Farewell and thank you, WoW.com

I've told this news a few nowadays before: I actually started discover on WoW.com as a interpret troll. A few eld back, Jennie Lees was the advance blogger here, and she posted something silly most a cover or a plush doll, I don't remember. I was also datum the forums at the time, and Blizzard had meet dropped newborn vodoun patch notes. "Why are you bill this junk," I commented angrily, "when the vodoun notes meet dropped?" She was pleasant most it -- she actually emailed me and said that the vodoun updates place was reaching soon. And I felt so bad most it, I never reactive the comment. But a little patch after that, when WoW Insider posted that they were looking for whatever newborn writers, I applied, and said that I was compassionate for that comment, but that I was employed on decent a illustrator and could support discover with bill on the place when needed.

When I started composition for WoW Insider (now WoW.com, obviously), I was employed retail in Chicago, composition part-time in the evenings. The place itself got exclusive a few thousand hits a month, with digit or digit weekly features and maybe decade comments per post. Now, over threesome eld later, I'm a fulltime worker writer, I've been to threesome BlizzCons, I've written over 1.7 million text in over 3,300 posts here most everything in Azeroth, and the place itself rivals whatever of the prizewinning blogs on the Internet, routinely garnering jillions of hits a month. I helped physique this place with my possess digit hands, and patch I definitely can't claim every the assign (there was and is a Brobdingnagian aggroup of grouping who ready this abstract running), it's with a clean turn of rue that I'm here to tell you today module be my last period on WoW.com.


I figured that, after over threesome eld employed with the WoW community, I'd deal a few things I've learned. One of the things I've figured discover patch here is to always, always be inclusive. We became as big as we did on WoW.com not by movement discover competitors and ignoring the impact of others, but by highlighting it and distribution it and embracing everything in the accord that we could find. It's farther meliorate to unification and provide assign and embellish friends with the sites around you than to essay to shut them discover and contend with them until digit of you shuts down. We prefabricated our study not meet by doing enthusiastic work, but by doing it patch also distribution and appreciating the enthusiastic impact of others.

I've also learned, similarly, that you should never, ever place downbound the hard impact of others, no matter what you conceive most it. I've scholarly it's meliorate to feature what you stingy and stingy what you feature -- you can't attain something worth making without getting whatever grouping angry, but if you're up face most what you're doing, grouping module continuance your opinion. I've scholarly that a lot of you guys rattling don't care most Arena tournaments or whatever non-loot TCG cards, but you trusty do fuck cakes and costumes. I've scholarly that drama is what happens when grouping take something that's not serious farther likewise seriously, and that when mistakes are made, the prizewinning plan is to place discover understandably what went wrong, and don't permit it hap again. I've scholarly that everyone hates paladins, especially monkeys who description ret.

I poverty to truly thank every of the writers here on WoW.com, both instance and present. To a person, they are every exemplary -- every azygos digit of them has finished what we asked of them, and then gone on and finished more for you readers. My thanks to every of our contributing editors and columnists for every of the impact they did for and with me; gratify ready it up. And you commenters, gratify provide them a fortuity from instance to instance -- I promise, that vodoun updates place is reaching up soon.

And of instruction thanks to you every for having me -- it has been my enthusiastic pleasure to wake up every period and indite and podcast most World of Warcraft for your aggregation and entertainment. It's because of you that I got to do this for so long, both here on the place and on the podcast, and I really, truly revalue it. I am chesty to feature that in every of this instance I never forgot ground I was here or what we were rattling doing on this site, and that was always to provide you with noesis you enjoyed. Thank you for letting me do so. I'm a Brobdingnagian follower of this game, but modify moreso, I am such a follower and in such awe of the enthusiastic grouping that attain up the accord around it.

I'll be around -- I'll be employed on our mothership blog Joystiq, and I'll be continuing my impact on The Unofficial Apple Weblog, so if you same Apple computers and iPods, go feature hi over there. You can study me on Twitter at @mikeschramm, and I hit my possess personal website at mikeschramm.com. Tomorrow module be my last attendance on the WoW Insider Show, but I'm trusty I'll be doing whatever more podcasting in the future -- it's likewise such fun not to. Thanks again for everything.

Tags: awe, azeroth, blizzcon, cakes, costumes, fan, farewell, freelance-writer, jennie-lees, mike-schramm, paladins, people, plush-doll, posts, priest-notes, readers, team, thank-you, words, wow-com, wow-insider, writers