In today's news post, we sat down with long-time community member Waggle! Competing as a finalist in ExileCon 2019, Waggle is a multi-talented player that dabbles in both competitive and community events! Check out the interview below!

Hi Waggle, thank you for taking part in the interview! Please introduce yourself:

Hey, thanks for having me. I'm Waggle, a mostly HC trade enjoyer, but I've dabbled in just about every game/league mode Path of Exile has had to offer because I really like trying different things (except ruthless, sorry Chris, it's too RUTHLESS)

When did you first get into Path of Exile?

I heard about Path of Exile very shortly before the open beta at the start of 2013. A buddy I had played Everquest with told me about it, and I decided to give it a shot with basically no info on the game other than that it was an ARPG.

What one thing caught your attention in the beginning and what one thing kept you coming back?

Definitely the character customization, the passive tree in particular, was a huge pull for me when I first started playing. Final Fantasy 10 was one of my favorite games growing up and having the same reaction a lot of players did of "hey this is kinda like a newer, cooler sphere grid". Planning out new characters & builds is also the second biggest thing that keeps me coming back, with the main reason being the constant content updates themselves.

Are there any highlights from your time playing Path of Exile that stand out in your memory?

If I had to pick one, I think I would have to go all the way back to beating Uber Atziri for the first time in Ambush League (I was but a simple SC gamer at the time), that was the point where Path of Exile went from being "a" game that I played, to being THE game that I played.

Do you have a favourite build?

This is a question I get asked on stream from time to time, and it's always a hard one to answer because I really enjoy the process of making builds, and it's a very similar experience even if the builds themselves are extremely different. If I had to pick 1 build I think it would probably be Essence Drain CI Trickster, back when Trickster had Ghost Shrouds on the Ascendancy... and they were really OP :)

Which expansion has been your favourite so far?

EASILY Sentinel League, even ignoring how it was super OP for exp grinding, loot drops, AND crafting. The way it took a lot of items/mods that hadn't really been relevant, and gave you huge incentive to go farm them, was a really cool feeling. Plus the overall state of the endgame was (and still is) in a really good spot with that league YES EVEN ARCHNEMESIS GOING CORE IT WAS ACTUALLY PRETTY GOOD AFTER THE FIRST LIKE TWO WEEKS!

What's one thing every Path of Exile player should hear?

Tink

When did you first start streaming? How did you get into it?

I started streaming sometime in early-mid 2016, initially just to stream races during the old race seasons. Was watching my friends streaming their races and thought "hey I could do this too"

What can people expect from your stream and schedule?

When I'm playing Path of Exile, it's a lot of build planning/theorycrafting, farming new league stuff, and crafting gear. Occasionally mix in a league start race, or maybe some race commentary if there's an event going on. My usual schedule is somewhere in the neighborhood of 4pm-midnight EST, most days of the week.

What were you doing before you started streaming?

Before I started streaming I had recently graduated college with a degree in computer science. While in school I also worked part time at a preschool as an after school daycare teacher, the best training for dealing with twitch chat.

What hobbies or interests do you have outside of streaming?

Whether I'm streaming or not, I'd say the majority of my free time is either spent gaming or on twitch, or both. I really enjoy watching esports in particular, mainly CSGO.

How has your life changed from before you were streaming until now? What role has streaming played in that transition?

Lifestyle wise I wouldn't say much has changed. But streaming has introduced me to a ton of people I probably otherwise wouldn't have met, which is really cool.

Is there anything you'd like to see more of in the streaming community?

I would personally love to see more 1-2 day long community races/competitive events, but I think it can be a really hard thing to do well & find timing inbetween all the other community/official events.

Do you have any advice for people who are looking to make their own career out of streaming?

Probably a generic answer, but definitely don't start streaming with the intention of making it into a career. Start because you think you might enjoy it, and if you do, then maybe try and find one specific aspect of whatever you are streaming (for example, playing Righteous Fire builds in Path of Exile), and become THE Righteous Fire person. You probably all know who that is already which shows how well it can be done :)

Are there any up and coming streamers that you'd like to shine a spotlight on?

I'm generally not up to date with newer streamers, but with the recent ExileCon qualifier races I can shout out some very solid racers that may or may not stream other stuff as well. keld0rn, stone_cold_poe, phazeplays, sargetwo, allexpleblord, & gaijinlag (and probably more tbh, there's a lot of very solid racers now it's hard to keep track of them all)

Do you have any projects on the horizon you'd like to talk about?

I pretty much plan things day by day so I generally don't have any big projects in the works, the closest thing would be I set a goal for myself that I want to get a mirror to drop in Path of Exile before Path of Exile2 launches. Probably gonna have to roll SC trade and spam feared invitations and pray pretty soon to make that come true...

You competed as a finalist in the ExileCon 2019 race. Do you have any memorable moments from that race or the event in particular?

Nah, no memorable moments, especially not any within the very first minute of the race. I randomly ended up in the same PC cafe as Havoc the day of the race, both of us completely focused practicing while probably nobody else there even knew what we were playing.

Do you plan to come to New Zealand for ExileCon 2023? If so, is there anything outside of ExileCon that you're keen on checking out?

Sitting out ExileCon this year, I'll be at home restreaming the event and doing insanely top tier REACTION content, heckin love reacting!!!

---

Thank you so much for participating in the interview! If you'd like to follow Waggle, you can do so on YouTube, and Twitch.