Boom is dead: "The Warrior Who Tanked a Server"

There are two different groups of folks who visit this blog. Those who only know me as "Boom, who plays Twenty Totems" and the rest who know me as "Boom".

While this is really a Goodbye post for everyone, it will be directed mostly towards those who knew me as "Boom". Those are my friends.

I have left WoW. The short version is why, is this: My life has been full of wonderful change recently, and now it needs my attention. WoW has been a wonderful part of my life for four years, but it's time to move on.

This means saying goodbye to my guild, my friends, and my server... Argent Dawn. I love this server. The community is fantastic, and as I'm mentioned before, they have been nothing but supportive of even Multiboxing on both sides of the fence.

My main toon, Boom, is the guild leader of For Horde. Boom is fairly well known on AD for the RP events, and PvP I've been a part of. I have a long list of wonderful friends, and knew I couldn't just log out. So I decided to stage Boom's death.

That's easy enough. Have someone march me into Stormwind, and have at it. But that's no fun... how about the last person to land damage on Boom gets 5000 Gold?

Now you're talking.



It began as I logged onto Boom at 11:15pm last night. I was already held "captive" in a stable, just SW of Goldshire. A few Alliance found me pretty early, and they seemed to know what was happening. I got the first of many /hugs, /salutes and /loves I'd get that night.



Eventually my executioner arrived with his team. Center of Renamed. I /bow'd then /surrendered to him. They were all such great sports about this. I was so excited to see how this would go. Center dismounted, along with his crew, and we all /walked towards Stormwind. I had hoped there would be alot of people when I got inside, but I was in for a shock as I approached the gates...



They were everywhere. An enormous group of flagged Alliance, all waiting for us to arrive. They quickly gathered around and started walking with us. Unfortunately, as the guards started to beat me up, I autoflagged, and I was quickly wiped out by the crowd.



The plan was to have a group of Priests Mind Control me into the square out in front of the AH, but with all the people around, the Priests just couldn't MC me fast enough. We knew this might be a problem, so I simply ran back to my corpse.



When I arrived, there were even more folks standing around. One player took a census of Stormwind during the event, and found 1000-1100 players (Alliance side only) at any given time!

I knew it would be unlikely that the priests would MC me before I died again, so I instead found a quiet corner, rezed, popped a health pot, and mounted. Then I rode into Stormwind, and got to the Tree in the square, where an even larger crowd was waiting. I'd guess I lasted 2 seconds, but that's being optimistic. :)



The image above is one of my favorites... yes... that's a Frog on the back of a Spectral Tiger Mount, leaping over the mess. (close up here)



As I ran back to my corpse a second time, I got a whisper from the last person to land damage on me in the square... Molimo of Black Phoenix, and of M L H... one of AD's greatest Arena teams. (recently featured on WoWInsider.com)

Molimo was very nice, and said "Hey, I don't know how this works, but I think I just killed you, and everyone is telling me to contact you."

I explained that the plan was to wait until Center calls for the execution, and that he'd have to get back to his toon and wait. He could of complained, but instead was very understanding, thanked me for running the event, and went back to wait with everyone else.

Just before I got to my corpse, something epic happened. No... Legendary. I found out there were two full 40man Horde raids (plus some stragglers) waiting outside Stormwind, preparing to rush in and rescue Boom. (If you're into RP, don't miss the thread about this event on the AD forums.)

Before I could rez, they stormed the city, and ran head long into the giant mob of Alliance. It was the most amazing thing I've ever seen in game.



Just as I thought it couldn't get any better, a third group showed up. But they were coming from the TRAM! This was unreal to see.


*Thanks to Icharus for the image

The fight was absolutely insane. While everyone was dying, I arranged to meet Center and his team of priests in a small tavern where I could rez in safety... but when I got there, no one else was there. I whispered to our mutual contact, and asked where they were. Turns out we simply couldn't see each other. That's when I noticed I couldn't rez.

I ran back out into the battle (as a ghost) and noticed everyone had stopped moving. They were all animating... some running in place, others casting etc. But they were all stuck in one place. The chat channels exploded with "WE DID IT! WE BEAT STORMWIND! BOOM IS SAVED!



Then the server died..... I'll say it again...

Legendary.

I knew then my plan was flawed, and there was no reasonable way for me to get into town, and wait for Center to start the event. There were just too many people. But I wasn't about to let 5k rot on my account, so I decided to give it to Molimo. He didn't play by my rules, but he wasn't malicious about it either. I gave it to him because he did hit me last, and was nice about it when I told him he had to do it again.

There of course was some griping on our forums by a few kids, but it didn't bother me. As I told them...

This was for fun folks. The Gold wasn't the point. It was PvP... it was RP... it was WOW. If you spend the whole time whispering others about gold, who got it, who deserved it, or whatever, you were asleep for the party. The rest of us were having a GRAND OLD TIME! ^.^ (you can read my whole response here)

A while after the server came back up, I quietly jumped on Boom one last time, told my friends goodbye, then rezed in Stormwind. This time I ran to the tree I was supposed to be at, and stood there until I was dropped by the crowd that remained.



A small group of Alliance surrounded my corpse, and all knelt together. I was so touched. Not just by that small group, but by the response from this server... MY server. So many wonderful players, all in one place. If you're ever looking for a home for a new toon, you simply can't go wrong with Argent Dawn.

Then I logged off.

I've canceled all five accounts, and I'm moving on with my life. I want to thank my friends for being exactly that.. friends. Especially when I needed them most. Thanks for the fun and the laughter. Thanks for the hard work, and the effort you put into building the greatest guild I've ever been in.

Safe travels.

For Fun... For Friends... FOR HORDE!

Boom