The Queue: A trip down memory lane

Let's get meta here folks. Zetathran asked a question about the history of this site, and it got me into a conversation with our Editor-in-Chief Liz Harper about the activities of old. WoW.com has a changed a lot in the past few years, and while the long dialog we had about past policies and editorial standards is probably of no interest but ourselves, the basic story of the site probably is, so we'll start off with that.
Zetathran asked...
"How did WoW Insider start? Who were the original bloggers?"
WoW Insider has been around almost 4 years now, of which Elizabeth Harper is our oldest employee. And while the real story of WoW.com is much longer, and I'm not even sure I know all of it, I can give a somewhat concise answer.
WoW Insider started off as a spin off from our sister site Joystiq, which wanted more direct coverage of World of Warcraft. Our first post went live on November 23rd, 2005 – about one year after WoW was released. Barb Dybwad, who now works for Mashable, was the original producer of the site. Jennie Lees, who has moved on to other ventures, was the first lead blogger. Our current Editor-in-Chief Elizabeth Harper came on in early 2006. The rest of the blogging staff, and at the time we were a true blog and not so much of a news site and resource, comprised of a handful of individuals from other sites. For really old-WoW nostalgia, check out the original bloggers articles. Most do not fit at all with today's standards, so keep that in mind as you're viewing them: WoW Insider had its big break during with its BlizzCon 2007 coverage. This started the upward trend for us, thanks to you all. Today's WoW.com is almost nothing like the original site -- not that the original is bad, but we've had a lot of evolution into what we are today. I've worked here almost two years now, and the site is almost entirely different than it was when I began. Lots of changes, many of which you all don't see, but we've ended up with a long term product we're pretty proud of.
Docp asked...
"Who would win in a fight: Lil' K.T. or the Panderen monk?"
Pandaren. With karate I'll kick your ass, from here, to right over there. Entirely NSFW YouTube video.
Hakker asked...
"Why does most of the WoW community seem to think that PvP'ers are bad PvE'rs and vice versa, when most of the top arena players (top being 2500+ ) Are usually in guilds that are in the top 100 (worldwide)?"
While a lot of people will offer a lot of different opinions on the subject, it comes down to one simple fact. People think they are special, and unique, and great -- and everyone else sucks. If you are a good PvPer, you think you're better than all the PvEers. If you're good at PvE, you think you're better than all the PVPers. Now this might not apply to you – but it applies in general, both in WoW and in life.
It's best not to worry about who is really better, and just enjoy the game; just as you should enjoy life. You'll be much happier that way.
MikeHaas asked...
"The WotLK Box indicated that there were to be player vs. player "dog fights" aerial combat in game... what happened to that idea? Was is scraped or just never made it through development? Also, are there any future plans to add player on player aerial vehicle combat? (Not like the gun ship battle of ice crown, more of a plane or plane style of combat) In cataclysm possibly?"
Blizzard didn't like the way aerial combat was going in Wrath, so they scrapped the idea. They've spoken about this on a number of occasions. They want aerial combat to be realistic, not just move pixels around in all axis type flying that exists right now -- they want to have physics involved and that stuff.
No word if there'll be any in Cataclysm, although it sure would be nice.
Filed under: WoW Insider Business, The Queue






Reader Comments (Page 1 of 6)
Mike Nov 11th 2009 11:05AM
Sorry but that tiananmen square reference wasnt the best.
Mep Nov 11th 2009 11:32AM
clearly you didn't get the reference...
Hollow Leviathan Nov 11th 2009 3:18PM
Jack Black was really bad at lip syncing back then.
Terethall Nov 11th 2009 11:09AM
Question: Will the newer 5-mans (ToC and the Icecrown Citadel 5-mans) be included in the random dungeon tool in 3.3?
Because it seems like a huge difficulty difference when you could go from extremely easy instances like Heroic CoS to extremely difficult (comparatively) Heroic instances like ToC and the IC instances.
osg93 Nov 11th 2009 11:13AM
At least they're included in the PTR. So to answer your question: Yes I do believe so. :)
soccerdude7 Nov 11th 2009 11:12AM
Big fan of The Office are we?
Kylofon Nov 11th 2009 12:16PM
But! What they also said is that the LFG will look at your item level and several other factors. The way I understood it is that if you're undergeared, you're less likely to go into the more demanding instances.
Eternauta Nov 11th 2009 12:29PM
Don't worry about the difficulty. Blizz's new LFG tool is "smart" and won't assign you an instance beyond your gear level. (Take that, gearscore elitist! We need you no more!).
It also won't do stupid things like assembling a group of, say, five Paladins (1 Tank, 1 Healer, 3 DPS). Unless there's no other choice of course.
Ratskinmahoney Nov 11th 2009 11:11AM
Can you milk Tauren females?
SpaceGoatPriest Nov 11th 2009 11:17AM
The more intriguing question would be..."From where would you milk a tauren female (considering they have 'breasts')?"
Adam Holisky Nov 11th 2009 11:17AM
37.
Nobody Nov 11th 2009 11:19AM
I've got nipples, Greg. Can you milk me?
Ratskinmahoney Nov 11th 2009 11:18AM
yer, but I mean on a more industrial scale. i'd like to see some tauren farming in action, preferably overseen by gnomes.
i suppose as well that the question 'can you milk tauren females?' has a practical as well as a theoretical aspect for consideration.
Elwoods Nov 11th 2009 11:49AM
The other questions is .... who exactly would drink it? :)
(My guess is the said gnomes)
Yeah baby!!
Hoggersbud Nov 11th 2009 11:56AM
You can also milk males, as the basic structure is there. This is why certain drugs can cause males to lactate.
So yeah, Greg can milk you Mr. CIA man.
Baval Nov 11th 2009 12:01PM
where do you think all those 2 free glasses of ice cold milk come from the lowbies start with?
Extrox Nov 11th 2009 12:14PM
@ Elwoods
Pretty much anyone between levels 5 and 15. :D
Ice Cold Milk is good stuff.
Eamara Nov 11th 2009 12:17PM
God dammit, now you've invoked rule 34. :
Extrox Nov 11th 2009 12:19PM
Baval beat me to the punch, I am merely a grasshopper.
Chulando Nov 11th 2009 1:21PM
@ Adam
In a row?