featured
Latest
WoW Moviewatch: The Craft of War: BLIND
I've treasured the WoW machinima community just as much -- if not more -- than the rest of the game. Over the years, I've witnessed so much joy and pleasure, not to mention raw creativity, that I'll always carry the indelible mark in my heart. What's not to love about a group of people who sing, animate, draw, and create? Hundreds of outstanding videos testify to the strength of that community. So when choosing one last final video for my personal swan song, I was stumped. WoW filk played during my wedding and during the birth of both my daughters. My wife and I fell in love with machinima together. I ultimately chose this, the machinima that took the world by storm. To this day, I still get notes asking if WoW Insider is aware of the video. So with a tip of that, I present to you: The Craft of War: BLIND. Keep an eye over your shoulders, folks. Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.
The WoW Insider Show Episode 374: The End
Every week we have presented you with The WoW Insider Show podcast -- an hour's worth of WoW community discussion covering everything from the week's top stories here on WoW Insider to emails from our readers and what's been going on with our particular characters in Azeroth. It has been incredibly fun and is a highlight of all of our lives. This is the last show, and we're thrilled to bring it to you with a special guest. Thank you. Get the podcast: [iTunes] Subscribe to the WoW Insider Show directly in iTunes. [RSS] Add the WoW Insider Show to your RSS aggregator. [MP3] Download the MP3 directly. Listen here on the page:
Norrathian Notebook: Landmark celebrates Year 0 anniversary
I've got to admit, it's a bit weird to be celebrating an anniversary before an actually launch; you can't exactly say "Happy first birthday!" if it hasn't been born yet! But Landmark found a way to make it work, celebrating Year Zero with fans this past weekend. The sandbox opened its alpha doors on January 31st, 2014; all that players could do at that point was gather and build a bit. Since then, the game has expanded its features, adding more building stuff, water and caves, combat, deeper caverns and mobs to fill them, and still more building stuff. Development has definitely come a long way in the last 12 months, so there is certainly reason to revel in the festivities. Of course there's still much more work to be done, but why not take a moment and party in honor of Landmark's progress. Who doesn't like a party?
Around Azeroth: One last call for alcohol
I've been thinking a lot about what sort of screenshot to run today, the last day of WoW Insider and thus of Around Azeroth. Should I dig through the archives and pick out one of the few screenshots that got nixed by the editors for being too filthy? Should I take a screenshot of one of my characters doing something noteworthy? In the end, I decided to pretend it was just another day, and run one final screenshot from prolific submitter Gimmlette of Spectacular Death on Llane (US-A). I'm sure we'll be having enough sentimental feelings today without my contribution. It's been a wonderful eight years, folks. And if you're in the Crown tonight, have a drink on me. "So, you spend a day saving Draenor," Gimmlette writes. "It's your town hall. You can leave your muddy boots wherever you like and put your weapons on the table. It's nice that they keep the fire roaring. I also appreciate a good book or two or three and a big mug of stout waiting for me. Someone will be around with a bowl of hot soup and some bread, or maybe a Feast of the Waters and they won't care that I don't share anything with them. As I gaze across my table, as only a ruling landlord can, I see -- wait, what is that looking back at me? Maybe it's just the label, but there's a face on that bottle. I've seen enough weird stuff in this world that I shouldn't be surprised, but if there's anything a dwarf doesn't want, it's her drink staring back at her. Besides, I don't drink wine. That's a night elf thing." Want to see your own screenshot here? Send it to aroundazeroth@wowinsider.com. We strongly prefer full-sized pictures with no UI or names showing. Include "Azeroth" in the subject line to ensure your submission dodges email spam filters; if you'd like to be credited, also include your name, guild and realm.
Breakfast Topic: What have you gotten out of WoW Insider?
What a long strange trip it has been, dear readers. WoW Insider opened way back in 2005, and is now nearing to the end of its time with you. We've had some great memories over the years, though, and we look forward to still seeing you all around the game world (and, perhaps, the real world too at whatever future BlizzCons might be in store). But let's not be sad about what's over: let's remember the good times we've had, together. The crazy April Fool's pranks we've run. The times an article made you smile, laugh, or think. Tell us, readers: what have you gotten out of WoW Insider over the years? And, of course: thanks for reading and commenting. We'll miss you all here around the virtual watercooler.
Choose My Adventure: We, the drowned
By now you're more than aware that Massively, WoW Insider, and Joystiq are not long for this world. Thanks to the type of organizational reshuffling we've so often covered on these very pages, AOL's enthusiast blogs have eaten the sharper end of an axe. We're upset. You're upset. But the core reality is that sometimes bad things happen. All we can do is pick ourselves up, steady our breathing, and leap into the void. I've been with Massively since 2011. I started as a streamer, evolved into a news/features writer, and finished as the steward of Choose My Adventure. Every moment has been a privilege. Every day exciting. And it's you I have to thank.
WoW Moviewatch: Boom De Yada
For one of our very last moviewatches, I've been looking for videos that spoke of our long love of World of Warcraft. Videos that explained why we were still here and playing after all of this time... and I couldn't find one better than Irdeen's Boom De Yada. After all, we love the whole of the crazy virtual world in which we all live. We'll see you all in game. Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.
Know Your Lore, TFH Edition: Unraveling Azeroth
The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft. What a map, huh? I've gotten plenty of mileage out of it -- only it was an older edition of the map, before we took Mists of Pandaria into account. Now the map has slightly changed, along with the meaning involved, and I guess there's sort of a star, although it's six pointed, now -- which means we've got another puzzle to unravel, one I've been trying to untangle for a very long time. And while I don't have all the answers (I never seem to, in these articles), we have enough information to ask some really interesting questions, and come up with some really crazy theories. Not just about Azeroth, about the Warcraft cosmos -- that strange expanse of universe that involves a mighty battle we still don't quite understand. Draenor's involved, Azeroth's involved -- according to Algalon, there are millions of worlds that have been involved -- but how do they interlink? When I first created this map, oh so long ago, it was under the presumption that there were five old gods, which correlated to the five Dragon Aspects of Azeroth. I wasn't quite wrong, as I discovered in Thrall: Twilight of the Aspects, but I wasn't quite right either. We have a sixth star, in Pandaria. I'm a fan of correlation -- so else what do we have six of? But before we get into that, let's talk about the naaru. Because that seems like a good place to begin. Today's Know Your Lore is a Tinfoil Hat edition. The following contains speculation based on known material. These speculations are merely theories and shouldn't be taken as fact or official lore.
Hyperspace Beacon: Seven things I learned while writing about SWTOR
This travel through hyperspace cannot be compared to anything else. Not many people get an opportunity to work on something they love professionally, like my writing about Star Wars: The Old Republic. With Massively as we know it coming to an end, it's time to say goodbye to this passenger. Before I actually say my final farewell to Massively, I'd like to leave you, fans of Massively and the Hyperspace Beacon, with a list of things that I've learned from writing this column.
Seven years, seven months, seventeen days
This isn't about World of Warcraft directly. This is about a time when I found myself looking for a job, and found something better. This is about how I ended up at WoW Insider.
Flameseeker Chronicles: Alas, and so we go
Everyone heard the earth-shattering roar that shook Tyria this past weekend, right? No, it wasn't another Elder Dragon awakening; I'm talking about the fan response to ArenaNet's presentation at PAX South in which CEO Mike O'Brien and Lead Developer Colin Johanson revealed what Heart of Thorns means for Guild Wars 2. Yes, Virginia: It's an expansion pack. The irony is a little too much, to be honest. Heart of Thorns is the most exciting thing to happen to GW2 since launch, but I won't be able to cover it in this column. I'm going to get all maudlin if I dwell on that, so let's cap things off by talking about the game. And since I want to end my last FSC on a happy note, I'm going to talk about all of the things I'm tremendously excited for in HoT. Once more past the cut, dear friends!
Around Azeroth: The end of the beginning
"As you probably already know, the Queuevians made the guild 'of The Queue' on Nesingwary/Vek'nilash/Nazgrel to keep the memory and community of WoW Insider alive," writes submitter Fussypants. "Saturday we decided to do a guild screenshot on the steps of Stormwind Keep. My favorite shot was this one (and yes, we are saluting you!) On behalf of the entire 'of The Queue' guild, I want to thank you, WoW Insider, for all you have done over 10 years of utter awesomeness! You guys have been the body and soul of the Warcraft community and the home for countless readers and commenters. We thank all the writers, past and present, for the fantabulous (and numerous) words you have written, and we wish you guys the very, very best in all future endeavors! And who knows, WoW Insider may live again! Thank you, WoW Insider, for being the best news site and home for the Warcraft community!" (And, uh, once I get over the sadness of all this, you might see a gnome warrior named Carrefour hanging around that guild. Pay her no mind. She is, after all, only a gnome. And I've always wanted to give the Alliance a try ...) Want to see your own screenshot here? Send it to aroundazeroth@wowinsider.com. We strongly prefer full-sized pictures with no UI or names showing. Include "Azeroth" in the subject line to ensure your submission dodges email spam filters; if you'd like to be credited, also include your name, guild and realm.
The Mog Log Extra: End of an era
By now you know. I wrote my first column of The Mog Log almost exactly five years ago. I've been writing it for the entirety of Final Fantasy XIV's run now. I've been talking about the online Final Fantasy games since before I was married, and it's been a wonderful experience. I had every intention of continuing to do so for another decade. As long as there was a place to talk about it here, I was going to make use of it. This isn't just a farewell for the column; it's a farewell for something that's made up a huge portion of my life and changed my life in huge ways. As the fall comes to Eorzea, it also comes to us, and I wanted -- insisted -- that I would at least get to have one final chance to say goodbye. So let's take one last look together before we say farewell.
Know Your Lore TFH: First the ripples, then the stone
The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft. For my last KYL, a hat made of tinfoil. You know the drill - for the farewell of this column, Anne and I are going to go out speculating. This one's mine. You might want to read this old KYL to get a handle on the concepts I'm going to be throwing around. The idea is simple enough to start with, however. We know that at some point in the distant past, over twenty five thousand years ago, the fallen Titan Sargeras sought out a world whose inhabitants were powerful, with great potential for magic. Their culture was ancient - so very ancient that it had already risen and fallen and risen again, creating not one, but two golden ages. They were the eredar. Sargeras's offer was accepted, and the majority of the race along with two of the three triumvirs that ruled Argus entire became man'ari, corrupted. Barely a tenth of the race resisted and escaped, led by Velen and aided by the naaru, who sent the mighty Genedar, a dimension ship, to rescue them from this corruption. Velen first contacted the naaru using the Ata'mal Crystal, an ancient artifact of their people which was said to be a relic of their distant past. This has always interested me - the Ata'mal Crystal is said to be an eredar relic, yet it summons the naaru and their dimension ship, and when it is used in this fashion it shatters into seven fragments, each of which manifest strange new powers when used properly. Where am I going with this? Well, Sargeras was a Titan. Like all Titans, he has strange and almost unfathomable powers, and he seeks to undo the works of his fellow Titans, his former friends and allies in the Pantheon. He sought out the eredar - he went looking for them. This has always struck me as interesting, because the eredar resemble a race created by the Titans here on Azeroth, namely the mogu.
EVE Evolved: The end of EVE Evolved
By now, you will have heard that Massively is being shut down along with Joystiq and countless other blogs run by AOL. That unfortunately means this will be my final article for Massively and marks an end to the nearly seven-year run of the EVE Evolved column, which now holds over 350 articles on topics ranging from ship fittings and opinion pieces to guides and expansion breakdowns. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all of you for your readership and to express just how much playing EVE Online and writing for you really have impacted my life. I've been asked by so many people over the years for tips on breaking into the games industry as a journalist or MMO blogger, but the truth is that I lucked into this gig. When a post on the EVE Online news page said that some site called Massively was hiring an EVE Online columnist, I almost didn't bother applying. I was a prolific forumgoer back then and had written some guides for EON Magazine and my own blog, but I wanted to get into game development and had very little confidence in my writing ability. What I didn't know then was that writing for Massively would help improve my writing skills immeasurably and even help give me the confidence to launch my own game development studio. Massively gave me a platform on which to talk about EVE Online and an eager audience to share my game experiences with, but it turned into something much more profound. There have been low points dealing with trolls and organised harassment and tough times with budget cuts, but there have also some incredible experiences like attending the EVE Online Fanfest, investigating monoclegate, watching CCP redeem itself in the eyes of players, and collaborating with some of the best writers in the games industry. In this final edition of EVE Evolved, I look back at the start of the EVE Evolved column, break down my top ten column articles of all time, and try to put into words how much this column has meant to me over the years.
WoW Moviewatch: The Lament of Captain Placeholder
If we're going out, we're going out singing sea shanties, just like The Lament of Captain Placeholder. Sure, it's sad that our friend Captain Placeholder has gone, but a new and more vibrant world has risen in his place. At least we hope it has. Farewell, fellow placeholders! We'll just sing ourselves out. Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.
The Queue: This should be somber and dignified
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Anne Stickney (@Shadesogrey) really wishes she could keep answering questions forever. Honestly though the thing I loved best about Fraggle Rock was that it was really, really weird. Red asked: Q for Loremaster Anne: can you sum up the entire Warcraft story in a single paragraph? I think I'll borrow a perfectly applicable quote from one of my favorite authors: In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.
Sunday Morning Funnies: Gold stars
Sunday Morning Funnies is your weekly list of WoW-related web comics. This week, in comics: Farmer Ted. An impressive rock. A bad wake up. Umbrella. Plus: Grief and mayhem! In comic news, Trigonometry Comics is out for one week, and Gnomeregan Forever takes a one-week break from its 2014 review to explain why. However, we do have a new Sara & Kleeyo, plus an indication that it will be updating a bit more often in the future. Plus, we have a new extra from Gratz, so be sure to check that out! If you missed us last week, you will have missed some more great tips from Trig and Lackinganame for anyone considering purchasing a tablet for their digital art. I've also been wondering how everyone is faring with Trig's challenge for 2015. We are a month into a new year, and it's been a month since we said goodbye to 2014. How are you carrying that seasonal burst of light and love, intended to help us through the dark days, forward in your life? Me, I'm starting with gratitude. I want to say something to the content creators that probably can never be said enough: Thank you. You bring light and laughter and intrigue to every Sunday morning. You put yourselves out there, you work hard, and you do it for us. And to the readers: Thank you. You rock.
Breakfast Topic: Do you take a lot of screenshots?
Once upon a time in vanilla on my very first character, I made the mistake of wandering too close to a door guarded by a very angry dragon. Said angry dragon made quick work of my character, and in running back to my corpse, I inadvertently discovered I could run right through that door and resurrect on the other side. The other side of that door was one of the single weirdest places I have ever seen in World of Warcraft -- it was later shaped and molded into the Caverns of Time for the Burning Crusade expansion. But in that moment, I had no idea what it was -- just that the world had suddenly gotten very strange, and very, very screenshot-worthy, which is when I took the screenshot above. I have a lot of screenshots, guys. Each expansion, I snap screenshots of every cool location, cool armor set, neat people, fun events -- you name it, I'm probably sitting there happily snapping away. And I keep them all. Why? In vanilla, I just liked taking pictures of things -- pretty things, weird things, strange armor I'd purchased and immediately regretted. In Burning Crusade, it was because Outland was so new, and different, and unlike anything on Azeroth. Somewhere in Wrath, after getting my job here, it grew from a hobby into something I did for cataloging purposes. If I needed a screenshot of a particular quest or a particular NPC saying a particular line, then I was going to make sure I had it handy before I even knew I needed it. Betas are great for testing, but they're also great for getting tons of advance screenshots that I will more than likely use later. And beyond that ... well, it's kind of interesting to have a record of all the places I've gone and all the people I've met over the years. It's like flipping through a scrapbook. A really, really nerdy scrapbook. Do you guys take a lot of screenshots? Do you save the alt-z for important stuff like boss kills and achievements, or do you snap away whenever you see a pretty piece of scenery? Do you save your screenshots from expansion to expansion, or just get rid of them as time goes on? What's the earliest screenshot you've still got?
WoW Moviewatch: How World of Warcraft Should Have Ended
We're hoping our favorite game isn't coming to an end for a while yet, but that doesn't mean we can't still enjoy this classic animation that speculates on how Wrath of the Lich King should have come to a close. After all, if you're an end boss and your daily grind is being killed over and over, you'd get tired of it eventually and want a break. Unfortunately, for both Azeroth and Arthas' vacation plans, Deathwing ruins everything. Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.
