Twice a week (if writers like Zach here keep to their deadlines), our writers will tell you more about themselves, and let you get to know them and the characters they play a little better. Click here to read more About the Bloggers.

What do you do for WoW Insider?
I write the incorrigibly erratic columns The Art of War(craft) and The Light and How to Swing It that deal with PvP and Paladins respectively (and sometimes interchangeably). I also tend to mix up my posts with regular, run-of-the-mill news and the occasional opinion piece, like my analysis on the new Wrath changes to Paladins.

What's your main right now?
I spend most of my time in-game on my Level 70 Blood Elf Paladin, who re-specs 3-4 times a week. One day I'm mashing faces with a big hammer, and the next I'm waving my glowing fingers in the air like somebody's boy toy. I've spent thousands of Gold on re-specs that I'm probably a spec-a-holic. Just don't ask me to tank. I also have a neglected child in my Level 70 Troll Shaman, who was originally my main. Well, that's not entirely accurate. I started playing the game with an Undead Rogue and later a Troll Hunter on a PvE server. My wife and friends later rerolled on a PvP server.

Twice a week, our writers will tell you more about themselves, and let you get to know them and the characters they play a little better. Click here to read more About the Bloggers.

What do you do for WoW Insider?
I write the daily machinima posts for both WoW Insider, and its broader MMO sister site, Massively.

What's your main right now?
This won't make me very popular, but I actually don't really play WoW. I did for a while after it came out, but I'm not a very good grinder and it just got lonely.

This is an outrage! How dare you write about WoW without playing it?
That's actually a really good question. I got my start in machinima roughly two years ago when I was hired to promote it in Second Life, an oft-mocked virtual world. Through experimentation with machinima, as well as the education that I provided to others, I became known as one of the "It" people for machinima in SL.

When Second Life Insider folded into Massively in November 2007, I volunteered to write the daily Cinemassively. After about 45 days straight of blogging them, WI asked me to do the same for WoW Moviewatch!

Read on to find out more about the Notorious M.O.O. ...

In an ongoing series of articles we'll show you how to put WoW Insider on your own blog, guild website, personal website, or even on your computer's desktop. For a complete list of the software that's covered, check out our guide's index.

About blogger.com

This site is owned and operated by Google, and has a lot of popular features. It's very popular and easy to use. You can be rest assured that while the site looks, and is, easy to use, there is still a lot of power with it, just like anything else the folks over at Google produce.

How to syndicate WoW Insider on your blogger.com blog

1. Log on to your blogger.com blog and head over to the Dashboard. This is where you write your posts.
2. Click on the Layout tab. It's located right under the name of your blog, in the upper left hand corner of the webpage.
3. While in the Layout tab, click on the "Add a Page Element" rectangle in the middle of the webpage.

4. A window called "Choose a New Page Element" will come up. Scroll down until you see the Feed element and click the big blue "Add To Blog" button.

4. Enter the RSS feed URL as seen in the above screenshot. It's http://www.wowinsider.com/rss.xml
5. Click the orange "Continue" button.

6. Title the feed, and choose the options you want. You can see what the feed will look like on your site in the preview box.
7. Click the orange "Save Changes" button.

8. You will be returned to the Layout tab of your Dashboard. You can see that WoW Insider is now listed in your side page elements.

9. Click the orange "Save" button. You're done! You've now added a WoW Insider feed to your blogger.com site!
   

Twice a week, our writers will tell you more about themselves, and let you get to know them and the characters they play a little better. Click here to read more About the Bloggers. This week features one of our "semi-alumni" bloggers, Krystalle. (She's the short one with the pink hair above -- the rest of the above folks would be some of her many guild-mates.)

What do you do for WoW Insider?
These days? Some back-end smacktalking helping out where you guys don't see it. I tend to float in and out giving a hand when things are quiet, and am bringing back both Reader UI and Reader WoWspace. Before I landed my current spot as one of the leads on Massively, I was a blogger here, Guild Leader & event coordinator for It Came from the Blog. I had a lot of great times with the WoW Insider readers both there and at Dragon*Con 2007, where I got to co-host several panels with Elizabeth Harper and several other great folks. (And for anyone curious, we're doing it again at Dragon*Con this year too!)

What's your main right now?
She's a L70 sword-specced Troll Rogue who I primarily just raid on these days. I also have a L42 Rogue that I'm bringing up, just to see how the other (dagger) side lives. Well, that and because I can't break away from the Rogues. I just love them too much.

Last December we put out a call for new writers. Breaking news bloggers, weekend bloggers and a Mage columnist were all on our list of positions to fill. After reading the hundreds of excellent applications (and a few very strange ones), we've made our final decision.

The new WoW Insider staffers include Adam Holisky and Alex Ziebart who have both already hit the ground running to boost our weekend coverage. Daniel Whitcomb, Amanda Dean and Heath Milo will be starting this week to cover breaking news throughout the week and Allison Robert will be following soon after.

The decision to choose which applicant would be our new Mage columnist was a tough one. The applications for this position were very, very good. However, one not only informed, but entertained in such a manner that we couldn't say no. Very soon Arcane Brilliance will be returning under Christian Belt. Trust me, there's no one quite like him.

Finally, one applicant who applied as a general writer turned out to be a specialist. We liked him so much that we are in the process of hiring him to write news, tips and guides specifically for AddOns, UIs and macros. Look out for his work to start in the next month or so.

If you weren't chosen, there will always be a chance in the future to apply again. Until then, our sister site Massively, covering news for all MMOs, just put out their own call for bloggers today. Applications will be accepted until February 15th.

Twice a week, our writers will tell you more about themselves, and let you get to know them and the characters they play a little better. Click here to read more About the Bloggers.

What do you do for WoW Insider?

I blog about whatever seems interesting at the time, and I also write the roleplaying column, All the World's a Stage. I'm especially interested in writing about roleplaying and PvP, too, because they're the things I participate in most often. Everything and everyone in the game is interconnected, though, so even if I'm not a big raider, for instance, I still care a great deal about the things raiders are going through.

What's your main right now?

My current main is a draenei hunter, pictured above, but I'm spending just as much time with other alts right now, trying to decide which one will be my main Horde character. My most-played Hordie is currently a warlock. Previous mains I don't play as much anymore include a druid and a rogue, both Alliance.

For the Horde or Glory to the Alliance?

Heh. For both! I used to be all for the Alliance because I couldn't relate to the whole deformed and inherently violent look that many Horde characters have, but I'm one of those people for whom blood elves really opened up access to the Horde and see them in a new light. I like to appreciate the stories of the monstrous Horde races without actually having to play a monstrous character myself.

What do you do for WoW Insider?

I'm one of the Lead Writers of the site. Which is fancy talk for a lot of behind the scenes administrative work. But the fun part is I get to hire writers as well as oversee a staff of exceptionally talented people who not only are passionate about the game, but who also know how to put words together in a coherent and entertaining fashion. And occasionally I get to test drive $5k laptops for a few brief, but glorious weeks. Not a bad gig if you can swing it.

What's your main right now?

My main is my very first character in the game, a Druid. I was Resto for the first 60 levels. Hey, don't knock it, Feral wasn't really an option pre-BC. But with the arrival of Burning Crusade (which, yes, I stood in line at midnight for) I went Feral and never looked back except for a brief flirtation with Moonkin spec in my mid-60s. I can currently be found switching specs between Feral and Resto as needed by my group, but I mainly like to be in cat form.

For the Horde or Glory to the Alliance?

Alliance, thanks.

Favorite thing to do in Azeroth?

Run a 5-man with my friends. I've been playing MMOs with this group on a regular basis after we met in EverQuest 8 years ago (taking out the trash in Unrest!). They are a joy to work with. Not because they are particularly talented players, but because they don't care if we wipe, accidentally pull the whole room or forget to bring a much needed reagent. We take gaming for what it is: fun. But, boy, they're hell on my repair bill.

What do you do for WoW Insider?

I just recently started as a blogger here. I focus mostly on Engineering. I try to take a mostly in character approach, as though I'm writing not just an article for WoW players but an actual training lecture for Engineers.

Outside of WoW Insider, you might also know me as Palehoof, if you read the official forums.

What's your main right now?

I play, as I have for three years, a Tauren Hunter named Palehoof, currently on Lightninghoof (RPPVP). I'm a niche market gamer, and always have been. My first main was a Tauren Hunter named Palehoof on Kel'thuzad (PVP), and I played him for a year before rerolling him as essentially the exact same character when a new RPPVP server opened. The wisdom of leveling one hunter to 59 before starting the same hunter over again has been mentioned to me.

Palehoof is a Gnomish Engineer with mining, having 375 in both, as well as fishing, cooking, and first aid. I've been into Karazhan enough to get some loot, but not enough that I'd call myself a raider or even a regular. I call myself a second string filler DPS/CC. That's how I've gotten into Kara most times, a friend will ask if I can fill in for them on one boss. I've had excellent luck with that sort of run.

As some of you have noticed, we're experiencing technical difficulties with regards to our mailing address for blogger/columnist applications, causing some messages to bounce back. You may receive a message like the following:

This is an automatically generated Delivery Status Notification

THIS IS A WARNING MESSAGE ONLY.

YOU DO NOT NEED TO RESEND YOUR MESSAGE.

Delivery to the following recipient has been delayed:

apply@wowinsider.com

As the warning says -- you do not need to resend your message. Delivery may be delayed, but e-mails are getting through. However, due to this issue, we are asking anyone sending in applications from this point forward to direct them to wowinsiderapply@gmail.com (if you have sent in an application already, you do not need to resend it) and extending the deadline for applications until Monday at 11:59pm ET. Note that due to the volume of applications we receive, I'm afraid we cannot reply to them individually.

For those still interested, check out our call for bloggers post and our how to apply page.

[Update: Clarified technical details, changed e-mail address]

As World of Warcraft only gets more and more popular, we have more and more news to cover. We're looking for new bloggers to add to our site as well one new columnist. If you want to get paid to write about the game, read on!

For bloggers, we want at least one who can write a minimum of 25 posts a month on the weekends. We're also looking for bloggers that can post all through the week at least 50 times a month (2-3 posts/day). Preference will be given to those who can post heavily on Saturday/Sunday.

For the columnist position, we are looking for a high level Mage to contribute to our weekly class feature Arcane Brilliance. You don't have to be a hard core raider, but some raid experience would be an advantage.

For all open positions, we are looking for people who are passionate about the game and can write articles that are both informative and entertaining. See our application page for instructions on how to apply. The deadline for this round of applications is this extended to Monday, December 17 at 11:59pm PST.

EDIT: Deadline extended to Monday due to current mail delivery issues.

That's right! We're looking to expand our staff here at WoW Insider by adding a few talented bloggers and an additional columnist. Getting paid to play isn't just a daydream -- though we will expect you to be able to alt-tab out for long enough to write for us. For bloggers, we're looking for people with a passion for the game and solid writing ability. We're accepting applications from all types of players, but right now we're particularly interested in adding writers with PvP experience or who play on the European realms. For columnists, we're wanting someone who can commit to writing articles weekly or bi-weekly on a specific topic. In the past, we've asked potential writers to pitch topics to us, but this time we're only interested in one column subject: PvP.

If this sounds like a good time to you, head over to our application page to get the full scoop on how to apply. We'll be accepting applications between now and Wednesday, August 22nd, at 11:59 PM EST. This isn't a lot of time, so if you're interested, get on it!

First Tobold, and now Mastgrr of Paladin Sucks has exited Azeroth.

Before you yell at us for saying the sky is falling (again), that's not what we're saying at all. WoW has lasted for a long time for a lot of people-- more than almost any other videogame out there (in some cases, ever). For some people, including this first round of bloggers, it's run its course. Just because they're quitting doesn't mean the end of the world (of Warcraft) is upon us. In fact, it doesn't even mean the blogging is over-- Tobold quit a week and a half ago, and he's still blogging about WoW. My guess is that both bloggers will be back when the next expansion hits.

But then again, it's kind of sad that these WoW veterans are stepping out of the game. At least it's productive-- Tobold quit partly because of attunements, and they were lifted the next day. Maybe now that Pally Sucks is RIP, that ret Paladin review will come sooner than we think.

Tobold, MMO blogger-at-large, has posted that he has cancelled his World of Warcraft account.

Sign of the times or outraged for the wrong reason? That's for you to decide-- Tobold says his guild has moved on to Serpentshrine, and since he's not attuned yet, he probably never will be, which means there's no point to moving on. Apparently no one has told him about Vashj's attunement scrolls, which will let a guild that beats Vashj attune whoever they want to SSC. Of course, he'd have to wait until his guild actually beats Vashj, but hope is not lost yet.

Then again, maybe Tobold's just going with the flow. If you ask me, leaving because your guild has moved on is a terrible reason to leave-- not only is there lots to do out there, either on your own or with the people in your guild who don't happen to be running SSC, but I do believe there is more than one guild in the game. Surely someone else would be willing to take Tobold to Karazhan, right?

Either way, it's his choice. As he says, cancelling the account sends a clear message to Blizzard that he wants things to change. And if enough people send that message (for whatever reason), then you can't but agree that they will.

Just a reminder, we are looking for some new bloggers and columnists to add to our staff. If you weren't aware of this already, you can read up on the details here. However, today is the last day we'll be accepting applications, so if you want to apply you've only got until midnight (EST) to send yours to us. So what are you waiting for? Read up on what we're looking for and send in your application!

Slashdot is pointing to this blog post, written by a guy who just quit WoW, about how it completely ruined his life. According to him, WoW and the time "required" for even casual raiding were responsible for him gaining weight, losing his girlfriend and friends, wrecking his health, and generally causing him untold anguish and pain. On top of that, after he's quit, he even complains that his guild-- gasp-- moved on without him.

Listen to me, right now: if this game is ruining your life, stop playing. If your girlfriend is telling you to choose between her and WoW, choose her, you idiot. If you're about to lose your job because you play this game too much, stop playing this game. It's a game. It's not responsible for any of the stuff that happened to this blogger-- he is.

We've heard the arguments he makes before-- blah blah blah, the game is addictive, it becomes an obsession, Blizzard is rewarding farming and time investment instead of skill. And all those things are true, to a degree. But coffee is addictive, too, and so is smoking, and so is alcohol. Is it beer's fault that college students do stupid things on the weekend? Of course not-- it's the students' fault for drinking too much beer. And if this guy is overweight, girlfriendless, and a loser, it's his fault, not the game. WoW is just that-- a game. Shame on him for forgetting that when most of the seven million other players don't seem to have a problem with it.

And the worst part... is after the jump.