World of Warcraft has been the most important game in my life. I played it from November 2004 through March 2013, and now I'm playing again after the launch of Legion. Here are some of the ways WoW has impacted my life.

WoW gave me an identity. In January 2006, I created a troll rogue named "Vulajin." He became my main character for 4 years, until I rerolled as a mage. Obviously, I have kept the name to this day.

WoW helped me find friends. I spent most of my college days alone, because I make friends extremely slowly and didn't have confidence in even starting that process. Shared hobbies are an amazing thing. I joined my first guild on a blind invite in January 2006 while I was questing in Ashenvale. Spending every day talking to these folks and doing group content with them - I can't begin to tell you how important this was for me. Even though I later changed guilds twice, I still have many friends from those days, and I'm thankful for them.

WoW helped me discover that I could excel at things. I never took gaming seriously, or really anything else, before I got into WoW theorycraft. I learned that I could figure out the optimal way to do things, and that I could then do that. I went from playing the game casually to doing high end raiding with a group of skilled players, and I never felt out of place.

WoW taught me the *value* of excelling at things. It felt GOOD to push my limits and conquer tougher challenges one after the other. As a raider, I conquered three and a half expansions worth of raid content. It also felt good to teach others how to excel. My proudest contribution was a guide called "Roguecraft 101," an explainer on optimal play for the rogue class that was read over a million times on Elitist Jerks and translated into quite a few languages by other community members.

WoW scratched my itch for team play. Dungeons and raids are some of the most fun gaming experiences I've had. Playing cooperatively with a small group of other players is fundamentally enjoyable for me. When the challenge ramps up, and you and your fellow raiders all focus and play your best to conquer it, it feels great. Although I don't feel a need to go back to raiding at this point, I do miss it, and the memories of my raiding days are dear to me.

WoW gave me connections. Through WoW and the Elitist Jerks forums, I met a number of Blizzard employees. Many of them encouraged me to apply to Blizzard. One of them directly helped with my application process last year. Another one of them is now my roommate. If I hadn't played WoW, and hung out on Elitist Jerks, and met all these people - I don't even know if I would have pursued my current career path, let alone ending up at Blizzard itself.

WoW represents 12 years of my life. Even though I didn't play it for all of those years (I have quit three times - in 2005, in 2009, and from 2013 to now), its impact has never faded. Many of my friends, my current job, and even aspects of myself as a person came directly from WoW. It is no overstatement to say that it has been the most important game in my life.

There's one more thing I've gotten from WoW. It's difficult to put into words, but it's the feeling I've experienced these past few days after we launched Legion. When I'm online, and I see people playing this game, and I know that I helped bring it to them, and that I might be helping them to gain even a fraction of what I've gained through this game over the years - it's an indescribable feeling.

Thanks for reading. If you're playing WoW: Legion, I hope you're having an awesome time. I'm extremely proud of the job my teammates have done on this expansion. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to get back to leveling. :)