Wowhead evolves again
by Eliah Hecht 
Feb 2nd 2008 at 8:01PM
The best WoW database site (in my opinion) just got better. Several features have been added to Wowhead over the past couple days; as the site's "Adorable Bearcat Overlord" Miyari notes, they are perhaps not strictly essential (her term is "icing"), but nice to have anyway. My favorite addition is that users' comments will now be annotated with the patch number that was in effect when the comment was made, so you can more easily spot information that might be outdated (see screenshot).
Alchemical recipes that are attained via discovery are now noted as such under the "source" tab, and the corresponded spells will state their provenance as well. Elixirs will now be annotated as to whether they are Battle or Guardian elixirs. Pet skills will now show which pets can learn the skill, as well as which mobs can teach the skill. And finally, tradeskill spells will show at what skill levels they change from orange to yellow, green, and gray.
I say well done, Wowhead folks! If you have any ideas for how Wowhead can improve, hit up the their Site Feeback forum.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Dave Feb 2nd 2008 8:22PM
oooh tradeskill colors is probably the best thing ever.
I like that they're not content to just be the best, but they keep improving on a regular basis. Other websites could learn from their devotion to kicking ass.
Charlie Feb 2nd 2008 8:50PM
wow agreed dave. that helps so much.
i definatley put the note of the patch at #2 eliah. There can be alot of outdated information.
I should make a suggestion on their forums (another great addition) that there should be away of marking outdated information (and removing it). Things that have been rated high and turned green, but are now out of date, would take to long to vote down to remove them.
The simplest solution would be to just "report" it to wowheads staff, but that would require them to have more people, so im not sure if that would work =/
Dan Feb 2nd 2008 10:03PM
I like Wowhead, but personally I much prefer Thottbot for the depth and breadth of user comments in their database. Like many user comments on many sWoW site or forums, much of the comments are either immature or ignorant, but I like how I can easily sift through the crap to find the good and useful comments highlighted in yellow (due to a user rating system).
Auriea Feb 2nd 2008 10:14PM
It's the same on wowhead. Immature posts are voted away never to be seen again and great posts are voted up and turn green so that they are easier to find.
TecnoBrat Feb 2nd 2008 10:20PM
Wowhead has a comment rating system, which the comments turn green. It also purges crappy comments, so you should see more useful comments, with the really useful ones being green.
I personally can't be bothered to sift through http://thottbot.com/c24133 just to find out the creature can't be tamed anymore which you can see easily at http://www.wowhead.com/?npc=24133
theRaptor Feb 2nd 2008 11:16PM
But Thottbot seems to have a much greater depth of comments. Generally now days I look things up on wowwiki and then follow both the wowhead and thottbot links. I find the wowhead interface to be much nicer and useful, but user comments is a large part of the reason I use those sites in the first place.
SaintStryfe Feb 2nd 2008 11:24PM
Yeah. I don't care if a mob was a god in 1.1, I want to know how to get it now. Too much old data in Thothbot.
jaxson_bateman Feb 3rd 2008 12:59AM
In terms of item info, comments, uses, tradeskills, spells, recipes, and whatever, I prefer WoWHead. Generally, it's just a much nicer site with better, cleaner info.
That said, if I'm doing a search for weapons or armor based on stats, I'll turn to Thott. I find the search interface easier to use than the 'add filters' method on WoWHead. But that's just my personal preference, and there's nothing really wrong with the filter method.
Miyari Feb 2nd 2008 10:35PM
@Dave:
Miyari Feb 2nd 2008 10:42PM
Apparently the WoW Insider comment system doesn't quite work the way what I'm used to does and I am unable to express my love in silly emote form without breaking things.
Now, for my real post:
@Dave: LESS THAN THREE!
@Charlie: We currently have a lot of ideas regarding "Report Post" features that would affect comments/forum posts which would allow users to report an outdated comment as such and notify a moderator so proper action can be taken. Stay tuned? :)
@Dan: They beat me to it! Comment rating systems are never easy to manage and while Wowhead does not have the comment mass that Thottbot or any other older databases may have, we try to make sure that the information our comments DO provide is accurate, informative, and relevant. :)
Also, as Eliah mentioned - we love feedback! :)
Magnetite2 Feb 3rd 2008 12:40AM
Now, as Thott, Alla and Wowhead are all owned by the same company, perhaps someone there should just combine the three into one, with the best features of each.
Seems a bit of a waste of resources to have 3 databases from one company.
Emoroan Feb 3rd 2008 12:52AM
As much as I love Wowhead, It's always escaped me as to why not all the item lists can be filtered. Take the badge of justice currency tab for example, I'm really only interested in things I can use. However the tab doesn't seem to be able to be filtered, nor can I find a "Item purchased with... + Dropdown" in the normal filterable item list. At present I'm presuming it must have been brought up before but hasn't been implemented due to a technical issue.
Solidstate Feb 3rd 2008 1:03AM
Emoroan,
For filterable item tables, check out http://www.lootables.com/, it's a great little site.
I wish wowhead would take the fantastic filtering system from this site and implement it also. But now that I know the size of the staff working there I'm not surprised it is taking time to add new features :)
quaunaut Feb 3rd 2008 2:50AM
You missed the fact that bosses now have a heroic loot table and non-heroic loot table.
TomFury Feb 4th 2008 10:27AM
This feature has been there for quite awhile.
Reddarin Feb 4th 2008 8:48AM
There is also an addon called WHDB that uses Wowhead comments and info for questing. It even goes as far to mark locations on your map if you have Cartographer.