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[1.Local]: The BACK back room

Lisa Poisso
Updated ·6 min read


Reader comments -- ahh, yes, the juicy goodness following a meaty post. [1.Local] ducks past the swinging doors to see what readers have been chatting about in the back room over the past week.

True confessions time: It really is that cool to work at WoW.com. We're a chatty team. You're probably already getting a taste of that at @wowinsider on Twitter, manned randomly by team members who're feeling particularly gabby. If you're a real Twitterati, you may be following individual staffers (listings available in the latest WRUP; follow me @eMused).

But the real WoW.com snark and hot debates go on behind closed doors. There's a chat room where everyone who's "on duty" hangs out - always good for a heated debate on mechanics or lore, as well as the inevitable off-topic romp on ... well, off-topic stuff. (Like Michael Sacco's post-dental work, Vicodin-inspired ravings, screenshotted above - but that's another story.) There's also the news line/team e-mail list, where nobody can ever seem to resist adding their zingers to the daily cacophony of annoyed moms who want us to cancel their son's WoW subscriptions, confused TV viewers searching for customer support for their cable service and clueless "readers" (do they actually read us?) who submit endless news tips on that awesome machinima nobody's ever heard of.

[1.Local]'s already all about the back room chatter – so we knew we couldn't exclude you from the best of the deep, deep backroom scoop at WoW.com. Look for a sampling of the behind-the-scenes staff insanity each week, mixed with the rest of the chatter on [1.Local]. Because without the insanity (and your tacit support), where would any of us be?



Cataclysmic shock and awe
What aspect of the Cataclysm news has inspired the most shock and awe among readers?

Valt: I'm disappointed. No, not by expansion info – no, no. All this talk about next expansion, and you guys haven't mention SINGLE word about one thing you have been waiting for since TBC trailer. Yes. I'm talking about GNOMES in TRAILER. Isn't this what you wanted since BC trailer? Tsk tsk, guys. :P

Mike: I believe a Gnome Priest was shown in the Cataclysm trailer.

kymali: @Mike Thats what he means. :) Big hooohaa that Gnomes haven't been in trailers before, and now they are not one of them is jumping for joy. Or they are and we're just not noticing, as they still don't reach eye level.

kharrah02: @ Mike , Kymali and Valt All the talk about no Gnomes in trailers was ALWAYS about the CINEMATIC trailers -- which still contain ZERO Gnomes.

Ethan: Gotta start somewhere. Gnomes in official machinima are what we call "gateway Gnomes."

An almost human reaction
The commentator on our Grunty vs. Zergling battle video' - Robin Torres' young daughter, known around these parts The Spawn - is building quite a fan base among the [1.Local] crowd.

Mike Schramm: The little one's "Grunty the Murloc!" yell is probably the cutest thing I've ever heard in my entire life.

Gessilea: Oh god, yes. Too freaking adorable. For a minute, I thought that Grunty actually said that when you clicked on him -- then I read the bit about the Spawn cheering them on. Now if you'll excuse me, me and my biological clock need to go have a little conversation.

Rubitard: @Gessilea *puts on clean shirt* How YOU doin'?

Superthrust: This post and video has made my day. Thank you, Robin. I will now have a great day -- and the phrase of the day is, "GRUNTY THE MURLOC!"

MasterAsh: Yeah, I know! I was barely able to contain my gleeful squeals when I heard the little one. :3

Even the ruthless Matthew Rossi followed up the thread with a terse internal e-mail to the team.

Matthew Rossi: Okay, when your child yells "Gwunty da Murloc," I actually felt human emotion. My programmers are confident they can prevent further outbreaks, as long as I don't watch the video again.

Speaking for the unabashed fanboy in all of us
But Matt wasn't the only hard-hearted fighter struggling with his softer side this week. For some players, there's a point at which even reading about too many Blizzard luminaries causes a meltdown.

Siddaru: So I'm a pretty stoic guy - the kind of guy who doesn't cry at funerals of loved ones, who meets childhood heroes and calmly shakes their hand and starts a conversation, stuff like that. Around the point where he was talking to Evelyn Fredericksen, who pointed him out to Chris Metzen, but first he spoke to Mike Morhaime, who was hanging out with Samwise Didier ... I gave out a fanboy squeal and nearly broke the ruler I happened to be holding.

Let the inter-class hate (love?) begin
And then there's Arcane Brilliance columnist Christian Belt. Wait, what does a Mage have to do with WoW.com's search for a Warlock columnist?

Tiarnach: True, but a good Warlock writer would, naturally, be a good Warlock himself - accustomed to being trained and focus fired by other players. Let us not forget he has to share a service and an employer with the likes of Christian Belt. That man is Public Enemy #2 of the Warlock Class - and only because Mages can't be #1 at anything (at all, ever).

Seriously, though, an equally cantankerous voice would be great. WoW.com would achieve a nice editorial balance, a nod to the in-game class rivalry, and a good Warlock writer with real voice in their stories all in one shot.

P.S. I was going to have my whole guild (all 140 of them) come comment in support of my app, but something says that approach would backfire pretty badly ... Heh ... Guess I'll just let the writing speak for itself and hope it's up to WoW.com's standards.

Chris later shared his reaction on WoW.com's team list.

Chris Belt: This is going on my team's locker room bulletin board, for sure. After every practice we'll all stare at it angrily, and I'll refer to it as a motivator in my pre-game speech this week. My team? Pretty much me and my two-year-old.

Wave 'em in the air
Sometimes even the most Cataclysmic ideas can be reduced to a song.

WoWie Zowie: I like the reforging idea. It's Blizz's way of saying, "You don't think this gear is itemized for you? Fine ... You do it!"

And then they proceed to throw their hands in the air and wave them like they just don't care.

This week's [1.Local] coup de grâce comes from an email dripping with sheer nerdrage, sent in by a Blizzard fan who didn't seem to appreciate WoW.com's choice of BlizzCon meetup locations.

Name: Lucifer the Devil
Subject: The Anabella

I've been to the last two BlizzCons in support of their INTERESTING games (i.e., not WoW), and you guys f***ed my favorite dining spot! I'm not telling my friends about this; rather, I'm just going to tell them how much I think your site is f***ing bull****!!! Thanks a lot for ruining a major part of my trip! >.

We guess ol' Lucifer now considers WoW to be the Diablo - how strangely appropriate ...

Keep it [1.Local]!

Hey, don't scroll away -- come join the conversation on these and other posts around the WoW.com community. We'll see you around in [1.Local]!