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Where Are They Now? 2012 personalities, including the blind player and his 'guide dog'
At last, our look back at five years of WoW personality interviews rolls around to the duo everyone's been asking about: Hexu and Davidian, the British soldier blinded in Iraq and his redoubtable "guide dog" guildmate who steered him through full participation in current raid content. Their story exploded across the internet after we interviewed Davidian here on WoW Insider, and Blizzard recognized the dynamic duo with in-game helms with flavor text alluding to their inspiring bond of friendship. Hexu and Davidian are both still playing World of Warcraft -- but the duo is together no more. As of the new year, the ever-energetic Hexu has been raiding on a new rogue, Dirtypawz, in Unqualified on Stormrage (EU). "I know!" he replies to my unspoken exclamation of surprise and sadness. "It was just that people were only raid logging, and it got boring -- but it was all amicable and cool. I still speak to people in Die Safe. I just wanted to do more than raid three nights a week." Hexu/Dirtypawz says a "very nice bloke" named Vatic is serving as his current raiding "guide dog" helper. "The people in the guild are all nice people," he adds, "and there [are] always things going on." We'll visit with Hexu/Dirtypawz next month about how he's settling in and dig into his tips for the many sight-disabled players who've written to us during the past year trying to reach him for advice. Meanwhile, Davidian reports that the year since we interviewed him has been packed with recognition and encouragement. "The publicity was just unreal," he says. "Even to this day, I get people coming to our server just to say how much the story inspired them and restored their faith in the gaming community. The biggest thing of all, though, was the fact that it made its way to Blizzard, and myself and Ben got signed copies of the collectors edition of Cataclysm signed by at least 50 members of the Blizzard team, and [we] received in-game pets also. Then to top it off, having in-game items with our names on them was just outstanding -- I mean, to be immortal in a game that we love to play is just, well words couldn't possibly describe it." All good people connecting to play a game that's close to our hearts ... Keep reading for more updates about people who love World of Warcraft, from our interviews during 2012.
Behind the bookshelves and keyboards of WI's published authors
If anything's got the power to pull a dyed-in-the-wool WoW player away from Azeroth for an extended period of time, it's a good read. Is there anything more tantalizing than cocooning with a good book you've just discovered? I've recently discovered GoodReads, my daughter's into the lowbie version at EpicReads, and we've made our city library and local Half-Price Books our home away from home. And when we're not reading, we're writing. When the sixth-graders had to turn in their first big compositions for the year, my little bookworm's study mate managed two pages on a funny time her foot got stuck in her shoe; my daughter demonstrated her speculative bent by cranking out 2,000 words on "The End of Humankind." Reading and writing, we just can't quit you. Like a good meal and a bottle of wine, good books are best when shared, so I thought you all might like to meet two published authors from WoW Insider's own staff of bloggers. Matt Rossi's collections are the kind of anthologies you find yourself still flipping through at 2 a.m. -- "Ooh, what's this one about? Just one more essay before I turn out the light..." Scott Andrews' guide to leading an MMO guild offers the same straight talk and smart strategies as his Officers' Quarters column here at WI. We peeked beyond the pages of WoW Insider to discover the speculative worlds crafted by Scott and Matt. They told us how they got published, what they're writing now -- and an extra bonus, what's feeding their imaginations in their personal reading piles.
WoW Insider Show episode 130
Despite some horrendous latency issues (sorry folks), the WoW Insider Show podcast broadcast this Saturday with special guest hosts Basil Berntsen and Kelly Aarons, and we discussed the upcoming 3.3.3 patch, as well as the Ruby Sanctum raid instance coming with Patch 3.3.5. We also answered reader emails, as we do each week -- you can email theshow@wow.com to have your question read on the air. 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:
WoW Insider Show live today at 3:30 PM Eastern
It's been a wild day for WoW news, and what better place to hear about it than on the WoW Insider Show podcast? We return to the airwaves today at 3:30 PM Eastern time, with your host Michael Sacco, cohost Matthew Rossi, and special guest hosts Kelly Aarons and Basil "Euripides" Berntsen (our new auction house columnist). We'll be answering reader emails, shootin' the breeze, and discussing the week's top stories on WoW.com and around the web. And, of course, we'll talk live with the folks in the chat channel. You can email the podcast any time of night or day at theshow@wow.com, and you'll be able to listen in to the show on the feed on our Ustream site, or after the jump.
WoW Insider Show Episode 123: Goodnight everybody
The WoW Insider Show podcast aired once again this Saturday, with me and my guest hosts Matthew Rossi and Colby Moore delving into reader emails and this week's top stories on WoW.com. Thrill as we answer the age-old question of "Is it worth it to skip bosses in random heroics?" Marvel as we say it's pretty okay for Blizzard to help out the police! Gasp as I forget to thank my cohosts at the end of the show and pull a Yakko Warner! Goodnight everybody. As always, you can email us at theshow@wow.com with any questions or comments -- we might even read yours live on the air. 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:
WoW Insider Show Episode 122: Press the [Spoon] button
The WoW Insider Show podcast continued along its very merry way this Saturday, and a good time was had by all. Guest co-host Matt Rossi and I discussed our favorite WoW.com stories from the first half of 2009 (with more to come this Saturday), talked a little about Icecrown progression and gating, and weighed in on the quality of Wrath's various patches. We also discussed some very romantic Saber Lash fight strategies, as you might guess by the title of this week's show. Thanks to everyone who stopped by to listen this week -- we've still got a few kinks to work out with the new format, but we're pretty pleased with this week's show and next week's should be even better. As always, if you have a question or comment for the show, email us at theshow@wow.com and you might just hear it on the air. 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:
WoW Insider Show later today at 3:30pm Eastern
Our podcast is back this afternoon, and it's going to be a doozy. We'll share with you some of the best entries in last week's beta key contest, and we'll do what we always do: talk about the biggest stories in the past week of Warcraft. I can tell you right now: this week's show is going to be almost all about the Wrath beta, because there's no bigger story than that. All of those amazing Green quest rewards will probably get a mention, as will what we've seen of Inscription and all the other new stuff so far.And since BigRedKitty will be making his triumphant return to the podcast (and I'll be on with him for the first time since I've started leveling my Alliance Hunter), we'll talk Hunter stuff as well -- I definitely want to hear what he has to say about all these exotic pets we're seeing. And while I can't guarantee it, there's a rumor that none other than Matthew Rossi will be stopping by -- I hear he's excited about something called Titan's Grip?Should be, as always, a terrific show. Tune in to WoW Radio at 3:30pm EST, join everybody in the IRC channel at irc.mmoirc.com in the #wowradio channel, and as always, if you have questions or concerns for us to answer (or just want to tell BRK how awesome he is), drop us an email at theshow@wow.com. See you this afternoon!
