7 years ago today I ran into a group of fellow 19 twinks on my server repping the guild tag <DDG>. Fathered by Noein, one of the best 19 hunters of his time, DDG was a new up and coming guild in the 19 world. This was well before cross realm, cross bg, all of that stuff and we were limited to the Vengeance battlegroup. I was a pretty mediocre player at the time, but the guys accepted me and nevertheless playing around them helped me develop into a better player. After being in the guild for just a few short weeks, Joe (Ctrlaltsheep) quickly became my best friend and we probably spent 8-12 hours every single day playing Rogue/Mage 2s and WSG.
These were the days, exploited shoulder enchants, fishing boots with boars speed... Joe and myself made quite the name for ourselves, both in-game and via the Vengeance battlegroup forums. Trash talk, taunting, degrading other players for absolutely no reason at all. While we were young and naive, I regret taking up those personas and talking the amount of trash that we did. We both mutually knew that we were two of the best 19 players in the battlegroup, if not the US but that didn't stop us from further blowing up our egos. If only we could go back and do things differently, perhaps Joe's life would've ended up differently as well. Regardless, I hope that wherever my brother may be he's living a better life than he did when I had the privilege of calling him my best friend.
To all the old-school players from Vengeance/Rampage/Cyclone, I hope you've all matured as I have and look back on the good times in the bracket as a great learning experience. I would also like to apologize if I've ever offended or attempted to troll or degrade you. Life is too short to be living with hate. You never know when your life can be taken away from you, so take advantage of the gift you were given and live to your fullest potential. Never let another human-being drag you down or degrade you, we were all born equally and we all leave as equals.
With all of that said, I hope that people can further understand Joe's cryptic personality. He was a great guy, if you disagree then you're probably one of those people who were on the receiving end of the Sheep and Pwnie train. We weren't terrible people, we just used trolling for attention/ego boosting. I also wish the absolute best for the 19 bracket and whatever it may hold in the future. Unfortunately, my fishing hat will remain hung up as I feel I'll never have near the amount of fun I had playing in 06-07 but nevertheless I'm sure people still enjoy it and it excites me to see that twinking has not died. Best of luck to all of you and your future endeavors, keep twinking fun!
R.I.P. Joseph Cossetti <3