deleted]

One word.

Entertainment.

People dont CARE to watch some 2900+ Rogue and hi's mage buddy, p0wn everything, if you're not entertained.

[Malgru]

No one likes RMP videos anymore. No one likes RLS. No one likes MLS.

Wonder why Braindeadly has grown 10x in the past year? He's a hunter. I can name 2 hunters that make videos at a 2500+ arena exp. level. Brang (who quit) and Braindeadly. There are so many rogues, mages, priests, etc. out there. And they all make great videos. But no one wants to watch the same thing over and over. That's why i unsubbed to Belligerent. Holy paladin after holy paladin after holy paladin, running KFC & TSG completely nonstop. At one point he had 2-3 videos per day. But I didn't want to watch the same thing over and over.

So yes, this comes back to entertainment.

By the way, yes, Hydra is one of the best priests of all time.

[Alarasia]

2 hunters that make videos at a 2500+ arena exp. level.

...Tosan...aka Rykinia ring any bells?

[lolvik]

To be fair, popularity has nothing to do with skill. Its all about the person. ALL ABOUT.

People seem to love Towelliee, and he's pretty much balls.

Personally I don't really like any of the WoW streamers. But if I am to watch someone, I watch Ohriginal, or Rzn for PvP, they have some good moments. And PvE would probably be Affinitii.