Patch 5.3 interview with Ghostcrawler
Mystery of the Unborn Val'kyr
The latest patch 5.3 news
All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsWoW Magazine ending with issue 5
by Mathew McCurley 
Sep 16th 2011 at 5:30PM
The World of Warcraft Official Magazine was a pretty cool resource when it came out, but with print media for a game that changes so often and critically as World of Warcraft, the magazine just could not keep up. It is a shame, however, to see anything of this caliber end. I think I speak for a lot of readers and WoW fans when I say that the magazine had a lot of potential.
Brace yourselves for what could be some of most exciting updates to the game recently with patch 4.3. Look at what's ahead: new item storage options, cross-realm raiding, cosmetic armor skinning and your chance to battle the mighty Deathwing -- from astride his back! Filed under: News items
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 4)
Sumadin Sep 16th 2011 6:03PM
I feel if it would have been better had they went with a blizzard magazine instead. What i enjoyed was not the "news" announcements but rather the articles of past development. The article about BRD and how it is a huge succes that they are never going to repeat again was awesome. The insight in how items and npcs are named was funny. And of course the funny lore articles with brann bronzebeard.
There are 2 things that i hope they find an alternative medium for:
The warcraft saga: The epic story about how azeroth came to be including the first picture of the tians(Even sagaragas pre-corruption)
And of course the Gnome vs Goblin comics. The most hillarios comic about wow i have ever seen. No dialogde required just epic fails of engeneering.
Stormtamer Sep 16th 2011 6:07PM
The FAQ page mentions that Future publishing owns PC Gamer, and to look out for WoW news there instead. PC Gamer UK and US have had ALOT of WoW content in its magazines/website since the WoW Magazine came out, so doesnt suprise me that they ended the mag WoW mag.
Who knows, might be lucky enough to see some of the really good WoW Mag articles start popping up in PC Gamer, im sure the staff worked for both anyway
dbriggs304 Sep 16th 2011 6:10PM
Not a good sign. Got the mag as a gift, and while I liked it, there was really nothing exclusive about it. Certainly nothing that justified the price.
Amaxe Sep 16th 2011 6:17PM
Will they be refunding people money? Wasn't originally a yearly subscription or am I wrong here?
Skarn Sep 16th 2011 6:54PM
From the article:
"Subscribers have been sent emails with redemption codes for a refund."
:)
restodr00d Sep 16th 2011 7:38PM
You really need to start reading the article instead of just reading the headline
Amaxe Sep 16th 2011 9:27PM
/shrug
I was rushed at work, so really you ought to say "You ought to respond from home."
My bad of course.
dawnseven Sep 16th 2011 6:24PM
Kind of annoying that you can't just click a link to request a cash refund. You can click the link to request a refund, but the link provides you with the information below. Also a bit annoying that I have to get stamps (I never mail anything and pay all my bills online) and hurry to get something in the mail since they only gave people 2 weeks to act. Two weeks might seem like a lot of time to some, but with work and school and stuff time is flying by.
"If you decide to forego the premium offer you can elect to receive a refund via check by submitting the request to us in writing. Please mail us a letter with your full name, mailing address and email address you used when subscribing to the magazine to:
Future US
c/o WoW Magazine
4000 Shoreline Court
Suite 400
South San Francisco, CA 94080"
Branalia Sep 16th 2011 8:51PM
The point is to make getting the refund as difficult as possible so that more people take the pets as it costs them nothing.
Mr. Crow Sep 16th 2011 6:32PM
I'm not certain what I'm more upset about; the fact that the mag is ending or the fact that because I didn't renew my subscription after Issue #5, I missed out on the promotion (because I haven't received a code, and requested one off the site, and haven't rec'd it.)
The heart of the idea was in the right place: give people access to exclusive information for a premium cost, with no advertisements for anything but the game itself. But I think they may have either been too ambitious with it, or too narrow in their scope (I support the idea of a digital Blizzard-wide mag) or it may have just been the trouble of trying to pipe "insider information" to a third-party publisher (Future).
It's a sad thing, and there are a lot of great opportunities that will be missed now that the magazine is shutting down, but it's $80 a year I'll get back for other things, so there's a plus.
Mperiolat Sep 16th 2011 6:38PM
Darn shame, especially given the amount of lore included in the most recent issue. Really felt like it would be a new platform for WoW material, but I guess it just became unrealistic.
I just renewed in June, so I should get most of my money back. I wish I could just get a credit, don't see why they cannot do that. I would have taken the minipet offer but since I already have four of the six, from an economic standpoint, it didn't make sense.
Again, it is a shame.
Jeff Sep 16th 2011 6:43PM
I can't say I'm surprised.
Print media is in dire straits already, let alone a magazine that purports to track an ever-changing online game at a rate of once per month (At best). This never made sense to me, and frankly I'm surprised it lasted so long.
I'm not saying the content itself was poor, the idea just wasn't a good one.
perderedeus Sep 16th 2011 6:54PM
This is sad news. I've been enjoying the magazine.
jason_1975 Sep 16th 2011 6:59PM
IDK, launching a hardcopy magazine in a time when magazines and newspapers are going digital (or going out of business) seemed like a bizarre move by an otherwise smart company. I'm a little shocked that they pulled the plug after only 4 issues (with 1 more to come). I mean, if you're going to commit to this route, then commit to it.
Mr. Crow Sep 16th 2011 8:07PM
I suspect that Future Publishing approached them with the idea, and they felt there was enough WoW-content to justify the cost. It makes sense that a publisher would seek something with as broad an audience as WoW's for a money-making opportunity, but it looks like either CDev or Future's own editors dropped the ball on handling it right.
Mahram Sep 16th 2011 7:00PM
Print publishing is quickly becoming a niche market with the blogosphere and news aggregators covering most news that people are interested in. I'm not sure what the profit-and-loss scenario was with this magazine, but it's not surprising to me they couldn't find a way to make it work. It would have had to have much more exclusive and compelling content for the 'high-end' type of feel they seemed to have been going for.
I think that soon we'll see magazines and newspapers as 'boutique' style items with lots of collectibility and less of a throw-away feeling. Books are also starting to head that direction with the Kindle and the Nook and the iPad all starting to replace printed books. All these printed items will still be around, but it's amazing that you can carry dozens of books around without throwing your back out.
Fascinating stuff for sure! Makes me wonder what the future of teaching and learning in classrooms will look like.
D Clone Sep 16th 2011 7:31PM
With 5 Issues out.. How much of a refund would we be getting?
Amaxe Sep 16th 2011 10:36PM
I'd guess 7/12 of the subscription price is owed, but I don't know if there are any fees they can subtract
Marius W. Sep 16th 2011 7:16PM
They should go all digital. Do away with the subscriber fee and make money off of advertising. They are directly linked into blizzard so they have an edge up on all other wow related sites. It is far easier to update a site once a day or a couple times a week then it is to put together a magazine. The idea was a great one and it shouldn't fade away into oblivion. It needs to re-create itself and come back on the net.
If it has the blizzard stamp on it, then people will go.
It was a good idea, just 10 years late.
D Clone Sep 16th 2011 7:33PM
With 5 issues out, how much of a refund would we get?