Interview: Taliesin and Evitel

I had the chance to ask Taliesin and Evitel of Taliesin and Evitel Do Games a series of questions, one of which got eaten by a murlock and only half of it was left. Without further ado, Here. we. go!

1.) What made you guys want to make videos about World of Warcraft?

Evitel – I never decided. Taliesin decided for me. I thought it would be a one-off and that the video would disappear without a trace and I’d never have to do it again.

Taliesin – That’s a joke, right?

E – Yeah of course. Well, half a joke. It’s a joke! I guess what I mean is, I don’t remember making a decision that, “We are going to make WoW videos”, one day we just were.

T – I know what you mean. I just wanted to make some stupid jokes about something I liked doing, which is playing WoW. Somehow that just turned into us having a channel. Also I suppose it was at the end of WoD when a lot of Youtubers were being really down on the game the whole time in their content and we were like, “Actually I really like it. It’s a game, it’s not worth getting upset about.” I suppose subconsciously it could have come form a desire for there to be less drama about WoW and more stupid jokes.

2.) What are the benefits and challenges of making videos together?

E – The benefits are that it is something else we get to do together! We already play the game together and talk about it anyway so now we can just open those conversations out to loads of other people and they can join in, it’s pretty awesome.

T – Yeah, instead of me calling Evitel over to the PC to make her look at a hilarious new shit transmog I’ve just made, I can make her look at HUNDREDS OF SHIT TRANSMOGS that people have sent us!

E – Thinking about it that’s kind of one of the more challenging things too. Those transmogs made my eyes hurt.

T – You loved it really.

E – I did.

3.) What or who do you attribute your success as Youtuber to?

T – Do we have success?! Awesome, I’m going to buy a motherfucking helicopter.

E – What colour helicopter would you buy?

T – A gold one obviously. That has SUCCESS engraved along the side so everyone knows.

E – I think people like that we are maybe a bit older and more “normal” than a lot of other WoW Youtubers. We are grown ups and we can’t get too upset about things that happen in the game because we don’t take it too seriously because, you know, it’s a video game. It’s like, the best video game ever and we love it, but it’s a form of entertainment and we treat it as such.

T – Totally. So all our content is pretty enthusiastic because we’re having a good time! We’re talking about a game we really like, so obviously we’re having fun.

4.)  Since you’ve started making videos,

T – What happened to this question? Evitel, did you delete half of this question? Why?

E – No.

T – I’m very suspicious.

(I think a murloc ate it)

5.) If you could personally experience one WoW event in real life, what would it be?

T – One of the beer festivals probably. Not a raid, for sure. That shit would be scary in real life, and IRL I can’t really afford to die 100 times before I beat any of the bad guys.

E – I’d go to Ulduar. Ulduar is cool. I wouldn’t die.

T – But you might die though. There’s an old god in there.

E – I overgear the shit out of that place. I’m pretty sure I couldn’t die in Ulduar even if I wanted to.

6.) If you weren’t Youtubing, what would you be doing?

T – Getting to bed on time!

E – It’s not unusual for Taliesin to stay up until 4am finishing a video. Our videos are purposely a lot more edited than plenty of other WoW stuff out there, the jokes and memes and quick cuts and stuff. That’s really important to us, but it takes time and it means that even if we had nothing else to do all day than we’d never be able to get out as many vids as say, Bellular.

T – Also, if I wasn’t making videos I’d probably spend lots more time actually playing WoW!  That’s why our video output went down a bit when Legion launched, is because we were too busy actually playing and enjoying the game.

7.) What keeps you guys motivated?

T – The community.

E – Definitely. Sometimes it is hard and stressful to make videos, but the amount of cool people who get in touch and have kind words or interesting stories they want to share or just want to say hi in game.  All that was stuff we didn’t expect or think about when we started the channel, and it’s definitely the reason we are still doing the channel.

T – I think also we attract a really friendly community. Because we are quite enthusiastic and smiley and optimistic and not all OMG F U BLIZZ WHY U RUIN MY LIFE, the T&E community generally isn’t either. It’s a really nice place to be.

E – We’ve had the pleasure of meeting a few people IRL too and they are always so awesome.

8.) Has gaming become more of a chore since you started your channel?

T – A little. I like it though.

E – It makes me appreciate the time I have to just switch off and play WoW a lot more. So actually it’s probably made me enjoy just purely gaming even more than before.

T – Ooh that’s a good answer, and so true. Yes, what she said.

9.) What video was your favorite to make?

T – Our Review Of The Year 2016 video. We decided it would be really fun to get other WoW Youtubers we like involved and we got pretty much everyone we asked – Proper Bird, Tuskeh, Hayven, Hirumaredx, MrGamesmasterReviews… people that we really enjoyed watching before we’d even thought about making videos ourselves. And they all wrote and recorded their own little bits and sent them to us! It was the most thrilling and humbling video to put together.

E – Shame no one watched it!

T – Yeah it’s only had, like, 30,000 views or something which is a fucking travesty. It’s easily my favourite video we’ve ever done. Because we aren’t in all of it!

E – I like the two videos we did on our favourite music in WoW.

T – No one watched those either.

E – Are you noticing a trend?

T – Your face is a trend.

E – That doesn’t make sense.

T – I know sorry.

10.) What’s a random fun fact about both of you?

E – Taliesin is the direct descendant of a Welsh folk hero. Being American, that’s obviously pretty exciting for me.

T – It’s true, too. It’s not the Welsh folk hero Taliesin though. Oh and also, there’s a character in a cult book and film which is genuinely based on me and stuff I did, which means there’s an actor who has literally played the part of me in a film. That’s pretty cool too.

E – And for me? English isn’t my first language.

T – But… BUT YOU WERE BORN IN THE US AND ARE AMERICAN.

E – Deal with it.

11.)What new projects do you have coming up that we should be excited for?

T – Umm, we’re thinking of branching out into movies. Not reviewing them, making them. We’d be like a WoW-playing Cheech and Chong. Not really.

E – Evitel Cooks!

T – Oh yeah! We got the Warcraft Cookbook and Evitel wants to do a whole series of her making recipes from it.

E – It’ll be the best thing on Youtube ever!

T – It’s the end of days.

Thank you both so much for taking the time to answer my questions. It was a treat to be able to ask you guys some questions. Their Youtube channel is: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiHdR2hAyFEXWCbNQgbu_Dg

Follow them on Twitter! : https://twitter.com/TaliesinEvitel

There’s a lot coming down the pipeline, especially when PAX East hits. Make sure to stay tuned and stay classy. My name is Taliesin of Taliesin and—-Nooo (Had to, couldn’t resist.), My name is Zach From the Nerds Templar. Until next time!