daniel-whitcomb
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About the Bloggers: Daniel Whitcomb
About the Bloggers introduces you to the people behind WoW Insider. You can find articles on more of our staffers in earlier About the Bloggers profiles. What do you do for WoW Insider? My primary focus these days is to write Lichborne, the weekly death knight column. I also write the Tuesday Morning Post, a weekly maintenance day roundup of all the news that's fit to print from the past few days of WoW. I used to do a lot more posting of general news, spending at least a few hours a day just scouring everywhere for juicy stuff, but then I had to get a day job again. Still, I try to do what I can. WoW Insider is a great place to work. I have pretty cool coworkers, and I get to write about stuff I love. What's not to like? What's your main? My main is, of course, a human death knight. (Yes, I'd rather be a high elf. I won't even lie.) I do a little bit of everything, if only so I can write with authority about whatever I need to for Lichborne, but my preferred spec of the moment is 2H PVE frost DPS. Right now, it feels like the tree and spec with the most consistent and flavorful rotation and role to it.
WoW's 5th anniversary: Our writers' memories
We at WoW.com are a sentimental bunch. I always privately thought that, but now I've got the sort of ironclad proof beloved by canny blackmailers everywhere. In the weeks before WoW's 5th anniversary, a backchannel team discussion sprang up on our memories of the game and the players with whom we've had the great privilege of playing, and we decided to collect them here in honor of WoW's birthday. Some of us are hardcore gamers with lots of experience with other games. For others, WoW was their first (and in some cases, only). Most of us raid, and some of us PvP or theorycraft. A few of us are nuts for hardware arguments, but others are surprised to discover that WoW does not actually play on our toasters. Many of us are pretty easygoing in our approach to the content; others would sell their grandmothers up the river for a server-first. One among us hates warlocks, and everyone else just hates rogues (unless you're Chase). But we do share one thing in common, and that's that we love the game no matter what we're doing while playing it -- and we hope you do too. From all of us at WoW.com, happy birthday, World of Warcraft!
Breakfast Topic: Your wish
When I was first exploring the Wrath of the Lich King beta, I thought that the Dalaran Wishing Fountain was one of the coolest things ever. I'm an avid angler in WoW, and I'm a huge lore geek. Combining the two is a recipe for success, I think! I really enjoyed the ability to get a little glimpse into the mind of various lore characters, and it was offered up in a pretty interactive way. It's not only the fun quotes, but a sense of discovery accompanies each new coin.The contents of the fountain has inspired a question that's been making the rounds through the WoW community: If you had a coin in that fountain, what would it say? What wish or musing would be left on it? I posed the question to the WoW Insider team to see what they would come up with, ranging from the silly to the serious, from speaking in-character to speaking as a player. Here's what they (we) had to say...
The Queue: The patoot edition
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW Insider's daily Q&A column where the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today.Hey, everyone! How did you all hold up over the last week? A whole week with Adam? Did you miss your ray of sunshine? No? Oh... well, that's okay. I'm back anyway! If you don't read Ask a Lore Nerd, I was more or less out of the office the last week moving into my swank new apartment, so that's why I haven't been around. It's all good now though, so Adam and I are back on our rotating schedule.We also have a cool little guest appearance from our resident Death Knight Daniel Whitcomb, so that'll be a treat! Hopefully!Cholestria asked...Are there any titles I can achieve with my level 1 bank alt? She has an outfit from the Brewfest and usually participates in any of the holiday she can, but all the titles seem to require some leveling. Is there any title she could get without leveling?
[1.Local]: Thank you, thank you
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.In this last installment of [1.Local] for 2008, we'd like to thank a few people – you, our readers – with some of your own words. Here is a quick sampling of some of the more recent thank-you's we've received. For this [1.Local] only, we included notes that came in via e-mail and other methods, as well. We think these messages of appreciation point to good writing, good material, good reader perspectives ... a good deal all the way around.Be sure to dive into the comments area of each thread (not this one!) and add your own thoughts – unlike your mama, we like us some hot, fresh backtalk.Who's the tank?Readers thought this Moviewatch was a job well done – and its creator was surprised and flattered for the recognition. "I'd just like to give a big thank you to Michael Gray for posting my "Who's the Tank?" video on WoW Moviewatch," wrote Michael Schroeder of BroncoTV. "It's really hard to get a lot of recognition on YouTube, especially because our comedy sketches don't really fit the requirements for a good viral video (e.g., someone getting hit in the nuts). So I am ever so grateful that you gave the video such a boost. Again, thank you very much for showcasing my video and I'm really glad you enjoyed it!"
WoW Insider Show Episode 65: Death Knight moves
This week's show was a humdinger -- our own Matthew Rossi (author of our Shaman and Warrior columns) and Daniel Whitcomb (who writes the Death Knight class column), so we've got some terrific discussion for your up-and-coming Death Knights out there. We talked about whether they were OP, and how they're going to fit into our groups and raids, both as tanks and DPS. We also answered emails as usual (including a good one about voice acting in the game, and how the "umbrella factions" in Northrend work), and we talked about how much money Blizzard made last week, and those new commercials (which I just saw on TV the other day).We had a great time making the show, and hopefully you'll have as good a time listening to it. As always, you can hit up any (or all) of the outlets below (and if you like the show, please do post a short review in iTunes, we'll appreciate it), or just press play right over on the sidebar (you'll find a new one there every morning).Finally a reminder: we won't have a live show next week (November 29th) due to the Thanksgiving holiday, but we will have a new episode this week, featuring Felicia Day from The Guild as a special guest. She'll be on to talk about season 2 of her show, their big deal with Microsoft, and everything else WoW as usual. Stay tuned -- we'll post that one as soon as it's ready.Get the podcast:[iTunes] Subscribe to the WoW Insider Show directly in iTunes.[Ustream] Listen to the unedited recording in Ustream.[RSS] Add the WoW Insider Show to your RSS aggregator.[MP3] Download the MP3 directly.Listen here on the page:
WoW Insider Show going live on Ustream this afternoon
Our podcast hits the virtual airwaves again this afternoon, and it's going to be a good one -- Matthew Rossi, our tanking titan, will be on the show, as will Daniel Whitcomb, one of our bloggers and author of the new Lichbourne Death Knight column. We'll talk about Wrath, of course -- where we're leveling and how things are going so far, and how Death Knights are integrating into the game, both as tanks and DPS. And we'll talk about Wrath's difficulty and whether it's too easy or not, the new commercials, and the fact that Blizzard made lots and lots of money last week.And as usual we'll answer your emails (you can email us at theshow AT wowinsider dot com), and we'll have an aftershow after the show where you can chat directly with Rossi and Whitcomb. Should be a great time -- it starts up in just about two hours from now on our Ustream page, or you can jump onto the stream embedded right after the break. See you there!
WoW Insider Show episode 46: When the cat's away
We had a very special WoW Insider show last Saturday. With the usual suspects out of town Daniel, Robin, Duncor and I had a blast talking about all kinds of juicy goodness. You can download the show and listen to it whenever you like. I've recently gotten my new Blizzard authenticator, and I'm really happy about it. Other folks are not quite as enthusiastic about it. We discussed the current state of Mages and Paladins. We had a number of great emails from our listeners. Daniel told us all about Death Knight Role-Playing. I didn't talk about my car once, but I did throw a motorcycle reference in there. I got a chance to play the role of host, sorry folks, no giggling or flirting involved. Was it as good for you as it was for me? We shall have another special guest host for the next podcast. Be sure to join us every Saturday on WC Radio at 3:30 PM.
WoW Insider Show served fresh tomorrow afternoon
Do you know what's brewing in World of Warcraft this week? Come dish with us on the WoW Insider Show live on the air tomorrow. We've got reservations at 3:30 Eastern on WoW Radio. As always we'll be taking on some of the spiciest topics from the past week. We're still simmering in the wake of WWI announcements, so it's certain that we'll have plenty to talk about. With our intrepid co-lead out of town, the bloggers have cooked up quite a show. I've giggled and flirted my way to acting host for the day (or something like that). I'll be joined by piping-hot Daniel Whitcomb, the sizzling Robin Torres, and the ever-tasteful Turpster this week. What's on the menu? We'll start with a Broken Mage salad with a side of Conjured Manna Biscuits. The meat of the show will be a juicy discussion of what's happened in the past and what we expect for the future. For dessert, temp your taste buds with an array of Beta delicacies with a dash of Paladin Hope. We'll also serve up some reader emails (theshow@wow.com). And we'll cater to the live IRC crowd (at irc.mmoirc.com in the #wowradio channel). Tune in tomorrow, the discussion should be delicious!
WoW Insider Show Episode 40: Account sharing with Sean Connery
This past weekend, Turpster, Daniel Whitcomb, John "BBB" Patricelli, and I all sat down for a good hour's worth of discussion about the biggest posts over the past week of WoW Insider. We call it the WoW Insider Show, and the latest episode, number 40, is now available over on WoW Radio and in iTunes. We answered a ton of reader questions on email, including the ongoing discussion of what Turpster should do to ding 70 on his Shadow Priest, and why Blizzard has overpowered a lot of high level crafting items. We talked about the news that two classes had soloed Onyxia, and whether it's impossible for other classes to do it. We chatted about killing Kil'jaeden, and whether those endgame kills matter to the rest of us who aren't in those guilds. And we talked about account sharing: why people do it and why Blizzard doesn't want you to (and will ban you for it). Plus, if I'm not mistaken, you can not only hear Turpster doing a Sean Connery impression, but also John P's favorite new song, Pugging Kara Blues. It's a really fun show this week, definitely give it a listen. And don't forget, if you have comments or questions, you can email them to us at theshow@wow.com, or go ahead and jump on WoW Radio's forums -- next week, we'll definitely be taking a look at some of the topics that have come up in there for sure. Enjoy the show this week!
WoW Insider Show live tomorrow afternoon
Yes, our weekly podcast is back on the air tomorrow -- it's everything you love about WoW Insider, in pure, distilled audio form. This week, Daniel Whitcomb and John "BigBearButt" Patricelli join myself and Turpster to chat about all of the most popular posts on WI in the past seven days, including the big news of the game being beaten yet again, the Onyxia soloing that's been going on lately (first a Druid, and then a Paladin), and why account sharing is wrong, mmkay?And of course we'll be chatting live on IRC at irc.mmoirc.com in the #wowradio channel (or just over on the Chat page on WoW Radio), and we'll be reading and answering your emails and questions -- send us a note if you'd like at theshow@wow.com. And come to think of it, there's some fun stuff to chat about over on the show's forums, too, so we'll have to throw some of that in as well.We go live at 3:30pm EST (which is 8:30pm GMT), so if you're around, definitely be sure to tune in and listen live. We'll see you then!
WoW Insider Show Episode 27: Impressing class leads and improving Lifetap
Turpster wasn't actually around for this episode of our podcast, but just in case you really enjoy his tunes (that we usually play during music breaks on the live show), both of his albums are now available for download in the WoW Insider Show forums. Enjoy. And the latest episode of the WoW Insider Show is also up for your listening pleasure right now on WoW Radio -- in this, Episode 27, Duncor, Daniel Whitcomb, and John "BigBearButt" Petricelli and I sat down and talked about the biggest issues in the last week in Warcraft: We hit up reader email as usual, including whether the game is more "carebear" than it used to be, whether Blizzard should update pre-60 quests, and exactly how you can impress your guild's officers and class leads We chatted about the Warlock's Lifetap nerf and what it means for the rest of the game Does it matter to us exactly what classes the CMs or the devs play? And we had a small bit of commentary about the results of our patch 2.4 guess contest Plus much, much more. Make sure to give it a listen -- you can use any of the links below to jump right in and hear our podcast. And don't forget, we do this every Saturday, so next weekend at 3:30pm EST, you can tune in to WoW Radio and hear us do this live. See you then.[Listen] to this week's show.[iTunes] Subscribe to the podcast in iTunes.[RSS] Get your favorite reader in on the fun.
