history-of-wow
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TradeChat takes on the history of WoW
Taking on the entire history of a game like World of Warcraft, from its announcement back in 2001 all the way up to today is a huge task, but TradeChat is up to it. She has created an epic 16 minute video taking on all the famous landmarks on the way, starting with that Leeroy Jenkins incident, the MOAR DOTS video, WoW's appearance on South Park, and the Corrupted Blood incident that's been used as a model for disease spread in countless studies. There's even an appearance in a question on Jeopardy! featuring Jenkins himself! Panser has done an amazing job here, hitting the pop culture references, the first parodies, the subscription rise and fall, the releases and trailers of all the expansions and major patches. Adverts, both by other companies such as Moutain Dew and Toyota and those for World of Warcraft itself. She has Mila Kunis' famous interview with Jimmy Kimmel, talking about raiding,and countless other tidbits you might not have known before! What I love is how she's taken the announcement videos from all the expansions, and actually shows us all the things she's talking about instead of just marking time.
WoW Moviewatch: The History of WoW
I'm not sure I've ever encountered a comparison of The History of WoW to an on-stage production about cooking meatloaf. So, in terms of that, this video is a new one on me. As soon as you enter that kind of metaphor territory, though, you risk bordering on coming across as bitter and resentful. I think Nervous Orca mostly avoids that issue but I did wonder how long it'd be before the rage came blistering through. The video is full of decent jokes and good moments. But the jokes do drag on a tiny bit too long, especially with the relatively rough animation. Still, that constructive criticism shouldn't hold Orca back because this is a pretty good video. It could have used a strong final punchline, but the whole thing moved in a good direction. 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.
WoW Archivist: Memories of Dire Maul
The WoW Archivist 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? Last week I said we'd be visiting Dire Maul in-depth this week, and we're going to do exactly that. Dire Maul was added in World of Warcraft patch 1.3 all the way back in March 2005. As I pointed out last week, Dire Maul attempted a great number of things that Blizzard has never tried to do since. It was also one of the few instances that was given a lasting relevance throughout an entire expansion phase of the game's life -- from the day it was implemented in patch 1.3 to the final day prior to the launch of The Burning Crusade, players had a reason to venture into the three wings of Dire Maul that wasn't simply grinding for currency. Dire Maul was one of the last bastions of adventure and discovery in our dungeons. That isn't to say all instances afterwards were bad, that's not true at all, but never again did we have a 5-man dungeon that you were free to explore and discover the secrets hidden away in its dark corners. It's a style of dungeon we haven't seen since, and with the prominence of the dungeon finder in World of Warcraft these days, it's one we're unlikely to see ever again.
The History of the World (of Warcraft), part I
It appears that it is time for me to branch out from my usual silly antics here on WoW Insider, and take a moment to flex my writing skills instead of my artistic ones. Today I would like to speak to you about some of the long history of WoW, but not in the "Know Your Lore" sense of history. WoW Insider reader Tim wrote in to request some information on the evolution of World of Warcraft, from its infancy in beta to launch and beyond and I, having been here through the majority of it, decided that I should put pen to paper (fingers to keyboard?) and share what I know and what I have witnessed along the way. Are you aware (and I'm sure some of you are) that at one point in World of Warcraft, there was an experience penalty suffered when you were slain? Indeed, even though the lack of experience loss is one of the things that sets current WoW apart from other MMOs, back in its infancy the death penalty was practically the same as what you would find in EverQuest or Final Fantasy XI, though without the de-leveling found in the latter. Let us take a moment to sit down, pull up a cup of your favorite socially acceptable beverage, and go over a handful of the many changes that WoW has gone through since Blizzard introduced it to a select number of beta testers back in 2004.
