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I happen to be an expert on this topic, here's the timeline :
>August 2023 official WoW Vanilla Hardcore servers are released, following the immense popularity of the unofficial Hardcore Add-on last Spring
>Revitalizes the WoW section on Twitch, almost every top channel is playing Classic Hardcore rather than retail or WOTLK
>Hardcore death compilations become a mainstay of Asmongold's channel and spread like wildfire amobg WoW streamers, then WoW adjacent streamers
>October 2023, OTK (one of the biggest streaming orgs on Twitch) announce a $100k dollars max level duel to the death tournament
>It provides content the entire month leading up to it as contestants all level together with many dying along the way, fueling more death compilations, this time with higher stakes than ever as $100k are on the line
>The finals become the most viewed event in WoW history
>Around the same time, Sodapoppin, another OTK streamer, makes a Hardcore guild with the goal to raid with almost exclusively other big streamers (minimum cut-off to get in the guild is being a 4view with his direct approval)
>slowly picks up traction as more and more big names drip into the guild, eventually snowballing as a whole bunch of massive streamers end up joining over the following weeks, which in turns motivates other big streamers who smell the viewership and content opportunities to join the guild
>Since the members are all big streamers, their death clips make it past the usual WoW channels and into more mainstream places like the LSF reddit
>Host an IRL guild meeting last friday with over 60k CCV, and that was only including the members in the Austin area
>Streamers see the WoW category constantly topping Twitch lately as all those big streamers are leveling together, see their favorite streamers and streamer friends playing the game, and decide to join in as they mistakenly believe WoW Hardcore is the meta (it's not, only Sodapoppin's guild is)
>You are here
That just about sums it up