WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot

How I WoW might be a bit of a misnomer. Their tag line is “@ the intersection of Real Life and World of Warcraft”. This is a more accurate description.

Patrick and Shawn began as (and are still) regular contributors to The Instance. They’ve branched off to make what I find to be a very entertaining, if not entirely WoW-centric, podcast. It’s an interview based format with guests who are WoW players, very often those who are also what I will call “WoW Web Celebs”.

It’s still a young podcast, especially in terms of number of episodes. Their 1 year anniversary show is episode #17. The earlier ones are definately a bit rough. Both Patrick and Shawn are a bit overly concerned reigning the subject back in to WoW and a time limit. Later episodes become a bit looser and, consequently, more enjoyable.

While some of the more hardcore WoW players might argue that most interviews don’t have too much to do with Warcraft, but I find that to be to their credit. It is “How I WoW”. It’s people who game and how it fits into their lives. The longer format allows the guests to really be themselves, which is extremely enlightening.

If you don’t have enough time to listen to anything but the most hardcore podcast, there are still a few episodes that are must listens. Episode 1 has Scott Johnson, who is always fascinating. Turpster is on episode 9, and without Mike Schramm from WoW Insider to reel him in, he really gets to run a bit wild. It’s fantastically funny.

This isn’t to say that the other episodes aren’t worth listening to. They’re all wonderful, and the format just gets better and better as Patrick and Shawn become more comfortable with their positions as hosts. Felicia Day is precious and makes me question things about myself (Sorry, honey) and Curt Shilling’s episode is great for us baseball fans to see this whole other side of him.

I need to mention the two part anniversary show. The first half (Episode 16) has a bunch of the most popular guests from the past years’ podcasts all on together. It is a laugh riot. The second part (#17) is interesting in that the person interviewed does not play WoW. But it’s Jonathan Coulton, so that makes it awesome. It works because so many machinima set to his songs have been made using WoW footage, and he is a huge nerd at heart. If you’re a fan of JoCo, it’s a good listen.

How I WoW is a great listen. Highly recommended for it’s entertainment value.