Meet The Twinks: Ohti

Sketchbag

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This is an intimate and candid interview pertaining to all things Ohti -- No such thing as tl;dr in this thread. Enjoy!


What or whom got you into twinking?

I started playing F2P in MoP because I was a broke kid and couldn't afford to keep a sub going every month; played a troll survival hunter. I didn't even know what I was doing was called twinking at the time, I just enjoyed BGing for free... xD

Took a break in WoD but came back for Legion, started twinkning vets (nobody in particular turned me back onto 20s, just wanted to get back into it like old times.) Still played a surv hunter until mid Legion when I moved from my dead PvE realm to Kel'Thuzad to run the biggest 101s guild with a buddy of mine. I didn't want to move my 20s to KT so I just made a new one, went with priest and haven't touched a hunter (or any class for that matter) since.

I can't remember who specifically turned me on to Xpoff, probably someone from the old Vek'nilash / Nesingwary / Nazgrel crew. Shinyhero, Abby, or Umad most likely.

What is your favorite class?

Priest. I like twinking balance druid @ whatever high level is viable for that expac too (101 in Legion, 110 in BFA, possibly 50 in SL we'll see how I like it.)

What is your favorite race?

Undead for aesthetic (male,) nelf for racials (female for aesthetic.)

Where is home for you?

Kel'Thuzad - Hvnter.

What is/was your favorite expac?

Wrath and Mop have the most nostalgia for me. Probably MoP for twinking, lot of good Legion memories too though that expansion gets too much hate.

What server was your first twink guild on?


I ran a small guild on Vek'nilash for the Vek'nilash / Nesingwary / Nazgrel crew called Twink Emporium. Wasn't really focused on any particular bracket, we just liked to be able to shoot the shit in /g on whatever toon we wanted (we played everything from 10s to 80s at the time.)

Any siblings?! Brothers or sisters?!


Yes, just one.

You in school atm? Taking a break or furthering your studies?!


Yes, I study computer programming.

How did Cogger, the name come about?

I go by three different monikers in the WoW / twinking community, some know me by only one and some know of all three of them.

Cogger is typically the least known of the three names so I'm surprised that you bring this one up. Cogger22 was my gamertag on the Xbox 360 when it first came out back in 2005. When I made my Btag God knows how long ago Cogger was still what I mainly went by, I hadn't even been using Hvnter at that point and Ohti was just the name of my main toon.

I know you didn't ask, but I'll do a little tl;dr of the other names real quick too in case anyone is even semi interested.

My first WoW toon was a tauren hunter and I wanted to name him Otis (as in Otis the cow from Back at the Barnyard.) Both Oti and Otis were taken so I settled on a silent h. Ohtis looked ugly so I dropped the s and went with just ohti (another random fact, I don't like the capital O looks in this name so I most often spell it in all lower case.)

My IRL name is Hunter, the name Hunter was (obviously) taken so I went with Hvnter when I made my priest.

Cogger = btag
Hvnter = in game
ohti = everywhere else


What was it like having a guild named after you?!

It gave me a feeling of being pedestaled and I didn't like it. I also didn't know how to express my distaste for the name lol. I don't think the guild would be nearly as successful as it is today if it weren't for the name change.

Numbers grew quickly, what gives?!

In <TF>? Yeah. Numbers fluctuate, but I believe the secret behind the guild's success is just persistence and a perfect storm to kickstart us off.

In 8.1.5 xp off and xp on queues were separated. However, f2p and veteran toons were technically xp on (due to account cap) so they were still able to get into xp on queues. I knew that this meant tons of new players were going to come into the bracket in the next month or so. PvE levels like 70 held their own pretty well, but everyone that was qing from 19-119 was all of a sudden given two choices if they wanted to regularly queue random BGs on a twink: make a 20 or wait for Classic.

Sure, xp off brackets like 19s and 59s also held their own for a bit (59s was surprisingly strong for a long time, even outlasting 19s if memory serves correct,) but being able to just log on whenever you had the free time, press queue, and get into a game 5 minutes later without having to worry about scheduling queue times or wargames is far more appealing, especially to the casual player, which I feel is what makes up most of the twinking community.

So what's the next logical step? Suddenly your bracket has the biggest influx in new players it's probably ever seen. You make a guild that funds, duh, everyone loves free shit. Especially if you're new, having the opportunity to dip your toes into a bracket that you're unfamiliar with without risking any of your own capital is quite attractive.

Naturally the guild was a success straight off the hop. We've had our ups and downs, the release of Classic hurt us quite a bit and for the first month or so you'd be lucky to see 5 people on during peak time. Then there was the pandemic, where we saw upwards of 30 people on during peak time at one point, which was staggering to see. We've had the same group of 10-15 core members that have stuck with us through thick and thin though, they're the ones that have kept the guild alive this whole time.

Even right now, the last time the guild was as active as it is now was when the pandemic first started. Pre patch hype is real and it's not uncommon for us to see upwards of 20 people on during peak time and usually around 10~ people online at any hour of the day atm.

My favourite thing ever is when a guildie tells me they made their first ever twink in TF.

You going to purchase the new transmog set? I kinda want it...

https://imgur.com/a/m782yYC

I often tell myself "oh, I've spent $25 on way stupider things" to combat some of that buyer's remorse, but like, this time I really don't know if I can say that... this might be the stupidest $25 I've ever spent.

Should I grab the mount to go with it and fuel the fire at Acti-Blizzard?!

I know that cosmetics in the store are a controversial topic but like quite frankly I don't really care. If I really like a mount, I'll pay the $32 for it, whatever. None of the store mounts really appeal to me that much anyways, I'd much rather buy WoW tokens to play on the BMAH or something.

I totally understand the whole "it's ruining the MMO experience and devaluing items that you actually have to work for in game" argument but if that mattered to me I'd be playing Classic and not retail lmfao.

Surprised retail WoW hasn't gone full free to play with a $10 Fortnite battle pass every couple of months yet. xD

If you like the mount enough to drop the money, fuck it, enjoy life.

You're taking these lvl 10s to the next lvl! Lol, how's the mog-champion
progressing?!


The mogs are sort of a side thing, I like to farm them when I'm bored or if I find a new set that I want to try out. I have to play an end game toon to farm mogs and I'd rather just play my 10 instead of playing my 50 for the benefit of my 10.

With that said, I'm quite enjoying Shadowlands level 10 twinking. My toon is what you would consider "pinned" for a twink and I'm having a blast farming islands and other PvE content with her. I just like the fact that I still get to play the toon that I love so dearly.

Quite honestly, I probably wouldn't be playing 10s if I wasn't playing Hvnter, where she goes, I go.

Did you get all the items everyone is frothing at the mouth over?

For the most part, yes. Got most of it day one of the patch. The only things I missed were extra level 40 relics for my other artifacts (I didn't think to fill the shadow and disc artifacts, kicking myself for that one,) the ilvl 58 heirlooms (those are going to get fixed and unless you already have the tokens to buy the trinkets I don't think they're worth farming,) and the Blade's Edge gems. Can you get those gems on a 10? Not even sure myself.

I got the important shit though, the Legion a belt for a potentially GFED nitro boost, high level relics, az pieces, WoD rare pieces, etc.

Oh, I've also been farming my gem set for when this busted ass gear is inevitably fixed. TBC dungeons are a real pain in the ass.

Do you think the nerf is coming soon?

I was hoping they were going to this last Thursday (hotfix day) but I was disappointed. I sure hope this shit gets fixed sooner rather than later though. How soon just depends on how much shit Blizzard has on their plate with end game, it's unfortunate for us, but understandable that we're low priority.

Is this a legit topic of conversation or should it be all hush-hush and secretive?

Twinks are going to twink, you have to remind yourself that that's kind of the whole point, but I don't like the exclusivity that some people bring to it. It's unhealthy for the bracket(s) and unhealthy for the community as a whole.

I want Xpoff and the twinking community as a whole to be a community that encourages growth.

I was new to the community myself not long ago and I remember how painful it was trying to learn ANYTHING about twinking, had to figure out most of it on my own. My goal has always been to make the next new member's experience easier and more accessible than mine was, because boy, that shit sucked. As I'm writing this, I'm realizing that this is most likely the reason for a lot of the "do it myself" attitude that I have with twinking.

It's not exploiting what're we're doing but you know...
If you're referring to the gear atm, I agree. Don't hate the player hate the game. Doesn't make me wish it was fixed already any less though. Anyone who doesn't want this gear fixed doesn't care for their bracket at all.

Should people be concerned with logging out in their gear atm? Pass the
tinfoil?!


Atm? no, the amount of twinks that are publicly using this gear without a care in the world is disgusting. If you're scared they're going to take it away from us and you want to hold on to the pieces in your bank as a keepsake to remember the good times of the Shadowlands pre patch, I can understand that, log out in a different set of gear if you're paranoid enough to. Big respect to those that still had their ilvl 180s by the end of BFA, means they weren't douchey enough to use them in pvp, they just wanted some eye candy for their banks. The pieces were still really cool to see.

Anyways, I stopped caring about it hiding gear come day 2 of the patch.

Did you see that Reddit video of the lvl 10 with tree pet?! Good exposure, no?!

Yes I saw the video. If you want this busted as gear we're currently in to be fixed then it's good exposure, if you don't want it to be fixed then it's bad exposure.

cough cough
it's good exposure cough

Do you think Blizzard monitors the site at all?

Blizzard themselves? No, not at all. I think it's realistic to assume that some people over at companies like MMO-Champion or WoWhead (like we saw when WoWhead directly referencing us in their article post about the HoA fix) might visit Xpoff from time to time looking for good article topics and shit.

If Blizzard hears about us (Xpoff,) I assume it's through other companies like WoWhead. To think Blizzard has spies that log into this website is ridiculous imo. Maybe there are some people that visit this site regularly that work for Blizzard, but I'm sure it's on their own accord and there's not some big conspiracy behind it.

Even if they do, who cares. Hi Blizzard.

I'm sure at some point one or two staff members twinked but do you feel we're on their radar?

Do I feel that twinks are on Blizzard's radar? Of course they are... what do yall think the xp off NPCs were made for? I don't know that we've ever been off their radar. They have much bigger fish to fry right now though, they'll get to us when they get to us. If they could, they would completely get rid of us.

I wish Blizzard took twinks more serious because all we do is highlight their missed opportunities, do you think we'll ever be taken seriously?

No. I don't see how anyone could take anything under max level seriously at all. Especially when it's something like twinking where literally the entire point is to gear a low level as much as you possibly can so that you can obliterate people who made their toons an hour ago.

What class scales the strongest at lvl 10?

The strongest single target damage at 10 atm is probably MM hunter and arcane mage, the strongest PvE / AoE farmer at 10 atm is probably prot paladin, and I'm not sure what the best healer is at 10 atm. Rdruid and hpriest are probably top contendors.

It's hard to say what's best and what isn't right now at 10, need more time for the meta to develop and settle down. Ask me this question again in a couple months.

I wish those scaling results were in the BGs...


I have played a grand total of one BG since the pre patch and I was on a party synced toon so I don't have a great feel for what BGs are like atm, but from what I've heard the scaling in BGs is like that currently. Lot of people are considering it unplayable.

Has anyone tried anything lower then 10? Is that the happy medium lvl with spells/abilities?

Good chunk of people are still playing 1s and 5s. 1s because people were playing 1s before the pre-patch came out, business as usual, and 5s because old 10s don't want to level back up to 10 (understandable.) 10 is probably the lowest level with the most content so I do think it's a nice sweet spot for anyone looking to get into PvE twinking, but I don't mean to sound like I'm undermining anything lower than 10s. Play what you have fun with big respect to the 1s out there (and 5s.) xd

ohti 01.png

How long have you been streaming for?!


Very irregularly for the past 7ish years (non-WoW until about 3~ years ago,) it's something to do
when I'm bored (and lonely lol.) I was in and out of serious streaming phases during BFA but now that I can't really play music on stream and I'm not going to be BGing nearly as much as I did in BFA I'm not sure how often I'll stream if at all anymore unfortunately, we'll see. My favourite thing about streaming is interacting with people and if I'm streaming content that's boring to watch I won't have anybody to really do that with (which, I wouldn't hold it against anyone if they didn't want to watch me farm Legion BoEs or something for 8 hours lmfao I wouldn't want to watch that either.)

I've tuned in a few times and it's always so informative, chill and happy!

The streams where I have my mic on are definitely my favourite. I enjoy the theory crafting side of twinking way WAY more than I like the actual PvP side of it so I can chat about it for hours.

As stated in the previous question, my favourite part of streaming is interacting with the interactions. If I've ever got my mic on come in and strike up a conversation!

Favorite fast-food? I'm a Subway guy BIGTIME!

I'm not big on fast food, rarely eat it. If I had to pick though it would probably be Subway or Wendies (gonna get some hate for that Subway pick I'm sure.) xd

What phone you using currently?! Loyal Blackberry user this WHOLE TIME!

Samsung Galaxy S8, nothing special, it does what I want it to do. I have always been a Samsung fanboy.

You've been staff for a while now. From your first day, up to now, what's changed the most for you?

Not being able to change the colour of my name back to pink of course...

(half) jokes aside though, the biggest change was going from the 20-29 coordinator to a site moderator. I was already taking care of the veteran's sub-forum as a regular member before I joined the staff team so almost nothing changed for me when I became coordinator except for the fact that I made more of an effort to reign in my trolly side a bit to better represent the Xpoff staff team. Going from coordinator to being held to the expectation of looking after every sub-forum (moderator) was a pretty big step up and took some time to get used to, but I was eager to take on the challenge. I still have to remind myself sometimes that I should be opening and reading a wider variety of threads, even if the content isn't all that interesting to me personally.

I was so hyped when we finally scooped you up, just wanna say thank you for your time logged at the site and for everything you do for the community. It's been a better place since you've turned orange (font) your hard work goes noticed, appreciated and is respected amongst your peers!

Thanks for giving me the opportunity to do one of these, it's been fun! I'm flattered.

I put in the work that I do because I enjoy doing it, I am glad that I am fortunate enough to help the community grow in some form even if it's just a little bit.

Also, I'm kind of addicted to Xpoff, it's easily my most visited website and I always have a tab of it open on my computer / phone. xd

Well Ohti thank you for doing one of these with me, any special shoutouts?!

Teldrassil Firefighters, the staff team for keeping the guild afloat and our core group of members for keeping the activity up regularly. <TF> has been the best guild I've had the pleasure of being a part of in the past 12+ years playing this game, love you guys.
 
Gotta say this was a fantastic interview.

Almost made me a little emotional thinking of all the folks I've played with around the world since I started wow in 2005

(Almost)

I look forward to going onward with you guys on this often hilarious journey.
 

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