WoW magazine preview now online
by Zach Yonzon 
Dec 26th 2009 at 6:00PM
The quarterly magazine is available in one- and two-year subscriptions of at least $39.95 and $69.95 respectively (price varies depending on your location). Published by Future PLC, the company behind official licensed magazines of XBox, PlayStation, and other magazines such as ImagineFX, PC Gamer, and T3, the World of Warcraft official magazine is as visually stunning as the other titles in its stable, albeit somewhat light on text. The magazine shows off exclusive commissioned art, such as some gorgeous pieces by fantasy art star and Dungeons & Dragons veteran Wayne Reynolds.
The first issue's articles include lore visitations such as the story behind Sylvanas Windrunner, columns on class roles, and even an interview with vanity pet guru Breanni of warcraftpets.com. The art and lay-out of the magazine looks gorgeous and seems to be a seamless fusion between the World of Warcraft aesthetic and Future PLC titles, although it remains to be seen how a quarterly print magazine can keep up-to-date material with an ever-changing online world. At any rate, the archival magazine looks beautiful, even if players might be better served by online, current articles on the game.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Fan stuff, Odds and ends, Blizzard
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
perderedeus Dec 26th 2009 6:15PM
Looks good.
Jigsaw-Complex Dec 26th 2009 10:08PM
Idk, i'll have to talk to somebody who has the mag when it comes out to judge if i'll get it.
kabshiel Dec 27th 2009 1:09PM
It looks really pretty, but the actual content seems unimpressive. Considering the state of the magazine industry, I don't expect this one to last more than a year.
Slog Dec 26th 2009 6:18PM
Any word if this will be available on the newsstands or is subscription exclusive? I really want this magazine now, the preview is gorgeous!
Andre Kemmeren Dec 26th 2009 6:28PM
·Only available through subscription -
you cannot get this at retail.
From the website ;)
Reuben Dec 26th 2009 6:30PM
It states in this very new post that it is available through subscription only.
Slog Dec 27th 2009 6:03PM
And so it does. I guess I got a little too hyper over how well the preview looked after clicking the link that I didn't read the rest of paragraph one.
I apologize for any offense, I did end up ordering the 1 year subscription nevertheless.
Andre Kemmeren Dec 26th 2009 6:28PM
I actually placed a order due to this preview.
jaynitan Dec 26th 2009 6:42PM
"At any rate, the archival magazine looks beautiful, even if players might be better served by online, current articles on the game."
Nice. Clever.
Don't worry a quarterly magazine can't replace many stories everyday especially since the magazine will prob be all 'old hat' by the time we get em.
I'll still love you more wow.com, you ain't gonna be the prettiest kid, but you got it where it counts.
Res Dec 26th 2009 11:33PM
Yeah I don't really think there's anything "clever" about the statement since it won't be any type of competition. A quarterly magazine that costs $40 per year vs a free site that updates several times per day. It's not even the same type of thing-- news vs.. well who knows what, but at 4 issues per year it's not going to be breaking information.
Volaro Dec 26th 2009 6:53PM
The pic of the draenei warrior in there's amazing
pietrex Dec 26th 2009 7:04PM
I haven't read everything from the preview yet, but what I did read was enjoyable. Especially the tank/DPS/healer articles and the WoW timeline.
Raze Dec 26th 2009 7:12PM
The healer article is depressing to read. Forget healing max level. I can't stand doing it as I'm leveling on my Shaman.
On the magazine itself: too expensive and not enough 'fluff'. I remember buying this kind of D&D magazine even though I don't play the game because I adore stuff that's about the monsters or imaginative ideas behind a game: I like number crunching and gear and stuff like that, but that should never be the focus if I'm paying tons of money for something. This is nothing but DPS this and healing is about staring at health bars that. Boring.
That being said, it looks pretty fantastic. I wish some of the artists they hire for the pictures in there were contributing to the in-game visuals as well. Oh well.
Bunnyears Dec 28th 2009 2:27PM
You're looking at quarter of the pages of a 148-page magazine. It's not all DPS this and healing bars that.
Pass judgement when you actually see the complete product -- don't review a preview.
Pemberton Dec 26th 2009 7:55PM
You're tempting me...
RogueJedi86 Dec 26th 2009 7:57PM
"The art and lay-out of the magazine looks gorgeous and seems to be a seamless fusion between the World of Warcraft aesthetic and Future PLC titles, although it remains to be seen how a quarterly print magazine can keep up-to-date material with an ever-changing online world."
I agree with that, especially with the problem of relevance. MMO-Champion's Blue Tracker is a much quicker ear to the Developers, for example. The only way this can be kept relevant is if Blizzard times exclusive reveals to the magazine like how other videogame companies give exclusives to Game Informer and such. Maybe some exclusive info on Cataclysm or upcoming patches or whatever. Maybe add an Official Blizzard "Ask the Loremaster" Q&A column with answers from Chris Metzen himself? Hell, I'd get a subscription just for official lore answers from the guys at Blizzard.
Docp Dec 26th 2009 8:48PM
Already some of the preview information is out of date. There's a DPS article talking about weapon swapping and the guy spends half the article talking about rogues swapping weapons due to applying different poisons to get more DPS, something that was effectively killed in 3.3 due to the chance in Deadly poison.
ayalafatalis Dec 26th 2009 8:08PM
Though im still sleeping on the thought of purchasing a subscription...I must say I was really impressed with the preview. I even got a chuckle out of that timeline part. I originally didn't think much of the magazine ("its going to be outdated", "its going, to have stuff I already know", blah blah..), but even with that i'm still pleased with what I saw. Thumbs up, Blizz...even if I dont buy!!
Yogi Dec 26th 2009 9:50PM
They're not going to make the end of the year. I got an email about early December that seemed to imply that it would be printing over the holidays. " The magazine should be coming hot off the presses around the end of this holiday season"
peagle Dec 27th 2009 12:28AM
Personally I hope they stay away from anything too timely in nature (i.e. broad class mechanics v.s. recent patch changes), and spend the time focusing on exclusive cataclysm updates, lore (i.e. stuff only explained in the comics), quests and that wonderful artwork they've been putting together.