Filed under: About the Bloggers

About the Bloggers introduces you to the people behind WoW Insider. You can find articles on more of our staffers in earlier About the Bloggers profiles.

How did you get started at WoW Insider?
I was once a lowly IT geek, trudging away at a desk job where I solved people's technical problems. But back in February 2006, I applied for a writing position at WoW Insider mostly because I thought it would be fun -- but it eventually morphed into a full time gig. I was promoted to Lead Writer, then Senior Editor, and finally Editor-in-Chief before, beyond burned out on WoW, I left the site to join a tech startup in 2010.

The startup didn't work out, and these days I'm writing for a few different places, including WoW Insider. I write WoW Rookie, keep the rookie and resource pages updated, and write news and other articles as needed.

About the Bloggers introduces you to the people behind WoW Insider. You can find articles on more of our staffers in earlier About the Bloggers profiles.

Allright, let's do this.

What do you do for WoW Insider?

I'm an Editor here at WI, which means I do various things - I write, and I also edit and schedule other people's work. I've been here for a while now - my first column was published back in June of 2007 and I've been here ever since. I originally came on board as the warrior columnist, then I started writing Know Your Lore (which I still do alongside my partner in late night lore discussions, Anne Stickney) - essentially I'm the Grumpy Old Man of the site.

What's your main?

He's a draenei warrior. He started out as a human warrior, back in the days before race and faction change. He's since been a night elf, a draenei, a tauren, a draenei again, a tauren again, a worgen, and a draenei again. In addition to him, I've played several other warriors (another draenei, another tauren, another night elf, a forsaken and an orc) to max level. I basically really love warriors. I've been playing the game since 2004, and my main has seen and done a lot.

What do you do for WoW Insider?

I contribute the WoW Archivist features and other articles. Recently I interviewed several Blizzard developers at PAX East 2014. For seven years, I also wrote Officers' Quarters, an advice column for officers and guild leaders.

If you have an idea for an Archivist feature that you'd like to see, please let me know! Keep in mind that the topic has to be meaty enough for 2000 words. That's almost double the length of this post.

How did you get started at WoW Insider?

When WoW Insider put out a call for contributors in 2007, I pitched the Officers' Quarters column. Since almost no one was writing about guild leadership back then, the editors loved the idea. I'm sure the master's degree in writing didn't hurt, either.

About the Bloggers introduces you to the people behind WoW Insider. You can find articles on more of our staffers in earlier About the Bloggers profiles.

What do you do for WoW Insider?

My official title is "Content Editor," which as far as I can tell is a fancy way of saying "writer." I was hired last year to provide general assistance in keeping track of and writing up news from around the WoW community, with the occasional editorial or Well Fed Buff thrown in, when I remember to photograph something I've cooked.

What's your main?

I have played the same night elf druid since I picked up WoW, much to the chagrin of the Horde-playing friend who introduced me to the game. Her name is currently Ilanielle, because one of the seven other toons in the entirely of the North American servers with the preferred spelling (Ilaniel) just happens to be a level five rogue on my current server. I shake my fist at thee, sir or madam!

I generally raid and run group content as restoration, but my guild has been known to ask me to go feral from time to time. I do my best to maintain workable gear and skill in both specs, but let's be honest: I'm a far better healer than DPS'er. In feral spec, what I'm most proud of is my transmog.

About the Bloggers introduces you to the people behind WoW Insider. You can find articles on more of our staffers in earlier About the Bloggers profiles.

Today, we're sitting down with Olivia Grace, who resides in southeast England and very occasionally paints herself green.

What do you do for WoW Insider?

I was hired last year to write Blood Sport, WoW Insider's PvP column, and I've recently taken on Addon Spotlight, which (remarkably) is about addons! I also write a lot of Breakfast Topics and some general newsy bits and bobs here and there -- as much as I can find time to do, really. I also hang out in our Campfire chat room laughing at the silly pictures. I don't think the last bit really counts as something I do for WoW Insider.

What's your main?

Ugh, that's the question right now, in the lead-up to Mists. I do quite a lot of PvP, as you might guess, and for that, my main is a dwarf restoration shaman. I also have a priest and a mage that I PvP on regularly, a paladin that I PvP on as retribution very rarely, and a few other characters here and there. My only PvP quandary is whether I want to stick with a dwarf shaman or go with a pandaren shaman. I'm leveling a second shaman in preparation, so I can race-change to pandaren.

About the Bloggers introduces you to the people behind WoW Insider. You can find articles on more of our staffers in earlier About the Bloggers profiles.

What do you do for WoW Insider?

I use my wacky art skills to draw the WoW Insider's Weekly Webcomic. Safe Passage: The Prologue is the story that's currently running. I'm also the resident Photoshop wizard when someone ... needs something Photoshopped, I suppose.

What's your main?

My main is Cadistra, a female Tauren feral druid. She was my first character that I made on a trial account, and I couldn't be happier. She's also the co-star of my webcomic, World of Warcraft, Eh?

What's the best 5-man instance in the game? What's the best raid?

The best 5-man? A bizarre tie of Halls of Reflection, the new Deadmines, and Oculus. HoR, because when I looked behind me after Arthas had fended off Sylvanas and he started walking after me, I was scared like you wouldn't believe. That steady, unyielding pace, while myself and the rest of my team was frantically slaying the undead ... I will always remember that. DM, because it's genuinely fun, and Oculus, because I enjoyed the dragon mechanics. Also, I adore the voice acting for Ley-Guardian Eregos.

I don't raid, but I love doing old content. My favorite raid is the Temple of Ahn'Quiraj. That place felt epic. Gross, but epic.

About the Bloggers introduces you to the people behind WoW Insider. You can find articles on more of our staffers in earlier About the Bloggers profiles.

What do you do for WoW Insider?

These days, I'm rather akin to my rogue (above, slipping along with her stealth pack after spotting some Alliance players out leveling) or recently departed editor-in-chief Dan O'Halloran in that most of what I do happens behind the scenes. I'm the Mama Smurf of WoW Insider, painting the blue dot that means "copyediting complete" on each and every post that runs through the WI queue. This process is entirely separate from the content review done by our lead editors, and it's where I spend most of my WI time these days -- because this gang has a lot to say, trust me ...

Somewhere in there is writing. I've managed to acquire one of the highest word counts of anyone at WoW Insider by dint of long tenure and the rather mind-boggling list of features I've worked on during that time. Currently, I only write two features: 15 Minutes of Fame and Drama Mamas (although Drama Mama Robin gets the official byline on this feature). The list of what I've worked on in the past, however ... That's another story. I created Insider Trader (now Gold Capped) and the now-defunct features Gamers on the Street and [1.Local]. I also wrote Well Fed Buff, which was absorbed into World of WarCrafts, which I also wrote for a good stretch. I've also sat a spell in The Classifieds and WoW Rookie. Oh yeah, and Two Bosses Enter.

Is it soup yet?

About the Bloggers introduces you to the people behind WoW Insider. You can find articles on more of our staffers in earlier About the Bloggers profiles.

What do you do for WoW Insider?

I was hired by WoW Insider in late 2008 to write the weekly rogue column, Encrypted Text. I had actually applied for the position a few months earlier but wasn't originally selected, so I simply assassinated their first choice and left them with no choice but to sign me instead.

When WI decided to expand its coverage of hybrid classes, I put in my application for the holy paladin position. I currently maintain both Encrypted Text and The Light and How to Heal It portion of the paladin column on a weekly basis. My secondary role is to get confused with Christian Belt and Chase Hasbrouck.

What do you do for WoW Insider?

I am a writer. I write! My general responsibility is to cover DPS shaman, once referred to as the Defense Against the Dark Arts position of class columns. I'm also one of the Choose My Adventure crew, currently leveling a goblin priest named Clergelam. Finally, I occasionally write news or the rare Occu'thar raid guide.

What's your main?

My main is the awfully named Elamqt, of Proudmoore. He's a man-cow shaman, generally of the enhancement variety. When I started playing WoW, I went through a large variety of alts that I got to around level 20 and stopped playing. I fell in love with Elam when I discovered that he got Ghost Wolf at 20 and wouldn't have to wait until 40 to get a mount. He became my main then and has largely been my main ever since. I took a short break in Wrath of The Lich King to play a hunter -- and am currently focusing a little more on my mage -- but Elam is always first in my heart.

Horde or Alliance?

I'm a Tauren, but I don't think much of the Horde's politics. In particular, I hate Garrosh Hellscream. I hate him hard. But even without Hellscream, I don't care for the Horde. I play Horde because I love Tauren, but if they were an Alliance race, I'd be there. I don't really like the Alliance that much either, though. Pretty much, I'm just for the Herd.

About the Bloggers introduces you to the people behind WoW Insider. You can find articles on more of our staffers in earlier About the Bloggers profiles.

What do you do for WoW Insider?

I write the tanking slice of WoW Insider's The Light and How to Swing It column for paladin's pie. I also head the site's Department of Tortured Metaphors and Analogies.

What's your main?

Rhidach, a Blood Elf paladin on the Lightninghoof server. I've been playing Rhidach since I started playing WoW for the second time at the beginning of The Burning Crusade. He and I have been through a lot together, from simple beginnings in Eversong to the first raids in the Outland, to the top of Icecrown Glacier and now the plane of Fire. It's been a wild ride, and I can barely bring myself to play any other character. I'll definitely never have a different main.

About the Bloggers introduces you to the people behind WoW Insider. You can find articles on more of our staffers in earlier About the Bloggers profiles.

Today you'll be meeting Dawn Moore, admirer of Dwarven hunters in-game rocks.

What do you do for WoW Insider?

Since January 2010, I've been one of the two columnists covering Spiritual Guidance, WoW Insider's biweekly priest column. I write specifically for the two healing trees, holy and discipline, since Fox Van Allen stole 1/3 of my job covers shadow. In addition to my column, I also unofficially cover the news and articles WoW Insider publishes on the Warcraft movie, since I keep a pretty watchful eye on the film industry.

Periodically, I also write feature articles on random topics such as vegetables and superhero costumes.

About the Bloggers introduces you to the people behind WoW Insider. Meet other staffers, both past-day and present, in earlier About the Bloggers posts.

This week, we meet and shake hands with the extraordinarily popular (Editor's note: Fox wrote that) Fox Van Allen. We then immediately reach for the hand sanitizer, because we have a pretty good idea where his hands have been.

What do you do for WoW Insider?

Fox Van Allen, a blood elf-esque man who frequently converses about himself in the third person, was officially hired as a contributing editor nearly two years ago. But he's not just a contributor -- he's so much more.

Fox is the wit and ego of WoW Insider. Stunningly handsome, incredibly intelligent, and chaotically neutral, Fox is best known for his work as the columnist behind the shadow priest edition of the Spiritual Guidance column. He has also filled in for a number of other columnists, including brief stints working The Queue and Gold Capped columns. He is universally loved by all, even by those who hate him.

He also compiles the WRUP (What aRe yoU Playing?) column every Saturday Friday, but he doesn't like to talk about that much. Mostly since it's 90% filler. Entertaining filler, though! You should read it!

About the Bloggers introduces you to the people behind WoW Insider. You can find articles on more of our staffers in earlier About the Bloggers profiles.

What do you do at WoW Insider?

Originally, I came on staff to take over the Addon Spotlight column and to help revive and reinvigorate the Reader UI of the Week feature that people have loved in the past but had dropped off as a feature. I applied to work for the site with only the addon columns in mind. Over time, after a few guest stints on The Lawbringer and generally always being around to help with the main site, I've graduated to blogging most days and taking over The Lawbringer full time. It's my labor of love -- I get to teach and discuss my opinions about lots of different esoteric gaming topics.

I was into podcasting for a while with my own little network and wanted to be a guest on the WoW Insider Show for a long time, well before applying to work on the site. I bugged Sacco to let me be a guest and, before you know it, I was sleeping on the show's proverbial couch and they couldn't get rid of me. Now my name is on the banner. It's how I roll.

About the Bloggers introduces you to the people behind WoW Insider. You can find articles on more of our staffers in earlier About the Bloggers profiles.

What do you do for WoW Insider?

My primary focus these days is to write Lichborne, the weekly death knight column. I also write the Tuesday Morning Post, a weekly maintenance day roundup of all the news that's fit to print from the past few days of WoW. I used to do a lot more posting of general news, spending at least a few hours a day just scouring everywhere for juicy stuff, but then I had to get a day job again. Still, I try to do what I can. WoW Insider is a great place to work. I have pretty cool coworkers, and I get to write about stuff I love. What's not to like?

What's your main?

My main is, of course, a human death knight. (Yes, I'd rather be a high elf. I won't even lie.) I do a little bit of everything, if only so I can write with authority about whatever I need to for Lichborne, but my preferred spec of the moment is 2H PVE frost DPS. Right now, it feels like the tree and spec with the most consistent and flavorful rotation and role to it.