Community Focus - SamiKat

Mar 31, 2023 - Hippy

It’s another lovely Friday, so why not ring in the weekend with a new Community Focus to celebrate? There’s a strong chance you may already know who our latest spotlight is or know of her. Do HUDless, all-Bow dungeon runs ring a bell? Oh yeah, and solo too?! If not, allow me the honor of introducing you to the incredibly sweet badass with a Bow, SamiKat.

First up, how the heck are ya? Let’s start by telling the community a little bit more about yourself, anything you’d like to share at all!

Hey there! I am doing wonderfully and so excited to be here! I’m SamiKat (she/her), but I usually go by Sami. I’m a Twitch streamer and content creator, but a gamer first and foremost. I have a mad passion for Skyrim, Pokémon (core series), and, of course, Destiny. *swoon* I’ve been a Guardian since the D1 beta and founded one of the oldest active clans.

Outside of gaming, I’m a wife and mother of three cats (who I would die for). To dig a little deeper, I have lupus, bipolar II disorder, and intense ADHD, which can all be a pain to deal with, but each has inspired me to play how I play and be who I am. Beyond all that, I’m also just an incredibly high-energy, usually awkward, consistently sporadic, highly sarcastic oddball always looking to make others smile. And I tend to talk in all caps WAY more than I should. Don’t judge me.

Your name sparks inspiration in Bow lovers everywhere. Seriously! You pull off some incredibly impressive feats that the community has shared so many times in pure awe. How did you get started on your path to becoming the Bow Queen of Destiny 2?

I’m still having a hard time believing it all just because I’m constantly in this state of perpetual awe at the love this community has shown me. I’ve always used Bows any chance I could in any game I played, starting with the fairy bow in Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Skyrim then turned that love into an addiction, and when Petra gave me my first bow in Forsaken? Yeah, there was no turning back. (Get it? No Turning Back? The name of the Bow she gave us? Hahahaha. I’m not sorry.)

As for using three Bows… some folks have given me trouble for always running a Bow in a lot of activities, so I thought I’d grace them with running two. Then when Leviathan’s Breath came out, my only option was to run three. I don’t make the rules, it’s just science.

My first solo all-Bow dungeon was Prophecy, and a mere four people thought I could complete it with only Bows, which made me want to do it even more. So I did. Immediately, I was hooked. Since then, I’ve completed every dungeon and The Corrupted GM solo, flawlessly, with all-Bows, and no HUD. I’m ridiculously proud to say I’ve also completed two trio all-Bow raids (Vault of Glass and King’s Fall), and an all-Bow Last Wish. I just can’t get enough.

As for why I turn off the HUD… I actually play much better without it. Because of my ADHD, I often get distracted by all the info on screen, especially during solo runs. I found that when I got stuck in my head and started making mistakes, turning the HUD off helped muscle memory kick in and allowed me to focus on game cues, like audio or visual effects. If you want to know what I mean, listen to the audio cues in Duality, they are GOLD. (No pun intended.)

What’s your journey been like for you when achieving your goals in content creation? Anything that sticks out to you about your journey so far, a memory you’ll always cherish, or a goal you can’t wait to crush?

I started streaming in November 2017 after becoming sick with what would later become a lupus diagnosis. About a month later, I got sicker, took a year break from streaming, and then I came back in January 2019 a little stronger. I was too weak to go out into the world, so streaming was my social outlet, and by the time my lupus started to go into remission in late 2020, the pandemic was a thing, and unfortunately, it still is. It’s too dangerous for me to be around people still because of my meds, so Twitch, social media, and Destiny have been instrumental in connecting me to the outside world, and I’m so grateful for it. It means more than I have words.

Thanks to social media, I really started growing in the past eight months. Hitting big milestones with my content has been an unexpected dream, but what honestly and truthfully means the world to me is the number of people who come into my chat just to tell me that they completed their first solo dungeon when they never thought they could, or tried loadouts they always wanted to but were too afraid of what people might think, or started playing without a HUD because they noticed it helped with their ADHD or visual sensitivities too. It’s THOSE moments, THOSE Guardians, that make all the lows I’ve experienced the past six years worth it. It’s those Guardians that inspire me, not the other way around. If I can use my growth as a platform to help those with accessibility needs, I’m determined to do what I can.

My next personal goal is simple: I want to solo The Lightblade GM with all Bows, no HUD, and no artifact mods. It’s my be-all and end-all of D2 endgame. I’ve made it to the final immune phase at the boss, and I’m so, so close I can almost taste the win.

Some say it’s torture, I say hey, hey, hey, hey, Alak-Hul’s my guy.

Any advice for any content creators hoping to begin (or further!) their own journey? Anything you wish you were told when you first began your own adventure?

Be yourself and play what—and HOW—you want to play. Not everybody will be “your kind of people,” but when you do find the people who are, your community will start to feel like a home. Embrace YOU. There’s only one. Also, turn off your view count. No joke, it really helps.

How ya enjoying Lightfall so far?

Two words: NEW BOWS! Okay, but really, I love it so much of it. I’m really excited by the overall sandbox changes and the addition of loadouts. The buff to Leviathan’s Breath is nasty, and I’m here for it. And Strand! Oh my! When it comes to subclasses, I’m a creature of habit, so I generally stick to Void for everything, but I’m having entirely too much fun with Strand. I’m terrible with it, absolutely horrible, but it’s pulling me out of my comfort zone in a good way. But now for the big question: Strand bow when please?

You’re chaotic, and I love it. So what about what’s next for the Destiny universe are you the most excited for? Any personal theories that you have in your noggin’ that you hope to see reflected in the story coming up? Any story elements you’re hoping not to see?

I’m really excited to see more of the Awoken and the Ascendant Realm with the Seasonal story (and hopefully, beyond). It’s a little strange how Mara sort of went into a maternal mode during Season of the Seraph, but it’s a good look on her, and I’m wondering how that’ll translate into her story going forward. I also feel like we’re not done with Ana yet. I still think she’s going to turn to the Darkness before the end. Love and pain are powerful forces, as Eramis has proven. (Yikes.) Just please, please, PLEASE don’t kill off Elsie Bray. Please. My heart isn’t strong enough for that.

With Strand now out, it’s time for our favorite Q: if you could create your dream subclass, meaning no limits—can look however you want, feel however you want—what would that look like?

Goodness, this is a TOUGH question. I always joke with my community that if subclasses were ever influenced by Pokémon types, I think the next Darkness subclass should be based on Fairy type, because how funny and absolutely terrifying would that be. But on a serious note, I like the idea of Darkness manifesting in the intangible and paracausal, as Osiris learns from Strand. Stasis deals with movement (or lack thereof), Strand deals with psyche, and the third one deals with… willpower and wishes? I’d love to see a subclass influenced by the Ahamkara, somehow incorporating shapeshifting and the powers of the Ascendant Realm. (OMG! *GASP!* WHAT IF THE FIFTEENTH WISH IS THE LAST SUBCLASS?!?!?!?! AHHHH!!!!!) I mean, that might be kinda cool, I guess.

Oh yeah, and can us Hunters please get some buddies too? The Warlocks really don’t need anymore. They can only use one at a time. I would very much appreciate it. Thank you.

Is there anything about your relationship with the Destiny universe that feels unique to you? I know for me personally, I love going into each day with a full RPG sheet: my Guardian and their Ghost have an entire backstory, daily story—something to make the experience lean more heavily into those RPG elements.

I’m more of a challenge player now, but I’ve always been a completionist at my core. I’m also an S-Tier procrasti-gamer. So, every Tuesday in the six to twelve hours before reset, I hop on Destiny for my weekly Race to Reset stream. Basically, I attempt to accomplish all the stuff I didn’t do earlier in the week because I was too busy making wonderfully poor decisions instead, like running a solo story mission with all Bows at 38 levels under Power instead of completing my final four weekly Pinnacles, for example. I find myself doing everything but what I’m “supposed” to be doing and how I “should” be doing it, and thankfully Destiny gives me that freedom. But then, of course, I realize at the eleventh hour (sometimes literally) I probably should have been doing what I was supposed to be doing, and the madness of R2R begins.

Oh! And I also like spreadsheets, like, A LOT. I make spreadsheets for EVERYTHING in game: triumphs, weapon patterns, a highly researched in-depth look at the correlations between Nightfall rotations, Champions, and anti-Champ mods across all Seasons. (I may have a problem, but I’m okay with that. We don’t choose what we love.)

If there was one thing you could say to the Destiny community if you had the chance (like in a Community Focus, perchance), what would you say?

This is to the Bow mains out there: don’t let anybody tell you that Bows aren’t worth using. They may not be meta or optimal for DPS, but with the right practice, patience, and a roll that fits your playstyle, you can accomplish more than you may think. Keep at it and kick some serious alien butt.

Thanks so much for hanging out! Before we let you go, go ahead and shoutout anyone else you’d like to shine some love on and tell folks where they can find you.

Thank you so much for having me. Seriously, like, SO much. I’m still freaking out a little bit.

I’d like to shoutout my bestie and fellow content creator, TalkQwertyToMe_. She’s a Geordie living in Melbourne, and I’m just hanging out here in the midwest USA, but in the Destiny universe, the world doesn’t feel so big. She’s the sanity to my insanity, the anti-Champ mods to my all-Bow loadouts, and together, “hilarious” is an understatement. (You should really check out our duo GM’s. Now THAT’S content.) I’m beyond fortunate to have that badass woman on my fireteam, in and out of game. Every. Single. Time. Check her out on Twitch. You won’t be disappointed.

I also want to shoutout AntarcticWildlife, a Twitch streamer and friend who’s one hell of a gamer and one of the kindest people I know. While many turn away from running challenges with me because “it’s just not possible with Bows,” he embraces my crazy, equips three Bows himself, and trios raids with me. Few have the patience, willingness, and staying power to attempt, let alone accomplish, the feats we’ve accomplished together with another cracked gamer, Panda (no socials). AntarcticWildlife is also on Twitch, usually running or helping others run low-Guardian challenges.

You can find me playing Destiny, almost always with a Bow equipped, on Twitch every Tuesday morning during my weekly Race to Reset and at other odd times on the weekends. Twitter is my second home, but I’m also active from time to time on TikTok and my growing YouTube channel.

If you’re not feeling inspired to do some kind of harder activity as an all-Bow run, I don’t know what to tell ya. But that’s a wrap! Another epic Community Focus in the books, and many more on the way. We’re excited to be able to introduce you to some new (to you, maybe?) community members because there are many of you, and every single one is nothing short of magical. Both space magic and otherwise. Just don’t go to the moon. Rumor has it it’s haunted.

Your weekly reminder to always put your kindest foot forward, practice that self-care, and drink your dang water. Catch ya next time, friends.

“I should go,”

<3 Hippy

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