The Queue: A trip down memory lane
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW.com's daily Q&A column where the WoW.com team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Adam Holisky be your host today.
Let's get meta here folks. Zetathran asked a question about the history of this site, and it got me into a conversation with our Editor-in-Chief Liz Harper about the activities of old. WoW.com has a changed a lot in the past few years, and while the long dialog we had about past policies and editorial standards is probably of no interest but ourselves, the basic story of the site probably is, so we'll start off with that.
Zetathran asked...
"How did WoW Insider start? Who were the original bloggers?"
WoW Insider has been around almost 4 years now, of which Elizabeth Harper is our oldest employee. And while the real story of WoW.com is much longer, and I'm not even sure I know all of it, I can give a somewhat concise answer.
WoW Insider started off as a spin off from our sister site Joystiq, which wanted more direct coverage of World of Warcraft. Our first post went live on November 23rd, 2005 – about one year after WoW was released. Barb Dybwad, who now works for Mashable, was the original producer of the site. Jennie Lees, who has moved on to other ventures, was the first lead blogger. Our current Editor-in-Chief Elizabeth Harper came on in early 2006. The rest of the blogging staff, and at the time we were a true blog and not so much of a news site and resource, comprised of a handful of individuals from other sites. For really old-WoW nostalgia, check out the original bloggers articles. Most do not fit at all with today's standards, so keep that in mind as you're viewing them:
WoW Insider had its big break during with its BlizzCon 2007 coverage. This started the upward trend for us, thanks to you all. Today's WoW.com is almost nothing like the original site -- not that the original is bad, but we've had a lot of evolution into what we are today. I've worked here almost two years now, and the site is almost entirely different than it was when I began. Lots of changes, many of which you all don't see, but we've ended up with a long term product we're pretty proud of.
Docp asked...
"Who would win in a fight: Lil' K.T. or the Panderen monk?"
Pandaren. With karate I'll kick your ass, from here, to right over there. Entirely NSFW YouTube video.
Hakker asked...
"Why does most of the WoW community seem to think that PvP'ers are bad PvE'rs and vice versa, when most of the top arena players (top being 2500+ ) Are usually in guilds that are in the top 100 (worldwide)?"
While a lot of people will offer a lot of different opinions on the subject, it comes down to one simple fact. People think they are special, and unique, and great -- and everyone else sucks. If you are a good PvPer, you think you're better than all the PvEers. If you're good at PvE, you think you're better than all the PVPers. Now this might not apply to you – but it applies in general, both in WoW and in life.
It's best not to worry about who is really better, and just enjoy the game; just as you should enjoy life. You'll be much happier that way.
MikeHaas asked...
"The WotLK Box indicated that there were to be player vs. player "dog fights" aerial combat in game... what happened to that idea? Was is scraped or just never made it through development? Also, are there any future plans to add player on player aerial vehicle combat? (Not like the gun ship battle of ice crown, more of a plane or plane style of combat) In cataclysm possibly?"
Blizzard didn't like the way aerial combat was going in Wrath, so they scrapped the idea. They've spoken about this on a number of occasions. They want aerial combat to be realistic, not just move pixels around in all axis type flying that exists right now -- they want to have physics involved and that stuff.
No word if there'll be any in Cataclysm, although it sure would be nice.
Have questions about the World of Warcraft? The WoW.com crew is here with The Queue, our daily Q&A column! Leave your questions in the comments and we'll do our best to answer 'em!
