15 Minutes of Fame: Where are they now? 2013 edition

Five or six years is a long time, even among MMO players. Many of the people we spend every night with raiding, laughing, squabbling, and goofing off inevitably move on, diving into the next passion in their lives with as much gusto as they once held for Azeroth. Of course, many more are still right here after all this time, like the WoW personalities we've interviewed here at 15 Minutes of Fame over the past six years.

What about the people we met during 2013? We touched base with everyone we hadn't caught up with since before BlizzCon to see what's going on in their worlds -- and, of course, in Azeroth.

Remember, for full information on any of these WoW personalities, click the link on the subheader introducing each person.

The soloist "I'm still playing WoW and having my merry way soloing everything I can," writes death knight solo specialist Mionee, the player behind this article's opening video. "Awaiting WoD's beta launch like everyone else I guess." Mionee's solo takedown of Will of the Emperor ended up being " a really crazy fight and also one of the most enjoyable encounters when soloed," she reports.

A reader among readers Well-known WoW Insider regular Revynn went on hiatus from WoW when Throne of Thunder launched but has recently returned. "Since my gear levels are so far behind, I've mostly been focusing on pet battles and alts instead of raiding," he admits. "My blog, Curse of Exhaustion, is currently inactive due to my hiatus but I do miss blogging and may revive it when I have more time."

The Syndicate "Maintaining a several-hundred-person presence in WoW, we played through the MoP expansion and have building excitement and expectations about the Warlords of Draenor expansion," writes Dragons, GM of mega-guild The Syndicate. "While that was going on, hundreds of other Syndicate members played MMOs of all shapes as well as FPSes and RTSes and participated in numerous consulting and testing opportunities with developers. Our capstone event for each year is our annual conference known as SyndCon. 200+ Syndies gathered in D.C. with a bunch of developers and Alienware for five days of fun in August."

The challenger "I've picked up Hearthstone recently and I'm having a blast playing my mage deck filled with secrets," writes challenge mode whiz Bouleau. "Seeing my opponents hesitate nearly every turn never fails to bring a smile to my face. I also still play WoW with friends, running challenge modes about once every week to keep and improve our ranks. About that, I've created a thread on the official Dungeons, Raids and Scenarios board to consolidate as much feedback and suggestions as possible to help Blizzard make the new CMs even better in Warlords of Draenor."

Seeing clearly "It's been a busy year in WoW and outside too," reports blind player Ben Shaw. "Last time we spoke, I was in Unqualified on Stormrage, but due to it being a dieing server we disbanded. I then moved to Silvermoon, but due to queue times of one to two hours, I have left that server and currently looking for a guild to join."

Running wild "The Päck has been very focused on roleplay," reports GM Nymaway of all-worgen guild The Päck. "We are working on our guild's story lines and RP goals. The Betas (AKA officers) and myself are working on a very exciting event that we will be inviting the entire server to. It will be announced in February on the Emerald Dream forums. We celebrated our two-year anniversary September 9th this year, and we had a celebration in Stormwind with a grand fireworks display followed by an attack on the Horde."

Party on "I'm just eatin', sleepin', ravin', & repeatin'!" exclaims DJ Trixx of Wyrmrest Accord's in-game party spot Club Trix. "Just waiting for the new expansion to drop but still throwing a party every Friday night with special events for the season."

Honored ancestors "The guild and I just finished our Renewal of Mu'sha event -- a Thunderhoof Clan tradition of honoring the ones who have passed before us," reports GM Ravkha of the all-tauren Thunderhoof Clan. "We're still going strong as a tauren-only guild; we've actually recently celebrated our six-year anniversary! FOR THE HERD!"

Slow spot for trolls Troll roleplay seems to have hit the doldrums during Mists of Pandaria. "I still RP on Zazajin from time to time," writes Zazajin, leader of one of the game's only all-troll RP groups, "but troll RP's gotten quiet after the Rebellion."

The zookeeper "I am very happy to celebrate my new title, one I've been waiting for all year -- Zookeeper!" triumphantly reports Banya, a real-life zookeeper and creator of an accurate and incredibly charming catalogue of Azeroth's wildlife. "Finally, I am one in game and out. Along with waiting for snowy owls to spawn, I've been leveling up an orc warrior and keeping an eye out for what new animals might show up in the next expansion."

Orcs being orcs "Bloodfury remains Ravenholdt's oldest, continuous, all-orc roleplaying guild," writes GM Stonzgrinda. "Current lore forced hard choices for orcs. We are no longer Thrallite. We reject both Thrall and Garrosh. We are dissident and independent of Horde leadership. Our structure is changed from warband to clan, for full-spectrum orc roleplay."

The shape of the Horde Hordebloods miniatures customizer Dave continues to work on WoW-related minis. "On the Hordebloods front, I've completed some more infantry including a couple inspired by Chen and Sylvanis," he reports. "With the new year looming, we've also begun planning the next Headshots from the Heart marathon."

The blogger Long-time WoW blogger Shawn Holmes (Eight Years in Azeroth) is still analyzing his way through the WoW experience. "Feedback on the blog continues to be overwhelmingly supportive; I'm humbled and thankful for the positive feedback our story (now nearing the 3.3 era) receives," he writes. "Increasing readership has motivated me to go back and rewrite much of Part II (TBC era) for greater detail. Warlords of Draenor has my attention; the 20-man decision was huge. WoW now has its best chance at returning to its former glory."

The Magus Senate "When my colleagues and I began the Magus Senate of Dalaran one year ago, we all expected to be in other guilds in two months," writes Baelheit of his all-mage group. "The last thing we expected was not merely to survive, but thrive. It's been through the dedication and teamwork of every member of the Magus Senate that we've come so far, becoming Moon Guard's first successful and premier Kirin Tor roleplaying guild."

Silently through the night "Durus Veritas has two hardcore raiding cores called Nemesis and Division, with Nemesis at 9/14 HM SoO and Division at 5/14 HM SoO," reports GM Sarssypoo of the deaf players guild. "We're hoping to get heroic Garrosh down before next patch!"

Gone to the dogs The WoW-inspired RL leathercrafter behind Spoiled Dog Leather dog collars is still playing WoW and expanding his business. "Spoiled Dog Leather has been doing great and we have been working on making more budget-friendly dog collars using our same quality leather," reports Solles.

Fill 'er up Bluemain, the player who's filled every one of the 50 character slots on his account, just can't get enough. "Did start a second account to level more but was running too expensive," he reports, "so I started to delete random 90s and re-level new toons in their place -- currently and concurrently working on a priest, shaman, druid combo. Should have them all up before the new year."

All capped off "Army of alts is doing well," reports valor-capping fanatic Bluespartan. "I only valor cap one 90 per week in patch 5.4. Unlike 5.3, you cannot gather items for the big turn-in without having the quest. I pick someone with close to 50 epoch stones and finish Empowering the Hourglass plus Path of the Mistwalker Monday night and turn both in Tuesday morning for 375 valor (200 + 50)*1.5 and finish with scenarios/flex. No valor gear to buy, so I keep the 11 90s in the 1500-2000 VP range for upgrades, with 200+ lesser charms & item levels ranging from 534 to 560."

Inspiring kids with gaming We know him for sweeping the Stranglethorn Fishing tournament, but Nirad has been away from WoW doing some pretty interesting stuff with another game. "I haven't played WoW in a few months because my work with special needs students takes up much of my time," he writes. "I have however been working on Minecraft with my students. We are measuring the entire school and putting it into Minecraft. Some students count the tiles, others use a surveyor's wheel, one student counts the clicks the wheel makes, and another student uses a measuring tape. And for those that can perform these tasks it also helps them with addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division."

The filmmaker "I've been playing WoW a little bit, although very rarely these days," writes the filmmaker and self-described former WoW addict Anthony Rosner. "Outside of WoW I've been promoting IRL 2.0 to various film festivals. It's been selected to be screened in Berlin and New York so far. I've been travelling quite a bit too; recently I went to LA for BlizzCon (where I got to meet the lovely WoW Insider staff!), and I also went to Sweden and Spain."

Ability Powered Disabled player advocate Azraela of AbilityPowered continues to work on projects designed to get people of all abilities into the game. "I'm working on a project now to find guilds on each realm who include everyone even if new strategies are needed," she writes. "I plan on making a list so people can find guilds that match them easier. I haven't found many but hope more pop up."

Lore-ytime "Lessons in Lore is still playing WoW!" reports the in-game storytelling duo Lessons in Lore. "We've also now run 33 Lore-ytimes, including one guest Lore-ytime by our dear friend @TrollingAzeroth, who valiantly stepped up when Chad and I were both struck down with plague. Lessons in Lore is also running a Jaina Proudmoore FanArt contest to collect more art for the annual JP Montage from our live shows."

Pub-flavored WoW Irish pub proprietor and WoW fan Allen Tatman (improbably combining a love for the Horde with a love of Ireland) is now raiding with a fun new group he met through our interview here. As for the pub, "we just marked the 150th anniversary of the building that Paddy Malone's is in -- it has been a tavern/bar/pub for all those years," he writes. "And I am getting ready to launch my own Ireland leisure destination tour agency, Wylde Irish Tours, after the first of the year."

The cosplayer Cosplayer Amanda Wisley has been playing her pandaren monk now that she has some free time away from cosplay design. "I'm also now a moderator for a great new cosplay page, which is a great place to find me," she writes. "I will also be the new cosplay blogger for Mukyou.com."

What are the other WoW personalities we interviewed over the past six years doing today? Find out in last week's 15 Minutes of Fame!

"I never thought of playing

WoW like that!" -- and neither did we, until we talked with Game of Thrones' Hodor (Kristian Nairn) or a 70-year-old grandma who tops her raid's DPS charts as its legendary-wielding GM. Send your nominations to lisa@wowinsider.com.