A Message from Blainie
Initially, much of the discussion around Premium and new features was simply: "Hey, how do we get people to subscribe to Premium?"
Premium is, of course, a way for us to take the money that is paid by our subscribers and invest it into making new things that make the subscription "more worth it" - but there are many of you that support the website by simply using it daily, engaging in discussions on our posts, contributing to the database, or identifying AI usage with an eagle eye.
With that in mind, we want to ensure that each phase of the ongoing "Premium revamp" also gives non-Premium users the ability to test our new features. It is, however, for some features, not possible to do so, and that's why we're bundling these releases with multiple new features.
In this first release phase, non-Premium users will be able to use the News Filtering feature to remove one category of News that they do not want to see on their news feed.
This is something that has been requested time and time again; it's finally here. Premium users can filter their news feed however they want, but if you're logged in, you'll be able to remove a specific tag of posts you don't like - whether that be the Titanforged articles on Classic, editorials, PTR coverage, and more.
Remove Watermarks from the Model Viewer & Dressing Rooms
Wowhead's model viewer is perfect for showing off your character, grabbing a model for a YouTube video, or seeing every last detail about an item - and now, Epic and Legendary Premium users can download models without Wowhead's watermark!
Before, users could only take screenshots in the Dressing Room. Now, screenshot capability is site-wide - so things like mounts, housing decor, and more have never been easier to snag a photo of for all users, even if you aren't Premium.
Epic & Legendary Premium users have the opportunity to take further advantage of this new feature with the Transparent Background option. Whether you're trying to make a video guide to help someone solve a Secret, or just want to show off your character in a specific transmog, the Model Viewer is exactly what users know and love, but better.
Customizable Home Page - Pin your favorites!
Sometimes, you don't want to dig through the entire database to find something you need, whether it's a specific quest, a guide you reference constantly, or a News post you really wanted to get back to and read later. Now, Premium users won't have to - you'll be able to pin whatever you'd like to Wowhead's home page for ease of access!
Each tier of Premium will unlock more slots for you to fill with your favorites: 4 for Rare Premium, 8 for Epic, and 16 total for Legendary users. Choosing pins is as easy as clicking an empty space on your Pinboard and using the search bar to pull up the exact content you want!
The existing Favorites system is still here, as well. Even if you have hundreds of favorite pages, you'll still have access to them with this feature. For the best of the best, though, you can then pin them for even more visibility.
Swap out pages as many times as you'd like - your only limit is the number of slots you have available, not how many times you can rotate what you pin. This feature doesn't come with improvements for only Premium users, though: now all users, Premium or not, can view your already-existing Favorites list from within your own User Profile! Gone are the days of hunting for the specific spot on the nav bar to find your Favorites, so enjoy the new interface.
Filter News out of your feed: Our most requested feature
The feedback has been clear: sometimes, there are News articles that you just don't want to see. Whether it's a post about a region you don't play in, a Community highlight that you don't care for, or an Editorial about a topic you're just not interested in, we hear you, and we're enabling filters for the News feed.
All users, regardless of Premium status, will be able to filter out a single News category of your choice by using the Customize filters on the News feed, where our original content filters were located. Premium users, though, have even more control over their feeds: no matter the tier, you'll unlock unlimited News filters to make your feed exactly the information you want to see.
This feature is brand new, and we're still actively iterating on it, but we know the community is passionate about controlling the News they see, and we're working hard to improve the Wowhead experience for everyone.
Keep in mind: this won't impact Discord webhooks, just the News feed on-site. That being said, we're working on offering this for Webhooks as well, so stay tuned for future announcements.
What's Next for Wowhead?
This isn't all we've got in store for the site. We're working hard on upgrading the Wowhead experience, and we've got plenty more up our sleeves - so stick around for more future updates, messages, news, guides, and more!
