by JR Cook - 10 years ago     show comments

World of Warcraft is more than a game. Over the years, an extensive community has grown up around it; one that can’t be confined to Azeroth (or, indeed, Draenor). Players use fan sites to deepen their understanding of WoW, and over time, the fan site community has grown and changed.

When WoW was launched, most discussions were limited to the official forums. Some databases also existed (who remembers Thottbot and Allakhazam?), but if people wanted to get involved with WoW outside the game, the official forums were the first port of call.

As time went on, the community branched out. Sites like MMO-Champion, WoW Insider and, indeed, BlizzPro became hubs of news and discussion. Today, many players talk about the game outside of Blizzard’s own channels, as theorycrafters have spread out from the official forums to new bases.

A quick poll of my Twitter followers and fellow BlizzPro writers has shown that, while each class has blogs dedicated to them, they don’t all benefit from having a full fan site. By this, I mean the likes of Sparkuggz and How to Priest: one covering only a single class, with guides, forums and general knowledge about how to get the most out of it. Hunters and Rogues are lacking these resources full stop, while certain Paladin, Warrior and Monk specs aren’t covered. Death Knights have an excellent resource in Son of a Lich, but no other prominent blogs or fan sites.

Why is this? As I said above, fan site use has changed as time has gone on. Many sites have closed their doors over the years – and some classes haven’t ever had that centralised community. It means that theorycraft is hard to to find, spread out across multiple websites and forum threads (which can stretch to hundreds of pages). Generally, it is the hybrids that lack sites dedicated to their class as a whole: Paladins, Warriors and Monks. Hunters and Rogues used to use the Warcraft Hunters Union and Shadowpanther, but they’ve ceased updating.

Mages used to be in the same boat. However, a passionate core got together to launch a new fan site recently, which I’m lucky enough to involved: Altered Time. Although it’s early days yet, some of the best Mage players and theorycrafters in the world – people like Turkeyburger (Midwinter), Akraen (Natural Order) and Kvér and Dutchmagoz (MCO) – help to run Altered Time, and guides for many aspects of the game should be up soon. If you play a Mage – whether in PvP or PvE, casual or hardcore – I encourage you to check it out.

Another new site is Sentry Totem, set up by Tickle from Totemspot and covering every class. Again, bookmarking Sentry Totem would serve you well if you’re looking for a source of news, guides and discussions.

Altered Time and Sentry Totem go to show that it’s possible to set up a new fan site today and be successful. If you think resources for your class or spec are lacking, why not contact some like-minded players and have a go at setting up your own site?

He hasn’t got a fan site, and he’s really pissed.

Below, I’ve listed the most conspicuous (i.e, they were pointed out to me/are on the front page of Google) fan sites and blogs for each class. Note that more general sites like Tankspot are not listed here.

Fan site list, by class:

Death Knight: Son of a Lich (and the #Acherus IRC channel)

Druid: The Inconspicuous Bear, The Fluid Druid, Sunfyre’s Nest, Cannot be Tamed, Big Bear Butt, Falling Leaves, Perculia/Hamlet’s blog, Restokin, WTS Heals.

Hunter: Thrill of the Wild, Huntsmans’ Lodge, Eyes of the Beast, The Brew Hall, Cloak and Quiver.

Mage: Altered Time, Lhivera’s Library (plus Theorycraft-o-matic), Restokin

Monk: Sunnier’s Art of War, Monk Meditation, Total’s Tea Talk, Chi Burst, Windwalkermonk, World of Monkcraft (semi-retired)

Paladin: Healbot, Sacred Duty, Maintankadin, Blessing of Kings, The Bossy Pally

Priest: How to Priest (now also owns Shadowpriest.com and is partnered with Tales of a Priest)

Rogue: Shadowcraft, The Red-Hatted Rogue, Tikari, One Rogue’s Resources

Shaman: Totemspot, Wind Lashed, Life in Group 5

Warlock: Sparkuggz.com, Warlockery, Fel Concentration (by my arch-rival Poneria, whom you may know from WoW Insider), Spellbound, Dark Content

Warrior:  The Warrior’s Onslaught, The Cranky Tank, Mythor

In memoriam

That one at the back is called Elitist Jerks

Sometimes, fan sites fall by the wayside. Their authors and owners move on, they stop updating or the community just drifts away. Here, we remember those we have lost:

Elitist Jerks, Warcraft Hunters Union, I Sheep Things, Shadowpanther, WoW Hunters’ Hall, Apple Cider Mage, Cynwise, Dots and Locks, Pugnacious Priest (semi-retired), Killing ’em Slowly, Priest with a Cause, Mage Table, Twisted Faith, Gnomeaggedon, Mana Obscura, Big Red Kitty, Skeleton Jack, World of Ming.

Can you think of any fan sites that are missing from either list? Let us know in the comments, and we’ll add them.