Welcome to the Pride
Mewfassah is a Twitch streamer who has a genuine affection for his audience, along with a rapidly growing number of followers and subscribers. He streams every weekday for several hours at a time, along with some special weekend streams, such as at the start of a new Season, and his current focus is Diablo 4.
I’ve stopped by his channel, Mewfassah Gaming, numerous times and watched in amazement as he waltzed through some of the most difficult challenges in the game, including multiple completely legitimate Uber Lilith kills, while simultaneously entertaining his viewers and responding to his rolling chat scroll. You can check out his build guide HERE for the Misty Spirit Necro he ran on one of those Lilith kills. I’ve known “Mew” for quite a while, yet I still wanted to learn more about how he manages to keep his passion for the game always dialed up, and he graciously agreed to share some of his insights about the world of a Diablo 4 streamer.
The Pride Lands
One of the most important factors that initially drew me to Mewfassah’s in-game clan, Lion Pride, and his Twitch channel, was that he’s good people. The vibe during our multi-player games was always both friendly and congenial, which helped to make the experience thoroughly enjoyable, and I also always came away a better player.
PD: You’ve been gaming for quite a while; why didn’t you start streaming earlier?
MG: “The everyday demands in my life and the resulting lack of opportunity and support. Prior to being married to my life-long partner, I had a full-time job working nearly 80 to 90 hours a week doing custom installations of low voltage systems in homes and businesses. After that job I decided to attend college as a means of getting out of having to climb in or under homes and buildings. At some point during that time, I was left without a home and had to live in my car for nearly a year before meeting my spouse. I graduated from college during the peak of the COVID pandemic and was unable to find a job due to the business closures that were happening. This, in turn, led to me becoming a stay-at-home parent and, with everything that was going on, there just was never a good time to actually get the channel started.”
PD: What were some of the most important factors that inspired you to become a streamer?
MG: “The decision to become a streamer was both easy and challenging at the same time. Friends had begun to encourage me to start streaming again when I became a stay-at-home father. That can be a rather demanding job, as anyone who’s done it can tell you, and I wasn’t sure it would be practical for me to attempt to host a Twitch channel as well. However, I also knew that I needed something worthwhile to keep myself occupied whenever I had some down time. Meanwhile, my wife was the breadwinner and was working anywhere from 50 to 70 hours a week. Ultimately, it was the desire to make enough to treat my family out once a month on my dime instead of hers that led to the decision to launch the channel.”
Making the Grade
Mewfassah, more than any other streamer I know, fits the quintessential definition of “Gamer.” From PC and console games to tabletop gaming, it seems like he knows it all and has just about done it all at one time or another. He once confided in me how many Warhammer 40K miniatures he has in his collection, but only after I agreed to take that number to my grave.
PD: When did you launch your Twitch channel?
MG: “The official launch of my channel was in Sept of 2014; however, I didn’t pursue a full-time streaming schedule until May of 2022 when I began focusing on Diablo 3. The main objective right from the beginning was top-tier gameplay and pushing leaderboards to the best of my ability. The result was achieving Top 100 Leaderboard rankings in Seasons 26, 27, and 28 prior to the official launch of Diablo 4 in June of 2023.”
PD: How long have you been streaming Diablo games, including Diablo 4?
MG: “I’ve been streaming Diablo games full-time since Season 26 of Diablo 3 and haven’t really looked back. It’s been a fun and exciting journey, I’ve met a lot of amazing people, and have made many great and awesome friends, some of whom have even made time to do meetups IRL.”
A Man of the People
Mewfassah’s exceptional skill and expertise are readily apparent throughout his streams regardless of whatever game he’s playing, and they’re the cornerstone of his thoroughly supportive and informative style of interacting with his viewers. I can recall many times when, having failed to find the answer to a question about some obscure game feature, that I tuned into his stream and was promptly provided with the answer in chat.
PD: How would you describe your style of live commentary during your streams?
MG: “I dislike tuning into a stream and feeling like I am never heard, especially when visiting the stream multiple times on different days. So, I try to make sure that I engage with everyone as much as possible. I treat my stream as a community and encourage all players to enjoy the game in whatever way feels most comfortable for them. The great thing about a game like Diablo 4 is that it can effectively accommodate an unlimited number of different playstyles. Pushing players into believing that the game must be played in only certain ways limits its growth as well as the growth of our Diablo gaming community. A viewer might have a better idea about how to best achieve something that none of the rest of us had even begun to think of. Revelations like that will never happen if everyone just sticks to what are considered to be the “Best” build guides in the game, etc.”
PD: Do you ever invite viewers to join your game?
MG: “Every opportunity I get to invite players into my games I do it. The only requirement I ever stipulate is that I do not carry players, nor do I want to be carried. What this means is that I want to actually play the game with my viewers, and I want my viewers to play the game with me. When someone is being carried, then the person who is carrying is playing the game for the other person. I do not see the fun in that and so I encourage everyone to play so that they can enjoy the game as much as I do and also learn more about the class or build they are running.”
PD: What is the most important goal for your channel?
MG: “Just to encourage viewers and the community to have fun with whatever game they may be playing. To understand that games are meant to be relaxing and fun and to not feel like work. We all have day jobs, so playing a game like Diablo 4 should be your down time.”
PD: What features of your stream do you think your viewers enjoy most?
MG: “We do much, much more than just feature Diablo games in my streams. We do music, trivia, Marbles, drawing, dancing, singing, dad jokes, hair styles, and, most important of all, we have the BEARDS! In all actuality, I feel like most people come in just to hang out like friends do. It’s a very welcoming place where we don’t judge and we all have the same mentality of ‘let’s just have a good time,’ which I believe has brought a great community – what I would call a family – together.”
Duck Dynasty 2.0
By now it should be obvious to everyone that the spirit of community is a big part of what Mewfassah does and what he brings to the world of gaming. Well, it turns out that he also has a relatively unique sub-community within his gaming community, which is comprised exclusively of his hirsute brothers in arms.
PD: Tell us about OnlyBeards.
MG: “OnlyBeards is a team of Twitch streamers, all of whom wear beards. We all enjoy gaming and including the community in whatever we’re doing, from playing ARPGs to Survival Games. It originally began as a joke on one of our members’ channels and it blew up from there. Global goals just include having fun talking about beards, games, and hobbies while supporting and encouraging each other’s growth [pun intended]. We currently consist of six outstanding members and have Podcasts on the first Sunday of every month! Members of OnlyBeards include nickthornton, XDrugula, The_Bearded_Viking83, PhoenixFuFu, and Monkeylump84.”
Diablo 4 Dark Devotion
Those of you who have read my previous articles are well aware of my ongoing fascination with the numerous content creators who unabashedly profit from the ceaseless and immutable flow of vitriol on forums like Reddit, etc. Thankfully, true Diablo fans out there, meaning those like you and me who actually play games and stick to the ones we like, remain undeterred, and our comrade Mewfassah has always been right there with us.
PD: Why did you decide to stick with Diablo 4 despite the negative press over the past year?
MG: “I have always been a firm believer in the Diablo game series. I have played Diablo since its original inception back in 1997 when I got my hands on Diablo I and played it on the family’s IBM Aptiva Desktop on Dial Up. So, having been a part of several releases of new Diablo games and expansions, I know that they do not always start off perfectly, but given time they always become some of the best ARPGs available on the market.”
PD: What were you most looking forward to in Season 3?
MG: “I was looking forward to the Leaderboards, some class balancing, and the idea that the Devs would begin taking a stronger stance on actively fixing bugs within the game before they started to become the norm like they did in Season 2.”
PD: What was your overall impression of yesterday’s Campfire Chat Livestream?
MG: “Overall, I didn’t hear a lot of good news during the most recent Campfire Chat and I’m still hoping for more improvements in the future, not just to the game as a whole, but even to the new Gauntlet challenge as well. The Devs need to create more genuine and legitimate reasons to farm for and equip Uber Unique Items. They’ve fallen dramatically short of that with the Gauntlet, meaning that our incentives to grind have fallen even farther behind than they were before. However, the return of PTRs to the Diablo Franchise in Diablo 4 was welcome news and will obviously allow players to identify possible issues before the Season goes live.”
PD: What are your expectations following the mid-Season class balance changes?
MG: “I feel that the buffs and adjustments to the classes will be beneficial to the game. Most importantly, in my case, with the Necromancer class gaining a movement speed passive and removing a damage passive that was of negligible value.”
PD: What impact will Gauntlet challenge have on Diablo 4 in general?
MG: “The Gauntlet will definitely create a new playstyle for Diablo 4, which will be good for the game by incentivizing more players to focus on min-maxing in order to improve their Leaderboard rankings, rather than just aiming for the high damage numbers. Another enticing part of the Gauntlet is the cosmetic rewards, and, being cosmetics hunter, I’ll more than likely aim to achieve higher ranks just for those new items.”
PD: What role will the Gauntlet have in the Diablo 4 endgame?
MG: “It will most likely evolve into a niche activity for those players who just want to push leaderboards for the associated recognition, because it won’t add much purpose otherwise to the current endgame. That’s in part due to the lack of any substantial loot grind in the Gauntlet, which is based upon the fact that it is more efficient to grind 925 gear in 90+ NMDs.”
PD: What is your basic strategy recommendation for running the Gauntlet?
MG: “Players will need to focus on making sure they do enough damage to clear the content smoothly, but not having so much damage that it undermines other important factors, such as mobility and defensive skills.”
PD: Are you optimistic about the return of the Vampiric Powers?
MG: “Bringing back a few of the Vampiric Powers as Legendary Aspects rather than Unique Powers will pigeonhole certain item slots by preventing some builds from equipping important Unique Items. The most notable example would be the Metamorphosis Legendary Aspect, which will take the place of some other important Unique Boots, such as Esu’s Heirloom for the Sorcerer, Beastfall Boots for the Druid, and Penitent Greaves for some Rogue builds. On the other hand, equipping Unique Boots like these, rather than using Metamorphosis, may result in poorer performance in the Gauntlet as a result of decreased movement speed and increased vulnerability to being crowd controlled.”
See you next time
Mewfassah Gaming is a truly casual gamer friendly channel and I highly recommend stopping by, giving him, and his bearded bretheren, a follow, and even joining me as one of his subscribers.
Would you like to recommend a streamer for a future profile here on PureDiablo? If so, please sound off in the comments section below or contact me on Twitter. In the meantime, also keep an eye on the news feed here at PureDiablo so you’ll have all the up-to-date info you need to get the most out of your game.
Cheers,
Gazerrick