Kirise
OG
Right now, I want to say thank you to the WoW twink community for being part of the revival of the 49 bracket.
We had our first Arathi Basins pop tonight, a total blast. That happened after three tremendous WSGs, one of which was a last-second 2-1 win.
Two months ago? We only had hope. To go from nothing to WSG on Mondays, Thursdays, and Saturdays plus Basins in less than two months...that takes a lot of communication, coordination, and interest from a lot of people. I play in three different brackets right now, and while you'll see the typical "our bracket is better than your bracket" shenanigans, 49s got support from people both above and below. Thank you all for that.
More importantly, I'm watching something cool happen in 49s. Drayner and other old-schoolers talk about how much more respectful people used to be back in the "old days". I never experienced that, as I didn't start twinking until 2.2 or 2.3. But now in 49s, I'm seeing a community build itself from the ground up. People congratulating each other on the WoW forums after quality games. Haranguing each other for comical errors during a match. There's still a high spirit of competition, and words do fly on occasion; I'd expect that now and then, from a community that spends the kind of time it takes to twink. But I'm watching something new and interesting happen here.
I know a lot of people bemoaned the no-XP patch. It takes more effort to get involved with twinking now. It took some time, but I think the patch did two great things. One, it flushed out a lot of people who twinked simply to gank. Two, it laid the groundwork for a passionate group of people to create a new place for themselves, with higher standards and greater respect.
Thank you, everyone of all brackets, for having the tenacity to stick this out. May we see continued revival and growth in all brackets.
Bwappo
We had our first Arathi Basins pop tonight, a total blast. That happened after three tremendous WSGs, one of which was a last-second 2-1 win.
Two months ago? We only had hope. To go from nothing to WSG on Mondays, Thursdays, and Saturdays plus Basins in less than two months...that takes a lot of communication, coordination, and interest from a lot of people. I play in three different brackets right now, and while you'll see the typical "our bracket is better than your bracket" shenanigans, 49s got support from people both above and below. Thank you all for that.
More importantly, I'm watching something cool happen in 49s. Drayner and other old-schoolers talk about how much more respectful people used to be back in the "old days". I never experienced that, as I didn't start twinking until 2.2 or 2.3. But now in 49s, I'm seeing a community build itself from the ground up. People congratulating each other on the WoW forums after quality games. Haranguing each other for comical errors during a match. There's still a high spirit of competition, and words do fly on occasion; I'd expect that now and then, from a community that spends the kind of time it takes to twink. But I'm watching something new and interesting happen here.
I know a lot of people bemoaned the no-XP patch. It takes more effort to get involved with twinking now. It took some time, but I think the patch did two great things. One, it flushed out a lot of people who twinked simply to gank. Two, it laid the groundwork for a passionate group of people to create a new place for themselves, with higher standards and greater respect.
Thank you, everyone of all brackets, for having the tenacity to stick this out. May we see continued revival and growth in all brackets.
Bwappo
