It is a time for change for the druids of Azeroth. Patch 3.1 is at last on the horizon, tantalizing us all with thoughts of new raid bosses and daily quests to entertain our hours of sloth. However, despite the lure of the new, this is a sad day in the forests and wilds. Phaelia of Resto4Life, the greatest of all druid bloggers, has decided to retire for the happiest of reasons. I’ll let you read her big news in her own words here, but I will add my very public congratulations in this post.
A Tribute to Phaelia
Now that I sit down to try it, it is difficult to find words to express how profound Phaelia’s influence has been on me and my blogging work. I found Resto4Life when I had just started to raid seriously in BC. I had been toying with the idea of starting a druid blog myself, and gradually, reading Phaelia’s work helped me gain the confidence I needed to try writing. She exemplifies everything I love about the WoW community. Let me try, however inarticulately, to account for some of her contributions.
1. Phaelia showed us all that the blogosphere can be friendly. I know that I have experienced hateful and mean-spirited comments, both on my own posts and on others’ work. Somehow, Phaelia presents the content on her site with such grace that civil discussions have always flourished on her pages (pun intended). It has to do with Phaelia herself, I think. Phaelia’s tone exudes warmth and friendliness, and the druid community is a better place because of it. If new bloggers are looking for a style and tone to imitate, they should go to Resto4Life and start reading.
2. Phaelia helped us realize that we could be proud to be druids. In other places, I see more whining about class particularities than celebration of them. Through her wonderful artwork, both her own and the contributions from Andrige, Eggo, and other wonderful artists, druids have been able to represent themselves and witness themselves being represented in a positive way. I am personally going to buy a few more tree shirts. The one I had unfortunately got a big dribble of bleach on it the last time I cleaned. The artwork from Resto4Life is not fluffy content–in fact, it’s what I’ll miss most. I believe that symbols are important, and I don’t think being a druid would have felt as special without the artwork to remind me of it.
3. Phaelia instilled in us all a belief in the WoW blogging community. Through Blog Azeroth and meta-blogging posts on her own site, she helped many would-be bloggers, including me, get a start. I’m not always chatty myself (kind of a solitary walnut), but Phaelia reached out over google chat when I had first started posting. It meant a lot to me early on that she liked my work. I think she’s helped out very many druid bloggers and given us the confidence we needed to keep going. I think she realizes that the hardest thing to do, as a blogger, is put fingers to keys and write. Her site and the tools she gave us make that just a little bit easier.
And so, Phae, you will be much missed. I don’t think anyone will ever fill your particular shoes–and on that topic, you should all go look at Keeva’s delightful new comic. Please drop by from time to time as a reader and let us know how you and the little sprout are doing. This is an exciting time in your life!
As Pike said better than I could, we all know that our time as WoW bloggers is limited. I can see myself blogging–in some form, about something–for the rest of my life, but specific hobbies like WoW come and go. However, friendships and memories can stick with us. If the writing bug ever bites again, Phae, let us know about your new project. My experience tells me that truly talented writers like Phaelia always end up writing for publication, in some form or other.
