It just occurred to me I haven’t heard from Samwise Didier in years 
He used to sing at Blizzcon, he used to talk a lot, but he’s been gone for ages now. Does he still work on WoW? Or at Blizz at all? Whatever happened to Elite Tauren Chieftain?
It started with me thinking about how all the METAL is gone from the game. It’s become more… modern, and more sanitized with time. Not just in terms of lore, art direction and story, but even in terms of gameplay. WoW is not METAL anymore. When you go raiding you don’t play KINGS OF METAL in the background, you play lofi hiphop beats to study/relax to.
Is there even METAL at WoW left? It is at the core of the game, WoW is filled with METAL references. Samwise in fact also painted HAMMERFALL’s album covers while working on WoW. The problem with the entire game is that there’s no METAL anymore.
WoD was the beginning of WoW’s somber tone. Maybe after Samwise finally got his pandas to get their own expansion he decided he’s reached the peak? I mean he’s been drawing samurai pandas from before he began work at Blizz.
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True, wow needs to be metal again. Now it’s bunch of political crap no one cares about.
STORM, EARTH AND FIRE! HEED MY CALL!
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I think he moved to work on Heroes of the Storm in some point, alltough no idea what he does now.
We do need to get metal back in wow!
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HAMMERFALL for The Alliance
MANOWAR for The Horde
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Yeah but i rather take Manovar, horde can take Hammerfall. Also dibs on iron Maiden.
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He appears to be busy with his own stuff tbh
https://www.amazon.com/Brutal-Art-Samwise-Didier/dp/1419747754
Edit - fixed link
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Oh my god! I must get this book! I think people underestimate how important Samwise’s art is to the game industry as a whole and modern illustration in general.
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must be busy carrying frodo up a mountain
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Personally, I listen to Metal (and DnB, of course) when I play WoW. My 2 favourite genres. And they fit great with WoW’s fast paced gameplay, tbh. Especially as a Rogue.
Lol maybe you but I will always listen to metal be it gaming, studying (though I am past that) or relaxing. Even my dogs calm down with it.
Also have you SEEN Torghast? The Maw? The Jailer? Venthyr? Necrolords?! The new fem Undead mohawk?! METAL EVERYWHAAAAR
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I listen heavy and metal whole day when I work, recently have started to listen it while playing. I used to love Manowar, and it still brings smile to my face whenever I hear “Metal Warriors” or “Kings of Metal”, but I really dion’t get the kicks from it anymore. Perhaps some day when I feel nostalgic
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I love that dude, because he loves rock like me and his passion is something that makes me proud of him being among us.
pretty sure he still is on the wow team he did some drawings during covid which are on youtube, also i swear i remember him being at last years blizzcon on maybe the year before.
He is an excellent artist, also wouldnt mind a new ETC song too
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Indeed. And as far as I know, he done the most of the icons in the game (if not all), like the class ability icons.
A lot of the artwork made for orcs was done by him and metzen, i feel like warcraft orcs have a unique feel unlike other games with orcs in.
Blizzard owes their entire distinctive style to him, I’d say. He’s one of the first artists they hired. He took some of his sketches to them as “portfolio” and that style, that has defined huge parts of the gaming industry, is seen in these very early works. He deserves more recognition for the influence he personally has had on the industry.
i think blizzard got mad at him before because he said alliance players are pu***** , atleast thats how i remember it
Where have all the old devs gone, long time passing?