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  • [1.Local]: Yo, it's April, fools!

    by 
    Lisa Poisso
    Lisa Poisso
    04.04.2010

    Reader comments -- ahh, yes, the juicy goodness following a meaty post. [1.Local] ducks past the swinging doors to see what readers have been chatting about in the back room over the past week. April Fool's Day around WoW.com usually means bracing for impact with emails and comments from nerd-raging readers who haven't ... quite ... caught on that there's something special going on. This year, though, you all really outdid yourselves. You played along! You danced, you sang, you /fishslapped, you showed us your sunflowery sunny dispositions, you popped back in every two hours like clockwork to see what new havoc was going on. Special thanks go to Kelly Aarons and Zach Yonzon for oudoing themselves on the fabulous artwork, and three cheers to Justin Glow for helping us change out the site header every two hours. Gather 'round for a group hug, everybody -- ya'll are an awesome bunch. Sedirex: All 5 iterations had their own logo, top stories, and hot topics (on the right). The evil part of this joke is that if you're like me, you felt obligated to check every 2 hours to see them, as, unlike the posts, they don't remain after the site changes focus again. Jayfitty: That was actually a pretty awesome routine. I'm not sure how I feel about so much turmoil happening here at WoW.com. Hopefully we can just settle on one type of Insider and commit to that. Every time the website changes I have to update my wardrope, Facebook page, Twitter and haircut to reflect said changes. And to go from Edward hair to Gaga hair in one day isn't easy.

  • 15 Minutes of Fame: Questing through what Cataclysm will change forever

    by 
    Lisa Poisso
    Lisa Poisso
    03.30.2010

    15 Minutes of Fame is WoW.com's look at World of Warcraft personalities of all shapes and sizes -- from the renowned to the relatively anonymous, from the remarkable to the player next door. Tip us off to players you'd like to hear more about. Leveling an alt in today's pre-expansion era is an exercise in nostalgia: "Last time we'll ever search for Mankrik's wife" and "Last time we'll have to run back and forth to the red crystal." Cataclysm will destroy Azeroth as we know it. The game world will be changed forever, even for players who do not purchase the expansion. Will even Barrens chat survive? (/gasp) Into this volatile atmosphere steps a guild with a purpose: <There and Back Again>. This Alliance-side group of rerollers on US Thorium Brotherhood is devoted to romping through all the content that will be gone, gone, gone come Cataclysm. It's a quest that innumerable alts across Azeroth are undoubtedly pursuing on their own -- but these folks are doing it together in one happy, sprawling effort. "While I'd love to have great numbers of new people come over and join us for our fun little endeavor, I don't want to oversell what it is: we're having a good time and seeing things that some people will miss entirely once the new expansion hits -- not much more than that," notes GM Mistigris modestly. "Still, it's a great group of people and a fairly unique reason for coming together."

  • [1.Local]: To meme, or not to meme?

    by 
    Lisa Poisso
    Lisa Poisso
    03.28.2010

    Reader comments -- ahh, yes, the juicy goodness following a meaty post. [1.Local] ducks past the swinging doors to see what readers have been chatting about in the back room over the past week. Sometimes puppies just aren't enough. Sometimes, it takes an industrial-strength WoW meme to bring a smile to your face -- or in the case of one lovelorn writer to the Drama Mamas, to soften the blow of dealing with a sticky situation. icepyro: "Despite seriousness of the issue, this had me laughing and loving every moment of it. Many internets are to be had by the mommas. TT, I would give my own internet to you, but I feel that is akin to giving the proverbial drowning man a glass of water. "To those that criticize the writing, I must say the fact that both the letter and responses took the time to find game terms that work to describe the problem showed how serious it was actually taken. While amusing to read, metaphors really drive home the underlying tone that the English language itself lacks. This is not some meme-filled, short letter that just tosses wow terms in for good measure. It's only purple prose if it felt like an attempt to market the product via excessive jargon rather than the jargon used to describe how he really feels. While the goal may have been to interpret it this way so that it would stand out (mission accomplished), I really didn't feel like he was holding himself back or hiding behind the jargon. "I do not want to recommend this style all the time lest we fall to overuse and making it a meme itself (see also: puppies). Still, it was supremely refreshing and quite the treat. "There were some rough spots for interpretation, but the mommas seemed to be able to interpret and their resulting advice made things much clearer. Still, anyone who compares a woman to iLevel 277 will have more problems (if you don't already) when Cataclysm comes out and better gear is to be had. Thinking about it, heirloom items may work. They level with you and while it may not always be BiS or shiny purple, there is no level limit to equip nor will you ever outlevel them. They even boost your own ability to level. ... Yeah, I overthink things." More observations (no overthinking necessary) from the past week, after the break.

  • The Classifieds: Of pugilists, gaming research and LFG

    by 
    Lisa Poisso
    Lisa Poisso
    03.24.2010

    The Classifieds brings you weekly updates on guild happenings, raid progression rankings, player milestones and more. Have guild news or a Random Act of Uberness to share? E-mail TheClassifieds@wow.com. We've got a little bit of everything in this week's The Classifieds: a player who leveled to 80 as a pugilist (unarmed/fists only), a research study seeking your input on gaming's effects on existing relationships, and the debut of our LFG feature for players still searching for the right guild fit. We'll get to those and more -- but first, what's rapidly becoming your favorite feature around these parts, the Random Acts of Uberness ... Sampaguita, <Ordo de Lupo>, US Nesingwary-A "Three of my guildies and I were running random heroics the other day, and we zoned into Forge of Souls with Sampaguita as our fifth player. This particular group, still in the process of gearing up, was having a little trouble handling the larger trash groups. We wiped once on the way up to Bron. Sam was incredibly encouraging and patient, helped us with strategy, and kept up a steady stream of humor in chat to help us not lose our nerve. Bron dropped Nighttime, and everyone rolled Greed, and it went to one of my guildies. Sam mentioned that it might be fun to have to play around with, and my guildie handed it to Sam in trade. Sam offered to pay some gold for it, but my guildie said no big deal. ..."

  • 15 Minutes of Fame: "Beating WoW" in sight for world-class achiever

    by 
    Lisa Poisso
    Lisa Poisso
    03.23.2010

    15 Minutes of Fame is WoW.com's look at World of Warcraft personalities of all shapes and sizes -- from the renowned to the relatively anonymous, from the remarkable to the player next door. Tip us off to players you'd like to hear more about. You'd think that the guy who has the third highest number of achievement points in the world would be a little uptight, a little bookish, maybe even a little anal retentive ... You'd be wrong. Caspi of EU Terrordar is so laid back, so friendly, so enthusiastic about the game that we had to break the rules and leave in all the smilie emoticons he peppered throughout our e-mail interview. They were just that infectious. A solid guild, a tight group of friends who enjoy spending time together, and an abundant sense of adventure have boosted Caspi to an astounding 11,495 achievement points. The only achievements he lacks are for Icecrown Citadel accomplishments that his guild is currently still working through. How'd he do it? Does he have a life? With gusto, and absolutely -- and we'll show you how, after the break.

  • [1.Local]: Making your comments matter

    by 
    Lisa Poisso
    Lisa Poisso
    03.21.2010

    VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISED; language Not Safe For Work. Reader comments -- ahh, yes, the juicy goodness following a meaty post. [1.Local] ducks past the swinging doors to see what readers have been chatting about in the back room over the past week. Internet comments and commenters -- gah. What does it take to get a comment spotlighted on [1.Local], anyway? Many readers assume that the comments we select each week represent the most popular posts, or the most controversial, or the most "important." That's true ... Sometimes. Humor is frequently the common denominator; after all, everybody loves a good laugh over the game we all enjoy. Beyond that, the factors that make a comment [1.Local]-worthy are more of a moving target. Maybe that comment is the seed of an intricate debate. Perhaps it's an inspired strategy worth sharing. Maybe it's simply a pointer towards a story we think more readers ought to see. There's no set formula. What is set, however, is our commitment to providing a place for our readers' voices to be heard. That doesn't mean we're throwing open the editorial doors to some sort of hegemony via comments. What it does mean is that we love a vibrant, energetic community of commenters just as much as you do. Blog comments do matter. How can you make your own viewpoints make an impact? Join us after the break for a refresher course on best practices for commenting on the internet.

  • 15 Minutes of Fame: 76-year-old player relies on strategy

    by 
    Lisa Poisso
    Lisa Poisso
    03.16.2010

    15 Minutes of Fame is WoW.com's look at World of Warcraft personalities of all shapes and sizes -- from the renowned to the relatively anonymous, from the remarkable to the player next door. Tip us off to players you'd like to hear more about. Who's the oldest player you know? WoW's player base is so immense today that most of us know someone over age 50 who plays. These older folks most often turn out to be friends-and-family style players, tucked away among other family members -- grown sons and daughters, grandchildren, nieces and nephews -- using World of Warcraft to connect with family members across the generations and the miles. Finding an older player who's come to the game on his own terms can be like looking for a needle in a haystack. When we finally got wind of septuagenarian player Loyal Leitgen, we knew we'd found a player who could give us a fresh perspective on the older player's point of view. He hadn't been introduced to the game by the younger generation -- in fact, he'd been the one to usher his grown sons into the game. The problem was, we couldn't interview him until we could catch up with him. When we fired off our first e-mail, he'd just left the United States and was bound for Switzerland. We finally tracked down the energetic retiree in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where he was visiting one of his sons who was working on an international business venture. We chatted with him on Skype to learn why the 76-year-old gamer thinks WoW offers something for everyone.

  • [1.Local ]: Screaming over Hellscream's Warsong

    by 
    Lisa Poisso
    Lisa Poisso
    03.14.2010

    Reader comments -- ahh, yes, the juicy goodness following a meaty post. [1.Local] ducks past the swinging doors to see what readers have been chatting about in the back room over the past week. While some players are hailing the Icecrown Citadel "tugboat" buff (Strength of Wrynn/Hellscream's Warsong) as a great equalizer that will open up endgame content to the player base at large, others have spotted holes in its implementation. The most common complaint is that doing the encounters the hard way yields no bonus at all: no achievement, no title, no recognition. Mennoknight: The issue ... is that there is nothing showing if they did it the hard way. Most people take kill shots with the UI hidden, so the buff will not show. Our group wanted to do it "the hard way" because we could. But the more you look at it, there is no reason NOT to keep the buff. There is no in-game tracking of it, and while you could technically take a screenshot of every boss kill without it, who's to say you won't go and kill everything with it one week and then kill the next week (with much better gear and perfected kill strats) without the buff? (5% doesn't matter, but this will become easier in later weeks.) Additionally, none of the other groups are trading in the buff, and we decided as a realm not to count it in the progression threads, so there is very little reason not to change it. This could be EASILY solved by a simple track (feat of str, no points) with something along the lines of "Achieve your first kill of Marrowgar without using the Strength of Wrynn" (because other kills don't count past the first). Just something in game to track the kill, so you don't have to jump through hoops to get it tracked. You don't need to give better loot, more badges or anything. Just the simple tracking would be enough to get groups like mine to run without the buff. More reader perspectives on the Wrynn/Warsong buff, after the break.

  • 15 Minutes of Fame: The Syndicate's 14 years of gaming

    by 
    Lisa Poisso
    Lisa Poisso
    03.09.2010

    15 Minutes of Fame is WoW.com's look at World of Warcraft personalities of all shapes and sizes -- from the renowned to the relatively anonymous, from the remarkable to the player next door. Tip us off to players you'd like to hear more about. The Syndicate first came to our attention a couple of weeks ago, when we noted the meta-guild's 14th anniversary in The Classifieds. Its 600+ members (across both World of Warcraft and Ultima Online) enjoy ties to all sorts of intriguing gaming and charitable projects: writing strategy guides, beta testing, games consulting, raising support for military troops through gaming. A visit to their web site yields pages and pages on the group's history and projects. Considering such massive numbers inside such a sprawling organization, you might be tempted to conclude that these gamers must be very, very "hardcore." Not so fast. In fact, The Syndicate's in-game philosophy uplifts long-standing, person-to-person relationships and group fun above all else. Outside projects such as games consulting and strategy guides focus on material for the typical gamer – that's right, not the bleeding edge. We dug up what's going on inside this gargantuan guild in an interview with Dragons, its founding GM, president and CEO.

  • [1.Local]: I saw you

    by 
    Lisa Poisso
    Lisa Poisso
    03.07.2010

    Reader comments -- ahh, yes, the juicy goodness following a meaty post. [1.Local] ducks past the swinging doors to see what readers have been chatting about in the back room over the past week. I saw you in heroic Halls of Lightning last week. I was healing, wearing a Velen's Cowl of Conquest. You came in wearing full tier 1 with the banana shoulders. You tanked with skill and made the whole group smile. After the last boss, you headed back to Khadgar. Coffee, heroics and healing some time? It was a "love" connection for two players from the Stormstrike battlegroup's Dungeon Finder last week -- and they reconnected right here in the comments of The Classifieds! Hephaestus: ... Keleili, I very much appreciated your post and comments. Getting recognition for being a good pally tank (as well as a sharp-dressed one) was the furthest thing from my mind, but it sure made for a great birthday present! If only you were healing me on the eve of the BC expansion when I was getting the best of both worlds. I'll gladly run with you as my healer anytime; you, too, are a skilled player and a bacon saver! -- Hephaestus of Khadgar Jennifer: *LOL* You are very welcome. It made my day. I had only just started to think about raiding on my then-60 when BC came out, so I never got to actually see the vanilla raid content. (If I remember correctly, I was always doomed to have 7/8 of the tier .5 set.) So, you are totally awesome in my mind. -- Keleili All together now: Awww ... Join us for more reader-to-reader connections, after the break.

  • 15 Minutes of Fame: Making the RP-LARP connection

    by 
    Lisa Poisso
    Lisa Poisso
    03.02.2010

    15 Minutes of Fame is WoW.com's look at World of Warcraft personalities of all shapes and sizes -- from the renowned to the relatively anonymous, from the remarkable to the player next door. Tip us off to players you'd like to hear more about. Those silly LARPers ... Everyone loves to poke fun at a guy in costume, right? We uncovered a group of WoW roleplayers who have been dipping into LARP (Live Action Role Play) on the side -- and we have to say, the only fun being poked is the excellent variety on the blades of their weapons at their local events. If you're not familiar with the concept, LARPing is a form of roleplaying in which players physically act out their characters' actions. With elaborate costumes, weaponry and character histories, players engage not only in combat but also diplomacy, scouting and simple in-character socializing over a good drink. While fantasy is by far the most common genre of LARPers, historical, western and sci-fi groups get their fair share of attention, too. "I find LARP both a relaxing and strenuous past-time which stretches me physically and creatively," says Skulleater of EU The Venture Co, leader of roleplaying guild The Shatterskull Marauders and experienced LARPer. "This in turn was to have a distinct impact on my roleplaying in World of Warcraft, and Live Action Role Playing has helped create a solid foundation for ideas and rules for events in which members of my guild have had the chance to participate in. People who began roleplaying in WoW have found enjoyment in participating in Live Action Role Playing with us, while many LARPers I know of have begun roleplaying in WoW as a result of their enjoyable experiences at LARP." It seems other players would agree. "In a small community, it's very easy for things to become stale, but because of his unconventional inspirations from other forms of RP (DnD, LARP, etc.), Skulleater has become something of a breath of fresh air," wrote tipster Samuel. "I met Skully through WoW and have since met him in real life. He's a great bloke and would have convinced me to try LARP if it weren't for a recent surgery that prevented such activities. I'll definitely be trying it next year."

  • [1.Local]: One does not simply walk into holiday bosses

    by 
    Lisa Poisso
    Lisa Poisso
    02.28.2010

    Reader comments -- ahh, yes, the juicy goodness following a meaty post. [1.Local] ducks past the swinging doors to see what readers have been chatting about in the back room over the past week. Our friendly neighborhood Dungeon Finder will become the one and only method of accessing seasonal holiday bosses, come Patch 3.3.3. No longer will you need to worry about which players in your group have their daily summons available or whether your roll will be enough to win such rare but delicious vanity items such as the Big Love Rocket or the Horseman's Reins. Everything will be streamlined and automated now -- but that doesn't mean the process won't still prove to be a significant journey. Al: One does not simply walk into holiday bosses. Kurash: Not with ten thousand men could you do this! It is folly! mtsadowski: I will do it. I will tank the holiday bosses ... only I do not know the way. Henrah: I will help you bear this burden, mtsadowski, as long as it is yours to bear. tulipblossom: If, by my life or death, I can protect you, I will. You have my sword. Bril: And my axe. D4: And my pet. MarcSpirit: Great! Where are we going? - End of Disk One - Join us for Disk Two of this week's [1.Local], after the break.

  • 15 Minutes of Fame: Getting strict about 10-man content

    by 
    Lisa Poisso
    Lisa Poisso
    02.23.2010

    15 Minutes of Fame is WoW.com's look at World of Warcraft personalities of all shapes and sizes -- from the renowned to the relatively anonymous, from the remarkable to the player next door. Tip us off to players you'd like to hear more about. Ten-man raids represent the easy mode of endgame raiding -- true or false? Answer: It depends. Savvy players recognize that 10-man content is easier as a whole only when undertaken by players decked out in 25-man raid gear. Even a few key 25-man pieces among several raiders can tip the power balance of a 10-man encounter. But in today's 25-man world, keeping 10-man gear and power pools pure is quite the challenge. Those who succeed see their efforts go unrewarded when 25-man groups snatch away progression achievements after overpowering the content with 25-man gear. A growing number of small guilds are working out player-friendly solutions to these dilemma in the so-called "10-man strict" movement. Why bother? We visited with 10-man strict raider Ghengie of <Amicus> (transferred to EU Haomarush as of this weekend; Armory update pending) to examine the challenges and rewards of endgame raiding on the smallest scale.

  • [1.Local]: Smoother Dungeon Finding for all?

    by 
    Lisa Poisso
    Lisa Poisso
    02.21.2010

    Reader comments -- ahh, yes, the juicy goodness following a meaty post. [1.Local] ducks past the swinging doors to see what readers have been chatting about in the back room over the past week. The buzz this weekend is all about the upcoming improvements to the Dungeon Finder tool. Snuzzle: "The Deserter debuff given to players who leave a dungeon prematurely when queuing via the Random Dungeon option has been increased to 30 minutes, up from 15 minutes. The cooldown for using the Random Dungeon option remains 15 minutes." Awesome. Maybe this will help prevent whiny tanks from dropping group because something didn't go their way if they know they're faced with a queue time as long as a DPS. "Players who use the Vote Kick option will now be prompted to provide a reason for kicking a party member. This reason will be presented to everyone in the party except for the person voted to be kicked." Also awesome, will hopefully prevent said whiny tanks from kicking DPS "because I feel like it." I they actually have to make up a reason on the fly, maybe they'll be less likely to do so. I won't click "yes" to kick without a reason, and almost no one says the reason in chat. Maybe they think it should be apparent, but most of the time when I ask them it's just "because I feel like it." "Anyone in a dungeon party can now re-queue their group for a dungeon, as players will still be prompted whether or not to accept their chosen role." Complete win. I am glad Blizzard is continuing to improve upon their already awesome Dungeon Finder. They saw a lot of ways it was being exploited or used to grief other players and are working to prevent such. Bravo. Find more on the upcoming patch changes and additional in-depth coverage throughout the weekend's posts -- and more of the chatter in [1.Local] after the break.

  • 15 Minutes of Fame: The Frag Dolls' Valkyrie

    by 
    Lisa Poisso
    Lisa Poisso
    02.18.2010

    15 Minutes of Fame is WoW.com's look at World of Warcraft personalities of all shapes and sizes -- from the renowned to the relatively anonymous, from the remarkable to the player next door. Tip us off to players you'd like to hear more about. "I can't handle it when people say, "It's only a game,'" says Amy "Valkyrie" Brady, a WoW-playing, card-carrying member of Ubisoft's well known Frag Dolls all-female gaming team. This all-business gamer has helped create and lead the a multi-platform clan of more than 300 gun-toting women who compete across five FPS (First Person Shooter) games in 10 separate divisions. In December 2006, Valkyrie was part of the four-member Frag Doll team that took first place in the Rainbow Six Vegas tournament at CPL in Dallas. Rainbow Six 3, Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, Halo 2, Final Fantasy XI ... On top of considerable hours spent on weekly practice for the Frag Dolls, she puts in some 50 to 60 more in personal game play -- and among those games is World of Warcraft.

  • The Classifieds: The Spectacular Wipe Club

    by 
    Lisa Poisso
    Lisa Poisso
    02.17.2010

    The Classifieds brings you weekly updates on guild recruiting, rankings, splits and merges, progression and more. Have guild news or a Random Act of Uberness to share? E-mail TheClassifieds@wow.com. Huzzah! We have a winne -- err, loser to announce! Proudly claiming the lead in our Spectacular Wipes Challenge is the stalwart PUG from US Thrall-A shown in the Sarth-3D video, above. "This was a zerg attempt prior to release of 3.1, the first done Alliance-side on Thrall-US," writes submitter Popalicious. "While we don't all come from the same guild, most of us were friends and some of us had been guilded together prior to the release of BC (though I think the hunter in this video was a total PUG none of us knew at all, heh). I was the only one who had successfully completed Sarth+3 on 10- or 25-man in the group, so it was kind of awesome fun to see the spam when we finally did get it down. I was proud of us for sticking it out, but the QQ over Vent when this wipe came up ... 'OMG one more poison proc and he would have died!', 'One more tick of Ret Aura ...' After this wipe, one of the rogues went back to Zangarmarsh and farmed up some Firebloom, convinced it would be that one little extra push we'd need. But sadly, it just wasn't meant to be that night. We did complete it successfully the next week with almost the exact same makeup." This group's 223-hp spectacular wipe easily bests <Spectacular Death>'s 1,475-hp gem. Can your boss wipe beat that? Send in the best of your worst to TheClassifieds@wow.com. Now let's crack open The Classifieds ...

  • [1.Local]: Breakfast leftovers

    by 
    Lisa Poisso
    Lisa Poisso
    02.14.2010

    Reader comments -- ahh, yes, the juicy goodness following a meaty post. [1.Local] ducks past the swinging doors to see what readers have been chatting about in the back room over the past week. We don't usually pick up comments from Breakfast Topics. It's just too easy, bringing to mind that weird kid who sneaks back to the table to lick leftover maple syrup and powdered sugar off the plates after a sleepover party breakfast. And this BT about what content might tide us over until Cataclysm hits evoked exactly that feeling: an over-abundant, sticky-sweet pool soaking mushy leftovers that seem glued to the plate. Possum: Some nice solo content to tie up loose ends would be nice. I always felt bad about leaving the BC factions behind so suddenly. Hey Consortium guys, hows it going? Sorry I haven't been visiting lately. Oh, have you been keeping all those gems for me? Yeah, I guess you can just sell them or something ... I hope the the Mag'har are still doing well, trapped on a world that is slowly dissolving into the Twisting Nether ... But hey, at least Grom Hellscream is gone now, so that's a plus, right? Also like to do a shout out for the Netherwing dragonflight. Hope things have improved for you guys since I defeated those Dragonmaw guys for you. I mean, it was a lot of work, but we got there in the end right? I hope you've built some crazy Netherdragon palace of magic and wonder in the Twisting Nether or whatever. jealouspirate: Obviously, patch 3.3.3 will be "The Argent Afterparty!" Features: Gather at the tournament grounds to do even more jousting dailies as a way to look back on the days when we had to do jousting dailies ... Why did we need to learn those skills again? PvP content: Since the Lich King is defeated (sort of but not really), the Horde and Alliance have no reason to play nice. Tournament is no longer a Sanctuary. Good luck completing your dailies without getting ganked! PvE content: The Black Knight returns! Did you really think your petty tournament could stop an agent of the Scourge? Possum: ... Hey, wait, why did we have to do all that jousting? YOU MADE ME JOUST FOR NOTHING, BASTARDS! *shakes fist in the air*

  • 15 Minutes of Fame: Master of add-ons

    by 
    Lisa Poisso
    Lisa Poisso
    02.09.2010

    15 Minutes of Fame is WoW.com's look at World of Warcraft players of all shapes and sizes -- from the renowned to the relatively anonymous, from the remarkable to the player next door. Tip us off to players you'd like to hear more about. If James Whitehead II knocked on my door right now, I might not recognize him -- but once I realized who he was, I'd throw my arms around his neck in gleeful gratitude. You see, Jim is the brains behind Clique, the popular click-casting add-on that's saved the aching fingers of healers across the globe. (That's worth a little gleeful gratitude, yes sir. And probably a little foot-washing and maybe even a little toe-sucking, too, truth be told. Not to descend into TMI right here in the intro or anything. Ahem.) He's also the creator of mods like PerfectRaid and TomTom and the author of Hacking World of Warcraft and World of Warcraft Programming: A Guide and Reference for Creating WoW Add-ons, now going into its second edition. He's working on a Ph.D. at Oxford University. He rows competitively, he mods, he knits and crochets, he raids ... Ok, ok, let's invite him in for a chat, shall we? Meanwhile, be sure to enter to win our giveaway of six copies of the new, updated edition of World of Warcraft Programming.

  • [1.Local]: An Ensidia-free zone

    by 
    Lisa Poisso
    Lisa Poisso
    02.07.2010

    Reader comments -- ahh, yes, the juicy goodness following a meaty post. [1.Local] ducks past the swinging doors to see what readers have been chatting about in the back room over the past week. Grab a cushion, flop down and give your weary dogs (puppies?) a rest. The photo above notwithstanding, rest assured that the rest of [1.Local] this week is an Ensidia-free zone. (So is the world-first 25-man Lich King kill, for that matter.) Can you imagine having to hash that out yet again? What a relief that [1.Local] isn't merely a tally sheet for comments from stories with the most views -- or even the stories with the most comments, or the most positive comments, or (as comment trolls hold fast to believing) the most negative comments ... We can follow our own little quirky path through the conversation of the past week. Let's bite into the rest of this week's goodies just like we all like it: nice and meaty, with a little bit of hot, runny juices from the odd little beasts we discovered just down yonder, off the beaten track...

  • 15 Minutes of Fame: The solo artist

    by 
    Lisa Poisso
    Lisa Poisso
    02.02.2010

    15 Minutes of Fame is WoW.com's look at World of Warcraft players of all shapes and sizes -- from the renowned to the relatively anonymous, from the remarkable to the player next door. Tip us off to players you'd like to hear more about. DKs are OP -- there, we said it. Now then, we can move on with our discussion of ... well, of an OP death knight. This particular DK, however, brings more to the plate than the sheer muscle of his class. Raegwyn of EU Zuluhed-H brings a wealth of raiding experience, class skill and game savvy to bear in his continuing campaign to conquer as many bosses and instances of WoW as possible, completely solo. We get a lot of "check me out soloing X" videos submitted here at WoW.com, but Raegwyn caught our eye with his video of a solo kill of Al'ar from Burning Crusade's 25-man Tempest Keep instance The Eye. He's made masterful headway in heroic Pit of Saron and most recently polished off an instance that still catches level-appropriate groups off guard: heroic Ahn'Kahet. We talked to this Austrian death machine about why gear is nice but timing is everything when it comes to taking down bosses on your own.