The best of WoW.com: August 2009
by Allison Robert 
Dec 27th 2009 at 10:00PM
All the World's a Stage: Reflections on the passing of a roleplayer's mom: This isn't a very easy article to summarize. All I can say is -- please read it. One of David Bowers' most elegant and introspective pieces: "WoW is not an escape from life, it is a reflection of it."
WoW.com's Patch 3.2 Guide and content for the day: Patch 3.2 went live on August 4th and was (oddly enough) one of the top stories for the year. In hindsight, it probably wasn't that surprising -- it had been a while since Ulduar had gone live, and the Argent Tournament patch heralded the introduction of a slew of new pets, mounts, titles, and new druid forms. Huzzah!
Playing WoW for charity: Interview with the WoWathon team: Three college students managed to raise $5,000 for Child's Play with a marathon WoW session coupled with "dramatic readings of bad fanfiction."
Researchers study WoW to see how gangs form and fade: A UC-Irvine team has been studying guild and group formation ingame for data on "group ecology." As Schramm observed, "Listen, guys, all you have to do to break up gangs is ensure there's not enough loot to go around."
The lost art of crowd control: Both the emblems change in 3.2 and the emblems/Dungeon Finder changes in 3.3 have sent masses of people back to heroics, and we're not the only people to notice that crowd control's all but disappeared. Blizzard's answer (5 months later)? Heroic Halls of Reflection.
Felicia Day unleashes geeky pop single: So it turns out The Guild cast has both musical talent, the ability to reach #1 on the iTunes music video charts, and a sense of humor concerning their source material. We're shocked.
BlizzCon 2009: Don't forget to look for us: We decided to deploy special Zach Yonzon-designed t-shirts on the convention floor so that readers could pick us out easily.
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm announced: "All haters, disbelievers, skeptics, muggers, druggers, post-modernists, and trolls, we are graciously willing to accept your apologies. Line forms to the left, people. No pushing! And mister, I hope you brought enough gum for everybody."
BlizzCon round-up -- Day 1 and Day 2: Rather than make this article a huge list of all the reporting we did from BlizzCon, I'll shorten it to these.
Grunty vs. Zergling battle video: The Grunty pet from BlizzCon has an...interesting interaction with the zergling pet. Robin films for us, her kid provides audio, site traffic quadruples.
A discussion in defense of new race/class combinations: The team banded together to discuss the lore behind the new race/class combinations we knew were going live in Cataclysm, and speculated on the possible racial advantages/disadvantages that would result.
Around Azeroth: In loving memory: This got my vote as the best Around Azeroth of the year.
Raid Rx: Raid bosses that brought healers to their knees (part 1) and (part 2): I loved reading Matt Low's list of nightmare raid bosses for healers. For some time I've been meaning to do an equivalent list for tanks, but will probably wait until we've seen all of the ICC raid bosses and hard modes to make a call on it.
Why am I suddenly so popular?: Tank population has ebbed and flowed over the course of the year. Rossi finds himself in high demand in the "ebbed" portion.
Officers' Quarters: Cataclysm will reshape guilds: Scott Andrews goes through the news from BlizzCon concerning upcoming guild improvements with a fine-tooth comb.
2009's drawing to a close, and we're wrapping up the most interesting articles we've published all year, one day at a time. Join us every day for the next twelve days with this year's best of WoW.com!Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, Features
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Jason Dec 27th 2009 10:13PM
I was actually just thinking about the roleplay column and that one post when I scrolled down and saw it mentioned in this article. I remember reading it and thinking it was a very well-written, thoughtful, yet very sad post. I hope David has been doing well.
CenariusDown Dec 27th 2009 10:27PM
I know this is off topic, but Cenarius has had problems all day. The Server was down in the morning, Then there have been several resets, and none have been able to restore the instance servers! Are there any other realms with problems? Are there other realms in the Battlegroup with these problems. Thanks
LOLZ Dec 27th 2009 10:31PM
I love how apposition opinions on this blog always get down rated. Here's an opinion, this blog is biased!
Bronwyn Dec 27th 2009 11:00PM
Here's an opinion, you're a douche!
The blog writers themselves do not downrate posts; the users do. If the users think your post has nothing to contribute, it gets downrated. If the users think your post is something douchey, it gets downrated. Don't be a jerk and your post won't get downrated into oblivion.
Reuben Dec 27th 2009 11:01PM
I don't down-vote when I disagree with someone. I down-vote when they are a tactless ass in how they post their opinion, or they are needlessly antagonistic.
Example: I down-voted you because without offering proof or really taking the time to think about it, you were needlessly accusatory.
Al Dec 28th 2009 12:20AM
Also doesn't help you that your rant has absolutely nothing to do with the actual topic(s) at hand. Chump.
N-train Dec 28th 2009 12:33AM
Here's another opinion:
It's a BLOG. It's allowed to be biased in any way, shape, or form that it wants to be. While a certain level of objectivity is something any publication can (ought to) shoot for, there is absolutely no requirement.
Tainnym Dec 28th 2009 2:17AM
I did read Mr. Bowers artice again and it reminded me of my grandmother and her passing 2 years ago. Wasn't easy to hold the tears, they won.
Derick Dec 28th 2009 6:34AM
August 09? I kinda hope there isn't a post planned about every month between now and then...