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WoW Archivist: WoW's talent system has come full circle
WoW Archivist is a biweekly column by WoW Insider's Scott Andrews, who explores the secrets of World of Warcraft's past. What did the game look like years ago? Who is etched into WoW's history? What secrets does the game still hold? It first appeared on our sister site on April 11th and is included here by permission. The Warlords of Draenor patch 6.0 notes have revealed the latest changes to WoW's ever-evolving talent system. Talents have remained a core system in WoW since its earliest days; it's the primary method that allows players to make their characters distinct. In the beta for WoW and throughout vanilla, talent trees were a bit of a mess, as Archivist covered. Today, we'll examine how those early trees came to be expanded, refined, and then scrapped for a very different system. We'll also look at how Warlords is bringing back the earliest version of talent trees in a brand-new way.
WoW Archivist: Warlords of Draenor hates The Burning Crusade
WoW Archivist is a biweekly column by WoW Insider's Scott Andrews, who explores the secrets of World of Warcraft's past. What did the game look like years ago? Who is etched into WoW's history? What secrets does the game still hold? It first appeared on our sister site on March 28th and is included here by permission. In many ways, The Burning Crusade was the birth of modern WoW. Most of TBC's innovations are still going strong in WoW today and have been ever since their introduction. Looking back, I find it's striking how many key features of WoW were absent in classic, unveiled only during the game's first expansion. Even more striking, however, is how many of these innovations Warlords of Draenor seems poised to undo. Just as Garrosh will undo the transformation of Draenor into Outland, Warlords seeks to unravel most of what Blizzard innovated during TBC. The next expansion will take us through a portal into a very different WoW.
WoW Archivist: The battle for Hillsbrad
WoW Archivist is a biweekly column by WoW Insider's Scott Andrews, who explores the secrets of World of Warcraft's past. What did the game look like years ago? Who is etched into WoW's history? What secrets does the game still hold? It first appeared on our sister site on March 14th and is included here by permission. Almost 10 years later, people still talk about the Southshore vs. Tarren Mill battles, the most infamous and celebrated world PvP in WoW history. They go on about how glorious it was, how they'd like to see that kind of intensity return to world PvP. It's not often, however, that they discuss the details. If you want to know exactly what it was like to fight in those battles, keep reading. I lived it. My old Tauren Hunter still bears the scars. Pull up a bench and pour yourself a glass of ale. I will tell you about the war.
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.
The Guild Counsel: Proof that it's more than just a game
I'll admit, last week's poll was a surprise for me. For those of you who missed it, I asked which philosophy describes each reader's playstyle: "the brotherhood" or "the game." The former won with a fairly large margin of victory, which I didn't expect given that our community here is one that tends to focus on games as the main topic of conversation. As it turns out, almost 60% of the Massively community loves MMOs but also loves the bonds that come from them. Looking back over the past year, I think there were actually many stories that highlighted the player behind the pixel and reaffirmed our belief that we are indeed part of a brotherhood even if we don't always see it in our MMOs. This week's Guild Counsel is a recap of some of those gaming stories, and I believe even the most die-hard "game-focused" player will agree that there are moments when it really is more than just a game.
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.
The Guild Counsel: Saluting Scott Andrews on five years of valuable guild advice
This past Monday marked the fifth anniversary of Scott Andrews' Officers' Quarters, a weekly column on WoW Insider that deals with guild issues in World of Warcraft. He's also the author of The Guild Leader's Handbook, which is a must-read for any guild leader. It's a terrific accomplishment to keep a column going for so long, and week after week, he's provided valuable advice to reader questions on guild management. Whether you've just heard of Officers' Quarters or you're a longtime fan, let's look at a few reasons Scott Andrews deserves a tip of the hat and a hearty salute.
The Guild, episode 7 of season 3
We're more than halfway through this latest season of The Guild, and the series is in full swing: the Axis of Anarchy is starting trouble, Wiggly is quickly learning the game, and Codex is stepping right up into her guild leadership role. But even as things are coming together, they're starting to fall apart: this episode might have the weirdest ending of the series so far. You can watch the episode in the usual places, including right here after the break.Two other things from The Guild's website recently. Apparently that book that Codex was reading last episode is a real one, all about leading a guild and lessons you can take into real life (and our own Scott Andrews didn't write it? Unbelievable!). And if you happen to be in Los Angeles in the next few weeks, The Guild will be screening parts of season 2 at theaters around the city along with showings of Dr. Horrible, that other web series that stars Felicia Day. At one of them, the cast will be live doing a Q&A, so that should be fun to see. Like The Guild? We do, too! We chatted with all of the folks at BlizzCon, including Felicia Day, Sandeep Parikh, and Jeff Lewis and Michele Boyd. We also saw their panel, and the guys were nice enough to stop by our meetup as well. Stay tuned here every Tuesday for a brand new episode of season 3!
