What a long strange trip it has been, dear readers. WoW Insider opened way back in 2005, and is now nearing to the end of its time with you. We've had some great memories over the years, though, and we look forward to still seeing you all around the game world (and, perhaps, the real world too at whatever future BlizzCons might be in store).

But let's not be sad about what's over: let's remember the good times we've had, together. The crazy April Fool's pranks we've run. The times an article made you smile, laugh, or think. Tell us, readers: what have you gotten out of WoW Insider over the years?

And, of course: thanks for reading and commenting. We'll miss you all here around the virtual watercooler.

---

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Breakfast Topics

Tonight we're going live for the very last time on this site at 8:00 p.m. PDT / 11:00 p.m. EDT with the WoW Insider Show. You can join us right above with the live stream or head over to our Twitch.TV page and chat with us there. If you can't make the show don't worry! It will be posted on iTunes tomorrow, come AOL or high water.

This show is not going to have any special guests; it's just going to be us bumming around talking about the good old days. You'll hear some stories, you'll hear some insights into things we haven't talked about before, and you'll have a good time with us and all your friends in the chat channel.

---

Filed under: WoW Insider Show

For one of our very last moviewatches, I've been looking for videos that spoke of our long love of World of Warcraft. Videos that explained why we were still here and playing after all of this time... and I couldn't find one better than Irdeen's Boom De Yada.

After all, we love the whole of the crazy virtual world in which we all live. We'll see you all in game.

---

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.

---

Filed under: Machinima, WoW Moviewatch

The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft.

What a map, huh? I've gotten plenty of mileage out of it -- only it was an older edition of the map, before we took Mists of Pandaria into account. Now the map has slightly changed, along with the meaning involved, and I guess there's sort of a star, although it's six pointed, now -- which means we've got another puzzle to unravel, one I've been trying to untangle for a very long time. And while I don't have all the answers (I never seem to, in these articles), we have enough information to ask some really interesting questions, and come up with some really crazy theories.

Not just about Azeroth, about the Warcraft cosmos -- that strange expanse of universe that involves a mighty battle we still don't quite understand. Draenor's involved, Azeroth's involved -- according to Algalon, there are millions of worlds that have been involved -- but how do they interlink? When I first created this map, oh so long ago, it was under the presumption that there were five old gods, which correlated to the five Dragon Aspects of Azeroth. I wasn't quite wrong, as I discovered in Thrall: Twilight of the Aspects, but I wasn't quite right either. We have a sixth star, in Pandaria. I'm a fan of correlation -- so else what do we have six of?

But before we get into that, let's talk about the naaru. Because that seems like a good place to begin.

Today's Know Your Lore is a Tinfoil Hat edition. The following contains speculation based on known material. These speculations are merely theories and shouldn't be taken as fact or official lore.

Read more →

Filed under: Lore, Know your Lore

This isn't about World of Warcraft directly.

This is about a time when I found myself looking for a job, and found something better.

This is about how I ended up at WoW Insider.

Read more →

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion

Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today.

Today's Queue is my last here on WoW Insider. You're all beautiful. The face my character makes while saluting, though? A little less beautiful.

squaredK2 asked:

what was your most rewarding moment in doing The Queue?

Read more →

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, The Queue

"As you probably already know, the Queuevians made the guild 'of The Queue' on Nesingwary/Vek'nilash/Nazgrel to keep the memory and community of WoW Insider alive," writes submitter Fussypants. "Saturday we decided to do a guild screenshot on the steps of Stormwind Keep. My favorite shot was this one (and yes, we are saluting you!)

On behalf of the entire 'of The Queue' guild, I want to thank you, WoW Insider, for all you have done over 10 years of utter awesomeness! You guys have been the body and soul of the Warcraft community and the home for countless readers and commenters. We thank all the writers, past and present, for the fantabulous (and numerous) words you have written, and we wish you guys the very, very best in all future endeavors! And who knows, WoW Insider may live again! Thank you, WoW Insider, for being the best news site and home for the Warcraft community!"

(And, uh, once I get over the sadness of all this, you might see a gnome warrior named Carrefour hanging around that guild. Pay her no mind. She is, after all, only a gnome. And I've always wanted to give the Alliance a try ...)

---

Want to see your own screenshot here? Send it to aroundazeroth@wowinsider.com. We strongly prefer full-sized pictures with no UI or names showing. Include "Azeroth" in the subject line to ensure your submission dodges email spam filters; if you'd like to be credited, also include your name, guild and realm.

---

Filed under: Around Azeroth

I want the Tomb of Sargeras as a raid. I really, really want the Tomb of Sargeras as a raid. With demons everywhere and Gul'dan's half-eaten headless corpse and a bunch of undead night elf sentinels who got buried alive by Illidan and at the very center, the demonic corpse of the Avatar of Sargeras, waiting to be reanimated and used as a weapon against Azeroth.

What about you? What location from Warcraft's more than twenty years do you want to see in game? Do you wish for the return of Kul Tiras? Are you wondering whatever happened to Zandalar Isle, if it finished sinking or if Rastakhan managed to find a way to save his people? And have the Nerubians managed to reclaim their underground kingdom from the disorganized undead rabble?

So, since this will likely be my last Breakfast Topic, go wild. What haven't we seen yet that you're dying to?

---

Filed under: Breakfast Topics

The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft.

For my last KYL, a hat made of tinfoil. You know the drill - for the farewell of this column, Anne and I are going to go out speculating. This one's mine. You might want to read this old KYL to get a handle on the concepts I'm going to be throwing around. The idea is simple enough to start with, however. We know that at some point in the distant past, over twenty five thousand years ago, the fallen Titan Sargeras sought out a world whose inhabitants were powerful, with great potential for magic. Their culture was ancient - so very ancient that it had already risen and fallen and risen again, creating not one, but two golden ages. They were the eredar. Sargeras's offer was accepted, and the majority of the race along with two of the three triumvirs that ruled Argus entire became man'ari, corrupted.

Barely a tenth of the race resisted and escaped, led by Velen and aided by the naaru, who sent the mighty Genedar, a dimension ship, to rescue them from this corruption. Velen first contacted the naaru using the Ata'mal Crystal, an ancient artifact of their people which was said to be a relic of their distant past. This has always interested me - the Ata'mal Crystal is said to be an eredar relic, yet it summons the naaru and their dimension ship, and when it is used in this fashion it shatters into seven fragments, each of which manifest strange new powers when used properly.

Where am I going with this? Well, Sargeras was a Titan. Like all Titans, he has strange and almost unfathomable powers, and he seeks to undo the works of his fellow Titans, his former friends and allies in the Pantheon. He sought out the eredar - he went looking for them. This has always struck me as interesting, because the eredar resemble a race created by the Titans here on Azeroth, namely the mogu.

Read more →

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, The Burning Crusade, Lore, Know your Lore, Mists of Pandaria, Warlords of Draenor

If we're going out, we're going out singing sea shanties, just like The Lament of Captain Placeholder. Sure, it's sad that our friend Captain Placeholder has gone, but a new and more vibrant world has risen in his place. At least we hope it has.

Farewell, fellow placeholders! We'll just sing ourselves out.

---

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.

---

Filed under: Machinima, WoW Moviewatch