Twitch streamer Naguura explains how WoW Shadowlands changed the game

WoW Shadowlands rejuvenated the iconic franchise and Twitch streamer Caroline ‘Naguura’ Forer absolutely loves playing it. We sat down with the World of Warcraft player to chat all things Shadowlands.

World of Warcraft has been around for some time now, but it has a fanbase so loyal that the title continues to flourish every year unabated. The release of the last major expansion in late 2020 has breathed new life into the MMORPG, and caused an influx of new players to swarm the Shadowlands to uncover their secrets. One player that’s been around for a lot longer, though, is Naguura. Currently ranked as the third highest English speaking WoW Twitch Streamer, the South Tyrolean has cemented her place as one to watch (literally). We caught up with Naguura to chat all things Twitch, WoW and Shadowlands.

From Delpiero to Naguura

Naguura’s adventures in Azeroth began all the way back in WoW Classic (colloquially known as ‘Vanilla’). She told Dexerto: “My older brother played the game. We only had one PC back then, and I’d always watch him play when I was bored. Whenever he was out or whatever I would play his character and I just liked playing when he was gone. At some point, he stopped playing and he gave me his account. “Back then you couldn’t actually change the race and gender of your character, and he was playing a human, male Paladin called Delpiero. So that was my character for a pretty long time.

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“I was really shy, I was like 14/15 years old, and I didn’t want to speak to anyone. So I was always like ‘yeah, hey, I’m a girl’ and people were like ‘yeah, sure, you’re a girl called Delpiero playing a human, male Paladin not speaking on voice chat.’ So that was a funny story because I was always assumed to be a guy pretending to be a girl.”

Joining Method

WoW soon became something that Naguura lived and breathed. Floating from guild to guild progressing in the game, she eventually migrated to the English speaking sphere – which, being a far cry from her mother tongue of German, was a little different for her. Despite reservations, though, she found herself in one of the most accomplished guilds in WoW history. “I applied to Method and they accepted me. At the start I had a really hard time because [Scott McMillan, Method’s Leader] Sco had a Scottish accent and being really bad at English I didn’t understand him half the time, but somehow I managed to do well. That was like, my peak, being in Method for four or five years, and I got multiple World Firsts while I was there.” Beneath this peak, however, was an entire world that she was yet to explore: Twitch.

One of us

Aside from perfectly honed WoW skills, Naguura’s infectious energy made Twitch the logical next step in her journey. Beginning her Twitch career streaming gameplay to friends, she graduated to Heathstone. She said: “Because it was kind of a new game and I was doing okay with it. There was endless content there and I also figured it was a nice streaming game because you can explain a lot because it’s not a mechanically difficult game. It worked out really well really quickly, I ended up getting like an average 1000 viewers after only two months.” Twitch was hardly a walk in the park, though. “It took me a really, really long time to understand what I should be doing on Twitch – obviously there’s no manual on how to be a streamer! I was really oblivious that you had to do things outside of Twitch to promote your stream. I put all of my effort into streaming and I never even had a Twitter account, or Instagram.

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“When I got so popular in Hearthstone at the start, I think it was because the game was pretty new and I was one of the few female streamers who were really high ranked.” WoW, however, continued to niggle at her. After a brief period of trying to breakout in League of Legends, she chose to go back to her roots. “As soon as I started playing WoW my viewer base increased pretty quickly because people knew me from Method. I don’t think I did anything incredibly special, I just put a lot of time and effort into creating content.” There’s one strand that persisted throughout her career though: people always thought she was a guy.

Being a Woman in Warcraft

When it comes to be female on Twitch, things can at times be difficult. The streamer explained: “Female gamers always have this prejudice where a lot of people think you’re not good at the game, which is something that I used to be very upset about. “Throughout my entire streaming career I tried to prove people otherwise. I’m very competitive, and I always figured once I reach this certain level then people will acknowledge I’m actually good. But, this actually never happened. There were always people who said that I’m boosted or I’m bad no matter what I did.” As is the case with many difficulties in life, sometimes a perspective change on a situation can be beneficial.

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“At one point I just gave up on this idea that I had to convince these types of people that I’m good because those kind people can’t be convinced. No matter how good I am, they will always say this stuff. So I stopped focusing on those people and started focusing on myself, because if I know I’m doing good that’s all that really matters. “The people that believe in me, and the people that support me are the people I should be focusing on. So I try to just have fun and be myself.” And that’s why so many viewers love Naguura so much. Authentically herself at every turn, she’s basically the Archon of the WoW Twitch world.

“Shadowlands is really a game I started loving again”

After being somewhat deflated by the offering of Battle for Azeroth, her passion for the game was reignited with Shadowlands and she’s been playing a lot more regularly. “Shadowlands is really a game that I started loving again. I’ve been playing WoW for so, so long and for the past six or seven years I didn’t love WoW as much as I do now. I just love everything about Shadowlands.”

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With the newest expansion, players were given more competitive play and less monotonous grinding, which has proved to be a positive decision. “I think the whole WoW section also grew with Shadowlands because it was generally very popular, so I got more viewers and people were just loving this whole community and the whole Shadowlands idea. It’s very interesting to see that a game that’s this old all of a sudden just gets so popular again!”

Naguura’s WoW future

Naguura is very much looking forward to WoW Shadowlands’ upcoming Chains of Domination patch and the associated competitive updates. “So long as Sylvanas doesn’t redeem herself,’ Naguura’s streaming future is as bright as the light of the Archon. While she describes herself as just a normal gamer, Naguura has etched her name into the annals of Warcraft history. Many fans can’t wait to see her explore Korthia, the Tazavesh and join her on her quest to potentially conquer Twitch’s WoW section as well.