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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.
Blizzard green poster Alona on the challenges facing WoW today
We all know the Blizzard blues -- no, no, not the pre-expansion doldrums (although yeah, we know those too), but rather the fine folks from Blizzard who come out on the official forums to clarify and enlighten with posts highlighted in bright blue text. Supporting them are the greens, best described by Blizzard blue poster Zarhym as "a collection of folks from the community who are embraced by their peers for their knowledge and personality, to the extent that we want to give them official recognition." Most greens shepherd issues in a particular part of the game that's captured their heart -- for instance, green poster Eldacar specializes in PvP. And then there's green poster Alona. Alona's area of interest is -- well, everything. A self-described "frantic personality," Alona turns up all over the forums to lend a helping hand. With such a broad perspective, you can bet she's developed some rules of the road for making the best of a World of Warcraft experience -- and some insights into what sorts of things detract from that. We've got her top five tips for a good WoW lifestyle, plus her own thoughts on the most challenging issues facing the WoW community and Blizzard itself.
