Welcome to WoW.com!
by Elizabeth Harper 
May 20th 2009 at 12:12AM
Ladies! Gentlemen! Children of all ages! We, the writers, editors, and innocent bystanders at WoW Insider would like to welcome you all to our new home: WoW.com.
Our new domain serves a broader purpose than saving your typing fingers a few characters, though. You've probably already noticed our new, more streamlined design -- all the better for providing you with more content and less clutter. But in addition to the content you all know and (hopefully) love, we'd like to introduce you to the beta launch of WoW.com Profiles. By creating a profile on WoW.com you can:
- show off your characters
- make blog posts & galleries to share with others
- communicate with your guild & your friends
- let everyone know what you're up to in the game we all love
- by downloading the WoW.com addon (for PC or Mac), you can also keep all of your friends up to date on what you're doing in game -- and make blog posts and upload screenshots directly from your game client.
Please remember, WoW.com Profiles are still in beta -- while we already have lots of ideas for the future, we want to hear from you about what we're doing wrong (or right!) to help us improve it. And before you even start protesting, we're aware that Profiles currently only work with characters in the US armory. (Though, to readers not on US servers, you can certainly create an account and participate on WoW.com Profiles -- you just aren't able to add characters. We're starting small with this beta run, but hope to have the ability for everyone to join us soon!)
Thank you to all of our readers for your support and unbridled enthusiasm over the years! Though the site may have changed, the WoW Insider content you're all familiar with isn't going anywhere. As WoW.com we plan on continuing to provide you with the latest news and community from the World of Warcraft.
- the WoW.com team
Filed under: WoW Insider Business
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 18)
Ashley May 20th 2009 12:14AM
Not gonna lie, that was kind of a disappointment
James May 20th 2009 1:14AM
Yeah, seriously, YIKES! Kind of a rough new color scheme! Everything is so dark now, some pages too dark to even be readable (but I'm going to assume, for now, that those are visual bugs or design oversights.)
I really enjoyed the previous design A LOT more, and I thought it was a huge improvement from the design before that. This one feels like a large step backward in terms of quality and style. The black and blue almost makes the site look beat up. XD
I do really like the new profile features and domain name, but why couldn't all that have just been added to the (excellent) existing design theme?
Seedcake May 20th 2009 8:38AM
I liked the very first layout WoWInsider had. Didn't like the second one (the one that this new one replaced). This latest iteration is quite nice, in my opinion. I don't find it to be blinding or objectionable at all.
I do appreciate the return of comment-greying. It's about time!
The new social networking angle is interesting...and so is the use of wow.com. Have to wonder if Blizzard's going to have a fit over that, or if everything was smoothed-over beforehand...
Discrete May 20th 2009 8:41AM
That was JARRING when I woke up this morning. I thought your site was broke until I scrolled down to find this post.
Personally, I don't care for the greying out of posts. It makes them stand out against the other comments. There should be some nice AJAX controls you can use to "minimize" comments so we can just scroll past. Making them darker doesn't effectively convey what you were trying to do.
Other than that, bold step, guys! I like the color scheme, and I'm some minor tweaks will be had to adjust where your non-centered content goes. (tags, popular, moviewatch, around azeroth, etc., they all had their own boxes in the left & right rails)
Yeng May 20th 2009 9:40AM
Except for the problem that people on this site like to vote comments down just because they don't agree with the author, rather than vote down comments that are just inappropriate.
tuff May 20th 2009 1:20PM
Is it just me or is the new insider more about advertisements than it is about wow.
Darkharmony May 20th 2009 3:13PM
Ads? Firefox + AdBlock Plus = dead ads
Amun May 20th 2009 8:00PM
No ads = no site. But thanks for playing.
I think this layout needs a little more work here and there. Plus, "WoW Insider" is more descriptive than "WoW.com" Just my 2 cents...
James May 22nd 2009 6:56PM
@Yeng: Which just happened to mine. >:|
Nick May 20th 2009 12:15AM
Yay!
Arawn May 20th 2009 12:15AM
Nice look, but it doesn't appear that comments are showing up. It says it has 3 comments, but none are there.
Quinion May 20th 2009 12:46AM
http://www.wow.com/2007/10/02/aol-finds-a-use-for-something-theyve-owned-for-a-long-time/
it was announced 2 years ago? :)
Ranelar May 20th 2009 12:56AM
^
Can someone clarify how this all went down with regard to that 2 year old post?
Arawn May 20th 2009 1:00AM
WoW.com was a separate entity doing its own thing. It looks like AOL decided to consolidate.
B May 20th 2009 3:19AM
Bleh, this just seems like a sleezy move on AOLs part to cash in on a dormant domain name.
Xanwryn May 20th 2009 5:32AM
It's domain name squatting at it's finest though. To be honest, you'd think Blizzard would've registered the domain when they even thought up the idea of World of Warcraft
(like most developers do with IPs).
But hey, I don't blame AOL for grabbing the domain. Domain squatting can be effective and rewarding if you know what names to buy and when to use 'em.
TJ May 20th 2009 7:03AM
Wow.com has redirected to wowinsider for as long as I can remember.
Idran May 20th 2009 9:51AM
@Xanwryn: Seeing as CompuServe had the wow.com URL From as far back as December 1996 (for an unrelated service), and AOL got it when they bought CompuServe, I'm not sure how Blizzard would have registered it.
Quickshiv May 20th 2009 10:11AM
Quick someone make a hunter named AOL and get a pet named wowinsider. It seems only fair.
Blau May 20th 2009 12:16AM
whaa?