Category Archives: mike-schramm

WoW Insider Show Episode 121: So long and thanks for all the Fah-jords

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Our podcast reached the end of part one last weekend, as both Turpster and I announced that we'd be leaving the show. But we didn't let it become a sad affair -- Matthew Rossi and Chase Christian both joined us for some Warcraft discussion (including when it's ok to votekick someone, and lots of Battered Hilt discussion), and we finally were able to have one of our favorite guys stop by: Scott Johnson from The Instance podcast. It was a great show, and as usual, you can tune in at all of the links below.

Thanks again for everything -- even though Turpster and I are moving on, the podcast will continue, so be sure to come back and see what they brew up for you. But it's been a heck of a ride these past two-plus years, and we've had measurable metric tons of laughs and fun together. Thanks so much for listening and chatting with us and all the emails and excitement. Enjoy the show, and don't forget to grab your sword and fight the Horde.

Get the podcast:
[iTunes] Subscribe to the WoW Insider Show directly in iTunes.
[RSS] Add the WoW Insider Show to your RSS aggregator.
[MP3] Download the MP3 directly.

Listen here on the page:

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WoW Insider Show Episode 121: So long and thanks for all the Fah-jords originally appeared on WoW.com on Sun, 20 Dec 2009 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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WoW Insider Show tomorrow at 3:30pm Eastern

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My last episode of the WoW Insider Show is on the air tomorrow afternoon -- it'll be sad (I really love doing this show for you all), but hopefully it won't be too maudlin. Fortunately both Matthew Rossi and Chase Christian have agreed to join us, and of course Turpster will be on with us as well -- whenever the T is around, you know it'll be a good time. We'll be talking about the most popular stories in Warcraft for the past week, including the arrival of Winter Veil, patch 3.3.0a and all of the other hotfixes this week, and just because I think it's interesting, we'll talk about the Battered Hilt as well.

And as usual, we'll answer your emails and chat live with all of the folks in the chatroom. You can email us any time of night or day at theshow@wow.com, and you'll be able to listen in to the show on the feed over on Ustream itself, or right after the break below. Please do join us, should be fun.

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WoW Insider Show tomorrow at 3:30pm Eastern originally appeared on WoW.com on Fri, 18 Dec 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Farewell and thank you, WoW.com

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I've told this story a few times before: I actually started out on WoW.com as a comment troll. A few years back, Jennie Lees was the lead blogger here, and she posted something silly about a wallpaper or a plush doll, I don't remember. I was also reading the forums at the time, and Blizzard had just dropped new priest patch notes. "Why are you posting this junk," I commented angrily, "when the priest notes just dropped?" She was nice about it -- she actually emailed me and said that the priest updates post was coming soon. And I felt so bad about it, I never activated the comment. But a little while after that, when WoW Insider posted that they were looking for some new writers, I applied, and said that I was sorry for that comment, but that I was working on becoming a writer and could help out with posting on the site when needed.

When I started writing for WoW Insider (now WoW.com, obviously), I was working retail in Chicago, writing part-time in the evenings. The site itself got only a few thousand hits a month, with one or two weekly features and maybe ten comments per post. Now, over three years later, I'm a fulltime freelance writer, I've been to three BlizzCons, I've written over 1.7 million words in over 3,300 posts here about everything in Azeroth, and the site itself rivals some of the best blogs on the Internet, routinely garnering millions of hits a month. I helped build this site with my own two hands, and while I definitely can't claim all the credit (there was and is a huge team of people who keep this thing running), it's with a fair amount of sorrow that I'm here to tell you today will be my last day on WoW.com.

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Farewell and thank you, WoW.com originally appeared on WoW.com on Fri, 18 Dec 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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WoW Insider Show Episode 120: Dungeon Findorama

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The WoW Insider Show went on the air last weekend, and despite the fact that we started out down two voices, the discussion was fast and furious, as we all had plenty to say about patch 3.3 and specifically the Dungeon Finder system. Adam Holisky, Turpster, and I started off the show, and then Matthew Rossi muscled his way in (as only someone of his stature can do) to join us in discussion on finding dungeons, Authenticators and the Corehound Pups, and since Rossi made it, we had to talk some shaman and warriors as well.

Bad news, all: we didn't win the podcast award we were up for (congrats to the 4Player Podcast, who won the award and are now our sworn enemies -- we're igniting the rivalry!). But as we say on this show, we'll still be doing the bedtime story for you all anyway, just because you're so great. And yes, above is the check I'm mailing to Turpster for guessing the patch 3.3 release date correctly -- don't let it ever be said that we here at WoW.com aren't men of our word.

Get the podcast:
[iTunes] Subscribe to the WoW Insider Show directly in iTunes.
[RSS] Add the WoW Insider Show to your RSS aggregator.
[MP3] Download the MP3 directly.

Listen here on the page:

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WoW Insider Show Episode 120: Dungeon Findorama originally appeared on WoW.com on Tue, 15 Dec 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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WoW Insider Show live today at 3:30pm Eastern

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Our podcast is live on the virtual air today at 3:30pm Eastern (8:30pm GMT) over on Ustream, and it's an all-star show for sure. We'll have Michael "Belfaire" Sacco, Matthew W. Rossi, and Adam Holisky all on the show with us, so I don't expect to have to say anything. Maybe I'll just shout out something like "patch 3.3" and see what evolves from there. But Turpster and I will still be on, and if we can corral these guys, we'll be talking about how big a change the Dungeon Finder really is, Corehound Pups in the mail for Authenticator users, and this patch in general. Should be quite a show.

And we'll be answering your emails -- if you have a question for any of us, feel free to send it along to theshow@wow.com. And of course we'll be doing the usual preshow and aftershow, so if you plan to turn up live after the break (or listen via the Ustream app on the iPhone), make sure to stick around for a little bit afterwards and we'll be chatting with you directly. See you this afternoon!

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WoW Insider Show live today at 3:30pm Eastern originally appeared on WoW.com on Sat, 12 Dec 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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WoW Insider Show live today at 3:30pm Eastern

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Our podcast is live on the virtual air today at 3:30pm Eastern (8:30pm GMT) over on Ustream, and it's an all-star show for sure. We'll have Michael "Belfaire" Sacco, Matthew W. Rossi, and Adam Holisky all on the show with us, so I don't expect to have to say anything. Maybe I'll just shout out something like "patch 3.3" and see what evolves from there. But Turpster and I will still be on, and if we can corral these guys, we'll be talking about how big a change the Dungeon Finder really is, Corehound Pups in the mail for Authenticator users, and this patch in general. Should be quite a show.

And we'll be answering your emails -- if you have a question for any of us, feel free to send it along to theshow@wow.com. And of course we'll be doing the usual preshow and aftershow, so if you plan to turn up live after the break (or listen via the Ustream app on the iPhone), make sure to stick around for a little bit afterwards and we'll be chatting with you directly. See you this afternoon!

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WoW Insider Show live today at 3:30pm Eastern originally appeared on WoW.com on Sat, 12 Dec 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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WoW Insider Show Episode 119 with special guest Mary Varn

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Our podcast was live on the air as usual last Saturday, and the show is now up for your listening enjoyment. Artist Mary Varn was aboard to talk with us about her comic and her Warcraft career, and Matt Low of World of Matticus also jumped on to chat with Turpster and I about the latest WoW news, including the impending patch 3.3, the recent server outages, and the Taiwanese player who picked up all of the achievements in the game (which, probably not entirely concidentally, is the subject of Mary's comic today).

And of course we answered your emails as well. For those of you wondering about our Podcast Awards nomination, voting has ended, and the winners are supposed to be announced next Saturday in a ceremony online. We'll keep you updated -- remember, if we win, we'll be giving away any prizes we get to one lucky listener, and we'll be recording a Warcraft bedtime story for all of you to download. Cross your fingers for us!

Get the podcast:
[iTunes] Subscribe to the WoW Insider Show directly in iTunes.
[RSS] Add the WoW Insider Show to your RSS aggregator.
[MP3] Download the MP3 directly.

Listen here on the page:

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WoW Insider Show Episode 119 with special guest Mary Varn originally appeared on WoW.com on Mon, 07 Dec 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Last week of Hearts, Hands and Voices

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Azeroth United, the internet media community for all things World of Warcraft, has been holding a charity drive for Child's Play since November 1st. Hearts, Hands, and Voices has already surpassed their initial goal of $5000 and is now hoping to reach twice that by their end date of December 13th. Sunday, our very own Mike Schramm played Rock Band for 9 hours -- until his fingers hurt -- to raise money for the drive. Also, you can blame Syrana for all your troubles on Twitter and help raise money for the charity, just by tweeting.

If you wish to join in on the fun and support this Penny Arcade-run charity, please donate by clicking on the ChipIn link at the main HHV site, or any of the supporting sites. ChipIn was the same service that the WoWathon players used to also raise money for the hospitalized children who are the recipients of Child's Play's funds, toys, games, etc. The donations from this service go directly to the charity.

Hearts, Hands and Voices have drawings for donating $10 or $20 that include some really cool things like ThinkGeek gear or a Warcraft Stein. Please go check out the goodies you could win just for a small donation to a great cause. And if you don't, well, I blame Syrana.

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Last week of Hearts, Hands and Voices originally appeared on WoW.com on Mon, 07 Dec 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Listen to the WoW Insider Show today with special guest Mary Varn

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Yes, our podcast is back again this afternoon at 3:30pm EDT, and this week we're welcoming Mary Varn, the creator and artist behind NPC Comic, a webcomic about a girl and her two cats who all play World of Warcraft. She'll talk with us about her work and her own characters, and since we'll also have Kelly "Cadistra" Aarons of the new Byron the Tauren Rogue comic on again, maybe they'll be able to share some insight on putting WoW-related cartoons together.

Turpster and I will make sure it's not all about drawing comics, though -- we'll be answering emails and talking about the most popular posts from the last week, including what's going on with patch 3.3 and when it might drop, what's up with all of the outages lately, and what it takes to get all of the achievements. All of them. Should be a great show -- you can tune in over on our Ustream page at 3:30pm Eastern, or just head after the break. See you then.

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Listen to the WoW Insider Show today with special guest Mary Varn originally appeared on WoW.com on Sat, 05 Dec 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Listen to the WoW Insider Show today with special guest Mary Varn

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Yes, our podcast is back again this afternoon at 3:30pm EDT, and this week we're welcoming Mary Varn, the creator and artist behind NPC Comic, a webcomic about a girl and her two cats who all play World of Warcraft. She'll talk with us about her work and her own characters, and since we'll also have Kelly "Cadistra" Aarons of the new Byron the Tauren Rogue comic on again, maybe they'll be able to share some insight on putting WoW-related cartoons together.

Turpster and I will make sure it's not all about drawing comics, though -- we'll be answering emails and talking about the most popular posts from the last week, including what's going on with patch 3.3 and when it might drop, what's up with all of the outages lately, and what it takes to get all of the achievements. All of them. Should be a great show -- you can tune in over on our Ustream page at 3:30pm Eastern, or just head after the break. See you then.

Continue reading Listen to the WoW Insider Show today with special guest Mary Varn

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Listen to the WoW Insider Show today with special guest Mary Varn originally appeared on WoW.com on Sat, 05 Dec 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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